Students frequently turn to Computer Class 11 GSEB Solutions and GSEB Computer Textbook Solutions Class 11 Chapter 2 Animation Tool: Synfig for practice and self-assessment.
GSEB Computer Textbook Solutions Class 11 Chapter 2 Animation Tool: Synfig
Question 1.
What are authoring tools ? List different types of authoring tools.
Answer:
To create a multimedia presentation using these building blocks we need application programs known as “Multimedia Authoring Tools”.
| No. | Class | Example |
| 1 | Card or Page based tools | Hyper card, Multimedia Toolbox |
| 2 | Icon and Event based authoring tools | Authorware, IconAuthor |
| 3 | Time based authoring tools | Synfig, Pencil, Flash, Director |
Question 2.
What is the purpose of gradient tool ? , State the use of four types of gradient learned in this chapter.
Answer:
The Gradient tool is used to create smooth transitions between two or more colors in an object. There are four types of gradient tool.
- Linear : This produces a simple transition in a straight line.
- Radial: This produces circular colors with the transition being at the center of those circles
- Conical : This has the appearance of looking down on a tip of a cone.
- Spiral: This produces a spiral gradient.
Question 3.
Briefly explain the three palettes of toolbox window.
Answer:
- Toolbox is the main window.
- It contains system menu and tools to create and edit your artwork.
- Closing the toolbox exits the application.
- Even if you have several projects open there will only be one Toolbox for all.
- Using the toolbox we can create a new file, open an existing file, save the file and setup properties. 4 > The toolbox also contains the general tools like circle, rectangle, transform and others, for creating and editing an object.
- The toolbox window is separated into three areas or palette :
- The Upper Palette
- The Middle Palette
- The Lowest Palette
(1) The Upper Palette :
- Work related to the file can be done.
- It contains buttons for standard file operations like create a new file, open a file, save, save all files, undo and redo as well as access to the settings dialog and the help system.
(2) The Middle Palette :
- In the middle palette we have the tools like circle, rectangle, transform and others.
- It is useful for creating and manipulating an object.
- It has 18 tools like…
The lowest palette :
The lowest palette contains the default settings for new layers like :
(A) Foreground and Background Color
- It creates the fill and the outline colors for the object.
- When we create a layer without outline then it has only fill color.
- We can change the color by clicking on fill or outline color.
(B) Brush Size
Sets the size of the line for new outline layers.
(C) Blend Method
- It sets the blend method.
- It is set to “By layer default”.
(D) Opacity
- It controls the layers visibility.
- 0 means the layer is invisible and 1 means the layer is visible.
(E) Gradient
- Used by Gradient layers as their fill.
- It sets to a default gradient between the foreground color and background color.
(F) Interpolation
- Each waypoint has an interpolation setting.
- It determines the manner in which the parameter changes.
Question 4.
List the important panels and their function.
Answer:
panels
- Synfig has different type of panels like layers, parameter, history etc.
- Panels contain tools and information about certain elements of your project.
- Some panels will allow you to modify these elements.
- The two windows on the bottom and to the right are customizable dock dialogs.
- Each dock dialog contains a set of panels which are arranged horizontally or vertically.
- Some panels share the same space inside the dock dialog and we can switch between them by clicking
on their tabs. - We can rearrange the contents of dock dialogs by dragging the panel tab to where we want it.
- If accidentally we close a panel go to the Toolbox, select File → Panels and click on the name of the
panel you need. Then drag the panel into the dock dialog where you want to place it.
Some Important Panels :
(1) Layers Panel
- Displays the layers of working canvas.
- Allows to manipulate the layers.
(2) Params Panel
- Shows the currently selected layer parameters.
- When multiple layers are selected, only the parameters that are common in the selected layers are displayed.
(3) Tool Options Panel
Shows options that are specific to the currently selected tool.
(4) Navigator
- Shows a thumbnail image of what the currently selected canvas look like.
- We can also zoom in and move the focus around.
(5) History Panel
- Keeps track of all the actions that are done while editing the file.
- The checkbox column is used to disable specific actions without going through the entire action list.
- If we want to redo or undo an action or group of actions just click on the check box.
Question 5.
Choose the most appropriate option from those given below :
1) The elements are organized as pages of a book or pile of cards in which of the following forms ?
(A) Card or page based tools
(B) Icon and event based tools
(C) Time based tools
(D) Animation tools
Answer:
(A) Card or page based tools
2) Which of the following tool helps in changing the color of objects ?
(A) Draw
(B) Fill
(C) Circle
(D) Rectangle
Answer:
(B) Fill
3) Synfig Studio represents which of the following type of authoring tools ?
(A) Time based authoring tool
(B) Event based authoring tool
(C) Page based authoring tool
(D) Icon based authoring tool
Answer:
(A) Time based authoring tool
4) Which of the following terms represents the number of palettes a toolbox window separated into ?
