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layer list. Flash unlocks the layers and removes the mask effect. After you finish editing the layers, lock them again to redisplay the mask effect. When you create a mask layer, Flash links only the layer directly beneath it to the mask layer. A layer linked to a mask layer is masked. If you place objects that you want to be masked on several layers, you need to change the property of all those layers from normal to masked. All the layers that you want to be masked must be directly under the mask layer. You can link a layer to a mask layer in several ways: If you drag a normal layer directly beneath a mask layer, Flash links it to the mask layer in addition to existing masked layers. Right-click (Windows) or Control+click (Mac) the layer and choose Properties. Select the Masked option button in the Layer Properties dialog box. Similarly, you can unlink a layer from its mask layer by using one of these methods: Drag the linked layer above the mask layer. Right-click (Windows) or Control+click (Mac) the layer and choose Properties. Select the Normal option button in the Layer Properties dialog box. Animating mask layers Mask layers are more fun when you animate them. You can move them, change their sizes, and change their shapes. If you create a keyhole like the one shown in Figure 6-7, you can move the keyhole past the masked layers, revealing what lies beneath while the keyhole moves. You can use the same technique to create an effect of a spotlight moving around a stage, revealing whatever it lights up. The only thing that you can t do is to animate the mask layer objects along motion paths. (Chapter 9 explains how to animate masks along with other objects.) You can create more complex mask animations by using ActionScript. For the steps to do this, see the section on creating animated masks with movie clips in Chapter 10. Look for ffd_reveal.fla on this book s Web site at www.dummies.com/go/ flash8. To see the mask, open the file and unlock all the layers. (Thanks to Shane Mielke, one of our top ten designers to watch [see Chapter 16], for this file.) 142 Part II: 1,000 Pictures and 1,000 Words
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Creating a mask layer To create a mask layer, the object on the mask layer, and the objects behind the mask layer, follow these steps: 1. Create the objects that you want to show through the hole in the mask layer. These objects can be on one or more layers. Place all the layers that you want to be masked next to each other and at the top of the layer list. 2. Select the topmost layer on the layer list and click the Insert Layer button to create a new layer at the top of the list. This layer will become the mask layer. 3. Create, insert, or import one filled shape, text, or an instance of a symbol on the new layer. (See Chapter 7 for more about symbols.) The filled part of the shape, text, or instance becomes the hole in other words, it s transparent. Unfilled portions of the objects become opaque, so everything becomes the opposite of its current state. 4. Right-click (Windows) or Control+click (Mac) the layer s name and choose Mask from the contextual menu. Flash turns the layer into a mask layer and locks the mask layer as well as the layer just beneath it on the layer list. The masked layer is indented. You see the mask effect displayed. (To link more than one layer to the mask layer, see the next section, Editing mask layers. ) Editing mask layers Because Flash locks both the mask layer and the layer or layers that are masked, you cannot edit them. To edit them, click the lock icon above the Figure 6-7: You can use a mask layer to create a hole through which you can see the layer or layers beneath. Chapter 6: Layering It On 141
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To create a guide layer, create a new layer. Then right-click (Windows) or Control+click (Mac) and choose Guide from the contextual menu. The layer is now a guide layer. Use the same procedure to convert a guide layer back to a regular layer. The Guide item on the menu is a toggle, so when you click it again, Flash removes the guide status of the layer. When you use a guide layer as a motion guide, you must link the guide layer to a layer that contains the objects that you want to guide. The layer with the guided objects is called a guided layer. In Figure 6-6, the loops are on a guide layer, and the skateboarder is on a guided layer. All objects on a guided layer automatically snap to the path of the motion guide on the guide layer. To link a layer to a guide layer, creating a guided layer, you can do any of the following: Create a new layer under the guide layer. Drag an existing layer under the guide layer. Choose Modify.Layer and choose Guided in the Layer Properties dialog box. Flash indents the guided layer beneath the guide layer to help you see that they re linked. If you want to unlink a guided layer, drag it above the guide layer or choose Modify.Timeline.Layer Properties and select the Normal option in the Layer Properties dialog box. Opening Windows with Mask Layers A mask layer hides every object on its related layers except those inside a filled shape or text object. You can use mask layers to create peepholes or spotlight effects. Figure 6-7 shows a keyhole shape on a mask layer that hides the entire garden scene except for the part within the keyhole. The garden scene is a rectangle much larger than the section displayed through the keyhole. Figure 6-6: A guide layer controls the motion of an object during animation. 140 Part II: 1,000 Pictures and 1,000 Words
