I’ve been thinking about it.  I use the cooking analogy a lot in class – both Flash and HTML/CSS.  I think I use it a lot in other situations too.  Basically, I boil it down to this:  in order to understand a thing, you have to be able to break it down into the basic ingredients and see how they combined in the first place.

Since my Flash class is almost over, I’ll use it as an example.  When you decide you’re going to build something, like say, a cartoon, you start out with your basics – the concept, maybe a few paper sketches, initial storyboards, etc.  None of these have anything to do with Flash or ActionScript coding.  Thing is, can’t go any further into Flash until you have these bits done.

That’s like your trip to the grocery store, just to get:

1. Tomatoes
2. garlic
3. fresh basil
4. ground beef
5. Angel Hair pasta
6. Red wine
7. Oregano
8. Parsley
9. Cayenne pepper
10. 1 16-oz can of tomato sauce
11. marinated mozzarella balls
12. Olive Oil (both extra virgin and regular)

That’s an extensive list, you need to keep your kitchen better stocked… As you can see, the basic concept is a pasta of some kind. Now what? Can’t throw it all into a pot and magically have everything come out tasty.  Just like Flash, you have to do some prep work. So first you have to identify ingredients (cooking) or identify animations (have a cat running across the screen?  How will it animate?  Should you separate out the limbs into their own animations?

If you’re animating a cat running down an alley, that’s like the sauce for our pasta. The alley is the pasta, and any assorted bit and pieces might be the garnish at the end.  Hey, it’s not a perfect analogy, but it works…

Your pasta (the alley scene) needs to be prepped and ready to go for when the kitty (or sauce) runs through it and really mixes up this metaphor all to… (dare I say it?) pot.

I don’t know how you plan on drawing this alley, but like pasta, it needs to be cognizant of the kitty that’s going to run through it (or mixed into it, whatever).  A good pasta will complement the sauce, in the same way a good background really makes your animation punch out. And you definitely want the pasta ready when the sauce is ready, so let’s get a pot of water boiling.  Toss in the Angel Hair and keep an eye on it, you want it al dente. Once it’s ready, drain and put back in the pot. Once your background is ready, make it a movie clip and save it for later.

So, if the garlic represents the legs of the cat, you can animate these individually, so you don’t have to built it all at once.  In the case of garlic, smash with the broad side of a chef knife (or a santoku – I like those better), THEN remove the peels (they come off easier this way).  Now dice and set aside (I’m assuming you have prep bowls?

In Flash, FYI, the prep bowls are the library…  and what each little bowl holds are movie clips, graphics and or buttons.

Back to this kitty running down the alley – does the head need to animate?  Maybe not, so you draw a single image of the head (kinda like opening the can of tomato sauce and moving to the side by the prep bowls).

The kitty’s tail will move around a lot, you’ll want to animate that.  Like tomatoes that need to add textures to the sauce.  Chop up the tomatoes.  Into a prep bowl!

The kitty’s body may not need to be animated, like the ground beef, it waits for the other bits to influence it.  Draw it and put it in a prep bowl to the side!

Now we combine all these bits.  The running kitty (or the pasta sauce) both need to be set up properly.  In the case of the sauce, we need to saute the garlic first.  One large sauce pan over high heat, use the light olive oil, and brown the garlic.  In flash, make a new movieclip and put the kitty’s legs in the first layers.  Once the garlic is browned, add in the ground beef. Or put the kitty body layer over the legs (since the front facing legs may need to be in layers above the kitty’s body, you’ll want to put the body layer in-between the legs – or in the sauce, stir till the beef browns).

What’s next?  The kitty needs it’s head, so put that into the movie clip in it’s own layer. That’s the tomato sauce, FYI…  Tail gets placed in too.  Toss in the chopped tomatoes.  Spruce up the kitty, go back and add some nice touches maybe to the striping on the head and tail. That’s the oregano, and other spices.  Still needs a little extra oomph?  Pour in some of that red wine.  Now, let the fully animated kitty sit in your library.  Or let the mixed sauce simmer for a little – lastly add the basil (tear it by hand).

Now let’s grab that background alley (or pasta), put it into the main timeline (or bring it in front of you), add the kitty (or sauce) on a layer on top (pour it on!).  Get any little extra bits on a layer above the kitty, to add depth (say, garbage cans to run between).  With the pasta, you’re adding those mozzarella balls.

In flash, you may want to add a “start” button or something for the animation to start.  In cooking, that’s called a fork.  Please also notice, no onions were needed to make a delicious pasta.

I’ve gone and rambled again…  So, the thing I seem to ask all the time, both to students and friends in general.  Did I just make any sense?