Tutorial Overview:
  1. Draw object in Flash
  2. Select the wholoe drawing and convert it to a symbol(F8)
  3. Make 2nd keyframe(F6)
  4. Move drawing in the 2nd keyframe
  5. Right click on the 1st keyframe and select "Create Motion Tween"

Creating Motion Tween in Flash

Thanks to computers, animators can spend less time drawing each frame of an animation and let the computer do the work. Animators may only need to draw a few "key" frames and let the computer fill in the gaps. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create motion tween between two keyframes in an animation using Macromedia Flash.

 

Here are two important vocabulary words:

tween - to animate, or fill in, between two keyframes in an animation.

keyframe - an important point in an animation where movement starts or stops.

 

Step 1
Open Macromedia Flash and observe the screen. The tools for drawing are on the left. The drawing area is the white box in the center and the top storyboard area contains layers and frames for the movement of your animation.

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Step 2
Draw a small red ball using the circle drawing tool in the top left corner of your drawing area.

Then select the entire circle using the pointer tool and drawing a box over the circle from the top left to the bottom right. Once the circle is selected, it will change color as shown in the screenshot below. Go to the Insert menu and select "Convert to Symbol..." or hit (F8).



Then name the symbol "red ball" and click "OK" as shown in this screen shot:

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Step 3
Now click in frame 20 in the storyboard area and insert a new keyframe from the Insert menu or hitting (F6).

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Step 4
Now move the small red ball from the top left to the bottom right corner of your drawing area. You may also right click on the ball and scale it up.

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Step 5
Almost there! Now right-click on the 1st keyframe and select "Create Motion Tween". You should now see a blue area with an arrow pointing from keyframe one to keyframe 2.

Hit the "Enter" key to play your movie and see if it worked.

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