ptg 262 Chapter 9 The frame rate describes the amount of frames the Flash Player will play each second. The higher you set the frame rate, the smoother your animations will play. Traditional animations play at a rate of 24 frames per second, the same rate at which film plays, while NTSC video plays at 29.97 frames per second. It is important to keep your audience in mind and what the destination of the Flash movie will be. For delivery via the Web, you should consider the processor speeds of the destina- tion computers. If you set the frame rate too high, the computer may not be powerful enough to play all of the frames. When this happens, Flash will drop frames in order to stay in sync. Try to avoid this scenario because it can make your animations play choppily. Consider where your Flash movie is going to be played and choose accordingly. Avoid frame rates over 30 fps, and, for slower computers, you can go as low as 12 fps, which is the default frame rate in Flash. Changing the Frame Rate Change Frame Rate Click a blank area on the Stage. Click in the Frame Rate field in the Property Inspector or at the bottom of the Timeline, and then type in a frame rate. 2 1 Document settings appear in the Property Inspector when nothing is selected on the Stage or the Timeline. The frame rate is also available to change at the bottom of the Timeline. 2 Did You Know? You can also change the frame rate in the Document options window. Access this window by clicking the Document button in the Property Inspector or in the Modify menu. The frame rate is ignored for FLV Flash video. You need to set its frame rate in the encoder or editing application. From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 9 Animating with Classic Tweening 263 With a classic tween, use the Reverse Frames command to reverse the frames in the Timeline. You can access this action in the Modify menu and it will be applied to all selected frames. This works for animations created frame-by-frame or with motion or shape tweening applied. Flash changes the order of the frames so your animation plays back- wards. Reversing Frames Reverse Frames Click and drag on the range of the frame span or tween you want to reverse. Click the Modify menu, point to Timeline, and then click Reverse Frames. TROUBLE? If the tween is not preserved when you use the reverse frames command, you might not have applied motion or shape tweening to the end keyframe in the tween. Flash only requires you to apply tweening to the starting keyframe in a tween. It is implied that it tweens into the next (or end) keyframe. To fix this, do one of the following: (1) Before you reverse frames, select the end keyframe and apply Motion (for motion tweening) or Shape (for shape tweening) to it from the Property Inspector. (2) After you reverse frames, select the beginning keyframe (which use to be the end keyframe) and apply Motion (for motion tweening) or Shape (for shape tweening) to it from the Property Inspector. 2 1 Frames before reversing Click and drag to select a range of frames Frames after reversing Did You Know? You can select an entire layer and reverse all the frames on that layer. To select an entire layer, click the layer name to select it, and then reverse frames. From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 264 Chapter 9 With a classic tween, you can add keyframes to a motion tween by simply dragging the object on the Stage on the frame on which you want the change (or keyframe) to be created or by using the Add Keyframe function in the Insert menu. For example, if you want the object to move to another coordinate before it reaches the end posi- tion, you can set another keyframe between them. In this way, you can animate shapes in several directions in the same motion tween. Alternately, you can clear a keyframe from the tween by selecting it and using the Clear Keyframe function in the Modify menu. In either case, the length of the tween is preserved; the frame’s status as a keyframe is removed and Flash redraws the animation, connecting the keyframes located before and after. Adding and Removing Keyframes from a Classic Tween Add a Keyframe to a Classic Tween Click on a frame in a tweened framespan you want to add a keyframe to. Click the Insert menu, point to Timeline, and then click Keyframe. TIMESAVER Press F6 to insert a keyframe. 2 1 1 Keyframe is added Did You Know? You can click and drag the object on the Stage and move it to another coor- dinate. Flash automatically creates a keyframe on the active frame if the playhead is in a motion tweened framespan. From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 9 Animating with Classic Tweening 265 Remove a Keyframe from a Classic Tween Click on the keyframe you want to remove in the motion tween. Click the Modify menu, point to Timeline, and then click Clear Keyframe. The keyframe is cleared but the duration of the tween is preserved. The first and last keyframe are automatically reconnected and Flash redraws the tween. TIMESAVER Press Shift+F6 to remove the keyframe. 2 1 1 Keyframe is removed Duration is maintained From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 266 Chapter 9 With a classic tween, any change made to an object on either keyframe can be tweened. Included are any changes made to the scale or rotation of objects on either keyframes in a tweened span. Simply alter the size or rotation of the instance on either frame, and Flash gradually tweens these properties. To change scale, you must select the scale option in the Property Inspector, while rotation has several options to choose from, including clockwise and counter-clockwise rotation, and frequency of rotation. Scaling and Rotating a Classic Tween Change Scale During a Classic Tween Open a document with a tweened animation or create a new one. Select the first keyframe in the tween to open the Motion settings in the Property Inspector. Select the Scale check box in the Property Inspector. Change the size of the object on either keyframe with any of Flash's transform methods including the Free Transform tool, the Transform panel or the transform options in the Modify menu. To previ ew th e ani ma tion, dra g the playhead in the Timeline, or click the Control menu, point to Test Movie, and then click Test. Flash gradually increases or decreases the size of the object. TIMESAVER Press A +Return (Mac) or Ctrl+Enter (Win) to test it. 5 4 3 2 1 4 First keyframe Last keyframe 3 Scale and position changes tweened 2 1 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 9 Animating with Classic Tweening 267 Change Rotation During Classic Tween Open a document with a tweened animation or create a new one. Change the rotation of the object on either keyframe with any of Flash's transform methods including the Free Transform tool, the Transform panel or the transform options in the Modify menu. In the Property Inspector, click the Rotation Options list arrow, and then select a rotation property: ◆ None. This is the default setting. No rotation is applied. ◆ Auto. Rotates the object in the direction requiring the least motion. ◆ CW. Rotates the object clockwise. Enter the number of times you want the object to rotate. ◆ CCW. Rotates the object counter-clockwise. Enter the number of times you want the object to rotate. To previ ew th e ani ma tion, dra g the playhead in the Timeline, or click the Control menu, point to Test Movie, and then click Test. Flash gradually rotates the object in the direction indicated. 4 3 2 1 First keyframe Last keyframe 2 Rotation and position changes tweened 1 3 From the Library of Wow! eBook . frames the Flash Player will play each second. The higher you set the frame rate, the smoother your animations will play. Traditional animations play at a rate of 24 frames per second, the same. click the Rotation Options list arrow, and then select a rotation property: ◆ None. This is the default setting. No rotation is applied. ◆ Auto. Rotates the object in the direction requiring. instance on either frame, and Flash gradually tweens these properties. To change scale, you must select the scale option in the Property Inspector, while rotation has several options to choose