Homemade Animations

One of the most fun yet most tedious tasks I encountered along my journey was that of creating the Flash animation that serves as the introduction to Heaven's Wait's website. My vision was to give visitors an overall preview of the various elements I planned to incorporate into the site as time progressed, accompanied by Heaven's Wait's theme song. When I developed my original ideas for the project, I never imagined that I would happen upon an adventure in this field.

I was stepping far outside of my comfort zone with this project, but at the same time, I was ready to learn what the Flash program was all about. Since I was once again heading into unknown territory, I had to plow through beginners' tutorials just to get myself off the ground. Perhaps I'm a little too persistent. Otherwise, why would I keep subjecting myself to new setbacks? I guess I'm a person who is constantly intrigued by new processes and the details that make them work. As R.J. says somewhere in the series, "If you just take the time to learn how to break tasks down into manageable segments, you can learn how to do almost anything." I believe that is a solid truth. I have learned innumerable things by following that philosophy.

The animation I created was not complicated by any means. It was dotted with simple illustrations and text that faded in and out, arranged in groups to display the various sections of the website. I was pleased with the way the sections eventually blended with the music, leaving a rainbow cloud to rise as the music ended. If you've read R.J.'s Story, you know the significance of the rainbow cloud. 

Once I was finished with the animation, I worked on other small "movies", including the Drippils Theme Song on the Drippils Home Page. I felt that these extra elements would make a visitor's tour through the website more enjoyable. I'm still sitting on some animations that don't yet work quite right.

Then . . . Apple decided to abandon its plan to support Flash for mobile applications. What does that mean? If you have an iPhone, iPad, or other device that utilizes Apple's technology, you won't see the Flash elements on Heaven's Wait's website.* So . . . somewhere down the line, you will most likely find me delving into alternative ways to make the site alive with music, animation and more.

Check out HW's Flash Introduction by following this link: http://www.heavenswait.com/ 

*HW's Flash Introduction is visible on a standard Mac computer or laptop.