Some Flash tips
Here are some tips on Macromedia Flash, note the version I'm
using is Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004. The one major
thing you need to remember about Flash is that it has a
timeline, so everything is done over time. The two main
components in Flash are the work area, which is known as the
Stage, and the Timeline, where all the work is set up. I'm going
to start with Keyframing.
Keyframing
Place an object on the stage, go to the Timeline and insert a
keyframe (F6 it should be but I just right-click on the desired
location in the Timeline and select "Insert Keyframe) -> move
the object and then insert another keyframe later on in the
Timeline. Keep moving the object and inserting a keyframe each
time you move it and your simple animation is complete. Now go
to Control and either "Play" or "Test Movie" and you should see
your animation. From now on in this article I will just say play
or test.
Motion Tweening
Motion Tweening is more complicated and slightly more difficult.
Start off by drawing/importing your object onto the Stage, then
go to the frame you want the animation to END at and insert a
keyframe, (right-click -> insert Keframe), -> then highligt from
the end to the start on the Timeline, right-click on the
Timeline, and select "Create Motion Tween". You should now see
an arrow on the timeline. Finally move the object and that's it.
Now play or test and you should see an animation that is
smoother than Keyframing. You can also add a Guide Layer to help
tell Flash where to move the object to by right-clicking on the
layer name and selecting "Guide", then you just draw the path of
the object making sure the Guide Layer is selected. In
Keyframing you do the work yourself, in Motion Tweening Flash
does the work for you.
Shape Tweening
Start off by typing some text onto the Stage in the centre, in
this example I'm using the figure 1. Then insert a Keyframe at
say frame 20 on the Timeline. Select the figure 1, right-click,
and then select "Break apart". The 1 should now be covered in
white dots. Then higlight from Frame 20 or wherever you inserted
the Keyframe, to the start. This is important, find the Property
Inspector (the window at the bottom that says "Properties") and
click anywhere on the Timeline, with the Timeline selected you
should see the following on the Property Inspector: "Tween:
Motion", change that to "Shape". The Timeline between the start
and your Keyframe should now be coloured green. Delete the 1 and
replace it in the same position with a 2. Finally right-click on
the 2 and select Break Apart. Now if you play or test your Movie
you should see a figure 1 morph into a figure 2. If you've made
it right there should be an arrow on the Timeline, like with a
Motion Tween.
Those are the 3 big tips. I hope you got them to work.
Masking
Right-click on the Layer Name and select "Mask". This adds a
Masking Layer. Now just move an object over some text and off it
again, (has to be done with Keyframing I'm afraid), and when you
play it the text is revealed letter by letter as if it were
being typed. You can use this to do the Matrix-esque typing
effects, you can even have a flashing cursor underneath the
text, but you need another layer and another set of Keyframing.
Finally here's something I wasn't taught, I figured it out by
myself once I had learnt Keyframing.
Flashing Flash
Type some text onto the screen and insert a Keyframe, then
simply change the colour of the text to match the background
colour, (works best on a black background), insert another
Keyframe later on in the Timeline, change the text colour back
again and finally insert another Keyframe later on in the
Timeline again. There you have it, Flashing Flash! This only
works if you select Control -> Test Movie. You can even change
the text or change it to a shape, but you'll need more
Keyframes.
Just remember, if your working with Keyframes, as you are with
most things in Flash, insert your 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Keyframes
and so on AFTER your first one in the Timeline.
By the way I haven't spelt the words "centre", "colour" and
"coloured" wrongly, I'm British and that's how we spell them.