Web hosting control panel - Following a timeline The Timeline window divides your
Following a timeline The Timeline window divides your movie into frames. Each frame represents a tiny stretch of time, such as 1/12 of a second. Creating a movie is simply a matter of assembling frames, which are then quickly played in order. Chapter 9 explains in detail how to make using the Timeline completely painless. For now, you should just understand the basics. See Figure 1-2 for the basic Timeline. On the left side of the Timeline is the layer list. When you open a new movie, you see only one layer, unimaginatively named Layer 1. A layer is like a sheet of transparent acetate on which you draw objects. Layers help you keep objects from running into each other, causing unfortunate, messy results. You organize your entire movie by using layers. For example, if you want to keep some text constant throughout the movie but animate a bouncing dot, you would give the dot its own layer and animate it on that layer. The layer list has room for more layers, and you can add as many layers as you want. (Chapter 6 gives you the lowdown on layers.) You can lower the bottom edge of the Timeline to make room for more layers. Hover the mouse cursor over the bottom line until you see the two-headed arrow and drag downward. To the right of Layer 1, you see a bunch of rectangles, each representing a frame. (Actually, before you start using the Timeline, they re just potential frames, like unexposed frames on a roll of film.) By default, each frame lasts 1/12 of a second. Each layer has its own row of frames because you can have different animations or objects on each layer. A keyframe is a frame that defines some change in your animation. In some animations, every frame is a keyframe. Other animations need keyframes for only the first and last frames. You don t use the Timeline until you re ready to animate. While you work, however, you should organize your objects on separate layers. Don t worry you can always move an object from one layer to another. Figure 1-2: The Timeline is your key to managing animation. Chapter 1: Getting Aquainted with Flash 8 19
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