Adobe 65011817 User Guide - Page 202

Creating animations, Animation basics, Animation workflow, About animation symbols

Page 202 highlights

196 Chapter 15: Creating animations Animation basics In Adobe® Fireworks®, you can create animated graphics with banner ads, logos, and cartoons that move. You create animation by assigning properties to objects called animation symbols. The animation of a symbol is broken down into states, which contain the images and objects in the animation. You can have more than one symbol in an animation, and each symbol can have a different action. Different symbols can contain differing numbers of states. The animation ends when all the action of all the symbols is complete. You can apply settings to the symbol to gradually change the content of successive states. You can make a symbol appear to move across the canvas, fade in or out, get bigger or smaller, or rotate. Because you can have multiple symbols in a single file, you can create a complex animation in which different types of action occur all at once. You change optimization and export settings in the Optimize panel to control how your file is created. Fireworks can export animations as animated GIF or Adobe Flash® SWF files. You can also import Fireworks animations directly into Flash for further editing. Zsolt Szekely's article in the Adobe Dev Center provides useful information on creating animated logos in Fireworks CS4. Animation workflow 1 Create an animation symbol, either from scratch or by converting an existing object into a symbol. (See "Create animation symbols" on page 197.) 2 Edit the animation symbol in the Property inspector or the Animate dialog box. You can set the degree and direction of movement, scaling, opacity (fade in or out), and angle and direction of rotation. (See "Edit animation symbols" on page 197.) Note: Degree and direction of movement options are found only in the Animate dialog box. 3 Use the States Delay controls in the States panel to set the animation speed. (See "Set state duration" on page 199.) 4 Optimize the document as an animated GIF. (See "Optimize an animation" on page 203.) 5 Export the document as an Animated GIF or SWF file, or save it as a Fireworks PNG and import it into Flash for further editing. (See "Export an animation" on page 229.) About animation symbols Animation symbols are the actors in your animation. An animation symbol can be any object you create or import, and you can have many symbols in one file. Each symbol has its own properties and behaves independently, so you can create symbols that move across the screen while others fade or shrink. You do not need symbols for every aspect of your animation. However, using symbols and instances for graphics that appear in multiple states reduces file size. You can change animation symbol properties at any time using the Animate dialog box or the Property inspector. You can also edit symbol artwork without affecting the rest of the document. You can also change the motion of a symbol by moving its motion path. Because animation symbols are automatically placed in the library, you can reuse them to create other animations. Last updated 3/8/2011

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196
La
s
t updated 3/8/2011
Chapter 15: Creating animations
Animation basics
In Adobe® Fireworks®, you can create animated graphics with banner ads, logos, and cartoons that move. You create
animation by assigning properties to objects called
animation symbols
. The animation of a symbol is broken down into
states
, which contain the images and objects in the animation. You can have more than one symbol in an animation,
and each symbol can have a different action. Different symbols can contain differing numbers of states. The animation
ends when all the action of all the symbols is complete.
You can apply settings to the symbol to gradually change the content of successive states. You can make a symbol
appear to move across the canvas, fade in or out, get bigger or smaller, or rotate. Because you can have multiple
symbols in a single file, you can create a complex animation in which different types of action occur all at once.
You change optimization and export settings in the Optimize panel to control how your file is created. Fireworks can
export animations as animated GIF or Adobe Flash® SWF files. You can also import Fireworks animations directly into
Flash for further editing.
Zsolt Szekely’s article in the Adobe Dev Center provides useful information on
creating animated logos in Fireworks CS4
.
Animation workflow
1
Create an animation symbol, either from scratch or by converting an existing object into a symbol. (See “
Create
animation symbols
” on page
197.)
2
Edit the animation symbol in the Property inspector or the Animate dialog box. You can set the degree and
direction of movement, scaling, opacity (fade in or out), and angle and direction of rotation. (See “
Edit animation
symbols
” on page
197.)
Note:
Degree and direction of movement options are found only in the Animate dialog box.
3
Use the States Delay controls in the States panel to set the animation speed. (See “
Set state duration
” on page
199.)
4
Optimize the document as an animated GIF. (See “
Optimize an animation
” on page
203.)
5
Export the document as an Animated GIF or SWF file, or save it as a Fireworks PNG and import it into Flash for
further editing. (See “
Export an animation
” on page
229.)
About animation symbols
Animation symbols are the actors in your animation. An animation symbol can be any object you create or import,
and you can have many symbols in one file. Each symbol has its own properties and behaves independently, so you
can create symbols that move across the screen while others fade or shrink.
You do not need symbols for every aspect of your animation. However, using symbols and instances for graphics that
appear in multiple states reduces file size.
You can change animation symbol properties at any time using the Animate dialog box or the Property inspector. You
can also edit symbol artwork without affecting the rest of the document. You can also change the motion of a symbol
by moving its motion path.
Because animation symbols are automatically placed in the library, you can reuse them to create other animations.