How to animate adobe animate

Creating a Motion tween animation

Before you begin

Before you begin animation, understand the following concepts:

Prerequisites

Description

Before working with motion tweens, understand use of the Timeline and editing properties. You can edit individual property keyframes on Stage, in the Property inspector, or using the redesigned Motion Editor.

Animate tweens only symbol instances and text fields. All other object types are wrapped in a symbol when you apply a tween to them. The symbol instance can contain nested symbols, which can themselves be tweened on their own timelines.

The minimal building block in a tween layer is a tween span. A tween span in a tween layer can contain only one symbol instance or text field. The symbol instance is called the target of the tween span. However, a single symbol can contain many objects.

Adding a second symbol or text field to the tween span replaces the original symbol in the tween. Use any of the following methods to change the target object of a tween:

You can delete the symbol from a tween layer without removing or breaking the tween. You can then add a different symbol instance to the tween later. You can also change the type of the target symbol or edit the symbol at any time.

When a tween contains motion, a motion path appears on the Stage. The motion path shows the position of the tweened object in each frame. You can edit the motion path on the Stage by dragging its control points. You cannot add a motion guide to a tween/inverse kinematics layer.

See also

Components of motion tweens

Target object of a tween

A motion tween has a single object in a tween span called the tween’s target object. There are several advantages to having a single target object in a tween:

Tweenable objects and properties

The types of objects on which you can apply a motion tween are movie clips, graphics and button symbols, and text fields. The properties of these objects that can be tweened includes:

3D Z position (movie clips only)

2D rotation (around the z-axis)

3D X, Y, and Z rotation (movie clips only): set the FLA file target as ActionScript 3.0 and Flash Player 10 or higher in the publish settings. Adobe AIR also supports 3D motion.

Color effects: includes alpha (transparency), brightness, tint, and advanced color settings. Color effects can be tweened only on symbols and TLF text. By tweening these properties, you can make objects appear to fade in or fade from one color to another. To tween a color effect on classic text, convert the text to a symbol.

Filter properties (filters cannot be applied to graphic symbols)

Creating a motion tween animation

You can create a motion tween using one of the following three methods:

Tweening other properties with the Property inspector

Use the Create Motion Tween command to animate properties of a symbol instance or text field. The properties range from rotation, scale, transparency, or tint (symbols and TLF text only). For example, you can edit the alpha (transparency) property of a symbol instance to make it fade onto the screen.

Select a symbol instance or text field on the Stage.

If the selection contains other objects, or it contains multiple objects from the layer, Animate offers to convert it to a movie clip symbol.

Choose Insert > Motion Tween.

If the “Convert selection to symbol for tween” dialog box appears, click OK to convert the selection into a movie clip symbol.

When you apply a tween to an object that exists only in a single keyframe, the playhead moves to the last frame of the new tween. Otherwise the playhead does not move.

Place the playhead in the frame of the tween span where you want to specify a property value.

You can place the playhead in any other frame of the tween span. The tween starts with the property values in the first frame of the tween span, which is always a property keyframe.

With the object selected on the Stage, set a value for a non-position property, such as alpha (transparency), rotation, or skew. Set the value with the Property inspector or with one of the tools in the Tools panel.

The current frame of the span becomes a property keyframe.

Scrub the playhead in the Timeline to preview the tween on the Stage.

To add more property keyframes, move the playhead to the desired frame in the span and set a value for the property in the Property inspector.

Adding a tween to an existing tween layer

You can add more tweens to an existing tween layer. Add more tweens to use fewer layers when creating Animate content with animation.

Animation basics in Animate

Animate provides several ways to create animation and special effects. Each method provides you with different possibilities for creating engaging animated content.

Animate supports the following types of animation:

Use motion tweens to set properties for an object, such as position and alpha transparency in one frame and again in another frame. Animate then interpolates the property values of the frames in between. Motion tweens are useful for animation that consists of continuous motion or transformation of an object. Motion tweens appear in the Timeline as a contiguous span of frames that can be selected as a single object by default. Motion tweens are powerful and simple to create.

