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Creating animations using shape tweens

Chris Georgenes

This video shows you how to create animations using shape tweens. You learn how to create a morphing animation, and then modify the color of a shape over time.

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 animations using Shape tweens

1. In Flash, choose File > Open and open the shapetween_2.fla file. In this example, you'll create a Shape tween from a square to a circle.

2. Choose the Rectangle tool in the Tools panel, and draw a square on the left side of Stage.

   You won't convert this to a symbol as you do with Motion tweens. With Shape tweens, you use raw, vector shapes- the simpler, the better. That is, the simpler the shape, the more likely the Shape tween will work the way you want. With complex shapes or shapes with negative spaces, the tween can often implode and fail.

3. Select Frame 30 and press F7 to create a new blank keyframe.
4. Choose the Oval tool in the Tools panel, and draw a circle in the same location as the square.
5. Make sure the Property Inspector is open at the bottom of the workspace. If not, choose Window > Properties > Properties to open it.

6. In the Timeline, click any of the frames between the two keyframes, and choose the Property inspector. Choose Shape from the Tween pop-up menu. The Shape tween changes the frames in the layer in the Timeline to a pale green, and a solid horizontal arrow appears between the first keyframe to the last (see Figure 1).

   

   Figure 1: The colored frames and horizontal arrow in the Timeline indicate the Shape tween.

7. Click and drag the playhead from Frame 1 to Frame 30 to see the square morph into the circle.

   You can also use a Shape tween to move objects across the Stage.

8. Select Frame 30 in the Timeline. Choose the Selection tool in the Tools panel, and click and drag the circle to the right side of the Stage.

   Now when you play back the animation, the shape morphs from a square to a circle, and moves across the Stage as it changes.

   Another thing you can do with Shape tweens is morph shape colors.

9. Select Frame 30 and select the circle.
10. Choose the Property inspector and click the Fill color box. Choose a red swatch.

11. Move the playhead to play back the animation. The color changes as the shape moves across the Stage, creating a series of blends between the blue and red colors of the square and circle (see Figure 2).

    

    Figure 2: Shape tweens can also morph colors, as seen here in a Stage between the blue square and red circle.

Creating more complex Shape tweens

You can build Shape tweens into more complicated designs, although the-simpler-the-better rule still applies here. In complicated designs, you should apply each tween to one symbol in one layer.

1. Choose File > Open and open the shapetween.fla file.

2. Choose Control > Test Movie to export a test copy of the Flash animation (see Figure 3).

   

   Figure 3: This more complicated animation uses Shape tweens.

3. Close the text movie window and return to Flash. To get a better view of the Timeline, collapse the panels dock to Icon view by clicking the double arrow icon in the top right-hand corner of the dock.
4. Go to the Timeline and click the icon in the upper right corner to display the Options menu. Choose Short, to decrease the height of the layers in the Timeline. Drag the edit bar down until you can see all the layers in the Timeline. It's a good idea to modify your workspace as necessary so you see all the layers in your animation as you work.
5. Select Layer 15 and then double-click the highlighted object on the Stage to open this part of the composition in the symbol editing mode

6. Move the playhead to Frame 70 (see Figure 4).

   

   Figure 4: Layer 15, named opens in symbol-editing mode.

7. Now return to the Timeline. The layers have updated for the selected symbol. Notice that the layers contain several Shape tweens, indicated by the green highlight on the frames and the horizontal arrows (see Figure 5).

   

   Figure 5: The colored frames and horizontal arrows indicate Shape tweens in these layers.

8. Click the padlock icon at the top of the Timeline to unlock the layer. You may have to click it twice since one of the layers is already unlocked.
9. Choose the Zoom tool and click to zoom in on the lower half of the symbol.
10. Play back Frames 24 through 58. This part of the animation includes the transformation of the lower petal- actually just a simple Shape tween contained in Layer 8 of the symbol. In the next few steps, you'll recreate this same Shape tween on your own.
11. Go to Frame 58. Choose the Selection tool and select the lowest petal on the vine. The petal is a slightly modified basic shape.
12. Press Ctrl/Cmd and C to copy the shape.
13. Now return to the Timeline and hide the existing petal layer by clicking the Toggle Visibility icon. This hides the petal.
14. Click the Insert Layer button at the bottom of the Timeline to create a new layer.
15. Select Frame 58 in the new layer. Press F6 to insert a new blank keyframe and then press Ctrl/Cmd and V to paste the shape.
16. Move the playhead to Frame 24, and press F6 to insert a new blank keyframe.
17. Press Ctrl/Cmd and V again to paste the shape in this keyframe as well.
18. Choose the Free Transform tool. Select the petal in Frame 24, and shrink it down to the size of a small bud, by clicking and dragging one of the corner handles inward.

19. Choose the Selection tool and move the bud back under the vine (see Figure 6). When you have dragged the bud fairly close with your pointer, you can minutely adjust the placement using the up, down, left, and right navigation keys.

    

    Figure 6: Align the new shape within the symbol.

20. Go to the Timeline and select any frame between Frames 24 and 58 of the new layer.
21. Choose the Property inspector and choose Shape from the Tween dropdown.

22. Now play back the animation (between frames 24 and 58) to watch your new animation of the petal.

    As you can see, it is practically identical to the original animation. Even though this composition looked complex and might have seemed intimidating to you at first, now you know it's actually composed of simple shapes and Shape tweens, nested within layers and sublayers. You can recreate even more complex animations on your own using these same methods.

Where to go from here

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