Flash+Design+Challenge+1

**Flash Games Design Challenge #1: Animate your name!**  In the timeline, double click Layer 1 and rename it your name.

Select the brush tool

Use the brush tool and write the first part of the first letter of your name on the left side of the stage. Notice that the blank keyframe in Frame 1 now contains a small black dot, which shows that it has content. Frame 1 is now referred to as a keyframe because it is no longer empty.

Select Frame 2 and choose Insert>Timeline>Keyframe. This adds a new keyframe to the Timeline in Frame 2, copying all the artwork in Frame 1 and allowing you to continue drawing.

Using the brush tool, draw the second part of the letter.

Select Frame 3 and repeat the process above with the second letter of your name. Continue to repeat the process until your whole name has been written.

You can click and drag (scrub) the Playhead back and forth in the Timeline to quickly preview the animation.

You are now going to slow down the animation by changing the frame rate for the movie.

Make sure your Properties inspector is open. (Window>Properties)

In the frame rate field, enter 6. This will lower the frame rate to 6 frames per second. Press enter and notice that the animation plays slower.

You can slow down a section of a movie by inserting frames at strategic points to lengthen parts of the animation.

Click on Frame 1, choose Insert>Timeline>Frame. Enter some more frames which will extend the Timeline.

As you extend the Timeline, there will be different icons in the Timeline. A black dot indicates a keyframe. The light gray frames after the keyframe indicate no change in content. The small white square inside a light gray frame indicates the ending point of a frame range. The white frame with a hollow circle, directly after the frame with a hollow square, is a blank keyframe. Add different numbers of frames between the different letters and watch the animation change.

Eliminate all of the extra inserted frames.

Click on the layer name to select (highlight) all of the frames.

Click and drag to the right but don’t release the mouse yet. While still holding down the mouse, press and hold down the Alt (Windows) or Option (Apple) key. Note the small plus sign that appears next to the cursor. This shows that you will be duplicating, not moving the frames.

With those frames still highlighted, choose Modify>Timeline>Reverse Frames. Test the movie by clicking return or enter to see the change.

If you choose, Control>Loop Playback, the movie will loop.

Select a frame. Click on the Free Transform tool in the Toolbar. This tool allows you to change the size, rotation, skew and distortion of the artwork.

Test animation.

Save animation on your USB drive.

Export animation as a Flash movie (.swf file) and name it with your name.

Upload your file to the wiki and place it on your page.