Shape Tweening & Sound Lecture Notes -

Objective #1: Be able to create shape-tweened animations.

• The technique called morphing is called shape-tweening in Flash.
• You may have to first use the Modify/Break Apart menu command to make an object editable so that it can be used in a shape-tween. If you Modify/Break Apart an instance, it is no longer attached to its Library symbol.
• You can use the Ease option in the Property Inspector to make a shape tween appear as if it's accelerating or decelerating.
• Shape hints are used to control a shape-tween in case the default tween isn't desirable. Shape hints can only be placed around the boundary or on the corners of an object. Add shape hints in a clockwise or counter-clockwise order around an object. You can add no more than 26 shape hints to a given object. To delete a shape hint, drag it off the stage.
• The Blend option that appears in a shape tween's Property Inspector can be set to Distributive to smooth out the "in-between" shapes. Or, you can use the Angular option to keep corners and straight lines.

Objective #2: Be able to use masks.

• With a mask layer and a masked layer, you can hide parts of the stage while revealing other parts.
• The masked layer contains the objects or background that you want to display.
• The mask layer contains filled shapes such as a circle or a rectangle. The filled area becomes transparent and the non-filled areas become opaque. Therefore the content in the masked layer will be revealed underneath the filled areas of the mask layer.
• To make a mask layer, use the Modify/Layer menu command and make sure that the mask layer is directly above the masked layer.
• Lock the masked and mask layers in order to preview the effect of masking when playing the movie in Flash.
• A mask can be animated with a motion-tween or even a shape-tween.
• You can create a neat effect by placing duplicate images in a masked layer and a normal layer that is below the mask and masked layer with the one image being a normal version of the image and the other being a darker image. Or, the one image could be blurry with the other one sharp. Or, the one could be grayscale and the other one in color.
• A mask could be used to create the effect of a cinematic wipe across the stage.
• Certain effects that look like animation are created more easily with masks. For example, a shortening fuse of a bomb could be created this way. Also, transitions between frames can be used to create a slideshow effect (like PowerPoint).

Objective #3: Be able to add sound to a Flash movie.

• You can import a sound clip or file for use in a Flash movie with the File/Import or File/Import to Library menu command. The sound clip is automatically added to the library as a symbol.
• The sound formats .wav and .mp3 are supported by Flash though others can be supported with additional steps.
• If you use sound in a Flash movie, you should first insert an additional layer and name it something like "sounds". Drag the sound from the library into a keyframe of the "sounds" layer. If you want the sound to be cued up with another action in the movie, you should position the keyframe appropriately.
• To add sound to a button, you should open the button's symbol timeline. Create a new layer in the button symbol's editor and add a keyframe to the Down frame if necessary. Then, drag the sound symbol from the library into the Down frame of the sound layer. This will cause the sound to play only when someone has clicked the button.
• Notice that a number of effects can be applied to a sound from the Property Inspector.
• Activity: Add a sound to a button's click using Common Library buttons and sounds

Objective #4: Be able to add and manage multiple scenes.

• Organize a movie with a long timeline into multiple screens for additional manageability.
• Use the Modify/Scenes menu command to open the scenes panel which allows you to rename a scene, add a new scene, duplicate a scene, and reorder the scenes.
• You can select and then copy and paste whole layers or spans of frames within a layer to another scene.