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You can change the type of layer by choosing from the list of layer types. We cover guide and mask layers later in this chapter. You can change the color that Flash uses when the layer is displayed as outlines. Click the Outline Color swatch and choose another color from the Color palette. Select the View Layer as Outlines check box to turn on outlines. As we explain earlier in this section, you can accomplish this task easily from the layer listing. You can change the layer height to two or three times the normal height. One reason to change the height of a layer is to more easily view sound waves on a layer that contains a sound. Another is to see larger previews of your keyframes in the Timeline you can turn these on by clicking the drop-down list in the upper-right corner of the Timeline and choosing Preview or Preview in Context from the pop-up menu. After you finish using the Layer Properties dialog box, click OK. Creating Guide Layers A guide layer is a layer that s invisible in the final, published animation. You can use guide layers for several purposes: Animation: You can place a path on a guide layer to control the motion of an object during animation. Figure 6-6 shows a guide layer that contains a motion guide for the skateboarder. When animated, the skateboard does two flips, following the motion guide. (Read through Chapter 9 for the lowdown on how to create a motion guide.) Layout: Although Flash MX 2004 lets you display guides on the screen to help you draw precisely (as we describe in Chapter 3), you can also place gridlines on guide layers to help you lay out the Stage. Graphic designers use these types of gridlines to figure out how to create a balanced, pleasing effect in their art. Drawing: You can import a bitmap graphic onto a guide layer and draw over the graphic on a regular layer by using the Flash drawing tools. This technique of drawing over a graphic can be a big help when creating your artwork. Of course, you could use a regular layer and then erase whatever you don t want to appear in the final movie. But if you need to go back and make changes, you would have to create the guide layer over again. Using a guide layer gives you the flexibility of keeping the layer in the movie file, knowing that it will never appear in the published animation. Layers that are hidden appear in the published .swf file, but guide layers don t appear. Chapter 6: Layering It On 139
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states, earlier in this chapter.) Click beneath the eye (Show/Hide) or lock (Lock/Unlock) icon on the folder s row. Reorder folders: You can change the order of folders, which automatically changes the order of the layers that they contain. Just drag any folder up or down. For more information, see the previous section. Copy the contents of a folder to another folder: To make a quick shortcut for copying layers and their contents, you can copy folders. Collapse the folder and click the folder name. Choose Edit.Timeline.Copy Frames. Create a new folder. With the new folder active, choose Edit.Timeline. Paste Frames. Delete folders: You can delete folders in the same way you delete layers. Select the folder and click the Trash can icon. Deleting a folder deletes all layers in the folder and everything on those layers. Luckily, Flash warns you before you take the plunge. Modifying layer properties You can use the Layer Properties dialog box, as shown in Figure 6-5, to change certain layer properties, such as the color used for the layer s outlines and the layer height. Most settings, however, are easily accessible from the layer list. Select a layer (or a folder) and choose Modify.Timeline.Layer Properties. Here s how to use this dialog box to get the most from your layers: The Name text box displays the current name of the layer. You can rename the layer here if you want. Change the Show/Hide and Lock/Unlock layer states by marking (or clearing) the appropriate check boxes. Usually, you change these states directly on the layer list, as we explain earlier in this chapter. Figure 6-5: The Layer Properties dialog box lets you fine-tune layer settings. 138 Part II: 1,000 Pictures and 1,000 Words
