A Guide to Animation in Scratch (Part 1)
Issue 9: Bringing Your Ideas to Life
Greetings, Scratch coders!
Are you ready to transform your sprites from static images to dynamic characters bursting with life? This two-part newsletter series will delve into the exciting world of animation in Scratch, equipping you with the skills to create captivating stories and interactive experiences.Get ready to unleash your imagination and breathe life into your projects like never before!
What is Animation?
Animation is the art of creating the illusion of movement by displaying a sequence of images rapidly. Our brains perceive these images as a continuous flow, bringing characters and objects to life on the screen. Scratch, with its intuitive interface and block-based coding, makes animation creation accessible and fun for everyone.
The Building Blocks of Animation:
There are two primary techniques for creating animations in Scratch:
Multiple Costumes: Imagine a flipbook – each page represents a different pose in the animation sequence. Similarly, in Scratch, you can create multiple costumes (outfits) for your sprite, essentially creating individual frames of animation. By rapidly switching between these costumes, you create the illusion of movement.
Motion Blocks: Scratch offers a variety of motion blocks that allow you to control the movement of your sprites across the stage. These blocks can be used to move sprites in straight lines, rotate them, or even guide them along specific paths.
Let's Get Animated! (Part 1 Activity):
For our first activity, we'll create a simple walking animation. Here's what you'll need:
Open Scratch and create a new project.
Choose a sprite (or create your own!). For this example, let's use the "Cat" sprite.
Click on the "Costumes" tab. This is where you'll create the different poses for your walking animation.
Duplicate the original costume (right-click and select "Duplicate"). This will be your second walking pose.
Modify the second costume slightly. Move the cat's leg forward, as if it's taking a step. Repeat this process to create a third and fourth costume, showing the other leg moving forward.
Now, let's bring these costumes to life!
Go to the "Scripts" tab for your sprite.
Drag the "when green flag clicked" block from the "Events" section onto the scripting area.
Inside the "when green flag clicked" block, connect a "forever" loop block from the "Control" section. This will ensure the animation keeps repeating.
Now comes the fun part! Use the "switch costume to" block (found in the "Looks" section) to switch between your four walking costumes.
Drag four "switch costume to" blocks inside the "forever" loop.
Click on the dropdown menu for each block and select the corresponding costume (costume 1, costume 2, etc.).
Finally, add a short "wait" block (from the "Control" section) after each "switch costume to" block. This controls the speed of the animation. Experiment with different wait times to see how it affects the walking speed.
Test it out! Click the green flag and watch your cat come alive with a simple walking animation!
Poll Time!
Stay tuned for Part 2, where we'll explore even more advanced animation techniques in Scratch!