Table of Contents
Advertisement
Use context menus
Context menus contain commands relevant to the current selection. For example, when you select a frame in the
Timeline window, the context menu contains commands for creating, deleting, and modifying frames and keyframes.
Context menus exist for many items and controls in many locations, including on the Stage, in the Timeline, in the
Library panel, and in the Actions panel.
❖
Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) an item.
The Timeline
About the Timeline
The Timeline organizes and controls a document's content over time in layers and frames. Like films, Flash documents
divide lengths of time into frames. Layers are like multiple film strips stacked on top of one another, each containing
a different image that appears on the Stage. The major components of the Timeline are layers, frames, and the
playhead.
Layers in a document are listed in a column on the left side of the Timeline. Frames contained in each layer appear in
a row to the right of the layer name. The Timeline header at the top of the Timeline indicates frame numbers. The
playhead indicates the current frame displayed on the Stage. As a document plays, the playhead moves from left to
right through the Timeline.
The Timeline status displayed at the bottom of the Timeline indicates the selected frame number, the current frame
rate, and the elapsed time to the current frame.
Note: When an animation is played, the actual frame rate is displayed; this may differ from the document's frame rate
setting if the computer can't calculate and display the animation quickly enough.
A
C
D
H
Parts of the Timeline
A. Playhead B. Empty keyframe C. Timeline header D. Guide layer icon E. Frame View pop-up menu F. Frame-by-frame animation
G. Tweened animation H. Scroll To Playhead button I. Onion-skinning buttons J. Current Frame indicator K. Frame Rate indicator
L. Elapsed Time indicator
The Timeline shows where animation occurs in a document, including frame-by-frame animation, tweened
animation, and motion paths.
Controls in the layers section of the Timeline let you hide, show, lock, or unlock layers, as well as display layer contents
as outlines. You can drag frames to a new location on the same layer or to a different layer.
B
I
J
K
L
Updated 5 March 2009
USING FLASH CS4 PROFESSIONAL
E
F
G
22
Workspace
Advertisement
Table of Contents
