This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
The Timing Panel
Just as in comedy, when working with animation, timing is everything. So in addition to the duration controls in the Animation panel, you can use the Timing panel to control how an animation plays. The Timing panel has three important features. The first allows you to delay the start of an animation. The second changes the order in which objects are animated. The third causes animations on different objects to start at the same time.
Setting the delay for animated objects
Open the Timing panel (Window > Interactive > Timing). All the animated objects for that spread are listed.
The Timing panel lets you control the length and sequence of how animations play.
In the Timing panel, not on the page itself, click the name of the object you want to control. Use the Delay field to set the length of time (in seconds) that the object’s animation will be delayed.
Your animation may be triggered by more than one event, such as On Page Load as well as On Button Event. You can set different delays for each event. For instance, you might want a slight delay after the page loads to give the user a moment to get accustomed to the look of the page before the start of the animation. But you might want no delay if the user clicks a button to start the animation, assuming that the user will want a prompt response to his or her action.
Changing the order in which objects are animated
The Timing panel also lets you control the order in which objects are animated. Drag the name of the object up or down in the list in the Timing panel. Objects are played from the top of the list down, and are added to the panel in the order in which you create them on the spread.
Playing objects together
Each object in the Timing panel plays individually. However, you can link objects so they play at the same time. This is very helpful when you have two objects with separate motion paths or presets that you want to animate together.
Select the names of the objects in the Timing panel. Click the Play Together icon in the Timing panel. A bracket appears around the selected items, indicating that they will play together.
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Use the Play Together icon to set separate animations to play at the same time. Brackets indicate that those objects that will play together.
If you have items linked to play together, you can use the Play field and the Loop control to control how many times they play.