How to Add Moving Text With Flash 8
Flash 8 supports several ways to move text around the stage in a movie. Some methods require some rather involved scripting or painstaking frame-by-frame animation (manually placing the text object one frame at a time). The easiest and most common way to create moving text in Flash 8 involves applying a simple Motion Tween to the text block you want to move. You can add multiple tweens to the same text string to move it to different locations, one location and then another.
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Instructions
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Moving Text with Motion Tweens
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1
Click the “Create New Layer” button (the plus sign icon) in the Timeline panel to create a new layer for the text you want to move. Place a keyframe in the frame where you want to start the moving-text animation (right-click the frame and choose “Insert Keyframe” from the fly-out menu). Each moving-text animation you create requires a separate layer.
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2
Select the Text Tool from the Tools panel and draw a text box on the stage where you want your animation to begin. Type the desired text into the text box, and then format the text to match your movie’s design (font, size, color, etc.) with the options in the Properties panel. (To animate individual letters, words or phrases, create a separate text box for each text object and place them on separate layers.)
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3
Go to the frame where you want the animation to end. Right-click the frame and choose “Insert Keyframe” from the fly-out menu. (For multiple animations, repeat this step on each layer containing text you want to animate.)
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4
Make sure you are still in the new keyframe. Select the text box and drag it to the end of the animation sequence, or where you want the moving text to stop. If you are animating multiple letters, words or phrases, repeat this step for each one. (You may find aligning multiple text boxes in their new locations with your mouse a bit tedious. You can use the arrow keys to nudge them into place or the Align panel to align each of the text boxes precisely along the same X or Y positions on the stage. You can also use the Align panel to center the text boxes vertically. To display the Align panel, click the “Window” menu and choose “Align.” Use the options in the Align section of the panel to align the text boxes. Use the options in the Distribute section to distribute the text boxes evenly.)
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5
Right-click any frame behind the second keyframe and choose “Create Motion Tween” from the fly-out menu. For multiple animations, repeat this step for each one.
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6
Test the movie to see the moving text.
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Tips & Warnings
To add another animation sequence (move the text box to a second location), insert another keyframe where you want the second sequence to end. Drag the text box to the new location and create another Motion Tween. Keep in mind, though, that long animations of moving text (or any other object) can bore and frustrate your movie’s users.
You can animate nearly any object in Flash 8 using this technique.
To make the moving text a clickable button, convert the text box to a button symbol (right-click the text box and choose “Convert to Symbol” before you begin the animation process.)
References
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