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Jen deHaan

Jen deHaan

Adobe
flashthusiast.com

John Mayhew

John Mayhew

Adobe

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Using the tween layer context menu
  3. Selecting spans and frames
  4. Moving tween spans,
    keyframes, and frames
  5. Changing the tween span length
  6. Using key modifiers with
    tween spans
  7. Copying and pasting animation
    and properties
  8. Splitting and joining tween spans
  9. Changing the target object
    of an animation
  10. Reversing motion and keyframes
Created:
4 May 2009
User Level:
Beginner
Products:
Flash

Animation Learning Guide for Flash: Motion tween manipulations

There are numerous ways you can select frames of an animation, and then move them around on a timeline. Also, there are a lot of different ways you can modify your animation so it plays exactly the way you want it to when you publish your files. The following sections demonstrate many of the different ways you can manipulate your motion tweens in Flash CS4.

Tween layers can contain tween spans, static frames, and blank keyframes. The static and blank frames behave like others in that you can draw on the frame, paste graphics there, import a bitmap to the selected frame, and so on. These spans and frames can be moved within the same layer, or to most other layers.

A tween layer cannot contain IK spans or classic tweens. Although tween spans cannot contain ActionScript (either on the frame or attached to a tweened object), a frame outside of a tween span on a tween layer can contain ActionScript. However, it is a best practice to put all of your code on its own layer called actions (typically the topmost layer on the main Timeline).

Requirements

To make this most of this learning guide, you need to install the following software and files:

Flash CS4 Professional

Sample files:

Prerequisite knowledge

A basic knowledge of the Flash workspace.

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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.