Animations and Backdrops in Scratch

1What is animation?

An animation is a set of pictures that change little by little, so things seem to move. In Scratch, you animate a sprite by moving it, turning it or changing its costume.

2Step 1: choose sprites and a backdrop

1. Start a new project. Delete the cat by clicking the small bin on its picture in the sprite list.
2. Click Choose a Sprite and add the Rocketship and the Earth.
3. Click Choose a Backdrop and add Stars.

3Step 2: make the rocket fly

Click the rocket and build this script:

when green flag clicked
go to x: -150 y: -150
say Let's go! for 2 seconds
point towards Earth
glide 1 secs to x: 0 y: 0

x tells how far left or right the sprite is, and y how far up or down. The middle of the stage is x: 0, y: 0.

Another way to animate is a loop: repeat 200 [ move 2 steps ]. Lots of tiny moves look like one smooth flight.

4Step 3: a spinning monkey

Add the Monkey sprite and give it: when green flag clicked, forever [ turn 1 degrees ]. A forever loop never ends, so click the stop sign to stop it.

5Walking with costumes

Many sprites have several costumes, for example a cat with its legs in different places. Switch between them to make it walk:

6Coding the backdrop

The stage can have its own code too. Click the stage (under the backdrop button), add a second backdrop, and use Looks blocks:

• switch backdrop to Stars: shows one backdrop.
• next backdrop: moves to the next one, like turning a page.

For example: when green flag clicked, switch backdrop to Stars, wait 5 seconds, switch backdrop to Moon. A sprite can react with the Events block when backdrop switches to Moon.

Try it yourself

Try each one first, then tap Show answer to check.