Chapter 8 – Part III
Interactive Multimedia Authoring with Flash: Animation
“Computers and Creativity”
Richard D. Webster, COSC 109 Instructor
Office: 7800 York Road, Room 422 | Phone: (410) 704-2424 e-mail: webster@towson.edu
109 website: http://pages.towson.edu/webster/109/
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In this lecture, you will learn:
• the types of tweening:
– classic tween
– motion tween
– shape tween
• how to create tween animation
• how to animate an object following a custom path
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Tweening
• To create movement and changes of visual content over time, without having to manually create the content frame by frame
• The computer interpolates the changes between 2 keyframes
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To Create Keyframes in Flash
• Method 1:
– Select a frame on timeline
– Choose Insert > Timeline > Keyframe
• Method 2:
– Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) on a frame on timeline
– Choose Insert Keyframe
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Types of Tween in Flash
• Classic tween
(called Motion tween in Flash CS3 and prior)
• Motion tween
• Shape tween
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Motion and Classic Tween
Works with symbols only
Not changing the shapes
Cannot have more than one symbol in a frame of the same layer
Can be tweened to follow a path that is drawn as a stroke
Tweened frames are colored blue (Motion tween) or purple (Classic tween) on timeline
Shape Tween
Works with shapes only
Morphing the shapes
Can have more than one shapes in a keyframe, but the result is unpredictable
Does not work with motion guide
Tweened frames are colored green on timeline
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Classic Tween
Example
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Example of Classic Tween
A leaf is created as a Graphic symbol, and placed on the stage.
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Example of Classic Tween
Keyframe at frame 1
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Example of Classic Tween
Keyframe at frame 20:
The leaf is repositioned, rotated, and scaled bigger.
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Example of Classic Tween
Keyframe at frame 60:
The leaf is repositioned again, rotated, and scaled smaller.
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Example of Classic Tween
Result after applying classic tween to the keyframes:
• 60 frames
• But only 3 keyframes to specify the leaf's position, rotation, and size.
• The computer interpolates the positions, rotation, and size of the leaf between keyframes.
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Properties of a symbol instance that can be tweened using Classic tween
• Position
• Rotation
• Width
• Height
• Color
• Opacity
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Motion Tween
Example
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Example of Motion Tween
A leaf is created as a Graphic symbol, and placed on the stage.
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Example of Classic Tween
Keyframe at frame 1
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Example of Classic Tween
Keyframe at frame 20:
The leaf is repositioned, rotated, and scaled bigger.
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Example of Classic Tween
Keyframe at frame 60:
The leaf is repositioned again, rotated, and scaled smaller.
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Properties of a symbol instance that can be tweened using Motion tween
• Position
• Rotation
• Width
• Height
• Color (Classic tween)
• Opacity (Classic tween)
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Shape Tween
Example
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Example of Shape Tween
Keyframe at frame 1:
A shape of the letter "I" in blue
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Example of Shape Tween
Keyframe at frame 15:
A heart shape in pink
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Example of Shape Tween
Keyframe at frame 40:
A shape of the letter "U" in green
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Example of Shape Tween
Result after applying shape tween to the keyframes:
• 40 frames
• But only 3 keyframes to specify the shapes.
• The computer interpolates the shapes between keyframes.
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Properties of a shape that can be tweened in shape tween
• Position
• Rotation
• Width
• Height
• Color
• Opacity
• Shape
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Troubleshooting
• If a Classic or Shape tween sequence is working correctly: an solid-line arrow in timeline
• If a Classic or Shape tween sequence is working correctly: a dash line in timeline
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• Multiple symbol instances in the same keyframe
• Classic tween applied to shapes
• Shape tween applied to symbol instances
• A mix of symbol instances and shapes in the same keyframe
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Tween a Symbol to Follow a Path
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Tween a Symbol to Follow a Path
• Motion path
– for Motion tween
• Motion guide
– for Classic tween
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Motion Guide
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Motion Guide
• Allows an object to follow a path that you draw as a stroke
• Works with symbols, not shapes
• Note that the color and width of the path in the motion guide do not matter
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1.
