How can you use shape tweening in Adobe Flash for 2D animation?

1 What is shape tweening?

Shape tweening is a type of animation that changes the shape of an object over time. Unlike motion tweening, which moves an object along a path, shape tweening morphs an object into another shape. You can use shape tweening to create effects such as melting, morphing, inflating, or transforming. Shape tweening works best with simple vector shapes, such as circles, squares, or polygons. You can also use shape tweening with text and gradients, but not with bitmaps or symbols.

2 How to create a shape tween?

To create a shape tween, you need to have at least two keyframes on the same layer, with different shapes on each keyframe. You can draw the shapes using the drawing tools in Flash, or import them from another program. Then, you need to select the first keyframe and choose Insert > Shape Tween from the menu. A dotted line will appear between the keyframes, indicating that a shape tween has been created. You can preview the animation by pressing Enter or Ctrl+Enter.

3 How to edit a shape tween?

You can edit a shape tween by changing the properties of the shapes on the keyframes, such as color, stroke, fill, or size. You can also add more keyframes in between to create more complex transitions. To edit a shape on a keyframe, you need to double-click on it to enter the subselection mode. Then, you can modify the shape using the selection tool, the subselection tool, or the free transform tool. You can also use the lasso tool to select and move parts of the shape.

4 How to use shape hints?

Shape hints are markers that you can add to a shape tween to control how the shapes are transformed. Shape hints tell Flash which points on the shapes should match during the transition. For example, if you want to morph a circle into a square, you can add four shape hints to the circle and four shape hints to the square, and align them to the corners. This way, Flash will know how to morph the circle into the square without distorting it. To add a shape hint, you need to select a shape on a keyframe and press Ctrl+Shift+H. A red circle with a letter will appear on the shape. You can drag and drop the shape hint to any point on the shape. You can add up to 26 shape hints per keyframe, and they will be labeled from A to Z.

5 How to use easing?

Easing is a technique that you can use to make your shape tweens more natural and realistic. Easing adjusts the speed of the animation, making it slower at the beginning and end, and faster in the middle. This creates a sense of acceleration and deceleration, which mimics how objects move in real life. To apply easing to a shape tween, you need to select a keyframe or a span of frames, and open the Properties panel. Then, you can adjust the Ease value from -100 to 100. A negative value will make the animation start fast and end slow, while a positive value will make the animation start slow and end fast.

6 How to use shape tweening creatively?

Shape tweening is a powerful tool that can be used to create various effects and animations. For instance, with shape tweening you can animate text, gradients, characters, and objects. For example, you can use shape tweening to make text appear, disappear, or change fonts; to make gradients change colors, directions, or modes; to make characters change expressions, emotions, or poses; and to make objects change shapes, sizes, or orientations. Additionally, shape tweening can be used to create text effects such as warping, twisting, or exploding; gradient effects such as fading, blending, or glowing; character effects such as transforming, stretching, or squashing; and object effects such as breaking, melting, or morphing.