Classic tweens are like motion tweens, but are more complex to create. Classic tweens allow for some specific animated effects not possible with span-based tweens.

Inverse Kinematics poses (deprecated with Animate)

Inverse kinematic poses allow you to stretch and bend shape objects and link groups of symbol instances to make them move together in naturalistic ways. Once you have added bones to a shape or a group of symbols, you can change the position of the bones or symbols in different keyframes. Animate interpolates the positions in the in-between frames.

In shape tweening, you draw a shape at one specific frame in the Timeline, and change that shape or draw another shape at another specific frame. Animate then interpolates the intermediate shapes for the frames in between, creating the animation of one shape morphing into another.

This animation technique lets you specify different art for each frame in the Timeline. Use this technique to create an effect that is like the frames of a film being played in rapid succession. This technique is useful for complex animation where the graphic elements of each frame must be different.

About frame rates

The frame rate, the speed the animation is played at, is measured in number of frames per second (fps). A frame rate that’s too slow makes the animation appear to stop and start; a frame rate that’s too fast blurs the details of the animation. A frame rate of 24 fps is the default for new Animate documents and usually gives the best results on the web. The standard motion‑picture rate is also 24 fps.

The complexity of the animation and the speed of the computer playing the animation affect the smoothness of the playback. To determine optimum frame rates, test your animations on a variety of computers.

Because you specify only one frame rate for the entire Animate document, set this rate before you begin creating animation.

Identifying animations in the Timeline

Animate distinguishes tweened animation from frame-by-frame animation in the Timeline by displaying different indicators in each frame that contains content.

The following frame content indicators appear in the Timeline:

A span of frames with a blue background indicates a motion tween. A black dot in the first frame of the span indicates that the tween span has a target object assigned to it. Black diamonds indicate the last frame and any other property keyframes. Property keyframes are frames that contain property changes explicitly defined by you. You can choose which types of property keyframes to display by right-clicking (Windows) or Command-clicking (Macintosh) the motion tween span and choosing View Keyframes > type from the context menu. Animate displays all types of property keyframes by default. All other frames in the span contain interpolated values for the tweened properties of the target object.

A hollow dot in the first frame indicates that the target object of the motion tween has been removed. The tween span still contains its property keyframes and can have a new target object applied to it.

A span of frames with a green background indicates an inverse kinematics (IK) pose layer. Pose layers contain IK armatures and poses. Each pose appears in the Timeline as a black diamond. Animate interpolates the positions of the armature in the frames in between poses.

A black dot at the beginning keyframe with a black arrow and blue background indicates a classic tween.

A dashed line indicates that the classic tween is broken or incomplete, such as when the final keyframe is missing.

A black dot at the beginning keyframe with a black arrow and a light green background indicates a shape tween.

A black dot indicates a single keyframe. Light gray frames after a single keyframe contain the same content with no changes. These frames have a vertical black line and a hollow rectangle at the last frame of the span.

A small a indicates that the frame is assigned a frame action with the Actions panel.

A red flag indicates that the frame contains a label.

A green double slash indicates that the frame contains a comment.

A gold anchor indicates that the frame is a named anchor.

About layers in tweened animation

Each scene in a Animate document can consist of any number of Timeline layers. Use layers and layer folders to organize the contents of an animation sequence and separate animated objects. Organizing them in layers and folders prevents them from erasing, connecting to, or segmenting each other when they overlap. To create animation that includes tweened movement of more than one symbol or text field at once, place each object on a separate layer. You can use one layer as a background layer to contain static artwork and use additional layers to contain one separate animated object.

When you create a motion tween, Animate converts the layer containing the object you selected to tween into a tween layer. The tween layer has a tween icon next to the layer name in the Timeline.

