Flashthusiast

Justin Putney at Ajar Productions has created some amazing extensions that you can use with Flash CS4 and the new motion model to help with your tweens or create them. Justin’s extensions are not only useful, but well implemented and documented on his blog.

For some helpful detailed info about the extension creation, check out this post on the Ajar Productions site.

For information/download for the MotionSketch extension, which records/creates a tween based on you drawing in Flash (!), see this post.

For the Motion Blur extension, which analyzes the movement of your tween and then creates a motion blur. see this post.

Many thanks to Justin for your hard work, and excellent extensions.

We wrote an article to help you migrate your skills and tweens from old to new in Flash CS4. It accompanys a new Animation Learning Guide on the Developer Center (they go hand in hand, lots of cross links) - and since it is now out, so is the migration article.

Check them out here:

* Motion Migration Guide for Flash CS4

* Animation Learning Guide

Let us know what you think!

It took awhile to produce this due to its length (over 80 pages in word I think), but the Animation Learning Guide for new motion (introduced in Flash CS4 last fall) is finally out:

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/learning_guide/animation/

It is divided into a bunch of sections based on topic, so click from this page to the topic you want to learn about. Also note that there is a FLA download of samples to help you out.

For more information on whatever, let us know. If you’re upgrading from classic tweens to new tweens, check this other article out too.

Get the download here:

http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html

I quote:

Adobe Flash Player 10 Update for Flash CS4 Professional

2/24/09 This download contains fixes for critical vulnerabilities identified in Security Bulletin APSB09-01 Flash Player update available to address security vulnerabilities. The update replaces the Debug and Release versions of Flash Player 10 browser plugins and standalone players that are included in the initial release of Flash CS4 Professional (player version 10.0.2.54). All users are encouraged to apply this update. These new players are version 10.0.22.87.

The Flash PM Richard Galvan has commented on concerns raised by Flash users on his blog, as follows:

http://blogs.adobe.com/rgalvan/2009/01/concerns_and_issues_with_flash.html

It outlines some of the main things we are currently looking into and working on. Please see the above post for more information, and we of course welcome your comments (if there are specific issues you have, files and very detailed steps to reproduce and system specs are very important).

If you’ve created motion tweens in versions of Flash Past, chances are you’ve pressed F6 a few times in order to insert new keyframes. Doing so has probably become very familiar to you as well – you want to change something for an animation, then you press F6. Automatically. It’s a habit.

You can still use F6 to insert static keyframes on the Timeline (that you might turn into a motion tween), and you can even use them to insert property keyframes within a tween span too. However, within a tween span pressing F6 will insert a property keyframe on every single property currently associated with the target instance. This is usually way more keyframes than you actually need at that frame, so using F6 on a tween span is usually not the best thing to do for your animation - especially if you intend to continue modifying it. You’ll likely end up with unexpected things happening in your animation. So in Flash CS4, you might want to work at breaking the F6 habit.

Instead of pressing F6, you can insert keyframes other ways:

• Simply change the instance. Most of the time, this is all you need to do to insert a keyframe at the playhead’s position. If you need to tween to a new location, move the instance there. If you need it to scale or skew, use the Free Transform tool. If you need the instance to blur, change the value in the Property inspector or Motion Editor.
• Right-click the tween span and choose Insert Keyframe > Type. This adds keyframe(s) for the category you select at the current playhead, which reduces the number of keyframes inserted. For example, if you choose Insert Keyframe > Filter it adds a keyframe on all filter properties. To further reduce the number of inappropriate keyframes, use the Motion Editor.
• Use the Motion Editor. You can use the Add Keyframe button (yellow or gray diamond), graph context menu, or Ctrl/Cmd key over the graph to insert a keyframe on individual properties.

A frequently requested item for Flash is the ability to see a grid over your artwork on the Stage. Flash CS4 now lets you do just that using a new option in the Edit Grid dialog. Let’s look at the change, which you might not have noticed yet because it’s turned off by default. Keep reading to learn how.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the previous blog entry, I linked to a new JSFL that automatically gives instance names to selected instances in a smart way. You can go read about and download the JSFL from this page. This entry shows you how to use this command along with some of the new features in Flash CS4.

Read the rest of this entry »

So you have a bunch of instances on the Stage. Say you sprayed them using the new Spray Brush tool in Flash CS4, or maybe you just have a bunch of buttons in a menu that you need instance names for. And you don’t want to have to select each one, go to the PI, name it, repeat. This new JSFL file lets you select instances on the Stage, and will add an instance name for whatever can take one (buttons, movie clips, components, etc). You set the prefix for that name (say, yourName), and then it name them using the format yourName_0, yourName_1 and so on. If you select something that cannot take an instance name, it doesn’t get named (or mess up your sequential numbering).

Thanks to Jeffrey Ahlquist of Flash team engineering fame for writing up this JSFL. Download it (right-click, Save Link As): Sequentially Name Instances JSFL. After you download it, put this file in the Commands folder in your user config folder: (Win) Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Adobe\Flash CS4\en\Configuration\Commands\ (Mac) username/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Flash CS4/en/Configuration/Commands. In Flash, select the instances you want to name, and then select Commands > Sequentially Name instances.

The next post will detail using this new JSFL in conjunction with the Deco Tool and Tween instance features of Flash CS4. Along with a tiny bit of ActionScript 3.0. Read that next post… now!

That’s right - do you want to do more “stuff” with your tweens? Often you have to know what keyboard modifiers to use, because functionality is not revealed in any other way. These modifiers are all documented, but I thought I would put them down in a handy list you could reference or print out (or whatever you want to do).

MOTION EDITOR

• Add a control point: Ctrl-click (Windows) or Cmd-click (Mac) on the curve or dashed line on the graph.
• Remove a control point: Ctrl-click (Windows) or Cmd-click (Mac) a control point.
• Select multiple control points on a graph: Hold Shift and click each control point.
• Convert a control point between smooth and corner: Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the control point to extend or pull in the handles of a control point. This works on all control points except on the X, Y, and Z (spatial) properties.
• Move a curve up and down on a graph without changing the keyframes time values: Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac) the curve between any two control points.
• Separate handles on a control point: Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac) a handle. This makes the handle move independently. Release the Alt key and drag the opposite handle past 180 degrees to make both move together again.
• Move a control point to a different frame and retain its value: Make sure the control point is DESELECTED, and then hold Shift and drag it to a new frame. Or select the control point and don’t release the mouse button, then hold Shift and drag it to a new location.
• Change values by steps of 10: Hold Shift while scrolling the hot text.
• Change values by steps of 0.1: Hold Ctrl while scrolling the hot text.

(Also note that you can do basic math in the hot text as well - to enter 25, you can enter 20+5.)

TWEEN SPANS (in Timeline)

• Select a single frame in a tween span: Ctrl-click (Windows) or Cmd-click (Mac) a frame in the tween span.
• Select multiple frames in a tween span: Ctrl-drag (Windows) or Cmd-drag (Mac) frames in the tween span.
• Extend the length of a tween span without stretching the animation: Shift-drag the end of the tween span to the right.
• Make the tween span shorter without stretching the animation: Shift-drag the end of the tween span to the left (removes keyframes you drag over).
• Duplicate a span: Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac) the span to a new location on a timeline.
• Duplicate tween frames: Select frame(s) within a span (Ctrl/Cmd-click or drag) and then Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac) the frames to a new location on a timeline.
• Insert empty frames between two adjacent tween spans: Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) while dragging the breakline between the spans.