- 1. Create a document using Device Central.
- 2. Check out Illustrator CS3.
- 3. Set up your document to integrate with Flash CS3.
- 4. Create blends out of symbols for animation in Flash.
- 5. Export from Illustrator to SWF for Flash.
- 6. Explore the new Flash CS3 workspace.
- 7. Add a new background in Flash CS3.
- 8. Copy and paste from Illustrator CS3 to Flash.
- 9. Create a motion path and a motion tween.
- 10. Publish and test your file.
Like this article? We recommend
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4. Create blends out of symbols for animation in Flash.
Now, create a second circle in a different color, and define it as symbol, too (as in Step 3). You now have two symbols in your document. Use the Blend tool to create a blend between the two symbols. Choose the first shape; then select it by clicking on it with the Blend tool on the toolbar or pressing W on the keyboard. Next, click on the second shape with the Blend tool, and Illustrator will fill in the gap (Figure 5).
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Figure 5 Using the Blend tool to do the hard work: join the dots.
The default blend creates a smooth color blend, but we want to specify a number of steps. To do this, go to Object > Blend > Blend Options. Let's choose 20 steps. You can always go back and alter this later as needed. If you like, you can even curve the "spine" of your blend by using the Pen tool and adding some anchor points to it. Then take the Convert Corner Point tool and turn the corner points to curves.
With a bit of design work and a few extra blends, you can create some great looking artwork. Don't be afraid to create multiple blends on the same document. Remember that we're going to ask our blends to animate. (IMPORTANT: If you want any other static graphics, make sure they are on a separate layer in Illustrator. If you want a background color, it's best to create that later in Flash rather than in Illustrator.) For this exercise we have gone ahead and created several blends and layers to create an Aboriginal-style Australian map design.