If other objects are present on the same layer as the tweened object, Animate adds new layers above or below the original layer as needed. Any objects that existed below the tweened object on its original layer move to a new layer below the original layer. Any objects that were above the tweened object on its original layer move to a new layer above the original layer. Animate inserts these new layers between any pre-existing layers in the Timeline. In this way Animate preserves the original stacking order of all the graphic objects on the Stage.

A tween layer can contain only tween spans (contiguous groups of frames containing a tween), static frames, blank keyframes, or empty frames. Each tween span can contain only a single target object and an optional motion path for the target object. Because you cannot draw in a tween layer, create additional tweens or static frames on other layers and then drag them to the tween layer. To place frame scripts on a tween layer, create them on another layer and drag them to the tween layer. A frame script can only reside in a frame outside the motion tween span itself. In general, it is best to keep all frame scripts on a separate layer that contains only ActionScript.

When a document has several layers, tracking and editing the objects on one or more of them can be difficult. This task is easier if you work with the contents of one layer at a time. To hide or lock layers you are not currently working on, click the Eye or Lock icon next to the layer name in the Timeline. Using layer folders can help you organize layers into manageable groups.

Distributing objects to layers for tweened animation

Animate automatically moves an object to its own tween layer when you apply a motion tween to the object. However, you can also distribute objects to their own separate layers yourself. For example, you can choose to distribute objects yourself when you are organizing content. Manual distribution is also useful for applying animation to objects while maintaining precise control over how they move from one layer to another.

When you use the Distribute To Layers command (Modify > Timeline > Distribute To Layers), Animate distributes each selected object to a new, separate layer. Any objects that you don’t select (including objects in other frames) are preserved in their original layers.

You can apply the Distribute To Layers command to any element on the Stage, including graphic objects, instances, bitmaps, video clips, and broken-apart text blocks.

About new layers created with Distribute to Layers

New layers created during the Distribute To Layers operation are named according to the name of the element that each contains:

A new layer containing a library asset (such as a symbol, bitmap, or video clip) receives the same name as the asset.

A new layer containing a named instance receives the name of the instance.

A new layer containing a character from a broken-apart text block is named with the character.

A new layer containing a graphic object (which has no name) is named Layer1 (or Layer2, and so on), because graphic objects do not have names.

Animate inserts the new layers below any selected layers. The new layers are arranged top to bottom, in the order that the selected elements were originally created. The layers in broken-apart text are arranged in the order of the characters, whether left-to-right, right-to-left, or top-to-bottom. For example, suppose you break apart the text FLASH and distribute it to layers. The new layers, named F, L, A, S, and H, are arranged top to bottom, with F at the top. These layers appear immediately below the layer that initially contained the text.

Animation basics in Animate

Animate provides several ways to create animation and special effects. Each method provides you with different possibilities for creating engaging animated content.

Animate supports the following types of animation:

Use motion tweens to set properties for an object, such as position and alpha transparency in one frame and again in another frame. Animate then interpolates the property values of the frames in between. Motion tweens are useful for animation that consists of continuous motion or transformation of an object. Motion tweens appear in the Timeline as a contiguous span of frames that can be selected as a single object by default. Motion tweens are powerful and simple to create.

Classic tweens are like motion tweens, but are more complex to create. Classic tweens allow for some specific animated effects not possible with span-based tweens.

Inverse Kinematics poses (deprecated with Animate)

Inverse kinematic poses allow you to stretch and bend shape objects and link groups of symbol instances to make them move together in naturalistic ways. Once you have added bones to a shape or a group of symbols, you can change the position of the bones or symbols in different keyframes. Animate interpolates the positions in the in-between frames.

In shape tweening, you draw a shape at one specific frame in the Timeline, and change that shape or draw another shape at another specific frame. Animate then interpolates the intermediate shapes for the frames in between, creating the animation of one shape morphing into another.

