Getting Started
The 2019 release of Adobe Animate CC provides a comprehensive authoring environment for creating sophisticated animations and interactive, media-rich applications that you can publish to a variety of platforms. Animate CC is widely used in the creative industry to develop engaging projects that integrate video, sound, graphics, and animation. You can create original content in Animate CC or import assets from other Adobe applications such as Photoshop CC or Illustrator CC, quickly design animation and multimedia, and use code to integrate sophisticated interactivity.
Use Animate CC to generate graphics and animation assets, to publish broadcast-quality animation, to build innovative and immersive websites, to create stand-alone applications for the desktop, or to create apps to distribute to mobile devices running on the Android or iOS system.
With extensive controls for animation, intuitive and flexible drawing tools, and output options for HD video, HTML5, WebGL, SVG, mobile apps, desktop applications, and Flash Player, Adobe Animate CC is a robust multimedia authoring environment that enables your imagination to become reality.
About Classroom in a Book
Adobe Animate CC Classroom in a Book (2019 release) is part of the official training series for Adobe graphics and publishing software developed with the support of Adobe product experts. The lessons are designed so you can learn at your own pace. If you’re new to Animate, you’ll learn the fundamental concepts and features you’ll need to use the program. Classroom in a Book also teaches many advanced features, including tips and techniques for using the latest version of this application.
Although each lesson provides step-by-step instructions for creating a specific project, there’s room for exploration and experimentation. You can follow the book from start to finish or do only the lessons that correspond to your interests and needs. Each lesson concludes with review questions to reinforce what you’ve learned.
What’s new
The 2019 release of Adobe Animate CC provides more expressive tools, powerful controls for animation, and robust support for a wider variety of playback platforms.
The lessons in this book provide opportunities to use some of the updated features and improvements in Animate CC, including
New layer effects, which allow you to apply filters and color effects to individual keyframes on layers
Layer parenting, a powerful new way to establish hierarchies between layers to make character animation faster and easier than ever before
AI-driven lip syncing that automatically matches phonemes in graphic symbols to dialogue in a soundtrack on the timeline
A new Asset Warp tool that can animate distortions in both vector images and bitmap images
Improvements to the Layer Depth panel, which helps create a realistic sense of three-dimensional space
New VR 360 and VR Panorama documents to create virtual reality environments that are immersive and interactive
New WebGL glTF Standard and Extended documents that provide greater support for WebGL graphics and animation
Prerequisites
Before you begin using Adobe Animate CC Classroom in a Book (2019 release), make sure your system is set up correctly and that you’ve installed the required software. You should have a working knowledge of your computer and operating system. You should know how to use the mouse and standard menus and commands, and also how to open, save, and close files. If you need to review these techniques, see the printed or online documentation included with your macOS or Microsoft Windows software.
In addition, you need to download the free Adobe AIR runtime, available at get.adobe.com/air/, to publish desktop applications in Lesson 12.
Installing Animate CC
You must purchase the Adobe Animate CC application as part of Adobe Creative Cloud. The following specifications are the minimum required system configurations.
macOS
Multicore Intel® processor
macOS v10.12 (64-bit) or 10.13 (64-bit)
2 GB of RAM (8 GB recommended)
1024x900 display (1280x1024 recommended)
QuickTime 12.x software recommended
4 GB of available hard disk space for installation; more free space required during installation (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system or on removable flash storage devices)
OpenGL version 3.3 or higher
Internet connection and registration necessary for required software activation, validation of subscriptions, and access to online services
QuickTime 10.x software recommended
Windows
Intel® Pentium 4, Intel Centrino®, Intel Xeon®, or Intel Core™ Duo (or compatible) processor (2 GHz or faster processor)
Microsoft® Windows® 7 with Service Pack 1 or Windows 10 version 1703
2 GB of RAM (8 GB recommended)
1024x900 display (1280x1024 recommended)
4 GB of available hard disk space for installation; more free space required during installation (cannot install on removable flash storage devices)
OpenGL version 3.3 or higher
Internet connection and registration necessary for required software activation, validation of subscriptions, and access to online services
For updates on system requirements and complete instructions on installing the software, visit helpx.adobe.com/animate/system-requirements.html.
Install Animate CC from Adobe Creative Cloud at creative.adobe.com and make sure that you have your login and password accessible.
Online content
Your purchase of this Classroom in a Book includes online materials provided by way of your Account page on peachpit.com. These include the following:
Lesson files
To work through the projects in this book, you will need to download the lesson files from peachpit.com. You can download the files for individual lessons, or it may be possible to download all of them in a single file.