(A) Two
(B) Three
(C) Four
(D) Five
Answer:
(B) Three
5) Which of the following is the file extension of a file created in Synfig Studio ?
(A) .fiz
(B) .sifz
(C) .zif
(D) .fis
Answer:
(B) .sifz
6) Which of the following panel shows the currently selected layer parameter ?
(A) Layer
(B) Params
(C) Timetrack
(D) History
Answer:
(B) Params
7) Which of the following represents the colour of the duck used to change the radius of the circle ?
(A) Green
(B) Yellow
(C) Orange
(D) Blue
Answer:
(D) Blue
8) Which of the following tools is used to make objects with any number of points and curves ?
(A) BLine
(B) Circle
(C) Rectangle
(D) Star
Answer:
(A) BLine
9) Which of the following tools is used to create smooth transitions between two or more colours in an object ?
(A) Width
(B) Fill
(C) Eyedrop
(D) Gradient
Answer:
(D) Gradient
10) Which of the following gradient produces simple transition in a straight line ?
(A) Conical
(B) Radial
(C) Linear
(D) Spiral
Answer:
(C) Linear
11) Authorware and IconAuthor are examples of which of the following types of tools ?
(A) Card or page based tools
(B) Icon and event based tools
(C) Time based tools
(D) Animation tools
Answer:
(B) Icon and event based tools
12) Which of the following animation software lets you create traditional hand- drawn animation ?
(A) Pencil
(B) Synfig
(C) Flash
(D) Director
Answer:
(A) Pencil
13) Which of the following are two important parameters of circle tool ?
(A) Centre, diameter
(B) Diameter, point
(C) Radius, diameter
(D) Centre, radius
Answer:
(D) Centre, radius
14) Which of the following terms represent a handle used to control some parameter of the layer ?
(A) Point
(B) Tool
(C) Duck
(D) Panel
Answer:
(C) Duck
15) The duck used to change the position of the object has which of the following colour ?
(A) Green
(B) Blue
(C) Red
(D) Yellow
Answer:
(A) Green
16) The layers visibility is controlled by which of the following operations ?
(A) Opacity
(B) Gradient
(C) Interpolation
(D) Blend
Answer:
(A) Opacity
17) Which of the following tools allow you to enter text by creating a text layer ?
(A) Circle
(B) Text
(C) Draw
(D) Fill
Answer:
(B) Text
Computer Class 11 GSEB Notes Chapter 2 Animation Tool: Synfig
Authoring Tools And Its Types
To create a multimedia presentation using these building blocks we need application programs known as “Multimedia Authoring Tools”.
These authoring tools provide the important framework to organize and edit the multimedia elements like graphics, sound, video and animation.
Generally, the authoring tools are classified into three categories :
(1) Card or Page based tools :
- In Card or Page based authoring tools the elements are organized as pages of a book or pile of cards.
- The authoring tool links these pages into an organized sequence.
- These types of tool are useful when the different elements can be viewed individually like the pages of a book.
- Some examples of card based authoring tools are HyperCard and Multimedia Toolbox etc.
(2) Icon and Event based tools :
- In Icon and Event based authoring tools the elements are organized as objects in a structural framework or process.
- Here you need to build the flowchart of the events or tasks and then add the elements as per the structure.
- Some examples of icon and event based authoring tools are Authorware and IconAuthor.
(3) Time based tools :
- In Time based authoring tools the elements are organized along a timeline.
- They are useful when you want to give a message that has a beginning and an end.
- The elements are displayed as per the time or location of the events.
- Time based authoring tools are the most popular amongst all.
- Some examples of time based authoring tools are Synfig, Pencil, Flash and Director.
There are many multimedia tools available in the market. Some of these tools are proprietary while others are open source.
Some of the open source animation tools easily available on internet are Pencil and Synfig.
Pencil
- Pencil is a 2D animation software that lets you create traditional hand-drawn animation using both bitmap and vector graphics.
- It can be freely downloaded from http:/ /www.pencil-animation.org.
- It is available on various operating systems like Linux, Windows and MacOS X.
- The interface of Pencil Software looks quite similar to other animation or drawing softwares.
- In pencil animation software, you can create good animation if you are good at free hand drawing instead of object drawing.
Synfig Studio
- Synfig Studio is a time based multimedia authoring tool that falls in the category of open source.
- It is available free of cost on the internet and can be downloaded from http: / / www.synfig.org.
- Synfig Studio (or simply Synfig) is 2D vector animation software released in 2005 under the GNU GPL (General Public License).
- It is designed to produce film-quality animation with fewer people and resources.
- It is available on various operating systems like Linux, Windows and , MacOS X.
- The first version of Synfig was 0.61.05 and new versions have been regularly launched with additional features till date.
