Problem with motion tweening in Flash CS4

Question

Hi !
I tried to refresh my little flash knowledge -- but I stumbled upon a problem with the new Flash CS4!
When I try to make different blur or alpha effect on one keyframe I got after making the motion tween -- Flash adjust the other keyframe as well (got the same reaction on both keyframes as if it was the same instance of movie clip -- and not as in old flash; the keyframes created separated or independent instances)
The only thing working for me is when I move the movie clip out of the stage on the first keyframe -- and it correctly move its position.
What's wrong?
Kind Regards
Maria Olsen

Answer 1

Hello Maria,
You sort of answered your own question:)
"got the same reaction on both keyframes as if it was the same instance of movie clip"
That is exactly right and is the proper way of looking at new motion tweens. It is one instance of the movieclip for the duration of the tween. It takes awhile to get used to this.
New motion tweens allow you to set up a a very simple tween initially without keyframing ending values / position. Once you start making changes after the tween is set, you are going to have to get familiar with adding "property keyframes". Property keyframes are displayed with those little diamond icons in the timeline. Poperty keyframes allow you to "lock in" certain specific properties at key points in your animation without affecting other properties. With the old classic keyframes, a keyframe placed mid-tween would create a whole new instance of a symbol with all properties (rotation, scale, alpha etc) set in stone for that point in time. The benefit was that you could easily have all properties tween TO and FROM that keyframe if that's what you wanted. Now you can make adjustments to a symbol mid-tween and only specifically adjust a single property. So you can adjust the alpha of an object mid-tween without interrupting say a rotation that you wanted to happen all the way through.
If you simply want an object to move left to right and then you decide it should fade in
CLASSIC TWEEN
-place symbol on frame 1
-keyframe frame 10
-in frame 10 move the symbol to the right
-add classice tween
Ok, that works, now add alpha fade in
-go back to frame 1 and set alpha to 0
-classice tween automatically adjusts alpha from 0 in frame 1 to 100 in frame 10.
-done
MOTION TWEEN
-place symbol on stage
-create motion tween
-playhead jumps to last frame
-move symbol to the right (no need to f6 / keyframe)
     Flash automatically adds something called a "position" keyframe (notice the little black diamond)
Ok, that works, now add alpha fade in
-go to frame 1 and set alpha to 0
-test movie
-oops - wrong. As you noted the alpha will stay at 0 throughout the whole tween.
-you need to additionally go to the last frame and set the alpha back to 100
     -this will automtically create a "color" property keyframe on the last frame
When just doing this now I noticed something odd as well
As soon as I do the position change and move the symbol to the right, if I try to add the "color keyframe" on the last frame of the tween, I am not allowed to do so. "color" and "filter" are greyed out. I would prefer to lock the alpha at 100 in the last frame while the playhead is in position before setting it down to 0 in frame 1. Oh well.
Seems you are forced to
-go back to the beginning of the tween
-adjust the alpha
-then go to the end and manually bring the alpha back up.
hmm maybe i'm missing something too:)
the best way to do this would be to have the foresight ahead of time to do the alpha
-place the symbol
-alpha 0
-add motion tween
-in last frame move the symbol  set alpha to 100 (alpha and position keyframes are automatically set)
So if you do it right the first time, its easy. If not, well.
Keep in mind an object will maintain the properties it has set in frame 1 unless a subsequent property keyframe enforces some adjustment.
If you have have an object that is moving from point a to b to c to d:
If you alter the alpha at point b, the alpha will tween from point a to b, but will maintain the new alpha to c, to d.
If you scale the clip by 200% at point, its scale will tween from point a all the way to point d, NOT just from c to d
To scale from point c to d only, set a "scale" property keyframe at point c (this will lock the objects scale at 100) THEN scale to 200% at point d
It takes a good deal of practice. I found the hard way that you just can't "wing" it. It isn't very intuitive coming from a classic tween approach.
These articles really helped me:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/motion_migration_guide.html
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/learning_guide/animation/
Take note of the tips on "cntr-clicking" frames and "shift-dragging". You have to really get used to a few keyboard modifiers when editing the timeline.
Stick around the forums. A lot of good info comes through daily.
Carl