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

Using Timeline Effects

Timeline effects were engineered to be easy for users to add to or remove from a FLA file. You can add an effect, modify it if necessary, and remove the effect in a single step. There are only a few effects that install with Flash, but you'll find many settings that you can edit for each effect, as demonstrated in the following exercise.

If an effect is dimmed in the window, it means that the object cannot be animated. You might have to change your selection to a symbol before you apply the effect or you might need to select more than one instance.

To add a Blur Timeline effect to a FLA document, follow these steps.

1. Create a graphic on the Stage, and select it using the Selection tool. Press F8 and convert the selection to a symbol. Select the movie clip behavior, and name it. Press OK to return to the Stage.

2. Select the object, and then select Insert > Timeline Effects > Effects > Blur.

3. In the Blur dialog box, make settings for the animation and then click the Update Preview button. This changes the animation in the pane to the right of the window based on your new settings. For example, you can make changes to the duration, scale, direction, and resolution of the Blur animation and click Update Preview before you apply the changes to the Timeline.

Consult Flash documentation (F1) for outlines of the settings you can make for each Timeline effect.

4. Click OK to apply the animation to the selection. You might need to test the SWF file to view the animation (Control > Test Movie). You can also open the instance that Flash creates in symbol-editing mode to view the animation; however, you will see a warning before you do so about editing Timeline effects.

You can delete a Timeline effect easily. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the object that you added the effect to. Then select Timeline Effects > Remove Effect from the context menu.

5. To make edits to the animation, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the object that you added the effect to. Then select Timeline Effects > Edit Effect from the context menu.

6. The Effects Settings dialog box opens, in which you can modify the settings you made to the selection. Click OK after you finish making changes to the effect.