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Flash Reference Guide

Aug 22, 2003

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Of all the animation styles available to you in Flash, frame-based animation affords you the most creative control. Frame-based animation, however, is also the most tedious to create—unless you use shortcuts, which is where tweening comes in.

A tween is an old animation term. It’s literally a shortcut for the word "in-between," which stems from a time when animation masters would create "key frames" and junior artists would fill in the cells in-between. Today’s Flash animators use the same terminology as the old animation masters, relying on keyframes and tweens to make onscreen magic.

Rules to Using Tweens in Flash

You can use two types of tweens in Flash—Motion and Shape. Each one has its own set of rules determining how it can be used. One general rule that applies to both, however, is that a tween always applies to two keyframes.

The following image shows two keyframes on a layer:

Figure 1

The subject of the keyframes, the helicopter, is outlined in a blue line, as you can see in the above image. You’ll need keyframes to use motion and shape tweens. To apply a keyframe to a layer, press F6.

Applying Motion Tweens

I don’t want to make this sound like favoritism, but motion tweens are my favorite tweens. There are a lot of purists who will tell you that motion tweens should only be used with caution and that frame-based animation offers you more control. Here’s the problem: I don’t have time to make my animation perfect. If it gets 95 percent of the way there, I’m happy.

Motion tweens really do get you 95 percent of the way there. A motion tween will manage the motion between one spot and another. The helicopter used above, for example, can move from one space to another with motion tweens. I use keyframes to set the first and second point on my animation path. Here, you can see the first and last point of my animation:

Figure 2

If you move your cursor and select frame one of the subject layer, you can now apply a tween. Both motion and shape tweens can be selected from the Properties Inspector:

Figure 3

When you select Motion from the Tween options, you’ll see a purple arrow joining your two keyframes. To play the animation, simply press Enter. The missing in-between frames have been filled in for you as shown here:

Figure 4

This is how a tween will behave on the screen. There’s more to using motion tweens, but I’ll cover that in a future guide installment on Advanced Animation Techniques.

Applying Shape Tweens

A shape tween is different from a motion tween in that it doesn’t control motion; it controls the object’s actual shape.

Shape tween objects can only be drawings—not movie clips or any item from the Library. To break an object down to just its drawing elements, select the "BreakApart" option from the contextual menu, or press CTRL+B. You’ll also need two different objects—one in the first frame of your animation and another in the final frame. The following image shows the first frame object of the mountain. The image is selected so you can see that it’s just a drawing:

Figure 5

The following image is at a new keyframe on frame 20. The mountain has changed to a different type:

Figure 6

Now, select frame one of the layer featuring the mountain and choose "Shape" from the tween options in the Properties Inspector. A green arrow will join the two shapes and they will "morph" into each other. The following image shows the outline of the original mountain changing into the new outlines:

Figure 7

Moving Beyond the Basics

This section has introduced you to the fundamentals of tween animation. There is a lot more to cover, including easing, speed, path animation, blending, onion skinning, and more in upcoming installments of this guide.

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