Tween properties in CS4

Hello All,
I am rusty. Not using flash for a while. Just installed CS4.
I was using CS3 and Flash 8 (macromedia).
I am working on a file that was created in maybe flash cs3 or perhaps flash 8, from another developer.
It shows tweens on the time line. The developer created fade tweens, with names like
"Transform 1" etc. The fades are on symbols (the developer converted jpegs to a symbols)
from 100 percent to 0 percent alpha. I can see the fade go from 100 to 0, but I am
unable to see the "alpha" properties when I select the symbol or the tween in the timeline.
The tween is displayed in the timeline as a line with an arrowhead at the keyframe when the
visibility goes to zero. I do not seem to be able to see the properties for the tween, i.e. 100 in keyframe 1, to 0 in keyframe 20.
No information shows in the CS4 "Motion Editor".
I created a tween in a layer that I added, and it seems that CS4 no longer show the lines with arrowheads, but
uses a different color for the tween range. And I get the motion properties in the "Motion Editor"
I am sure it is pilot error here. Since I just installed CS4, etc. How can I view tween properties, like
alpha on a symbol created in an earlier version of Flash?
Thanks for any help,
ewholz1-mac

Hi there,
There is a new motion feature in CS4, which is why you can see properties in the motion editor for these new tweens but not the old ones. In CS4, you are able to animate the properties of a single object, whereas in earlier versions of Flash you tween between two instances instead of animating properties of a single object (and as such, the Motion Editor cannot be used for the older style of tweens). So for the classic tweens, you are limited to the way Flash has always worked for those tweens (looking in the PI), and new tweens afford you the usage of the Motion Editor for examining tweened properties.
For more info on the differences between the two motion models, and migrating between the two, see http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/motion_migration_guide.html.
Jen.

Similar Messages

Problem with motion tweening in Flash CS4

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

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

Tweening in Flash CS4

What's changed in Flash CS4? It seems like in Flash CS3, there is a line with an arrow when I motion tweened a movie clip. The motion tween will show its tweening when I scrub through the timeline but that's not the case in Flash CS4. What's going on? If I scrub through the timeline, there is no tweening showing in the stage.

Hi aljCharlie,
You do not need to use the Motion Editor with new tweens, although it is the only place you'll be able to use some of the new features (pretty much easing). Other operations, and a simple ease, can still be done in the main timeline.
You can use F6 with the new tweens, although it will put a property keyframe on all properties. This may not be what you're after, but is essentially like a classic tween in that it "locks" a new keyframe for all properties at that location. If you, for example, only want to tween the position but not the alpha between two keyframes, then you would want to put only position keyframes at that point on the span. To do this in the main timeline/UI you can just change the X/Y on the stage, or whatever property you're changing in the Property inspector / Transform panel (etc). Just like you always did. That will only insert the keyframes on the properties you change the value for. If you want to lock every property, then you use F6 as per usual.
For more information on this topic, see http://flashthusiast.com/2009/01/09/flash-cs4-using-f6-with-new-motion-tweens/ .
For an article specifically on this topic, migrating from classic tweens to new motion, see http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/motion_migration_guide.html.
Jen.

Can't motion tween in mask CS4

I'm building a drop down menu in flash CS4. I have followed the directions meticulously...3 times... and still I can't get a mask to accept a motion tween.
Thanks for you help
Sb!
Little Rock

Could you share the steps you are using, and what's the result you're experiencing (what part isn't working)? You can tween a mask in CS4 with old and new tweens, so I'll need to know what you're trying to do that isn't working.
For example, this would work in CS4:
1. In a new AS3 document, draw a large square on one layer. Press F5 on frame 20 to insert some static frames.
2. Insert a new layer and draw a smaller square that's a different color and situated over the large square.
3. Right-click the small square and choose Create Motion Tween.
4. Scrub to frame 20 and move the square.
5. Right-click layer 2 and choose Mask.

