Adobe 65018518 User Guide - Page 190

USING FLASH CS4 PROFESSIONAL 185 Timelines and Animation • A black dot at the beginning keyframe with a black arrow and a light green background indicates a shape tween. • A black dot indicates a single keyframe. Light gray frames after a single keyframe contain the same content with no changes. These frames have a vertical black line and a hollow rectangle at the last frame of the span. • A small a indicates that the frame is assigned a frame action with the Actions panel. • A red flag indicates that the frame contains a label. • A green double slash indicates that the frame contains a comment. • A gold anchor indicates that the frame is a named anchor. About layers in animation Each scene in a Flash document can consist of any number of Timeline layers. Use layers and layer folders to organize the contents of an animation sequence and separate animated objects. Organizing them in layers and folders prevents them from erasing, connecting to, or segmenting each other when they overlap. To create animation that includes tweened movement of more than one symbol or text field at once, place each object on a separate layer. You can use one layer as a background layer to contain static artwork and use additional layers to contain one separate animated object. When you create a motion tween, Flash converts the layer containing the object you selected to tween into a tween layer. The tween layer has a tween icon next to the layer name in the Timeline. If other objects are present on the same layer as the tweened object, Flash adds new layers above or below the original layer as needed. Any objects that existed below the tweened object on its original layer move to a new layer below the original layer. Any objects that were above the tweened object on its original layer move to a new layer above the original layer. Flash inserts these new layers between any pre-existing layers in the Timeline. In this way Flash preserves the original stacking order of all the graphic objects on the Stage. A tween layer can contain only tween spans (contiguous groups of frames containing a tween), static frames, blank keyframes, or empty frames. Each tween span can contain only a single target object and an optional motion path for the target object. Because you cannot draw in a tween layer, create additional tweens or static frames on other layers and then drag them to the tween layer. To place frame scripts on a tween layer, create them on another layer and drag them to the tween layer. A frame script can only reside in a frame outside the motion tween span itself. In general, it is best to keep all frame scripts on a separate layer that contains only ActionScript. When a document has several layers, tracking and editing the objects on one or more of them can be difficult. This task is easier if you work with the contents of one layer at a time. To hide or lock layers you are not currently working on, click the Eye or Lock icon next to the layer name in the Timeline. Using layer folders can help you organize layers into manageable groups. Updated 5 March 2009