First you must design your character in the CONTACT position (see Position Guide for Legs). Use your time well and try to design a character that you can be proud of. You may choose to draw your character on paper. If you decide to do so, I can show you how to scan your image and bring it into flash for you to trace.

Ideally, you should design your character with each animated body part on a separate layer. By designing you character in the contact position, we will have all the needed parts (except for the optional foot with toes bent down) The following are the different body parts that we need to be able to isolate so that each one can be converted into a symbol.

• arm-hand
• body-head
• straight leg
• bent leg
• straight foot (toes in neutral position)
• bent foot (toes bent upwards)
• (Optional) bent foot 2 (toes bent downwards - for characters without shoes)

Design the body parts so that the parts overlap each other. Try to imagine how each part will move in relation to the other parts and design them so that breaks don’t occur when the parts move. Think about how each part may rotate, and imagine around which point the part will rotate.

Select each body part and convert them into symbols ("Modify" menu > "Convert to Symbol..." or F8. This is where having things on different layers pays off. You can lock certain layers during this process to keep from selecting the wrong parts. For your first animation, you should use the same body setup as the character used in my online examples. In addition to what you’ve already drawn, you may have to draw another version of the foot (the toes bent downwards version).

NOTE: At this point, do NOT think of (or name) the body part symbols as "left leg" or "right leg" but instead think of them as "bent leg" or "straight leg." When it comes time to animate, the left leg (for example) will sometimes be straight and other times be bent.

Once you have created all the body part symbols, open your library window and double click on a symbol to edit it. Select the whole image and move the image so that the crosshair at the center of the stage is where the rotation point of your symbol should be. If your symbol were a throwing knife, you would place the image so that the crosshair was near the base of the blade. If you symbol was the hand of a clock, you would place the image so that the crosshair was at the base end of the hand. Do this for EACH symbol.

NOTE: By changing the center points for each body part, your character on the main stage will "fall apart." Don't worry about this. We will rebuild your character inside a symbol.

Continue To Part 2