How to move a keyframe from a Motion Tween in Flash CS4

I understand that motion tween is a new form of tween in CS 4 however I am unable to move a keyframe within the time line? am I missing something? I would hope I could select the keyframe (diamond shape) and move it around the timeline but apprently Im missing something.. I am not able to do a cut and copy either... is this normal behavior?
thanks
cheers
stephan

Thank you so much for getting back to me so quick. Work is chaotic right now or I would have replied sooner.
Anyway, my lines aren't actually 3D at all. Everything, including the box, are 2D. But that does give me an idea, once I'm more proficient in Flash if I decide to make this animation even better in the future.
I attached a screenshot of my homepage. You'll see a set of lines on the left side that surround a square with Sarah Knouse LeCroy inside. (That square is what I was referring to as a 'box'...probably not a good description.) I want that square to move down to the bottom left corner when you click on Portfolio, Contact or Resume. As it moves, I want the lines to collapse and fold together so that it looks like they're all neatly getting 'packed away' so that all that's left when viewing, say Portfolio, is an empty page with the square down in the lower left corner.
What is the best way to animate those lines in CS4? Most of the lines do not need to stay connected to the square as it's moving so I think I can just do a Classic tween for those. But the 3 diagonal ones DO need to stay connected to the box as it's moving. I was doing a motion tween and rotating/elongating each line in sections but they still didn't match up exactly in some places during the move. When I would try to go back and adjust a position I had set, it would just pop right back to the original position.
The last problem I'm having is an issue with getting this animation to play only when you leave the homepage and click to Portfolio, Contact or Resume.
But don't want to overwhelm so just answer what you have time for! Later, I could attach my main timeline so that you could see what I already have set up.
Thanks so much!

Video properties inspector CS4

Hi,
I have FLV video files in my site, and in the properties inspector window on the pages where the videos occur (when I click on the video image), there seem to be some properties missing. When I pull down the additional properties window with the little arrow in the lower right-hand corner, the only properties added to the window are Auto Play and Auto Rewind. The rest is blank. No quality, no frame, nothing that allows me to alter the video file in ways other than Height, Width, and the 'skin'.
According to Adobe there should be several other properties displayed. Am I doing something wrong here?
Thanks!
A

Click the CSS button on the left of the Property Inspector
Ken Ford
Adobe Community Expert Dreamweaver/ColdFusion
Adobe Certified Expert - Dreamweaver CS3
Adobe Certified Expert - ColdFusion 8
Fordwebs, LLC
http://www.fordwebs.com
"Harumbak!" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:gdtd09$ohu$[email protected]..
> hi guys,
>
> what's the best reason why they removed the option to
select a font size
> in
> the properties inspector if you have a HTML page open?
Is this because
> Dreamweaver would want people to get things more
organize when assigning
> classes to the elements?
>
> try this.
>
> 1. open a new html document in dreamweaver cs4
> 2. type any text on the body
> 3. highlight the text
> 4. look on the properties inspector. The only options
you have there is
> FORMAT
>

Getting a syntax error from mx.transitions.Tween with flash CS4

Hello all!
I am getting an import error with the following libraries:
import mx.transitions.Tween;
import mx.transitions.easing.*;
The errors are like this one:
Definition fl.transitions:Tween could not be found
I am using it as part of my .fla where for sorme reason it does not work but it works fine in the original archive. I guess it is a problem with the action script version becouse the original template use as2 and I am using as3.
Does anyone know which are the equivalent libraries in as3???
May I import does libraries directly in as3?
Thanks in advance for your help

in as3, you should use:
import fl.transitions.Tween;
import fl.transitions.easing.*;
NOT
import mx.transitions.Tween;
import mx.transitions.easing.*;
(see the difference?)

Shape Tween in Flash CS4

I am trying to make a shape tween by importing to stage 2 different shapes from Illustrator. Each shape is made out of 2 or 3 groups of shapes which may be my issue. I am not allowed to make a shape tween. When I the replicated the shapes in Flash (I simplified them so they where no longer groups- just one continuous shape), I was able to make the shape tween but the first shape that morphs into the second shapes appears again at the end of the tween. I would much rather import to stage from illustrator. Can someone advise in each different scenario? I am working on a MAC, Operating system 10.6.6. Thank you.