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Organizing layers Sometimes layers can get out of hand. You might have several layers with sounds on them or several layers for each animation. Tame those layers by putting them into folders. A folder holds layers. Instant organization! For example, you can create a Sounds folder and folders for each animation group. To create a folder, click the Insert Layer Folder icon below the layer list. You see a new folder just above the active layer. Name the folder in the same way that you name a layer: Double-click it, type the name, and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac). You can distinguish a folder from a layer by its folder icon. After you have a folder, you fill it up with layers by dragging layers into it. Click and drag a layer onto the folder s row until the folder icon darkens, and then release the mouse button. At the same time, the layer s name becomes indented so that you can easily tell that it s in a folder, as shown in Figure 6-4. You can even put folders in folders. Just drag one folder into another. A folder within a folder is a nested folder, and the folder that it s in is the parent folder. Here are some other things that you can do with folders: Remove a folder from a folder: Drag the nested folder above its parent folder. Remove a layer from a folder: Drag the layer above the folder name or to another location where it doesn t darken a folder. Collapse or expand individual folders: Click the folder s arrow at the left of its icon. Expand or collapse all folders: Right-click (Windows) or Control+click (Mac) and choose Expand All Folders or Collapse All Folders from the shortcut menu. Hide or lock an entire folder and its layers: You can hide or lock a folder just like you hide or lock a layer. (See the section Changing layer Figure 6-4: Put your layers into folders to keep yourself organized. Chapter 6: Layering It On 137
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Renaming layers Rename a layer whenever you want. By default, Flash names layers Layer 1, Layer 2, and so on. When you use a layer, rename it to reflect its contents. To rename a layer, double-click the layer name and type a new name. Then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac). Reordering layers In Chapter 4, we explain how to change the order of objects on the Stage when they re on the same layer. When objects are on different layers, a new rule applies. The order of the layers indicates the display order of objects on the Stage. Therefore, objects on the uppermost layer on the list are always on top, objects on the second layer appear one level down, and so on. Objects on the last layer on the list appear on the bottom level of the Stage, behind everything else. In fact, a simple and effective way to control object stacking is to put objects on different layers and then move the layers higher or lower on the layer list. To move a layer, just click and drag it within the layer list to the desired position. Figure 6-3 shows an example before and after moving a layer. The ball and the oval are on different layers. The left image looks a little odd, but when you reorder the layers, their objects are reordered as well, and you can then see a ball and its shadow. Changing the layer order can help you more easily select and edit objects that are covered up by other objects. Simply drag the layer to the top of the list, and the objects on that list then appear on top. When you finish editing the objects, drag the layer back to its original location. Figure 6-3: By changing the order of the layers, you change the order of the objects on those layers. 136 Part II: 1,000 Pictures and 1,000 Words
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copy layers with their entire contents (rather than re-create them from scratch). Here we explain how to keep control over layers. You can select more than one layer at a time. To select a contiguous group, click the first layer, hold down the Shift key, and click the last layer in the group. To select more than one layer when they re not all together in a group, click the first layer, press and hold Ctrl (Windows) or (Mac), and click any additional layers that you want to select. Deleting layers When you work, you might find that a layer no longer has any objects. It s a layer without a purpose in life, so delete it. Select the layer and click the Trash can at the bottom of the layer list. You can also drag the layer to the Trash can. When you delete a layer, you delete everything on the layer. However, some objects on a layer might not be visible, because you see only what exists on the Stage in the current frame. For example, if you introduce a circle in Frame 15 of a layer named Circle but you re in Frame 1, you don t see that circle. Deleting the Circle layer, however, deletes the circle, although you can t see it. (We discuss frames in more detail in Chapter 9.) To check for objects on a layer, right-click the layer and choose Hide Others from the contextual menu. Click the first frame on the Timeline and press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac) to run any existing animation. Objects on that layer appear during the animation if they exist. Copying layers You can copy a layer, along with its entire contents, throughout all frames. If you ve created a great bouncing ball and now want two balls, copy the layer. You can then modify the position of the second ball throughout the Timeline without having to re-create the ball itself. Now you have two bouncing balls. To copy and paste a layer, follow these steps: 1. Click the layer name to select the layer. 2. Choose Edit.Timeline.Copy Frames. 3. Click the Insert Layer button to create a new layer. 4. Click the new layer to make it active. 5. Choose Edit.Timeline.Paste Frames. Chapter 6: Layering It On 135
