- Getting Started
- About Animation
- Understanding the Project File
- Animating Position
- Changing the Pacing and Timing
- Animating Transparency
- Animating Filters
- Animating Transformations
- Changing the Path of the Motion
- Swapping Tween Targets
- Creating Nested Animations
- Easing
- Frame-by-Frame Animation
- Animating 3D Motion
- Testing Your Movie
- Review Questions
- Review Answers
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Animating Filters
Filters, which give instances special effects such as blurs and drop shadows, can also be animated. You’ll refine the motion tween of the actors next by applying a blur filter to one of them to make it appear as if the camera changes focus. Animating filters is no different from animating changes in position or changes in color effect. You simply set the values for a filter at one keyframe and set different values for the filter at another keyframe, and Flash creates a smooth transition.
- Make the actors layer folder on the Timeline visible.
- Lock all the layers on the Timeline except the woman layer.
Move the red playhead to the beginning keyframe of the motion tween in the woman layer—at frame 23.
Select the instance of the woman on the Stage. You won’t be able to see her because she has an alpha value of 0% (totally transparent). Click on the upper-right side of the Stage to select the transparent instance.
- In the Properties inspector, expand the Filters section.
Click the Add filter button at the top of the Filters section and select Blur.
Flash applies the Blur filter to the instance.
In the Filters section of the Properties inspector, make sure that the link icons are intact to constrain the blur values to both the x and y directions equally. Set the X and Y Blur values to 20 pixels.
Move the red playhead across the entire Timeline to preview the animation.
The 20-pixel Blur filter is applied to the woman instance throughout the motion tween.
Right-click/Ctrl-click on the woman layer at frame 140, and choose Insert Keyframe > Filter.
Flash establishes a keyframe for filters at frame 140.
Move the red playhead to frame 160, and right-click/Ctrl-click on the woman layer and choose Insert Keyframe > Filter.
Flash establishes another keyframe for filters at frame 160.
- Select the instance of the woman on the Stage at frame 160.
In the Properties inspector, change the value of the Blur filter to X=0 and Y=0.
The Blur filter changes from the keyframe at frame 140 to the keyframe at 160. Flash creates a smooth transition from a blurry instance to an in-focus instance.
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Understanding Property Keyframes
Changes in properties are independent of one another and do not need to be tied to the same keyframes. That is, you can have a keyframe for position, a different keyframe for the color effect, and yet another keyframe for a filter. Managing many different kinds of keyframes can become overwhelming, especially if you want different properties to change at different times during the motion tween. Fortunately, Flash Professional provides a few helpful tools for keyframe management.
When viewing the tween span, you can choose to view the keyframes of only certain properties. For example, you can choose to view only the Position keyframes to see when your object moves. Or, you can choose to view only the Filter keyframes to see when a filter changes. Right-click/Ctrl-click on a motion tween in the Timeline, choose View Keyframes, and then select the desired property among the list. You can also choose All or None to see all the properties or none of the properties.
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When inserting a keyframe, you can also insert a keyframe specific to the property you want to change. Right-click/Ctrl-click on a motion tween in the Timeline, choose Insert Keyframes, and then select the desired property.
You can also view an advanced panel, called the Motion Editor, to see and edit how the different properties of your object change over the course of the motion tween. You’ll learn more about the Motion Editor in the next lesson.