More about shape hints. Shape hints work better if you place them from the left to the right, starting with the upper left-hand side corner of the
shape. If your hints disappear, select View > Show Shape Hints. To delete a hint, right-click on it and select Delete Hint.
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Flash : Basics of Morphing
[ Contents ]
Stéphanie Guillaume
Shape Hints
The solution to our problem is called shape hints. This technique allows the definition of morphing points, i.e. the precise destination of each point of the start image can be chosen.
- Select the first keyframe.
- Select Modify > Transform > Add Shape Hints.
A red disc containing a letter a appears in the centre of the animation.
- Select this disc using the Arrow tool and position it on one side of the square.
To place your hint points correctly and quickly, make sure that the Snap to Objects checkbox is selected.
- Repeat these actions for the three other sides. Proceed logically when placing the shape hints: the letters that appear must
be in sequence.
- Click on frame 10. The screen should show you the last shape hint you positioned, still red. Place it in the appropriate corner.
Once positioned, the hint colour will turn to green. Proceed likewise for the other three points.
Figure 6: Position your shape hints logically
A glance at your animation? You will notice that the morphing is different. By experimenting with various positions, you can get very surprising morphing effects.
More about shape hints. Shape hints work better if you place them from the left to the right, starting with the upper left-hand side corner of the
shape. If your hints disappear, select View > Show Shape Hints. To delete a hint, right-click on it and select Delete Hint.
There you have it, so off you go and start creating small transformation effects on your site. There is still a lot to say about shape tweening with Flash, but that will be the subject of another workshop.