4. Shape Tweens

A Tween is simply a change in a shape in some way – whether that’s in shape, size, or location on the stage.

This is just a perfectly ordinary blue circle.
No camera tricks or special effects.
Wow.

1. Put an object in frame one - a blue circle, for example!

I want to change my circle into a square though. I need a shape tween.
Shape tweens are fairly simple.

Remember this? It’s our good friend the timeline – master of time. (Once again - a bad joke)

2. Create a new KeyFrame somewhere – I chose Frame 30.

Now you will see a small dot your new keyframe.

3. Delete your object in this frame (don't worry, it's still in frame 1) and draw in a new object - a square perhaps!

There – it’s red too – cool!

4. Select all the frames (click and drag):

5. On the properties panel – scroll down under tween and select “shape”.

6. Press Enter to test the movie and you should have your first animation!

How amazing is that! It moves across the screen as well as changing shape and colour.

Project Idea
You'll have already mastered frame by frame animation - but this is the next stage. Before, people have gone crazy making all kinds of mad tweens. I once made a birthday card for my Mum in flash that was completely tweens - from a cake to a present and so on. Just morph some shapes - experiment with color, size and movement. GO WILD!

The only problem is: What if you need to change the shape of 2 things - AT THE SAME TIME?

[Cue Spooky Jingle] Dum der dum dum derrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrm!

You need to use Layers...