ptg 230 Chapter 7 In addition to moving the playhead in the Timeline to view your anima- tion, commonly called scrubbing, Flash provides a controller to navi- gate the Timeline. The Controller resembles the transport controls on a VCR and can be used in the same way. Additionally, you can export your Flash document into a Flash movie (a .swf file). You do this to see your Flash movie in its final state, as there are some elements that are not viewable in the Flash Development environment, such as anima- tions contained in movie clip symbols and ActionScript functionality. To preview basic animations from their own Timeline, you can use the Controller to preview them. Playing an Animation Use the Controller to Play an Animation Click the Window menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Controller. To stop the animation, click Stop. To rewind to the first frame of the animation, click Rewind To Beginning. To step back one frame, click Step Back. TIMESAVER Press the < key to step back a frame. To play or stop the animation, click Play. TIMESAVER Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Win) to play if stopped or to stop if playing. To step forward one frame, click Step Forward. TIMESAVER Press the > key to step forward a frame. To fast-forward to the end of the animation, click Go To End. 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 3 5 2 4 6 1 7 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 7 Creating Frame-by-Frame Animation 231 Test Animation in the Flash Player Click the Control menu, point to Test Movie, and then click Test. The Test command tests the movie based on the current test option. Flash uses the document type the default until you change it. For the in Flash Professional test option, Flash exports the entire Timeline and any other scenes you've created into a SWF file that plays in the Flash Player. TIMESAVER Press A +Return (Mac) or Ctrl+Enter (Win) to test a movie. 1 Animated man Test Movie (in Flash Professional) exports the Flash movie with the SWF extension, which plays in the Flash Player. 1 Current test option From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 232 Chapter 7 Normally, the playhead shows one frame at a time—the frame it’s placed on. As you play the Timeline, the Stage displays the content of one frame at a time, forming your animation. Onion Skinning mode allows you to view multiple frames simultaneously. This is useful for fine-tuning your animation, because you can see the content on the frames immediately preceding and following the active frame. Using Onion Skinning Activate Onion Skinning Open a Timeline with a multiple frame animation. Click the Onion Skin Mode button in the Status bar. Onion skin markers appear in the area above the frame numbers and the area of the range of frames selected dims. The frames that precede the active frame and the frames that follow appear in varying degrees of shading on the Stage, becoming lighter the further they are from the active frame. 2 1 1 2 Onion Skinning allows you to see the content on all the frames. Onion Skin Markers From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 7 Creating Frame-by-Frame Animation 233 Use Onion Skin Outlines Open a Timeline with a multiple frame animation. Click the Onion Skin Outlines button in the Status bar. The frames that precede the active frame and the frames that follow appear as outlines on the Stage. 2 1 1 Did You Know? You can only edit the active frame. This is the frame the playhead is on. The art that appears when Onion Skin (regular and outline) is enabled is for preview only. Onion Skin Outlines mode 2 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 234 Chapter 7 You can adjust the number of frames previewed in the onion skin by manually dragging the onion skin markers. These markers have drag- gable handles that set the beginning and end of the onion skin. The handles appear as brackets with small dots. Alternately, you can set the range of the markers from the Modify Onion Markers popup menu. Modifying Onion Skin Markers Set Onion Skin Markers Manually Click the Onion Skin Mode button in the Status bar, if necessary Click on the small dot on either end of the onion skin markers and then drag to include or exclude any consecutive frames in the onion skin. 2 1 Did You Know? You can only edit the active frame in the onion skin. To edit other frames and maintain the selected frames, select Anchor Onion in the Modify Markers popup menu. 2 1 More frames are contained in the Onion Skin Markers, so more of the animation is seen simultaneously. From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 7 Creating Frame-by-Frame Animation 235 Set Onion Skin Markers in Modify Onion Markers Window Click the Modify Onion Markers button. The Modify Onion Markers popup appears. Select from the following options: ◆ Always Show Markers. Keeps Onion Skin Markers visible in and out of Onion Skin mode. ◆ Anchor Onion. Maintains the selected frames even if you move the playhead. ◆ Onion 2. Shows two frames before and after the current frame. ◆ Onion 5. Shows five frames before and after the current frame. ◆ Onion All. Includes the entire duration of the Timeline in the markers. 2 1 2 Command Description Always Show Markers Keeps Onion Skin Markers visible in and out of Onion Skin mode. Anchor Onion Prevents the Markers from moving as you move your playhead. Onion 2 Selects two frames before and after the active frame. Onion 5 Selects five frames before and after the active frame. Onion All Selects all the frames in the Timeline. Onion Skin Markers 1 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 236 Chapter 7 If you need to make changes to an entire animation or to a series of frames at once, you can select them in Edit Multiple Frames mode. When this feature is enabled, brackets appear similar to those in Onion Skinning mode. Drag them to select the range of frames you want to edit. This works well if you need to make global changes to your anima- tion such as resizing it or changing its location. You can select an entire framespan or layer instead of moving or resizing the content on each individual frame separately. Editing Multiple Frames Select Multiple Frames Open a Timeline with a multiple frame animation. Click the Edit Multiple Frames button in the Status bar. Click and drag the markers until they include all the frames you want to select. All of the content in the selected frames appears on the Stage. Click the Selection tool on the Tools panel. TIMESAVER Press V to select the Selection tool. Drag a selection box around the content on the Stage. You can make changes to location, scale, effects, etc. All the selected frames will be affected. TIMESAVER Press A +A (Mac) or Ctrl+A (Win) to select all the content on all unlocked layers. 5 4 3 2 1 3 5 4 Did You Know? When Edit Multiple Frames is acti- vated, it selects all of the frames on all layers contained in the markers. You must lock any layers you don't want included in the selection. 2 1 From the Library of Wow! eBook . way. Additionally, you can export your Flash document into a Flash movie (a .swf file). You do this to see your Flash movie in its final state, as there. the in Flash Professional test option, Flash exports the entire Timeline and any other scenes you've created into a SWF file that plays in the Flash