- 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
Changing the Path of the Motion
The motion tween of the left car that you just animated shows a colored line with dots indicating the path of the motion. You can edit the path of the motion easily to make the car travel in a curve, or you can move, scale, or rotate the path just like any other object on the Stage.
To better demonstrate how you can edit the path of the motion, open the sample file 04MotionPath.fla in the Lesson04/04Start folder. The file contains a single Tween layer with a rocket ship moving from the top left of the Stage toward the bottom right.
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Moving the path of the motion
You will move the path of the motion so the relative movement of the rocket ship remains the same, but its starting and ending positions change.
- Choose the Selection tool.
Click on the path of the motion to select it.
The path of the motion becomes highlighted.
Click and drag the motion path to move it to a different place on the Stage.
The relative motion and timing of the animation remain the same, but the starting and ending positions are relocated.
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Changing the scale or rotation of the path
You can also manipulate the path of the object’s motion using the Free Transform tool.
- Select the path of the motion.
Choose the Free Transform tool.
Transformation handles appear around the path of the motion.
Scale or rotate the path of the motion as desired. You can make the path smaller or larger, or rotate the path so the rocket ship starts from the bottom left of the Stage and ends at the top right.
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Editing the path of the motion
Making your objects travel on a curved path is a simple matter. You can either edit the path with Bezier precision using anchor point handles, or you can edit the path in a more intuitive manner with the Selection tool.
Choose the Convert Anchor Point tool, which is hidden under the Pen tool.
Click the starting point or the ending point of the motion path on the Stage and drag the control handle out from the anchor point.
The handle on the anchor point controls the curvature of the path.
- Choose the Subselection tool.
Click and drag the handle to edit the curve of the path. Make the rocket ship travel in a wide curve.
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NOTE
You can also directly manipulate the path of the motion with the Selection tool. Choose the Selection tool and move it close to the path of the motion. A curved icon appears next to your cursor, indicating that you can edit the path. Click and drag the path of the motion to change its curvature.
Orienting objects to the path
Sometimes the orientation of the object traveling along the path is important. In the motion picture splash page project, the orientation of the car is constant as it rumbles forward. However, in the rocket ship example, the rocket ship should follow the path with its nose pointed in the direction in which it is heading. The Orient to path option in the Properties inspector gives you this option.
- Select the motion tween on the Timeline.
In the Properties inspector, under Rotation, select the Orient to path option.
Flash inserts keyframes for rotation along the motion tween to orient the nose of the rocket ship to the path of the motion.
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