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To lock or unlock all layers except one layer, Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click (Mac) beneath the lock icon on that layer s row. You can also right-click (Windows) or Control+click (Mac) a layer and choose Lock Others from the shortcut menu. Outlines Use Outlines to display objects as outlines of different colors. Outlines help you see which layer s objects are on because each layer uses a different color, as shown in Figure 6-2. (Okay, you can t really see the colors in a blackand- white book, but you can probably tell by the variations in gray that the objects aren t all the same color.) To display outlines, click beneath the Outlines (box) icon on that layer s row. Flash puts a colored box in the layer s row, and all objects on that layer are now shown as outlines in that color. (Text is still filled in, however.) Click the box to display objects on that layer normally. To display all layers as outlines, click the Outlines icon directly. Click it again to see your objects as normal. You can work on outlined layers, but all new objects appear as outlines, so telling how they appear when displayed normally is difficult. Thanks to Polly Wickstrom, www.tomatotreedesigns.com, for this Flash movie. In Figure 6-2, some text has been broken apart for animation and is therefore outlined like other objects. To display all layers as outlines except for one layer, Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click (Mac) beneath the outline icon on that layer s row. Getting Those Layers Right Good layer housekeeping can help keep you sane. Delete layers that you no longer need. You can rename layers when their content changes; you can Figure 6-2: All the objects on the Stage are shown as outlines except for text that hasn t been broken apart. 134 Part II: 1,000 Pictures and 1,000 Words
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If you click a layer to make it active, Flash selects all the objects on that layer that exist in the current frame. (Even if a layer is already active, you can click its name to select all its objects.) This feature is helpful for working with all the objects on a layer and discovering which objects a layer contains. If you don t want all the objects selected, click anywhere not on an object. Because each animated object needs to be on its own layer, you often need to distribute objects to their own layers. Select the objects and choose Modify. Timeline.Distribute to Layers. This command saves lots of work! Changing layer states Besides being active or inactive, layers have three states that determine how objects on that layer function or look; you can show or hide a layer, lock or unlock it, or display objects on a layer as outlines. Use these states to help you organize how you work. The more objects and more layers that you have, the more you need to use these layer states. To the right of the layer name, you see an eye, a lock, and a box. These aren t mystical symbols. The following sections explain what they are and how to use them. Show/Hide Use Show/Hide (as shown at the left) to hide all objects on a layer (also called hiding a layer). Hide a layer to reduce clutter while you work. To hide a layer, click beneath the eye icon on that layer s row. Flash places a red X under the eye icon. All the objects on that layer disappear. Keep in mind, however, that you can t work on a hidden layer. Click the X to get them back again. To hide (or show) all the objects on the Stage, click the eye icon itself. Don t forget hidden layers because they do appear in your published movies. To show or hide all layers except one, Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click (Mac) beneath the eye icon on that layer s row. You can also right-click (Windows) or Control+click (Mac) on a layer and choose Hide Others from the shortcut menu. Lock/Unlock Use Lock/Unlock to prevent objects from being edited by locking their layers. Lock a layer when you want to avoid changing objects by mistake. To lock a layer, click beneath the lock icon on that layer s row. Flash places a lock in the layer s row. Click the lock to unlock the layer again. The lock disappears, and you can now edit objects on that layer. You can lock all layers by clicking the lock icon directly but remember that you can t work on a locked layer. Click the lock icon again to unlock all the layers. Chapter 6: Layering It On 133
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