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Using the Tween and Transition Classes in Flash MX 2004


Jen deHaan

Jen deHaan

Flash Authoring QE
Adobe
Jen deHaan's blog
flashthusiast.com
webvideoblogger.com

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Adding Tweens and Transitions to a File
  3. Using the Transition and Tween Classes
  4. About Easing Classes and Methods
  5. About the Tween Class
  6. About Continuing Animations
  7. Creating Animations that Continue Endlessly
  8. About Applying Easing Methods to V2 Components
  9. Combining the Transition and Tween Classes
Created:
20 December, 2004
User Level:
Intermediate

When you install Macromedia Flash MX 2004, you acquire two powerful classes: the Tween class, and the Transition class. This article shows you how easy it is to use the Tween and Transition classes, even if you aren't comfortable using ActionScript. You will use these classes with movie clips and V2 components to add animation easily to your SWF files.

Perhaps you have already used the classes without knowing it. If you create a slide presentation or form application with Flash MX Professional, you can select behaviors that add different kinds of transitions between slides, quite similar to when you create a PowerPoint presentation. You can add this functionality into a screen application using the Tween and Transition classes.

You can also use the Tween and Transition classes in exciting ways outside of a screens environment in Flash MX 2004 or Flash MX Professional 2004. For example, you can use the classes with the V2 component set, or with plain old movie clips. If you want to change the way a ComboBox component is animated, then you can use the Transition class to add some easing when the menu opens. You could also use the Tween and Transition classes, instead of using motion tweens on the Timeline or writing your own complex code, to create your own animated menu system.

Requirements

To complete this tutorial you will need to install the following software and files:

Flash MX 2004 or Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004

Prerequisite knowledge:

Basic knowledge of the Flash authoring environment and a basic knowledge of ActionScript.

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About the author

Jen deHaan was raised by wolves in the deep woods of the Canadian north. Canada's chief exports include motor vehicles (or their parts), lumber, newsprint, nonmetal materials, and wheat. One overcast day in 2004, Jen left her life as a Flash deseloper (designer/developer) in Canada to write Flash documentation and samples at Macromedia in San Francisco. Aside from her ongoing work at Adobe as an instructional designer for web and video products, Jen runs several community sites for fun, and maintains a blog at www.webvideoblogger.com and weblogs.macromedia.com/dehaan. She believes that _root tends to be evil and misses Tim Horton's coffee.