Flashthusiast

I’ve seen a couple questions in regards to looping new motion tweens – essentially having all of the properties copied from the beginning of the tween span to the end of the tween span. This is something I also ran into when testing, so requested a feature found in Flash CS4 and CS5 – Copy/Paste Properties.

There are actually a few ways of doing this, so I’ll outline it below:

a) Select the individual keyframe (Cmd/Ctrl+click) you want to copy, and then Alt+drag the property keyframe to copy it and move it to a new location. You can pass over existing property keyframes.
b) Select the individual keyframe then right-click and choose Copy Properties. Select where you want to paste the properties and choose Paste Properties.
c) F6 – this will add a keyframe for all available properties in the same position as the previous one like classic tweening (may or may not be what you will need though, such as when you’ve already tweened the instance).

You can also use Paste Properties Special, which will paste only a subset of property keyframes onto the frame. For instance, if you only need to paste the transformation keyframes but not the spatial properties, then this will be handy.

Flash CS5 ships with a bunch of templates that haven’t been seen in Flash before. The “Advertising” templates are still in there as with previous versions, but you’ll also see new categories for Animation, Banners, Media Playback, Presentations, and Sample Files. These FLAs all contain content within them to help you either start out with a document, or learn how certain functionality works in Flash. Most of them also contain instructions to help you set the file up for use. Just swap out the graphics and/or add a bit of content and you’re ready to go.

To access templates, choose File > New and choose the Templates tab, or choose a category from the “Create from Template” category on the Start page.

The Animation category includes:

• Movie Clip buttons (Animated Button Highlight / Text Glow)
• Animated masks (motion and shape tweens)
• Easing between keyframes (several techniques for new motion)
• Random animation, such ase random ease and brownian/organic movement
• Semi-scripted animation for rain and snow that use tween instance

The Banners category includes:

• Banner with a custom cursor
• Invisible buttons (simple) for banners in AS2 and AS3
• Banner that loads video
• Banner with an animated button (like those “punch the monkey” ads)

The Media Playback category includes:

• Photo albums (advanced and simple)
• Templates for title safe areas (HD, NTSC, PAL in standard and widescreen)

The Presentations category includes:

• Advanced and simple presentations – just like slideshows, similar to the functionality of Screens in earlier versions of Flash.

Sample Files include:

• AIR window
• Alpha mask (mask transparency, or “soft edge” masks)
• Custom mouse cursor
• Date countdown
• Drag-and-drop
• Handwriting (look in the library for all letters, A-Z, written out)
• IK stick man animation
• Lip Sync (includes guide for all common mouth shapes, and a sample lip sync animation)
• Menu sample (in AS3, includes 3 drop-down menus animated using tween instances)
• Panning (simple animation that pans across the stage)
• Perspective zoom (3d animation that zooms in towards the “camera”)
• Preloader that loads an external file, has loading bar
• Preloader that loads the current SWF, has an animation that loops
• Toggle button – toggles between play/pause of a sound.

Please let us know any feedback, and please let us know of templates you’d like to see in future versions of Flash!