ptg 268 Chapter 9 With a classic tween, any color effect that can be applied to an instance can be transformed in a motion tween. You can tween any color properties applied to either the starting or ending keyframe. For example, if the starting keyframe in a motion tween is tinted red and the ending keyframe is tinted yellow, Flash will gradually change the tint of the object from red, through shades of orange to the final tint of yellow. Use these properties to create any number of color effects in your ani- mations. Additionally, you can tween the alpha of an object to make it appear to fade on and off the Stage. Adding Color Effects to a Classic Tween Add Color Effects to a Classic Tween Open a Timeline with a tweened animation or create a new one. Select the object on the Stage on either keyframe in the tween. Click the Color Styles list arrow in the Property Inspector, and then select an effect: Brightness, Tint, Alpha, or Advanced. Drag the slider to set the percentage of the Color Styles applied or enter a value in the entry field. TROUBLE? If the Color styles don't appear in the Property Inspector, you may have selected the keyframe in the Timeline and not the object on the Stage. To pr eview the animation, drag the playhead in the Timeline, or click the Control menu, point to Test Movie, and then click Test. Flash applies the tint gradually between the two keyframes. 5 4 3 2 1 2 5 First keyframe Alpha of 100% Last keyframe Alpha of 0% 3 Alpha and position tweened See Also See "Creating a Motion Tween" on page 242 for information on creating a motion tween. 4 1 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 9 Animating with Classic Tweening 269 If you want to implement motion that is smoother, or that follows a curve or some specific path, you can create a motion guide. A motion guide has its own layer just above the layer containing the object. Flash allows you to draw a line that you want your object to follow with any of the built-in drawing tools. Because this layer is a guide, it will be invisible in the exported Flash movie. Creating a Classic Motion Guide Layer Create a Classic Motion Guide Select the layer containing the classic motion tween. Right-click (Win) or Control-click the layer containing the classic tween, and then click Add Classic Motion Guide. Flash creates a new layer above the selected layer and indents the affected layer. TIMESAVER Press Control+click (Mac) or right-click (Win) the layer you want to add a motion guide to, and then click Add Motion Guide. Click on the motion guide layer to select it. Draw a line on the Stage with any of Flash's drawing tools to define the path your object will follow. 4 3 2 1 1 2 4 Any line can be used as a motion guide. 3 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 270 Chapter 9 Turn snapping on to easily animate along a classic motion guide. The center point of the object must be on the classic motion guide path for it to work, and snapping ensures that this happens. Once the classic motion guide is created, all you have to do is drag the object in the first and last frames of the tween to the classic motion path you drew and Flash will draw the in-between frames along this path. Animating Along a Classic Motion Guide Animate Along a Classic Motion Path Create a classic motion guide. Click on the first keyframe of the motion tween, and then click and drag the object on the Stage onto the start of the motion path. The object snaps to the motion path. TROUBLE? If the object doesn't snap to the motion path, verify that the Snap setting is turned on in the Property Inspector for this frame. The objects on both the beginning and ending keyframe must be snapped to the motion guide line for the motion to follow the guide line. Click on the last keyframe of the motion tween, and then click and drag the object on the Stage onto the end of the motion path. The object follows the line you drew located in the motion guide layer. 3 2 1 3 See Also See "Creating a Classic Motion Guide Layer" on page 269 for information on creating a motion guide. 1 2 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 9 Animating with Classic Tweening 271 When objects are tweened along a classic motion path, they remain in their native orientation regardless of the path. For certain objects, such as a circle, this is ok. For more complex objects, you must rotate the object so that it follows the path in a more naturalistic way. A good example of this sort of orientation in motion is in the path a car takes while driving down a road-the car must rotate gradually as the road curves to remain parallel with the road, and so, avoid disaster. Flash can do this work for you when you set the Orient To Path option in the motion tween settings. Orienting Objects to a Classic Motion Path Animate Along a Classic Motion Path Animate an object along a classic motion guide. Click on the first keyframe of the motion tween to select it. Select the Orient To Path check box in the Property Inspector. The object will automatically rotate to remain parallel with the motion guide. 