Hi there,
The frames in question are the ones that were highlighted on the "J morph" and "K morph" layers, correct?
Classic tweens and shape tweens are not supported on tween layers. They cannot be created on these layers, and if they're dragged or pasted there, they'll turn static (an undo is needed to move them back).
So my guess is that it may have been done before the save, as I can't imagine how that would have occurred between saving and reopening. The fix would be to put those two shape tweens on their own layers (which is a preferred practice anyway) and see if that fixes things.
Hope that helps,
Jen.

Tweening properties of multiple movie clips

My problem is that all of these movieclips are acting as one
massive movieclip. when you rollover any one of them, they all
change their alpha property. what do i need to change in this code
to make each clip work independently with onRollover and onRollout?
I want to be able to rollover any one of them and just have that
particular movieclip react.
thanks for your help!

Thanks!! that works perfectly!!

Flash CS4 Tween Migration

Hi,
I just wanted to get the thoughts of the expert here. I played around with the new tween tool in CS4, and it seems that the difference is I dont see the tween arrow anymore in the timeline; and there is an easing in the property that has been added. How this has changed from the old concept finally?
I see this just like putting some icing on the cake, and nothing would wow me to use this tool.
Please correct me if I am wrong, especially those of you who have utilized this tool in a different manner.
Looking forward for an open discussions.
Thank you
uxk

Hi Uxk,
I'm actually glad that you're finding the workflow similar - because it's actually a rather massive two-cycling change behind the scenes, and we typically hear something a bit different. Here are some of the changes and benfits between old and new:
you cannot break a new motion tween - no more “dashed arrows”
as such, new tweens are easier to use: you directly manipulate objects on the Stage without needing to always think about keyframes. You don’t even need to add keyframes - just manipulate the object and the keyframes are inserted for you.
granular control over each part of a tween.
motion paths are shown right on the Stage for all tweens. Highly visual, and directly editable.
you can use the new Motion Editor with new tweens
as such, the Motion Editor means tweens are more powerful in general: each property and keyframe on each property is accessible and editable independently. You can tween alpha separately from rotation separately from scale (etc).
in that Motion Editor you can edit individual properties on a graph
you can use the new 3D model with new tweens
you can give your tween an instance name and then give other instances that same tween at runtime
new tweens are easy to stretch by just dragging the span in the timeline
new tweens have new eases, which have advanced (and very cool, better, enhanced) eases
you can create/apply custom eases that do not need to end at 100%
you can save a tween as a preset and reuse it in that or other documents
new tweens are easy to move now - either on the timeline (drag the tween span around), or on the stage by selecting the motion path and just moving it on the Stage (lets just say it is WAY easier than edit multiple frames).
motion paths in general are easier, and you no longer need motion guides. The motion path for a tween is attached right to the tween.
you can apply a new instance to an existing tween by just pasting it onto a tween to swap it out, drag a new instance from the Library, or use Swap Symbol. you can even have a tween without an instance applied to it, and all properties of that tween will be saved until you apply an instance to it.
(From my blog post here: http://flashthusiast.com/2008/09/22/the-new-way-of-tweening-in-flash-cs4-or-new-motion-in- flash-cs4-makes-your-animations-better-faster-stronger/)
You may want to check out the Motion Migration guide here: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/motion_migration_guide.html -- this article outlines the changes between the two models.
Some of the bigger new features to check out are: Motion Presets (pre-made and custom), the Motion Editor (it ain't small...), preset eases (these made a radical difference in how quickly I could do certain animations), and tween instances (tons of new capabilities here, and reductions in amt of scripted code you have to write). Here are some blog posts on them:
Tween instances:
http://flashthusiast.com/2008/12/10/flash-cs4-example-spray-brush-tween-instance-new-motio n-as3-fancy-jsfl-profit/
http://flashthusiast.com/2008/10/12/new-motion-and-tween-instances-flash-cs4-presentation- flashcamp/
Motion editor and custom eases:
http://flashthusiast.com/2008/11/20/flash-cs4-modifying-and-applying-a-custom-ease-in-the- motion-editor/
You may also want to adapt how you use F6 with tweens:
http://flashthusiast.com/2009/01/09/flash-cs4-using-f6-with-new-motion-tweens/
Entire Animation guide:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/learning_guide/animation/
Let me know if you have any questions,
Jen.

