Animation and Effects with Macromedia Flash MX 1002004 [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Appendix B. Timeline Effects

Timeline effects make adding animation to a SWF file effortless. Timeline effects are prebuilt effects that you can apply to bitmaps, text, buttons, and graphics (raw graphics, or graphic symbols). They are sometimes useful when you need to add a simple effect, but don't know how to tween such an effect yourself (of course, this isn't applicable to you after reading this book). A couple of effects are useful as time-savers, even if you are experienced with Flash. You will find an overview of the effects that install with Flash in the following section.

When you select an object on the Stage and apply a Timeline effect to it, the effect is then automatically added to the Timeline. However, before the effect is added, you can make selections in a special window that allows you to make settings and selections to control the appearance of the effect and/or the duration of the animation.

For example, you might create a drawing of a badger that you want to add an effect to. You apply a Timeline effect to this badger. Flash creates a new layer, and then takes the badger drawing and puts it on a new layer. The new layer receives the same name as your effect, and each Timeline effect layer you add to the FLA file is sequentially numbered. You'll also find an extra folder in your Library after adding the effect, which contains all of the assets that you need for the effect. Then Flash puts your selection and the animation inside a symbol. Any of the tweens that are added happen inside the symbol.

Despite the benefits of using Timeline effects, there are a few drawbacks to using this feature. These reasons are explained at the end of this Appendix.