Using Shape Hints - MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004-USING FLASH Use Manual

Drag the arrow next to the Easing value or enter a value to adjust the rate of change between
6.
tweened frames:
To begin the shape tween gradually and accelerate the tween toward the end of the
animation, drag the slider down or enter a negative value between -1 and -100.
To begin the shape tween rapidly and decelerate the tween toward the end of the animation,
drag the slider up or enter a positive value between 1 and 100.
By default, the rate of change between tweened frames is constant. Easing creates a more
natural appearance of transformation by gradually adjusting the rate of change.
Select an option for Blend:
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Distributive creates an animation in which the intermediate shapes are smoother and
more irregular.
Angular creates an animation that preserves apparent corners and straight lines in the
intermediate shapes.
Note: Angular is appropriate only for blending shapes with sharp corners and straight lines. If the
shapes you select do not have corners, Flash reverts to distributive shape tweening.
Create a second keyframe the desired number of frames after the first keyframe.
8.
With the second keyframe selected, select the artwork you placed in the first keyframe and do
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one of the following:
Modify the shape, color, opacity, or position of the artwork.
Delete the artwork and place new artwork in the second keyframe.

Using shape hints

To control more complex or improbable shape changes, you can use shape hints. Shape hints
identify points that should correspond in starting and ending shapes. For example, if you are
tweening a drawing of a face as it changes expression, you can use a shape hint to mark each eye.
Then, instead of the face becoming an amorphous tangle while the shape change takes place, each
eye remains recognizable and changes separately during the shift.
Shape hints contain letters (a through z) for identifying which points correspond in the starting
and ending shape. You can use up to 26 shape hints.
Shape hints are yellow in a starting keyframe, green in an ending keyframe, and red when not
on a curve.
For best results when tweening shapes, follow these guidelines:
•
In complex shape tweening, create intermediate shapes and tween them instead of just defining
a starting and ending shape.
•
Make sure that shape hints are logical. For example, if you're using three shape hints for a
triangle, they must be in the same order on the original triangle and on the triangle to be
tweened. The order cannot be abc in the first keyframe and acb in the second.
•
Shape hints work best if you place them in counterclockwise order beginning at the top left
corner of the shape.
170 Chapter 9: Creating Motion