These puppets are experiments in using the new inverse kinematics tools built into the latest version of Adobe Flash. While designed to speed up the process of animating on the timeline, Adobe have included a limited possibility of exporting to runtime.
Ideally I would create a number of puppets that could be dragged onto a single stage, posed, with the possibility of adding backgrounds and props. I would then build in a screen capture facility so that the resulting cameo could be saved by the student as an illustration to their story.
Given the constrains of time and technical ability, I think that this is currently beyond my capabilities, it would be a major project in itself. Using the inverse kinematics tool will currently create a runtime movie that will display, but not a movie that can be nested within another movie. In relation to 'The Storyteller's Apprentice' I will have to be content with a number of individual movies that can be chosen from a database, perhaps silhouettes that represent the architypal characters; the hero, the dragon, the witch, the princess.
Despite the constrains even this little bit of interactivity, the ability to chose and pose a puppet, would add an element of play to the project.
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