Create keyframes like you would create a classic tween animation
2.
Create a motion guide layer for the tween animation:
1.
In the timeline, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) on the motion tween layer.
2.
Choose the option of motion guide
3.
In the motion guide layer, draw a path (using pencil or pen tool) in one single stroke.
Do not create multiple strokes.
4.
For each keyframe of the tween animation, drag the symbol instance to snap on the path.
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Motion Guide
Example:
Returning to the leaf animation to make it follow a more complex path
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Example of Motion Guide
A classic tween sequence with the leaf is created using only 2 keyframes.
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Example of Motion Guide
A motion guide is created for the classic tween layer.
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Example of Motion Guide
A complex path is drawn in the motion guide layer using the Pencil tool.
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Example of Motion Guide
The leaf in frame 1 (first keyframe) is snapped to the beginning of the path.
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Example of Motion Guide
The leaf in frame 60 (last keyframe) is snapped to the end of the path.
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Example of Motion Guide
Result:
• 60 frames of animation
• The leaf follows the path drawn in the motion guide layer
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More About Motion Guide
• The color and width of the path do not matter.
• The motion guide is automatically hidden when the movie plays.
• In the example:
– Only 2 keyframes are used but it can have more than 2 keyframes.
– The leaf is snapped to the two ends of the path, but it can be snapped anywhere along the path.
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Motion Path for Motion tween
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Motion Path
A motion path is automatically generated for each Motion twee span.
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Motion Path
Can be edited like a stroke using Selection and Subselection tools
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Motion Path
• Can also be a custom-drawn stroke
• To apply a stroke as the motion path for a
Motion tween:
1. Copy the stroke
2. Select the Motion tween span on the timeline
3. Paste the stroke
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Chapter 8
Interactive Multimedia Authoring with Flash: Animation
Flash: Mask
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Mask
• Defines areas to reveal its linked layer (maskee layer)
• The content in a mask layer can be thought of as a hole that lets the underlying maskee layers show through.
– In other words, the mask item acts as a window that reveals the area of linked layers that lie beneath it. The rest of the mask layer conceals everything else on these linked layers
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original
Mask a mask mask effect
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To Create Mask Effect
1. On the timeline, arrange the maskee layer immediately below the layer that you want to be the mask layer.
2. On the timeline, right-click (Windows) or
Control-click (Mac OS) on the mask layer, and select Mask.
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Mask Effect Example
Spotlight Effect
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Mask Effect Example:
Spotlight Effect
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Mask Effect Example:
Spotlight Effect
Maskee content
Maskee layer
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Mask Effect Example:
Spotlight Effect
Mask content:black circle
Mask layer
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Mask Effect Applied by locking the mask layer
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More About Mask Effect
• The resulted mask effect can be seen on the stage by locking the mask layer.
• The mask effect always shows when you do a
Test Movie, with or without unlocking the mask layer.
• Don't forget to unlock the mask layer when you want to edit the mask layer.
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Mask Effect Example
X-ray Effect
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Mask Effect Example:
X-ray Effect maskee layer(s) mask layer, immediately above the maskee layer(s)
Right-click on it, choose "Mask" to make it a mask
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Mask Effect Example:
X-ray Effect maskee layer(s) mask layer, immediately above the maskee layer(s)
Right-click on it, choose "Mask" to make it a mask
Resulted mask effect
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Mask Effect Example:
X-ray Effect
Add a bottom layer of a man
Result

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Mask Effect Example
Appearance Effect
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Mask Effect Example:
Appearance Effect
Maskee layer:
Contains only the little alien
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Mask Effect Example:
Appearance Effect
Mask layer:
Contains only the light beam
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Mask Effect Example:
Appearance Effect
Mask effect is applied by locking the mask layer.
Note: The mask does not always show up.
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Mask Effect Example:
Appearance Effect
Blue beam layer:
Overlay the blue beam by adding it on another layer because we want to see the blue beam.
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If you tween the height of the blue beam
(both the mask and the blue beam on the extra layer), then you get
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