Frame-by-Frame Flash Animation Tutorial
Nowadays, most computer animations are created in Flash. Flash supports many ways to animate text and graphics, including tweens that create certain types of movement automatically and ActionScript animations created through programming. However, the most basic type of Flash animation is frame-by-frame---creating movement one frame at a time. Flash's frames are similar to filmstrip frames. They create the illusion of movement by displaying objects in slightly different poses or positions, one frame after another in rapid succession.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
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Creating Frame-by-Frame Animation in Flash
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1
Start a new Flash FLA movie or open an existing FLA file in which you want to create an animation.
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2
Create a new layer in the Timeline panel. Click the "New Layer" button in the lower-left corner of the panel. In some earlier versions of Flash, this button is called "Create Layer." Depending on your version of Flash, the Timeline panel tab is located on the right, top or bottom of the application window. It's labeled "Timeline."
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3
Go to the first frame in the new layer where you want to start your animation. Right-click the frame and choose "Insert Keyframe" from the fly-out menu.
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4
Place an object (or use Flash's drawing and text tools to create the object) that you want to animate onto the stage. Place it where you want the animation to start.
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5
Go to the next frame on the new layer and insert a keyframe.
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6
Move or change the pose of the object slightly. What you do here depends on the type of animation you want. For example, if you plan to simply shift an object from one location to another on the stage, simply nudge the object slightly in the direction you want it to move. If you are, say, simulating the movement of an arm or a leg, reposition or pose the object slightly.
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7
Go to the next frame, insert a keyframe and move or reposition your object slightly.
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8
Continue inserting keyframes and moving and manipulating your object in each frame until you have completed the animation sequence.
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9
Test the movie (click "Control" on the menu bar and choose "Test Movie"). The animation should play frame by frame just as you manipulated it across the stage and timeline.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Keep in mind that for your animation to move smoothly, without jerks and bumps, you'll need to create many frames with slight differences in movement from frame to frame.
As Flash evolves, the need to create animations frame by frame, which can be tedious and time consuming, is disappearing. For example, later versions of Adobe Flash CS have "Shape" and "Motion" tween features that create shape "morphs" (shape shifting or changing) and basic movement automatically. Flash CS4 (and later versions) have Motion Editor and Bone tool features. The Motion Editor makes creating sophisticated animations much easier than the frame-by-frame method. The Bone tool takes much of the work out of animating the movement of animate objects, such as animals and people.
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References
- Photo Credit rugby fending blue cartoon style image by patrimonio designs from Fotolia.com
