Movie Clips can be used for single frames and multiple frames. Try the hands-on activity it will help show that concept in this page.
The object of the next exercise is to create an animation inside a Movie
Clip. Then tween an instance of the clip so it tweens as well as animates.
Specifically, you'll make a wheel and then use an instance of that wheel to
create a rotating wheel. Finally, you'll use two rotating wheels to create a
car symbol. Then you'll animate the car across the screen and see it's wheels
rotating, too! Well, that's the idea anyway, so begin the session.
Build a Movie Clip That Rotates a Wheel
Build a Movie Clip That Rotates a Wheel
Draw a circle on the stage, but don't make it perfectly symmetrical,
we need to recognize it's rotation. (See the example for a clue. I started
with the circle tool with the Shift key held down, then switched to a small
brush with white as a color. I then took the pencil tool to draw black lines
to finish the pie shaped cuts.) Select the entire shape and select Insert
> Convert to Symbol (F8). Name it Wheel, choose Movie
Clip behavior type, and click OK.
At this point we have to do something important, Motion Tweens need to
be symbol instances. So reselect the Wheel that is on the stage and press(F8).
This time name it Rotating Wheel and be sure to leave Movie Clip
as the behavior, and then click OK.
What's going on here? We already had a symbol in the
Library from Step 1. This time we took an instance of that Wheel and put
it in the Rotating Wheel symbol. (Look inside the Library).
Now you'll work with the master version of Rotating Wheel.
Double-click the instance on the stage. In the address bar
you should see Scene 1: Rotating Wheel. If you now single-click
to select the instance (inside Rotating Wheel) you should see "Instance
of: Wheel" in the Properties panel.
Now you can do a simple Motion Tween inside the master version
of Rotating Wheel. Click frame 20 and insert a keyframe (F6).
Select the first keyframe and from the Properties Panel select Tween
Motion, Rotate CW1 time.
Do a Test Movie to see that it rotates.
Add a new layer and repeat the above steps to make a second wheel for
the car. Position the two Rotating Wheels side-by-side so they can become
car wheels.
Use the Brush tool to draw the car body. Select every layer
and convert them to a symbol called Car and leave it with Movie Clip behavior.
(If the car doesn't look really pretty, I'll tell everybody you can't
draw!)
Insert a keyframe at frame 30 (F6) and then with frame 1
selected set the P.I. to Tween using Motion. Scrub to see the car move,
but test the movie to see the wheels rotate.
Click the glasses icon below to view my interpretation of this exercise. I did take it a bit further than the steps above, and you should too if you expect to learn this stuff. I added many more frames to smooth the animation and give me more time on the stage. Adding a bit of sound from the Common Library Sounds and a few more Keyframes so I could animate more movement for the car. Bottom line, have some fun.
Movie Clip Symbols
Pr 1
Build a Movie Clip That Rotates a Wheel
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Page Updated on
March 2, 2003