- The latest version of Synfig is 0.63.05.
- Since it is not available as a standard package in Ubuntu Linux, we need to install it first.
- Once installed, it will be available under the Graphics option of Applications menu.
- Synfig stores animations in XML (extensible markup language) file format.
- File is often compressed using compression software gzip which stands for GNU zip.
- These files use the filename extension ,sif in uncompressed form or .sifz in compressed form.
Getting Started in Synfig
- To start Synfig, in the menu bar click Applications → Graphics → Synfig.
- When you start Synfig Studio you must have observed that it does not start in one window, but opens
a number of individual windows on the desktop. - We can drag the windows to change its size.
- If you want to reset the Synfig studio window to default window arrangement, Select Toolbox → File menu → Panels → Reset Windows to Original Layout.
- The components in the user interface are: (1) Toolbox (2) Canvas and (3) Panels.
Canvas
- When you open a new file or create a new project you will see the canvas window.
- It can be seen at the center of the user interface.
- This is the place where you display your artwork and create animation.
- Whenever we start Synfig studio a new canvas window appears.
- The area with the grey check-board pattern is the working area in which you can create elements/layers and manipulate them.
- In the upper left corner of the canvas window you can see ‘Caret’ a little black triangle.
- Clicking on this button, the canvas window menu will pop up which allows access to most of the Synfig features.
- Generally, in most of the applications you find the set of menus at the top of the screen or at the top of the drawing window.
- You can also see the timeline which appears only when you have non-zero duration in the settings dialog of your project.
- To the left you can see the number of the current frame.
- On the right side two buttons are there.
- To lock/unlock the keyframes a button is there named “Unlock Past Keyframes”
- To switch the animation status a button is there named “Turn on animation editing mode.”
Creating a New File
- Select ToolBox → New option.
- Click on the Caret → Edit → Properties.
- You can set the name of the file and give a description to your animation.
- In the window, you can see three tabs namely (1) Image (2)Time (3) Other.
- The Image tab is used to set the image size and image area.
- The Time tab is used for setting the start time, end time and frames per second.
- Using other tab under “Locks and Links”, we can control Image Width, Image Height, Image Aspect, Image Span, Pixel Width, Pixel Height, Pixel Aspect etc.
- After creating the file and setting properties, we can now start creating our artwork and animation.
Tools
- Tools help you to create the artwork for your multimedia project.
- Synfig provides various tools to create and manipulate an object.
- Each tool has its own set of options and parameters.
- Tools are visible in the tool options panel.
- Parameters are visible in the parameter panel.
- When you select a particular tool, the tool options panel displays the options that are available for that tool.
Circle Tool 
- The Circle tool is used to create a new circle layer. Circle layers are used to represent circles.
- A circle has two important parameters centre and radius.
- We can see the parameters in the parameter panel.
- We can change any of the parameter after drawing the object.
- To draw a circle select the circle tool.
- Click in the working area where you want the center of the circle to be and then drag to set the radius.
- If we select the Create Outline BLine option then the circle object will be created with and outline.
- We can also use the Tools options panel to change the name or circle layer.
- We can create additional layers using the checkboxes like create outline layer which is used to create
and outline around the circle. - To increase the radius of the circle or move the circle then click on the duck.
- If ducks are not visible then click on the transform tool to see the ducks.
Duck
- A duck is a handle that is used to control some parameter of a layer.
- A circle will have two ducks.
- To control the position of its centre.
- To control its radius.
- We can see the green and blue colored ducks.
- Ducks come in different color and they have specific meaning.
- The color of the duck signifies a change in the following aspects of the object.
(1) Green – position of the object
(2) Blue – radius of the circle.
(3) Orange – vertices
(4) Yellow – curves
(5) Dark blue – to change the angle in star - Ducks are displayed in the work area for all the currently selected layers.
- We have to drag the ducks to change the parameters.
- For more precise control, the cursor keys can be used.
- If we want to constrain the movement to be either horizontal or vertical then hold down the shift key while dragging.
- Sometimes, one type of duck interferes or gets into the way of another duck.
- We can turn the ducks on/off by selecting the option present on the top of the canvas window.
Rectangle Tool 
- It is used to create a rectangle layer.
- To draw a rectangle, it is selected.
- Click where we want any corner of the rectangle to be and then drag to the opposite corner.
- We can see the tool options available in the tool options panel.
- The parameters are displayed in the parameter panel.
- As we have two objects on the working area, the parameter panel displays the parameters that are common to circle and rectangle.
- This way we can change a single parameter to make changes in all the objects.
- If we want to see the parameters of only the rectangle object, then in the layers panel we can select
rectangle layer which will display the parameters of rectangle only. - We can make changes to the rectangle by selecting the duck and then dragging it.
