Adding Key Frame Animation to a VirtualFriend™ 2 Email Movie

Users of this document must have VirtualFriend 2.x installed with Regular or Web Authoring licensing and familiarity with creating VirtualFriend email movies. For information on how to create email movies, please see the Email Movie document. This help document is divided into sections for easy reference. The topics appear in the table below.

Opening VirtualFriend and The Big Edit Window Inserting Marks to Animate an Email Movie

Opening VirtualFriend and The Big Edit Window

Marks are the locations programmed into your movie that tell your character where to move as it is performing your script. Marks allow you to create a sequence of fluid character movements that make your email movie appear animated.

1. Open VirtualFriend by double-clicking the VF icon on your desktop or by accessing the program through the Windows Start menu.

    The VirtualFriend interface window appears.
    You may want to click the Shut Up button, so you can have quiet while you work.

2. In the upper left corner of the interface window, click the exclamation mark icon button to access the control panels.

3. Keep clicking the exclamation mark icon button until the Authoring control panel appears on the right side of the interface
window.

4. In the Authoring control panel, click on the Big Edit Window button.

    The Big Edit Window appears with lines of text highlighted. The highlighted text is the script (and character commands)
    for the current VirtualFriend demo that you opened the program with.

5. In the Big Edit Window, delete the highlighted text.

    Note: The scripts and commands are not permanently deleted; they will reappear in the Big Edit Window when
    you close the program. The empty Big Edit Window is where you will add the text and commands for your email
    movie.

6. Drag the Big Edit Window to a comfortable location where you can use it and work with the VirtualFriend character.

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Inserting Marks to Animate an Email Movie

1. In the VF interface, use your right mouse button to drag your character to another spot in the window.

2. In the Big Edit Window, click the Insert Mark button.

    A line of code appears in the Big Edit Window that is the coordinate to the mark you placed in the script.

    Note: You can also use your left mouse button to turn the character's head or turn it in any position
    on an axis.

    Note: By moving your character and inserting a mark, you are instructing your character to move to that place,
    and the mark is the point where the character stops. Any character movement that you make with either the right or
    left mouse buttons can be registered by inserting a mark.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 above until you have all the marks inserted into your .vfe script.

4. To see the character move to the marks you have programmed, do the following:

• In the Big Edit Window, place your cursor at the beginning of the lines of code.
• Click the Walk Thru Marks button.

    Note: While you are inserting marks in your email movie, you can also insert any of the other VF character features,
    like morphs, changing its skin, emotions, voice pitch, changing the backgrounds, and more. Experiment with
    all the features. Have fun!

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