Creating a Simple Flash Animation:

Flash is a powerful animation tool. It is a preferred animation tool as it helps you create complicated animations faster. In Flash, if you specify a starting point (a starting keyframe), and an ending point (an ending keyframe) for your animation, Flash creates all the frames in between these two points for you.

These are called ‘Tweens’ (Short for between).

Hence it is important to understand ‘tweening’ in Flash in order to create animations.

In these Flash CS4 Tutorial, we will learn about 2 types of Tweens – Shape Tween and Motion Tween

Shape Tween

A shape tween basically morphs one shape into another. Let us make a simple shape tween:

1. Draw a simple shape on your Stage (say a circle or oval)

2. Now go to Frame 24 and press F6 to create a blank keyframe.

3. Before making any changes to the new keyframe, let us right click or ctrl+click) the area between the two keyframes and select Create Shape Tween.

4. You will notice that the area turns into a light green color. This indicates the tween is correct.

If you get a blank or a dotted arrow, then try and repeat the steps.

5. Now click on Frame 24, and draw another shape (say a rectangle or a star) at the same place. Do not change the position (alignment) of the object – keep it at the same place you had your previous shape.

6. You have created the animation. Flash automatically creates the frames in between. You can check your animation by dragging the play head between keyframes 1 and 24 in the Timeline.

7. To preview the animation, click on Control in the main menu and select Test Movie.

So you now know how to create a simple morphing of shapes.

Motion Tween:

Let us learn a simple motion tween using Flash – something as simple a moving a ball from left to right on the Flash screen.

1. Draw a circle to the left of the Stage.
2. Choose a time Frame – say Frame 12. Click on F6 to create a blank keyframe at Frame 12 in the Timeline.
3. Right click anywhere between the two frames and select “Create Classic Tween” or “Create Motion Tween”.
4. In Frame 12, drag the circle you have drawn to the right side of Stage.
5. Now preview your tween as explained earlier. You will see the ball move from left to right on the screen.

This is a simple animation using classic tween.

Motion Tween using a Symbol:

Symbols are usually preferred in animations.

1. Create a symbol or drag an existing symbol to the Stage.
2. Choose a Frame and insert blank keyframe.
3. Right click anywhere between the two keyframes and select “Create Motion Tween”.
4. In the new keyframe drag the symbol to a new position.
5. Preview the animation; you will see the symbol move from the first position to the second position specified.

This is a simple motion tween very similar to the classic tween.

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Next in Series : Flash CS4 Tutorial – Bone Tween