- Animating Shapes
- Understanding the Project File
- Creating a Shape Tween
- Changing the Pace
- Adding More Shape Tweens
- Creating a Looping Animation
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Adding More Shape Tweens
You can add shape tweens by creating more keyframes. Each shape tween simply requires two keyframes to define its beginning state and its end state.
Insert additional keyframes
You want the flame to continually change shape, just like a real flame would. You’ll add more keyframes and apply shape tweens between all the keyframes.
- Right-click/Ctrl-click on frame 17 in the flame layer and select Insert Keyframe. Or, choose Insert > Timeline > Keyframe (F6).
- Right-click/Ctrl-click on frame 22 in the flame layer and select Insert Keyframe. Or, choose Insert > Timeline > Keyframe (F6).
- Continue inserting keyframes at frame 27, 33, and 40.
- Move the red playhead to frame 17.
- Choose the Selection tool.
- Click off the shape to deselect it. Click and drag the contours of the flame to create another variation in its shape. You can make the base thicker, or change the curvature of the tip to make it lean left or right.
- Modify the flame shapes in each of the newly inserted keyframes to create subtle variations.
Flash inserts a new keyframe at frame 17, and copies the contents of the previous keyframe into the second keyframe.
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Flash inserts a new keyframe at frame 22, and copies the contents of the previous keyframe into the second keyframe.
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Your Timeline now has seven keyframes in the flame layer, with a shape tween between the first and second keyframes.
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Extending the shape tweens
Your next step is to extend the shape tween so the flame morphs from one shape to the next.
- Click on any frame between the second and third keyframes.
- Right-click/Ctrl-click and select Create Shape Tween. Or, from the top menu, choose Insert > Shape Tween.
- Continue to insert shape tweens between all the keyframes.
- Choose Control > Play, or click the Play button at the bottom of the Timeline.
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Flash applies a shape tween between the two keyframes, which is indicated by a black forward-pointing arrow.
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You should have six shape tweens in the flame layer.
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Your flame flickers back and forth for the duration of the animation. Depending on how extensive your modifications to the flame have been, your flame may undergo some weird contortions between keyframes—for example, flipping or rotating unpredictably. Don’t worry! You’ll have a chance to refine your animation later in the lesson with shape hints.
Broken Tweens
Every shape tween needs a beginning and end keyframe. If the last keyframe of a shape tween is missing, Flash shows the broken tween as a dotted black line (rather than a solid arrow).
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Insert a keyframe to fix the tween.