This animation technique lets you specify different art for each frame in the Timeline. Use this technique to create an effect that is like the frames of a film being played in rapid succession. This technique is useful for complex animation where the graphic elements of each frame must be different.

About frame rates

The frame rate, the speed the animation is played at, is measured in number of frames per second (fps). A frame rate that’s too slow makes the animation appear to stop and start; a frame rate that’s too fast blurs the details of the animation. A frame rate of 24 fps is the default for new Animate documents and usually gives the best results on the web. The standard motion‑picture rate is also 24 fps.

The complexity of the animation and the speed of the computer playing the animation affect the smoothness of the playback. To determine optimum frame rates, test your animations on a variety of computers.

Because you specify only one frame rate for the entire Animate document, set this rate before you begin creating animation.

Identifying animations in the Timeline

Animate distinguishes tweened animation from frame-by-frame animation in the Timeline by displaying different indicators in each frame that contains content.

The following frame content indicators appear in the Timeline:

A span of frames with a blue background indicates a motion tween. A black dot in the first frame of the span indicates that the tween span has a target object assigned to it. Black diamonds indicate the last frame and any other property keyframes. Property keyframes are frames that contain property changes explicitly defined by you. You can choose which types of property keyframes to display by right-clicking (Windows) or Command-clicking (Macintosh) the motion tween span and choosing View Keyframes > type from the context menu. Animate displays all types of property keyframes by default. All other frames in the span contain interpolated values for the tweened properties of the target object.

A hollow dot in the first frame indicates that the target object of the motion tween has been removed. The tween span still contains its property keyframes and can have a new target object applied to it.

A span of frames with a green background indicates an inverse kinematics (IK) pose layer. Pose layers contain IK armatures and poses. Each pose appears in the Timeline as a black diamond. Animate interpolates the positions of the armature in the frames in between poses.

A black dot at the beginning keyframe with a black arrow and blue background indicates a classic tween.

A dashed line indicates that the classic tween is broken or incomplete, such as when the final keyframe is missing.

A black dot at the beginning keyframe with a black arrow and a light green background indicates a shape tween.

A black dot indicates a single keyframe. Light gray frames after a single keyframe contain the same content with no changes. These frames have a vertical black line and a hollow rectangle at the last frame of the span.

A small a indicates that the frame is assigned a frame action with the Actions panel.

A red flag indicates that the frame contains a label.

A green double slash indicates that the frame contains a comment.

A gold anchor indicates that the frame is a named anchor.

About layers in tweened animation

Each scene in a Animate document can consist of any number of Timeline layers. Use layers and layer folders to organize the contents of an animation sequence and separate animated objects. Organizing them in layers and folders prevents them from erasing, connecting to, or segmenting each other when they overlap. To create animation that includes tweened movement of more than one symbol or text field at once, place each object on a separate layer. You can use one layer as a background layer to contain static artwork and use additional layers to contain one separate animated object.

When you create a motion tween, Animate converts the layer containing the object you selected to tween into a tween layer. The tween layer has a tween icon next to the layer name in the Timeline.

If other objects are present on the same layer as the tweened object, Animate adds new layers above or below the original layer as needed. Any objects that existed below the tweened object on its original layer move to a new layer below the original layer. Any objects that were above the tweened object on its original layer move to a new layer above the original layer. Animate inserts these new layers between any pre-existing layers in the Timeline. In this way Animate preserves the original stacking order of all the graphic objects on the Stage.

A tween layer can contain only tween spans (contiguous groups of frames containing a tween), static frames, blank keyframes, or empty frames. Each tween span can contain only a single target object and an optional motion path for the target object. Because you cannot draw in a tween layer, create additional tweens or static frames on other layers and then drag them to the tween layer. To place frame scripts on a tween layer, create them on another layer and drag them to the tween layer. A frame script can only reside in a frame outside the motion tween span itself. In general, it is best to keep all frame scripts on a separate layer that contains only ActionScript.

