ptg Animating with Classic Tweening 9 9 What You’ll Do Work with Classic Tweening Understand Frame and Instance Properties Create a Classic Tween Adjust Classic Tween Properties Copy and Paste a Tween Change the Length of a Tween Change the Frame Rate Reverse Frames Add and Remove Keyframes from a Classic Tween Scale and Rotation a Classic Tween Add Color Effects to a Classic Tween Create a Classic Motion Guide Layer Animate Along a Classic Motion Guide Orient Objects to a Classic Motion Path Ease In and Out of a Classic Tween 251 Introduction In the previous Chapter you learned about motion tweening. In this Chapter, you’ll learn about classic tweening. Tweening is an animation technique that creates the necessary in- between frames based on a starting and ending frame. A motion tween uses one object instance over the entire span along with property keyframes to create a tween, while a clas- sic tween uses several instances in keyframes of an object along with property keyframes to create a tween. Classic tweens are more complex to create than motion tweens. However, if you’re looking for a custom result, classic tweens provide more advanced control. When you create an animation with classic tweening, there are some things you should know about. A classic tween: ◆ Uses Keyframes and property keyframes to create tweens. ◆ Allows frame scripts. ◆ Allows only symbols (movie clip, graphic, and button) as a tweenable type. It converts all others (editable shapes, groups, and text objects) to a graphic symbol. ◆ Consists of groups of individually selectable frames in the Timeline. ◆ Applies eases to groups of frames between keyframes within the tween. ◆ Allows animation between two different color effects, such as tint and alpha transparency. ◆ Doesn’t allow animation of 3D objects. ◆ Allows symbol swaps and setting the frame number of a graphic symbol to display in a property keyframe. From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 252 Chapter 9 Classic tweening can only be applied to instances of symbols. When applying classic tweening to groups or text objects, Flash automatically converts them into symbols and stores them in the Library. When this happens, they appear in the Library named as Tween 1, Tween 2, etc. It is a good idea to convert them into symbols as the tweening is applied. When managing large projects with many assets it can become confusing to have assets named in this generic way. Of course you can always rename them by selecting the field in the Library and typing in a new name. If your classic tweened animation doesn't behave as expected, there are a few things you can check. If the object disappears when you play the animation and only re-appears on the end keyframe, you may have more than one object on the keyframe. Make sure that only one object, or instance, is on each keyframe in the tweened span. Also, make sure that both instances are of the same object. Flash cannot motion tween two different objects. To "morph" different shapes into each other you must use shape tweening. Working with Classic Tweening When classic tweening is applied to groups or text objects, Flash automatically converts them into symbols and names them incrementally in this generic fashion. A dotted line in a tween span indicates that there is a problem with the tween. Makes sure there is only one instance (the same instance) on each keyframe. From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 9 Animating with Classic Tweening 253 There is a difference between frame properties and instance properties. This is a source of ini- tial confusion when dealing with animation tweens (both motion and shape). Because the Property Inspector is context-sensitive, it displays properties for many different objects in Flash, depending on which of these objects is selected. Classic motion (and shape) tweens are applied to keyframes in the Timeline. Color and Transform effects are applied to instances on the Stage. To view the classic tween properties for a specific frame or keyframe, you must select that frame. It is here that you activate tweening and tell Flash what you are going to tween (such as scale or rotation). This needs to be differen- tiated from the effects you apply to the instances in the tweened keyframes. These are accessed in the Property Inspector and the Transform panel whenever any instance is selected on the Stage. For example, if you check scale as an option in the tween properties for a keyframe, a change in size only results if the size of one of the instances is changed. Conversely, if you want to tween a change in alpha, you can't do this by selecting either of the keyframes in a tween; you must select the instance on the Stage and apply the alpha change when the instance prop- erties appear in the Property Inspector. Understanding Frame and Instance Properties Frame Properties appear when a frame is selected in the Timeline. Instance Properties appear when the instance is selected on the Stage. From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg 254 Chapter 9 You can tween position, scale, rotation and other transform effects applied to symbols, groups, and text. Additionally, you can apply classic tweening to color and alpha changes. A classic tween connects two keyframes. You should have only one object in the keyframe when you apply the tween or the results will be unpredictable. Tweened frames must reside on the same layer in the Timeline. Creating a Classic Tween Create a Simple Classic Tween Create a new Flash document, and then click on the first frame of the Timeline. Do one of the following: ◆ Draw a shape on the Stage with any of Flash's drawing tools and convert into a symbol. ◆ Drag an instance of a symbol from the Library. Select the first frame. Click the Insert menu, and then click Classic Tween. Click frame 10 in the Timeline. Click the Insert menu, point to Timeline, and then click Frame. Flash displays a dashed line in the framespan to indicate an incomplete or broken motion tween. It also tints the framespan a pale, bluish-purple to indicate that a motion tween has been applied. TIMESAVER Press F5 to add frames, or right-click the frame, and then click Insert Frame. 6 5 4 3 2 1 2 4 Dotted line indicates a broken or incomplete tween. A black dot at the beginning keyframe with a black arrow and blue background indicates a classic tween. 3 6 5 From the Library of Wow! eBook ptg Chapter 9 Animating with Classic Tweening 255 Click and drag the object on the Stage at frame 10 to a new location. Flash creates a second keyframe that is connected to the first with an arrow. This indicates the motion tween is complete. Click the Control menu, point to Test Movie, and then click Test. Flash gradually moves the object. 8 7 End keyframe is created when object is moved to a new position. Motion tween viewed in Onion Skin mode. Did You Know? You can add keyframes and then alter the position of the object on the Stage. Tweening can be applied to any two existing keyframes on the same layer. Select the first keyframe, click the Tweening list arrow in the Property Inspector, and then click Motion. You can move keyframes around in the Timeline. Simply click to select it, and then click it again and drag it to a new location. From the Library of Wow! eBook . Create a new Flash document, and then click on the first frame of the Timeline. Do one of the following: ◆ Draw a shape on the Stage with any of Flash& apos;s. the tweened span. Also, make sure that both instances are of the same object. Flash cannot motion tween two different objects. To "morph" different