Adobe Flash —

Change the speed of the animation

When you tested the animation, you might have noticed that the tire bounces rather slowly. You can change the speed of an animation by changing the number of frames that play per second, and by setting positive and negative easing values, which determine the rate of acceleration and deceleration.

Change the frames per second speed

The frame rate, measured in frames per second (fps) is the speed at which the animation plays. By default, Flash animations play at a rate of 12 fps, which is ideal for web animation. Sometimes, however, it's desirable to change the fps rate. You'll now change the frame rate to 36 frames per second, which will make the tire appear to bounce more rapidly.

1.
Click the Stage, away from any objects.
2.
In the Property inspector, type 36 in the Frame Rate text box.

The frame rate applies to the entire Flash document, not just to an animation within the document.

Change the acceleration and deceleration

By default, tweened frames play at a constant speed. With easing, you can create a more realistic rate of acceleration and deceleration. Positive values begin the tween rapidly and decelerate the tween toward the end of the animation. Negative values begin the tween slowly and accelerate the tween toward the end of the animation. You'll now add both positive and negative easing values to your animation.

1.
On the TireAnim layer, select any frame between Frames 2 and 14. Then in the Property inspector, in the Ease text box, type 100. Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Macintosh).
2.
On the same layer, select any frame between Frames 16 and 29. Then in the Ease text box, type -100. Press Enter or Return.
3.
On the ShadowAnim layer, select any frame between Frames 2 and 14. Then in the Ease text box, type 100. Press Enter or Return.
4.
In the same layer, select any frame between Frames 16 and 29. Then in the Ease text box, type -100. Press Enter or Return.

Test the SWF file

You'll test your document to view the animation and see if it works as expected.

1.
Save your document and select Control > Test Movie.
2.
When you finish viewing the animation, close the SWF file window.

Summary

Congratulations on learning how to animate objects in Flash. In just a few minutes, you learned how to accomplish the following tasks:

  • Create an animation using motion tweening.

  • Create an animation using shape tweening.

  • Copy and paste keyframes in an animation.

  • Change the speed of an animation.

You can also use Timeline effects to quickly add animation effects to text, graphics, images, and symbols. For more information, see "Creating Motion", in Flash Help.

To learn more about Flash, take another lesson.