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Creating content in Flash for After Effects

Lee Brimelow

This video shows you how to create content in Flash for After Effects, and how to export that content for After Effects. You learn about QuickTime export settings, and learn how you might incorporate and modify your animation using After Effects. You do not need After Effects to complete this tutorial.

Requirements

To follow along with this article, you will need the following software and files:

• Flash CS3 Professional
• Sample file (ZIP, 0.1 MB)

Watch this tutorial in the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Video Workshop.

Creating content for After Effects in Flash

1. In Flash, choose File > Open and choose the bubbles.fla file. Click Open.

2. Choose Control >Test Movie to preview the movie.

   This sample movie shows a simple particle effect: bubbles

   

   Figure 1: Preview the movie.

3. Close the window and return to Flash.

4. Go to the Timeline at the top of the workspace to examine the file. It consists of a single frame containing actions (see Figure 2).

   

   Figure 2: The ActionScript-powered movie contains only a single frame.

5. Choose Window > Actions to open the Actions panel. Look at the ActionScript 3.0 code that is driving the animation (see Figure 3).

   

   Figure 3: View the ActionScript code in the Actions panel.

6. Click the gray bar above the Actions panel to collapse the panel and reopen the Stage.

   Flash CS3 lets you easily export QuickTime animations. In previous versions, you could export animations to the QuickTime format only as timeline animations. If the animation had any type of ActionScript or nested movie clips, it wouldn't appear in the final QuickTime movie.

7. To export the animation, choose File > Export > Export Movie. The Save As dialog box appears.
8. For Save As Type, choose QuickTime (*.mov). This is the only format that will display ActionScript animations. Choose a location to save the file, type bubbles.mov for the file name, and click Save. The QuickTime Export Settings dialog box appears.

9. In the QuickTime Export Settings dialog box, select these options:

   • Maintain the Aspect Ratio. By default, the width and height of the movie are the dimensions of the Flash Stage for the original animation.
   • Ignore the Stage Color. This option creates an alpha channel, which is useful if you want to composite your animation inside After Effects.
   • From the Stop Exporting options, choose Select After Time Elapsed and enter 00:00:20(20 seconds). You would choose When Last Frame Is Reached with a timeline-based animation when exporting the entire movie.
   • From the Store Temp Data options, choose In Memory. The On Disk option is recommended only for longer movies.
10. Make sure that no other applications are running on your computer, to ensure that exporting creates a smooth animation.
11. Click Export. When the export has finished, close Flash.

12. Double-click the Bubbles.mov file to open the movie in QuickTime. Click Play.

    The movie was rendered over a transparent background (see Figure 4) because you chose to embed an alpha channel in the QuickTime Export Settings dialog box.

Where to go from here

For more information and additional tutorials, visit the Adobe Design Center.