Web Edition
The Web Edition is an online interactive version of the book providing an enhanced learning experience. Your Web Edition can be accessed from any device with a connection to the Internet, and it contains:
The complete text of the book
Hours of instructional video keyed to the text
Interactive quizzes
In addition, the Web Edition may be updated when Adobe adds significant feature updates between major Creative Cloud releases. To accommodate the changes, sections of the online book may be updated or new sections may be added.
Accessing the lesson files and Web Edition
If you purchased an eBook from peachpit.com or adobepress.com, your Web Edition will automatically appear under the Digital Purchases tab on your Account page. Click the Launch link to access the product. Continue reading to learn how to register your product to get access to the lesson files.
If you purchased an eBook from a different vendor or you bought a print book, you must register your purchase on peachpit.com in order to access the online content:
Go to www.peachpit.com/register.
Sign in or create a new account.
Enter the ISBN: 9780135298886.
Answer the questions as proof of purchase.
The Web Edition will appear under the Digital Purchases tab on your Account page. Click the Launch link to access the product.
The lesson files can be accessed through the Registered Products tab on your Account page. Click the Access Bonus Content link below the title of your product to proceed to the download page. Click the lesson file links to download them to your computer.
How to use the lessons
Each lesson in this book provides step-by-step instructions for creating one or more specific elements of a real-world project. Some lessons build on projects created in preceding lessons; most stand alone. All the lessons build on one another in terms of concepts and skills, so the best way to learn from this book is to proceed through the lessons in sequential order. In this book, some techniques and processes are explained and described in detail only the first few times you perform them.
You will create and publish a variety of final project files, such as animated GIFs, HTML files, videos, or AIR desktop applications, in the lessons in this book. The files in the End folders (01End, 02End, and so on) within the Lesson folders are samples of completed projects for each lesson. Use these files for reference if you want to compare your work in progress with the project files used to generate the sample projects.
The organization of the lessons is also project-oriented rather than feature-oriented. That means, for example, that you’ll work with symbols on real-world design projects over several lessons rather than in just one chapter.
Additional resources
Adobe Animate CC Classroom in a Book (2019 release) is not meant to replace documentation that comes with the program or to be a comprehensive reference for every feature. Only the commands and options used in the lessons are explained in this book. For comprehensive information about program features and tutorials, refer to these resources, which you can reach by choosing commands on the Help menu or by clicking links in the Start Screen:
Adobe Animate Learn and Support: You’ll find and browse Help and Support content at helpx.adobe.com/animate.html. You can also reach that page by choosing Help > Animate Help or by pressing F1. On the Learn & Support page, click User Guide for documentation on individual features, or visit helpx.adobe.com/animate/topics.html. Also on the Learn & Support page, click Animate CC manual (PDF) to download Help as a printable PDF document.
Animate tutorials: For a range of interactive tutorials on Animate CC features, choose Help > Animate Tutorial or visit helpx.adobe.com/animate/tutorials.html. A more limited set of tutorials is available within Animate itself by choosing Help > Learn or by clicking Learn on the Start screen.
Adobe Creative Cloud tutorials: For inspiration, key techniques, cross-product workflows, and updates on new features, go to the Creative Cloud tutorials page, helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/tutorials.html. Available to all.
Adobe forums: Tap into peer-to-peer discussions, questions, and answers on Adobe products at forums.adobe.com. The Adobe Animate CC forum is accessible by choosing Help > Adobe Online Forums.
Adobe Create: The online magazine Create offers thoughtful articles on design and design issues, a gallery showcasing the work of top-notch designers, tutorials, and more. Check it out at create.adobe.com.
Resources for educators: www.adobe.com/education and edex.adobe.com offer a treasure trove of information for instructors who teach classes on Adobe software. Find solutions for education at all levels, including free curricula that use an integrated approach to teaching Adobe software and can be used to prepare for the Adobe Certified Associate exams.
Also check out these useful sites:
Adobe Add-ons: creative.adobe.com/addons is a central resource for finding tools, services, extensions, code samples, and more to supplement and extend your Adobe products.
Adobe Animate CC product home page: www.adobe.com/products/animate.html
Adobe Authorized Training Centers
Adobe Authorized Training Centers offer instructor-led courses and training on Adobe products. A directory of AATCs is available at training.adobe.com/trainingpartners.
Contributor
Russell Chun is an assistant professor at the L. Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University, where he teaches multimedia storytelling, data journalism, and information design. He has been writing about Animate and its precursor, Flash, since 2000. His writings have appeared in SBS Design, MacWorld, and other instructional publications.