Make a Simple Animation in Macromedia Flash

This article gives you the basics of creating a simple animation in Macromedia Flash.

Steps

  1. Open Macromedia Flash 10
  2. Choose frame 1 on the timeline which is located above the canvas.
  3. Draw whatever you want to in your first frame (eg: a stick figure).
  4. Choose the next frame depending upon the length of your animation. The larger the difference between the frames, the longer the animation.
  5. Right click on the frame and click "Insert KEYFrame".
  6. Right click anywhere between the first and the last frame and select "Create Motion Tween". Now the same picture you drew in the first frame will appear in the last frame you made.
  7. Edit this picture in any way. You can change its size, position or other effects such as alpha, tint, etc. They appear when you right click on the object and click "Properties".
  8. Press to view the animation.
  9. Play around and experiment. There is a lot more to flash animation than just this.

Tips

  • There is also what is called FBF (or Frame By Frame Animation) which is drawing one picture on one frame and then drawing that picture's next "movement" on the next frame. If you keep on doing that, you can create a very smooth animation (with skill). However, this method takes a lot of time, and therefore patience.
  • The greater number of frames, the longer the animation.
  • Play with Flash; try every button and option you see to understand its effects. This way, when you actually want to create something with Flash, you will know how.
  • You can set the amount of FPS (Frames per second) by using the selection tool, and having nothing highlighted, then click the menu under "Actions", to bring that up, and in the upper right corner, there is the set amount of FPS that is for Flash 8.
  • When working on a Flash project, save frequently, like any other project.
  • The more frames per second, the smoother the animation.
  • Try creating different layers for different objects by clicking the "+" in the layers panel besides the timeline

Things You'll Need

  • Macromedia Flash MX or similar version of Macromedia Flash.
  • You can go to the Adobe website and download a one month version of Flash CS3 if you want to give Flash a try.

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