Topics:
- Homework Review
- Using the Timeline
- Timeline components and views
- Frames vs. Keyframes
- Selecting, moving, copying and deleting frames
- Creating Frame-by- Frame animations
- Frame by Frame animation
- Extremes and In-betweens
- Onion skinning
- Basic Animation Principles: Squash and Stretch
- Ball bounce in class exercise – Part I
- Using Shape Tweens
- Ball Bounce Part II
- Basic Animation Principles: Walk cycles
Using the Timeline
As we’ve already seen, frames are the basic unit of the timeline, represented as rectangles on the timeline. Each layer has it’s own frames that can be manipulated independently.
A keyframe is a frame on which something changes from the previous frame or frames. This is how we create animation. Keyframes are represented on the timeline by a dot inside the frame’s rectangle.
Inserting Frames
There are two ways you can insert frames or keyframes. First, select the layer and frame of the timeline where you want to insert, then through the Insert Menu:
Insert > Timeline > Frame
or
Insert > Timeline > Keyframe
or
Insert > Timeline > Clear Keyframe
You can also call up a contextual menu (I much prefer this) by right-clicking or Control+click on a frame on the timeline. This gives you access to all the frame controls:
Timeline Contextual Menu
Selecting Frames
Flash offers two different methods for selecting frames in the Timeline. In frame-based selection (the default), you select individual frames in the Timeline. In span-based selection, the entire frame sequence, from one keyframe to the next, is selected when you click any frame in the sequence. You can specify span-based selection in Flash Preferences.
- To select one frame, click the frame. If you have Span Based Selection enabled, Control-click (Windows) or Command-click (Macintosh) the frame. You can enable this in the Preferences panel.
- To select multiple contiguous frames, Shift-click additional frames.
- To select multiple non-contiguous frames, Control‑click (Windows) or Command-click (Macintosh) additional frames.
- To select all frames in the Timeline, select Edit > Timeline > Select All Frames.
- To select an entire span of static frames, double-click a frame between two keyframes. If you have Span Based Selection enabled, click any frame in the sequence.
Moving Frames
To move a keyframe or sequence of frames, click and drag.
To increase or decrease the length of a span, contol+drag.
