How to Animate a Snow Globe in Flash

When you look at all the Flash developers' books, you may get the impression you need to write a lot of ActionScript to create effects like snow in a snow globe. In fact, you can animate a snow globe in Flash without any programming.

Instructions

1. Create a multicolored background for your snow globe. You can use an image, or a gradient fill. This will help create the illusion of seeing through the globe to something behind it.

2. Import or draw an object inside your snow globe. It can be a snow covered house, a Christmas tree, city buildings or whatever you want. Place it on a new layer above the "Globe" layer.

3. Create a new layer named "Snow." Use the smaller brush sizes to paint white dots at random on the layer. By varying the brush size, you can vary the look of the snowflakes. When you're finished, click on the layer in the timeline to select all of the snowflakes and choose "Convert to Symbol" from the Modify menu (make sure the "Movie Clip" option is selected.)

4. Mask the snow layer. On a new layer above the snow layer named "Mask," draw a solid color circle with the ellipse tool the size you will want to make your globe. Right or Control click the Mask layer in the timeline and choose "Mask" from the popup menu. All of the snow outside the globe will become hidden.

5. Draw your globe with the ellipse tool on a new layer named "Globe" above the mask layer. Use a radial fill for the color, light blue at the edges to white in the center. Convert the globe to a movie clip. Choose "alpha" from the color pulldown menu in the Properties palette and set the value to 10 to 15 percent.

6. Extend the animation timeline. Select all the layers in frame 50 on the timeline. Choose "Frame" from the Insert menu Timeline submenu to fill in all 50 frames. Select the last frame of your "Snow" layer and Choose "Keyframe" from the Insert menu Timeline submenu so that the circle in the frame becomes a solid dot.

7. Animate the snow. Select the first frame/keyframe of the "Snow layer" and drag it so that the bottom of the snow is just above the glove. Select the last frame/keyframe and drag the snow so that the top is just beneath the globe. Select all of the frames in the layer and choose "Create Motion Tween" from the Insert menu Timeline submenu.

Tips & Warnings

• You can enhance the animation's visual appeal by adding objects to the background. Draw a base for the snow globe; add a window or a photograph.

• Speed up or slow down your snowfall by changing the frame playback rate. Choose "Document" from the Modify menu (Command + J.) A higher frame rate plays back faster.

• Choosing "Movie Clip" when you convert objects to symbols allows you to manipulate the symbols in ways you can't do with the "Graphic" and "Button" options.

• If you have problems selecting objects, lock the other layers. This will make sure any selections only grab objects on the current layer.