CS4 new-style keyframing

Hi folks, just another CS4 newbie in a panic about the "new
skool" tweening. I'm sure that I'm going to absolutely love it once
it all sinks in, but at the moment, there are a few things that
strike me as odd and I'm looking for guidance...
Something I noticed last night that was different in terms of
workflow was animating consecutive objects. Imagine the following
simple storyboard:
- a photo appears on the screen and gradually grows in size
while fading out
- after that photo has completely faded out, a new photo
appears on the screen and grows in size while fading out.
Now, "old skool" I would have economized my timeline
real-estate by having both of these images on the same layer. Since
they are not visible at the same time, you can clear (delete) the
first image and drop in the second image and everything is peachy.
I found that this was not the case in CS4. Here's what
happens AFAICR:
- import first image to stage. it appears in a layer
- convert to graphic symbol
- enable motion tween on this object
- animate the object from frame 1 - 20
- I couldn't figure out how to "delete" the object other than
to Split the motion at a keyframe on frame 21 and then delete it
from the stage.
- import second picture with the new (empty) keyframe on
layer 1 at frame 21 selected (I'm expecting the picture to import
into that layer)
- a new layer is created with the picture at frame 1. Fine.
Cut it from layer 2, frame 1 and paste into layer 1 frame 21.
Delete layer 2
- convert this picture to a graphic
- apply Motion Tween
instantly the picture in this new graphic object is actually
replaced (even in the library!!) with picture 1. When I go into the
library and edit the library item and drop in picture 2, the
graphic symbol#1's picture is now changed to picture 2 as well!
Astounding.
So what's the answer here? I ended up just putting one image
per layer, but it seems to me that this will make for a horrible
mess if you're doing a manual timeline-based animation of a
sequence of images - you could potentially end up with dozens of
layers!
Thanks in advance for your insights.
Tom

Ah - I see, timeline was structured differently than I
thought.
Part A: Inserting a blank keyframe is only relevant for an
empty frame. So if you have a tween span at that frame, it cannot
be empty. If you create your initial tween span from frame 1 to
frame 40 (where you want the first tween) and then create the blank
keyframe at frame 41, you can start the second tween there. You can
even copy the properties from frame 40 and paste them on the tween
at frame 41 so the second image matches the one at frame 40. You
would Ctrl+click to select frame 40, right-click and choose Copy
Properties. Then Ctrl+click frame 41 after it's a tween span with
the second image, and choose Paste Properties.
Part B: Images cannot be imported onto tween spans, but we
should reenable it for blank keyframes and statics (this is a known
issue).
Part C: You don't want to F6 for a blank keyframe, you can F7
(or right-click) for one, and then drag your object to the Stage.
Then back to Part A for the rest of the description :) I'm not sure
about the object-based question. The tween has been removed, and
the object that was in the tween is now the static object on the
Stage. A tween has a target object, which can be removed, added,
replaced - etc. You change the properties of that object along a
tween span, which creates the interpolation/tween. You can delete
the object, and the properties remain, so you can apply a new
object to it which inherits those tweened properties (hence the
object-based tweening). Old-school tweening interpolates between
two different object instances, instead of tweening a single
instance as in new tweens. Hope that helps clarify the terminology
(although written in such a short passage... probably not...)
Another thing you could do is just split the span as you did
in the first part, and drag the instance you want to tween
(graphic, movie clip, etc) to the existing tween span without
removing it. Then if you need to align/resize the image to match,
you can copy and paste the properties from the previous one at
frame 41.
Or even easier, just import all of your assets and convert
them to movie clips with proper naming and so forth. Split the
span, and at frame 41 use swap symbol. The new image is
automatically in the tween without needing to remove or recreate
anything, and at the correct placement.

Lot of problems with CS4.

Okay... well, i recently upgraded to Flash CS4, and im having a lot of annoying problems with it so far. Can the pencil tool stop straightening out my curves and make it look like i carved it? The Smoothing setting seems to be disabled and locked at 50, and twiddling in the Drawing settings in Preferences didnt do any good. Also, With the new motion tweening method, how do you create a new keyframe after the motion tween? Not a blank keyframe but a keyframe with the symbol in the new tweened position? It seems to be greyed out.