3 2 1 Twe ening along a mot ion guide without orientation can seem unnatural. Orient to Path makes sure the baseline is always parallel. See Also See "Animating Along a Classic Motion Guide" on page 270 for information on creating animation using a motion guide. 2 3 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 272 Chapter 9 With a classic tween, you can customize easing in or out of a motion tween using the Edit button in the Property Inspector. The ease in and out of a motion tween is the rate at which the change of location is applied to an object. You can make an object move back and forth on the Stage within a single tween or create more complex tweens. Flash displays a graph representing the degree of motion in frames over time. The percentage of change is the vertical axis and the number of frames is the horizontal axis. The rate of change of the object is indicated by the slope of the graph’s curve. Easing In and Out of a Classic Tween Set Ease In and Out Motion Tween Properties Click the Window menu, and then click Properties to open the Property Inspector. Select a keyframe with motion tween applied. Click the Edit button in the Property Inspector. Select or clear the Use One Setting For All Properties check box. Select it (default) to customize one curve, clear it to customize a curve for each curve property (Position, Rotation, Scale, Color, and Filters). If cleared, use the Property list arrow to select a curve. Click a point on the ease line to add a control point, and then drag the control point to change ease in and out. You can add and change multiple points. Drag a tangent point (hollow circles on the sides of a control point) to further change ease in and out. Click the Play or Stop buttons to try the customized ease settings. To re set setting to the default, click Reset. Click OK. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 4 85 7 6 Last keyframe at 100% First keyframe at 0%; square handles (control points) represent frame indicators. Click a control point (square handle) to display its keyframe and % of change. 3 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Animating with Shape Tweening Introduction Shape tweening works similarly to motion tweening. It fol- lows the same structure of keyframing in the Timeline. You can animate many of the same changes such as alpha, color, scale, and position, though its main purpose is to transform the shape of an object into another shape. Whereas motion tweening is applied to groups and symbols, shape tweening must be applied to an editable shape. You can determine whether an object is editable by selecting it with the Selection tool—if it doesn't have a bounding box when selected, shape tweening can be applied. The reason for this is that when you convert a shape into a symbol, you are essentially protecting it from editing by storing it in its own Timeline. To apply shape tweening to a symbol, you must enter symbol editing mode and apply it to the shape con- tained inside the symbol. Shapes are created with any of Flash's drawing tools, such as the Oval or Rectangle tools. By making changes to the shape with any of Flash's editing tools, you can change the contours of the shape (for exam- ple, turn a circle into a square) and then use shape tweening to make this change happen gradually over time. Because the results of a shape tween can be unpredictable, you can set shape hints to let Flash know how to proceed with the tween. This is useful when you are working with complex shapes such as letterforms. In all cases you should only tween one shape at a time in a tweened span for best results. In addition to shape tweening, you can also animate shapes using Inverse Kinematics (IK), which allows you to stretch and bend shape objects and link groups of symbol instances to make them move together in naturalistic ways using an internal structure of bones to create character ani- mation. 10 10 What You’ll Do Use Shape Tweening Create a Shape Tween Add and Remove Keyframes from a Shape Tween Change Shape Positions with Shape Tweening Change Shape Position and Form Simultaneously Adjust Shape Tween Properties Change Shape Tweening Color and Alpha Options Use Shape Hints Create Animation Using ActionScript Use Inverse Kinematics Add Bones to an Armature Edit Armatures and Bones Bind Bones 273 From the Library of Wow! eBook . in-between frames along this path. Animating Along a Classic Motion Guide Animate Along a Classic Motion Path Create a classic motion guide. Click on the first keyframe of the motion tween, and. Path option in the motion tween settings. Orienting Objects to a Classic Motion Path Animate Along a Classic Motion Path Animate an object along a classic motion guide. Click on the first. exported Flash movie. Creating a Classic Motion Guide Layer Create a Classic Motion Guide Select the layer containing the classic motion tween. Right-click (Win) or Control-click the layer containing