When a document has several layers, tracking and editing the objects on one or more of them can be difficult. This task is easier if you work with the contents of one layer at a time. To hide or lock layers you are not currently working on, click the Eye or Lock icon next to the layer name in the Timeline. Using layer folders can help you organize layers into manageable groups.

Distributing objects to layers for tweened animation

Animate automatically moves an object to its own tween layer when you apply a motion tween to the object. However, you can also distribute objects to their own separate layers yourself. For example, you can choose to distribute objects yourself when you are organizing content. Manual distribution is also useful for applying animation to objects while maintaining precise control over how they move from one layer to another.

When you use the Distribute To Layers command (Modify > Timeline > Distribute To Layers), Animate distributes each selected object to a new, separate layer. Any objects that you don’t select (including objects in other frames) are preserved in their original layers.

You can apply the Distribute To Layers command to any element on the Stage, including graphic objects, instances, bitmaps, video clips, and broken-apart text blocks.

About new layers created with Distribute to Layers

New layers created during the Distribute To Layers operation are named according to the name of the element that each contains:

A new layer containing a library asset (such as a symbol, bitmap, or video clip) receives the same name as the asset.

A new layer containing a named instance receives the name of the instance.

A new layer containing a character from a broken-apart text block is named with the character.

A new layer containing a graphic object (which has no name) is named Layer1 (or Layer2, and so on), because graphic objects do not have names.

Animate inserts the new layers below any selected layers. The new layers are arranged top to bottom, in the order that the selected elements were originally created. The layers in broken-apart text are arranged in the order of the characters, whether left-to-right, right-to-left, or top-to-bottom. For example, suppose you break apart the text FLASH and distribute it to layers. The new layers, named F, L, A, S, and H, are arranged top to bottom, with F at the top. These layers appear immediately below the layer that initially contained the text.

Animation basics in Animate

Animate provides several ways to create animation and special effects. Each method provides you with different possibilities for creating engaging animated content.

Animate supports the following types of animation:

Use motion tweens to set properties for an object, such as position and alpha transparency in one frame and again in another frame. Animate then interpolates the property values of the frames in between. Motion tweens are useful for animation that consists of continuous motion or transformation of an object. Motion tweens appear in the Timeline as a contiguous span of frames that can be selected as a single object by default. Motion tweens are powerful and simple to create.

Classic tweens are like motion tweens, but are more complex to create. Classic tweens allow for some specific animated effects not possible with span-based tweens.

Inverse Kinematics poses (deprecated with Animate)

Inverse kinematic poses allow you to stretch and bend shape objects and link groups of symbol instances to make them move together in naturalistic ways. Once you have added bones to a shape or a group of symbols, you can change the position of the bones or symbols in different keyframes. Animate interpolates the positions in the in-between frames.

In shape tweening, you draw a shape at one specific frame in the Timeline, and change that shape or draw another shape at another specific frame. Animate then interpolates the intermediate shapes for the frames in between, creating the animation of one shape morphing into another.

This animation technique lets you specify different art for each frame in the Timeline. Use this technique to create an effect that is like the frames of a film being played in rapid succession. This technique is useful for complex animation where the graphic elements of each frame must be different.

About frame rates

The frame rate, the speed the animation is played at, is measured in number of frames per second (fps). A frame rate that’s too slow makes the animation appear to stop and start; a frame rate that’s too fast blurs the details of the animation. A frame rate of 24 fps is the default for new Animate documents and usually gives the best results on the web. The standard motion‑picture rate is also 24 fps.

The complexity of the animation and the speed of the computer playing the animation affect the smoothness of the playback. To determine optimum frame rates, test your animations on a variety of computers.

Because you specify only one frame rate for the entire Animate document, set this rate before you begin creating animation.

Identifying animations in the Timeline

Animate distinguishes tweened animation from frame-by-frame animation in the Timeline by displaying different indicators in each frame that contains content.