1. in the tools panel, after clicking the pencil, a pencil mode icon will appear at the base of the panel. you can use one of 3 settings.
2. the cs4 tweening engine is different than previous flash versions. to learn how to tween using the cs4 tweening engine: http://www.gotoandlearn.com/play?id=88

Resizing animation and tween movie

hello forumers.
ive made a flash banner 1000x500 with lots of objects tweening etc etc photos fading in and out,and ive being told to resize the banner size to 800x300
but im having trouble when i do that,is there a way to get the everything that ive done into the 800x300 with out having to move all my objects around again and resizing each pic individualy,or do i have to start it from scratch again??
thank you.

If you're using classic tweens, try playing with the Edit Multiple Frames and Free Transform tools.
If you're using new motion, it's a known limitation and more manual for now -- refer to this post: http://flashthusiast.com/2009/10/06/scaling-and-moving-new-motion-tweens-in-flash-cs4/

Basic Flash CS4 Dilemma 0_o

Hi all,
I am wondering why I can create shapes with the fill and stroke I specify only in templates and not when I select a new action script 3.0 or any of the other types of flash documents. Does anyone have a link to information on this or can explain what I need to configure?
Looking across the Internet, I have not seen anything on this. 0_o

Hi Ganesh,
Thank you for the reply. I know how to draw and make motion tweens in Flash CS4 after I select the templates upon opening a new document:
New
Template
My problem is being able to draw anything with a filled in shape in another of the other types of Flash documents. When I draw a shape or import a button it has a strange green hue or just a green outline. The only way I can get all of the functionality is to use the templates but these have limited sizes...
Is there something I have not configured? I do not know if I am describing this in enough detail. I should probably provide a screencast. : /

Trouble with editing multiple frames

Hi guys,
I'm new to CS4 - learnt my flash many years ago on Flash 5. So anyway I'm trying to get used to the new Motion Tween function and having a few problems.
I've created a simple animation where an object fades in, stays put for a moment and then fades out (one motion tween with 4 keyframes). I now want to resize the movie clip across all of these keyframes cos I got it wrong to start with.
So I click 'Edit Multiple Frames' (everything disappears but that's for another question), drag the onion thingy across the timeline and select the frames on the layer I want to edit. I then click on the free transform tool and drag the invisible movie clip (you can see the outline!) to make it larger.
Result? Well it seems to scale the first frame, but the others are all left at the original scale. Hence animation now shows object fading in whilst getting smaller etc. etc.
There must be an easy way to do this. I've tried the motion editor but you have to do it keyframe by keyframe. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Ben

Modifying an entire animation with motion tweens is not as easy as it used to be.
Here's the best answer you are probably going to get.
from : http://flashthusiast.com/2009/10/06/scaling-and-moving-new-motion-tweens-in-flash-cs4/
Scaling an entire animation that does have Scale X or Scale Y animated.
If you have previously scaled anything in the tween, doing this is applied to the first keyframe and the tween would animate to the earlier scaling (the auto-keyframing feature can be a detriment in this situation, especially when it comes to scaling due to the percentages being reset - for this reason Motion Presets also won’t help). In this situation, I recommend scaling using the Motion editor:
1. Go to the Scale X and Y properties in the Motion Editor.
2. Press the Alt key while dragging the curve in each graph up and down. This scales the entire scale animation at the same time (same as edit multiple keyframes).
3. If you need to proportionally scale the motion path for the tween as well, select the path on the Stage and use Free Transform or enter a new value in the Transform panel.
I have had success with the above method, but from what I can tell you can only do one property at a time on one object at a time. So it is an awful amount of work.
As for step 2: while dragging the whole curve it seems the property value is very reluctant to snap to whole integers and I often see values like 200.35%.
Same thing applies for dragging property keyframes up and down in the motion editor. Is there a way to get nice clean numbers? I I want to scale something by 50% I don't want 49.83% I find myself often keying in these values by hand.
For me even though scale X and scale Y are "linked / locked / contstrained" It seems I get mixed results with this feature. Changing scaleX doesn't always change scaleY

Tween properties in CS4

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