Chapter 10. Animation with Shape Tweening

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In shape tweening, as in motion tweening, you define the beginning and ending graphics in keyframes. Macromedia Flash MX creates the in-between frames , redrawing the graphic with incremental changes that transform it. The important difference between motion tweening and shape tweening is that motion tweening works on groups and symbols, and shape tweening requires editable graphics.

Shape tweening doesn't restrict you to changing the graphic's shape. You can change any of the graphic's properties ” size , color , location, and so on ”as you would in motion tweening. Though it's possible to shape-tween graphics that move in straight lines, the other automated-motion features are not available. You cannot instruct Flash to rotate a shape-tweened item, for example.

Flash can shape-tween more than one graphic on a layer, but the results can be unpredictable. When you have several shapes on a layer, there is no way to tell Flash which starting shape goes with which ending shape. By limiting yourself to a single shape tween on each layer, you tell Flash exactly what to change.

You define shape tweens by setting the tweening parameters in the Frame Property Inspector. For the exercises in this chapter, keep the Frame Property Inspector open on your desktop.

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