The following frame content indicators appear in the Timeline:

A span of frames with a blue background indicates a motion tween. A black dot in the first frame of the span indicates that the tween span has a target object assigned to it. Black diamonds indicate the last frame and any other property keyframes. Property keyframes are frames that contain property changes explicitly defined by you. You can choose which types of property keyframes to display by right-clicking (Windows) or Command-clicking (Macintosh) the motion tween span and choosing View Keyframes > type from the context menu. Animate displays all types of property keyframes by default. All other frames in the span contain interpolated values for the tweened properties of the target object.

A hollow dot in the first frame indicates that the target object of the motion tween has been removed. The tween span still contains its property keyframes and can have a new target object applied to it.

A span of frames with a green background indicates an inverse kinematics (IK) pose layer. Pose layers contain IK armatures and poses. Each pose appears in the Timeline as a black diamond. Animate interpolates the positions of the armature in the frames in between poses.

A black dot at the beginning keyframe with a black arrow and blue background indicates a classic tween.

A dashed line indicates that the classic tween is broken or incomplete, such as when the final keyframe is missing.

A black dot at the beginning keyframe with a black arrow and a light green background indicates a shape tween.

A black dot indicates a single keyframe. Light gray frames after a single keyframe contain the same content with no changes. These frames have a vertical black line and a hollow rectangle at the last frame of the span.

A small a indicates that the frame is assigned a frame action with the Actions panel.

A red flag indicates that the frame contains a label.

A green double slash indicates that the frame contains a comment.

A gold anchor indicates that the frame is a named anchor.

About layers in tweened animation

Each scene in a Animate document can consist of any number of Timeline layers. Use layers and layer folders to organize the contents of an animation sequence and separate animated objects. Organizing them in layers and folders prevents them from erasing, connecting to, or segmenting each other when they overlap. To create animation that includes tweened movement of more than one symbol or text field at once, place each object on a separate layer. You can use one layer as a background layer to contain static artwork and use additional layers to contain one separate animated object.

When you create a motion tween, Animate converts the layer containing the object you selected to tween into a tween layer. The tween layer has a tween icon next to the layer name in the Timeline.

If other objects are present on the same layer as the tweened object, Animate adds new layers above or below the original layer as needed. Any objects that existed below the tweened object on its original layer move to a new layer below the original layer. Any objects that were above the tweened object on its original layer move to a new layer above the original layer. Animate inserts these new layers between any pre-existing layers in the Timeline. In this way Animate preserves the original stacking order of all the graphic objects on the Stage.

A tween layer can contain only tween spans (contiguous groups of frames containing a tween), static frames, blank keyframes, or empty frames. Each tween span can contain only a single target object and an optional motion path for the target object. Because you cannot draw in a tween layer, create additional tweens or static frames on other layers and then drag them to the tween layer. To place frame scripts on a tween layer, create them on another layer and drag them to the tween layer. A frame script can only reside in a frame outside the motion tween span itself. In general, it is best to keep all frame scripts on a separate layer that contains only ActionScript.

When a document has several layers, tracking and editing the objects on one or more of them can be difficult. This task is easier if you work with the contents of one layer at a time. To hide or lock layers you are not currently working on, click the Eye or Lock icon next to the layer name in the Timeline. Using layer folders can help you organize layers into manageable groups.

Distributing objects to layers for tweened animation

Animate automatically moves an object to its own tween layer when you apply a motion tween to the object. However, you can also distribute objects to their own separate layers yourself. For example, you can choose to distribute objects yourself when you are organizing content. Manual distribution is also useful for applying animation to objects while maintaining precise control over how they move from one layer to another.

When you use the Distribute To Layers command (Modify > Timeline > Distribute To Layers), Animate distributes each selected object to a new, separate layer. Any objects that you don’t select (including objects in other frames) are preserved in their original layers.

You can apply the Distribute To Layers command to any element on the Stage, including graphic objects, instances, bitmaps, video clips, and broken-apart text blocks.

