Advanced Flash Animation

Maybe you've seen those movie trailers where the guy has the crazy deep voice and the screen is pitch black and words fade in and out of the screen. Usually these movies are trying to be the next Silence of the Lambs or Seven. And there are always three teenagers sitting next to you talking. At least until you stick your hand in their popcorn bucket and they move to another row.

You can create a similar effect in Flash. Simply create a new file. Select the Text tool, and insert a line of text. I used Gorilla. You can use whatever you like. Next, convert the text to a graphic symbol. Then create a keyframe in frame forty. Click on the word you created, and in the Property Inspector, under the color drop-down list, choose Alpha and set its percentage to 0%. This controls the transparency of the symbol. Finally, insert a motion tween somewhere between frame one and forty. All that is left is to sit back and watch your text slowly fade away.

Fading Text on the Go

Next we are going to learn how to mix the Fade effect with a Tween. To do this, create a new file. Insert some text on the left hand side of the stage. Next, convert the text to a symbol. Then insert a keyframe in frame forty, and drag the text to the right hand side of the stage. Look in the Property Inspector pane and change the color of the symbol to Alpha, and the alphas to 0%. Finally, insert a motion tween between frame one and forty. Your movie should show your text floating across the screen and gradually fading.

Mighty Morphing Rectangles

So far all we've looked at are motion tweens. Sometimes moving an object from one point to the next just isn't enough. Remember all the damage we did to your dear old grandpa with our motion tweens? Well now it's time to get grandma. That's right; no more cookies for you after this.

Shape tweens allow you to morph one shape or object into another. The downside to shape tweens is that you can't use them on symbols (well, you can, but you have to break the symbol apart first, at which point it ceases to be a symbol).

To do a shape tween, open a new file. Select the first frame and draw a rectangle in it. Next, insert a keyframe at point forty-five. Delete the rectangle (taking note of its exact position) and draw a circle where it used to be. Finally, click on the first frame and choose Shape from the Tweening pull-down menu located on the Property Inspector.

Your object should now magically morph from a rectangle to a circle. That's sure to amaze your grandma more than the 1932 World's Fair.

A Brief Note About Onion Skinning

In most instances, I wouldn't recommend onion skinning; it makes your eyes teary, smells funny, and your girlfriend won't want to kiss you. In Flash however, onion skinning won't make you cry. In fact, it'll save you quite a few tears. It works by showing you several frames at once, which is useful if you are creating animation and trying to line up your drawing with the previous frames). To use it, simply click on the Onion Skin button.

That concludes the third part in our series. Look for future tutorials on how to build websites and games using Flash CS3.