Star 
and Polygon Tool 
- We can use the star and polygon tool to create the star layer and polygon layer.
- The only change that you can see is while editing them.
- The ducks for each shape is different and change accordingly.
- To make a star, click the star tool and then drag in the working area.
- A polygon can be created using any number of points and then click on the first point to close it.
BLine Tool 
- Bline tool is used to make objects with any number of points and curves.
- Click on the Bline tool and start inserting the points.
- To stop drawing the object, right click on the last point.
- The object can be edited using the ducks.
Draw Tool 
- We must be familiar with the draw tool as it is the most common tool used for drawing.
- We can draw with the help of mouse.
Fill Tool 
- The Fill tool changes the color of objects.
- To fill a color in the object, select the color from the color palette.
- Select the Fill tool button and then click on the object.
- This tool has an effect on the following layers:
- Circle Layer
- Rectangle Layer
- Polygon Layer
- Star Layer
- Region Layer
- Outline Layer
- Checkboard Layer
- The other layers are not affected by this tool because they use gradient to fill the visual area.
Eyedrop tool 
- The Eyedrop tool allows you to select colors from the work area.
- Select the Eyedrop tool and then click in the work area to set the default foreground color in the
Eyedrop tool to be the color you are currently pointing at.
Gradient Tool 
- The Gradient tool is used to create smooth transitions between two or more colors in an object.
- When you select the Gradient tool, the tool options panel will show the options for the Gradient tool.
- It allows you to set a name for the layer and choose the type of gradient.
- There are four types of gradients namely linear, radial, conical and spiral.
(1) Linear :
- This produces a simple transition in a straight line.
- Set the foreground and background colors.
- Click where you want the gradient to begin and drag to where you want the transition to end.
- The gradient will be created perpendicular to the line you drag out.
- We can edit the gradient by moving the end point in any direction using the normal tool.
(2) Radial :
- This produces circular colors with the transition being at the center of those circles.
- Click where you want the center of the circles to be, and drag to set the radius of the transition.
(3) Conical :
- This has the appearance of looking down on a tip of a cone.
- The gradient is along the circular are of the center and goes in all directions.
- Click to set the center and drag to indicate the direction in which the foreground and background colors should go.
- The center endpoint adjusts the center of the gradient and the other endpoint adjusts the direction of the gradient.
(4) Spiral :
This produces a spiral gradient. Click to set the center of the spiral and drag to set the ‘tightness’.
Text tool 
- Text tool allows you to enter text by creating a text layer. Select the text tool icon from the toolbox and then click in the canvas window where you want the text layer to be created.
- A dialog box will appear, allowing you to enter the text you want in the created layer.
- A new text layer created along with its ducks.
- Using the parameter panel we can change the entered text later on according to our need.
- The tool options panel will allow us to:
- Select the name for the new layer; this number will increase as we add new layer.
- Select single or multi line editor for entering the text.
- If single line is selected then click the enter key to submit the value while, in multiline editor, click the OK button to submit the value.
- Select the horizontal and vertical size of the text.
- Select the ‘orientation’ of the text. By default (0.5, 0.5) is selected which means that the text will be centered around the point you clicked on.
- Select the font family.
Zoom Tool 
- The Zoom tool is used to get a closer or far away view of the objects in the working area. 4 The zooming does not affect the output results.
- It is used to just view the objects from close or far range.
Width Tool 
- The Width tool helps to increase or decrease the width of a line.
- It acts like the way you use pencil to make a line thicker or eraser to make it thinner.
- Select the outline layer to change the width on particular segment of a line and then move mouse over that line. Press the left mouse button and move cursor back and forth along the line.
- The width of outline will be increased at the places where you moved the cursor.
- To decrease the width hold “CTRL” key while moving the cursor.
- This tool is used to fine tune the line width.
Transform Tool 
- Transform tool allows you to select objects and to move, rotate or scale the ducks.
- Select the object on the canvas window and click the transform tool.
- If the object cannot get selected as it is obscured by another layer then you can select its layer in the layer panel.
- This will display the ducks of the object.
- Select the duck and make the change according to your need.
Smooth Move Tool 
- Smooth move tool works just like transform tool, except when multiple ducks are selected.
- Select multiple ducks by pressing CTRL + A or dragging a rectangle around the ducks.
- Now when you drag one of the selected duck, the other selected ducks will also move along with it.
Scale Tool 
- It is similar to Smooth Move Tool.
- When we select multiple ducks and drag one of the selected ducks the other selected ducks will scale relative to the centre of the selected group.
Rotate Tool 
- It is similar to Smooth Move Tool and Scale Tool.
- As in smooth move and scale tool, when we select multiple ducks and drag one of the selected ducks the other selected ducks will move rotating about the centre of the selected group.
Different Types of Tools And Uses