About new layers created with Distribute to Layers

New layers created during the Distribute To Layers operation are named according to the name of the element that each contains:

A new layer containing a library asset (such as a symbol, bitmap, or video clip) receives the same name as the asset.

A new layer containing a named instance receives the name of the instance.

A new layer containing a character from a broken-apart text block is named with the character.

A new layer containing a graphic object (which has no name) is named Layer1 (or Layer2, and so on), because graphic objects do not have names.

Animate inserts the new layers below any selected layers. The new layers are arranged top to bottom, in the order that the selected elements were originally created. The layers in broken-apart text are arranged in the order of the characters, whether left-to-right, right-to-left, or top-to-bottom. For example, suppose you break apart the text FLASH and distribute it to layers. The new layers, named F, L, A, S, and H, are arranged top to bottom, with F at the top. These layers appear immediately below the layer that initially contained the text.

Animation basics in Animate

Animate provides several ways to create animation and special effects. Each method provides you with different possibilities for creating engaging animated content.

Animate supports the following types of animation:

Use motion tweens to set properties for an object, such as position and alpha transparency in one frame and again in another frame. Animate then interpolates the property values of the frames in between. Motion tweens are useful for animation that consists of continuous motion or transformation of an object. Motion tweens appear in the Timeline as a contiguous span of frames that can be selected as a single object by default. Motion tweens are powerful and simple to create.

Classic tweens are like motion tweens, but are more complex to create. Classic tweens allow for some specific animated effects not possible with span-based tweens.

Inverse Kinematics poses (deprecated with Animate)

Inverse kinematic poses allow you to stretch and bend shape objects and link groups of symbol instances to make them move together in naturalistic ways. Once you have added bones to a shape or a group of symbols, you can change the position of the bones or symbols in different keyframes. Animate interpolates the positions in the in-between frames.

In shape tweening, you draw a shape at one specific frame in the Timeline, and change that shape or draw another shape at another specific frame. Animate then interpolates the intermediate shapes for the frames in between, creating the animation of one shape morphing into another.

This animation technique lets you specify different art for each frame in the Timeline. Use this technique to create an effect that is like the frames of a film being played in rapid succession. This technique is useful for complex animation where the graphic elements of each frame must be different.

About frame rates

The frame rate, the speed the animation is played at, is measured in number of frames per second (fps). A frame rate that’s too slow makes the animation appear to stop and start; a frame rate that’s too fast blurs the details of the animation. A frame rate of 24 fps is the default for new Animate documents and usually gives the best results on the web. The standard motion‑picture rate is also 24 fps.

The complexity of the animation and the speed of the computer playing the animation affect the smoothness of the playback. To determine optimum frame rates, test your animations on a variety of computers.

Because you specify only one frame rate for the entire Animate document, set this rate before you begin creating animation.

Identifying animations in the Timeline

Animate distinguishes tweened animation from frame-by-frame animation in the Timeline by displaying different indicators in each frame that contains content.

The following frame content indicators appear in the Timeline:

A span of frames with a blue background indicates a motion tween. A black dot in the first frame of the span indicates that the tween span has a target object assigned to it. Black diamonds indicate the last frame and any other property keyframes. Property keyframes are frames that contain property changes explicitly defined by you. You can choose which types of property keyframes to display by right-clicking (Windows) or Command-clicking (Macintosh) the motion tween span and choosing View Keyframes > type from the context menu. Animate displays all types of property keyframes by default. All other frames in the span contain interpolated values for the tweened properties of the target object.

A hollow dot in the first frame indicates that the target object of the motion tween has been removed. The tween span still contains its property keyframes and can have a new target object applied to it.

A span of frames with a green background indicates an inverse kinematics (IK) pose layer. Pose layers contain IK armatures and poses. Each pose appears in the Timeline as a black diamond. Animate interpolates the positions of the armature in the frames in between poses.

