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Jen deHaan
Adobe
flashthusiast.com
John Mayhew
Adobe
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Keyframes and property keyframes
- Frames in the Timeline
- Adding and removing keyframes
- Layers in the Timeline
Animation Learning Guide for Flash: Timelines and keyframes
Timelines in Flash contain static and tweened content, which both look and behave differently on a timeline. Static content is represented by gray frames, or gray frames with a dot in them. Motion-tweened content is represented by a blue tween span, which is a section of frames that you can select individually, move around, or manipulate as a single selection. Flash displays shape tweens as a series of light-green frames, with an arrow drawn between keyframes. Shape tweens and motion tweens are created and manipulated in different ways, which you will learn in the sections that follow.
Tween spans and static content are selected in different ways. Static content and shape tweens are selected as a single frame if you are in the default frame-based selection mode. New motion tweens use a span-based style of selection (even if you have frame-based selection active), which will be familiar to you if you've tried the span-based selection model in previous versions of Flash.
Note: Span-based and frame-based selection models are controlled by Flash Preferences. This learning guide assumes you have frame-based selection mode active in its exercise steps.
When you work with a Tween layer (any layer that contains a motion tween span), you will have a special context menu that appears when you right-click a frame on that layer. For information on editing spans and the options in the tween layer's context menu, see "Using the tween layer context menu."
Requirements
To make this most of this learning guide, you need to install the following software:
Flash CS4 Professional
Prerequisite knowledge
A basic knowledge of the Flash workspace.
About the authors
Jen deHaan was raised by wolves in the deep woods of the Canadian north. Later in life, Jen worked with Flash as a deseloper, then wrote about Flash for five versions, and then worked on stuff that didn't include much Flash. She came to her senses in 2007 by rejoining the fabled Flash team at Adobe as a QE, focusing on the good stuff—Motion (on timelines). Jen enjoys long walks in the rain pondering how many times she can use the word Flash in a bio, and admits that after numerous years in California she is no longer addicted to Tim Horton's coffee.
John Mayhew is a hopeless software developer, and has been for a very long time, but he still loves it. John likes being able to launch an app, demo a feature, and show people exactly what he creates for a living. Along the way he has worked for several small companies and consulted for many years. Among the more notable companies John worked for are Micrografx (ABC FlowCharter and their Graphics Suite offering) and Macromedia (mobile authoring tools), which eventually led him to the Flash authoring team. He has focused for the last few years on creating a simple, yet more powerful animation system in the Flash authoring tool. Achieving both of those goals has proven to be quite a challenge. You can see if John and his colleagues achieved those lofty ambitions in Flash CS4 Professional.
