SO MUCH HAS CHANGED in Flash CS4. But so much has remained the same. What does this mean for the veteran Flash animator who already has tried and tested workflows that can’t be broken? What features are you more likely to adopt and which ones will help you create new animation techniques that might increase your production?
If you remember one thing about the two tween methods in Flash CS4, remember that the Classic tween is frame-based while the new Motion tween is object-based. There are advantages and disadvantages to using both and the difference depends on what kind of object you are animating and what that object needs to do for you. There are so many different types of object that can be tweened in Flash: movie clips, Graphic and Button style symbols, imported bitmaps and text fields. The 2 different tween methods can complicate matters when trying to understand what tween to use with what kind of object.
Let’s start by comparing both tweening methods side by side and find out why Flash CS4 offers both.
Use Classic tweens to animate between two different color properties, such as tint and alpha transparency. Motion tweens are limited to 1 color effect per tween.
Classic tweens can not be saved as Motion Presets. You can only save Motion tweens as preset animations in Flash CS4.
Classic tweens can not be stretched and resized in the timeline like Motion tween spans can. Classic tweens are comprised of frames that have to be selected individually and inserted or removed in order to stretch or shorten the animation.
Hot Tip
If you remember one thing about the two tween methods in Flash CS4, remember that the Classic tween is frame-based while the new Motion tween is object-based. With motion tweens, you cannot swap symbols or set the frame number of a graphic symbol to display in a property keyframe. Animations that include these techniques require classic tweens.