A black dot at the beginning keyframe with a black arrow and blue background indicates a classic tween.

A dashed line indicates that the classic tween is broken or incomplete, such as when the final keyframe is missing.

A black dot at the beginning keyframe with a black arrow and a light green background indicates a shape tween.

A black dot indicates a single keyframe. Light gray frames after a single keyframe contain the same content with no changes. These frames have a vertical black line and a hollow rectangle at the last frame of the span.

A small a indicates that the frame is assigned a frame action with the Actions panel.

A red flag indicates that the frame contains a label.

A green double slash indicates that the frame contains a comment.

A gold anchor indicates that the frame is a named anchor.

About layers in tweened animation

Each scene in a Animate document can consist of any number of Timeline layers. Use layers and layer folders to organize the contents of an animation sequence and separate animated objects. Organizing them in layers and folders prevents them from erasing, connecting to, or segmenting each other when they overlap. To create animation that includes tweened movement of more than one symbol or text field at once, place each object on a separate layer. You can use one layer as a background layer to contain static artwork and use additional layers to contain one separate animated object.

When you create a motion tween, Animate converts the layer containing the object you selected to tween into a tween layer. The tween layer has a tween icon next to the layer name in the Timeline.

If other objects are present on the same layer as the tweened object, Animate adds new layers above or below the original layer as needed. Any objects that existed below the tweened object on its original layer move to a new layer below the original layer. Any objects that were above the tweened object on its original layer move to a new layer above the original layer. Animate inserts these new layers between any pre-existing layers in the Timeline. In this way Animate preserves the original stacking order of all the graphic objects on the Stage.

A tween layer can contain only tween spans (contiguous groups of frames containing a tween), static frames, blank keyframes, or empty frames. Each tween span can contain only a single target object and an optional motion path for the target object. Because you cannot draw in a tween layer, create additional tweens or static frames on other layers and then drag them to the tween layer. To place frame scripts on a tween layer, create them on another layer and drag them to the tween layer. A frame script can only reside in a frame outside the motion tween span itself. In general, it is best to keep all frame scripts on a separate layer that contains only ActionScript.

When a document has several layers, tracking and editing the objects on one or more of them can be difficult. This task is easier if you work with the contents of one layer at a time. To hide or lock layers you are not currently working on, click the Eye or Lock icon next to the layer name in the Timeline. Using layer folders can help you organize layers into manageable groups.

Distributing objects to layers for tweened animation

Animate automatically moves an object to its own tween layer when you apply a motion tween to the object. However, you can also distribute objects to their own separate layers yourself. For example, you can choose to distribute objects yourself when you are organizing content. Manual distribution is also useful for applying animation to objects while maintaining precise control over how they move from one layer to another.

When you use the Distribute To Layers command (Modify > Timeline > Distribute To Layers), Animate distributes each selected object to a new, separate layer. Any objects that you don’t select (including objects in other frames) are preserved in their original layers.

You can apply the Distribute To Layers command to any element on the Stage, including graphic objects, instances, bitmaps, video clips, and broken-apart text blocks.

About new layers created with Distribute to Layers

New layers created during the Distribute To Layers operation are named according to the name of the element that each contains:

A new layer containing a library asset (such as a symbol, bitmap, or video clip) receives the same name as the asset.

A new layer containing a named instance receives the name of the instance.

A new layer containing a character from a broken-apart text block is named with the character.

A new layer containing a graphic object (which has no name) is named Layer1 (or Layer2, and so on), because graphic objects do not have names.

Animate inserts the new layers below any selected layers. The new layers are arranged top to bottom, in the order that the selected elements were originally created. The layers in broken-apart text are arranged in the order of the characters, whether left-to-right, right-to-left, or top-to-bottom. For example, suppose you break apart the text FLASH and distribute it to layers. The new layers, named F, L, A, S, and H, are arranged top to bottom, with F at the top. These layers appear immediately below the layer that initially contained the text.