BP13_Flash CS4

     I just finished Chapter 4 of this tutorial and I learned that the word "tweens" doesn't just mean a young adolescent. Tweens is another word for animations. Each type has a different function. There are 3 kinds of tweens in Flash and they are shape tweens, motion tweens, and bone tweens. 
     The presenter kept using the term "scrubbing the play head." I had never heard that before, but found out it simply means moving the play head across the time line in order to preview your animation without previewing the entire clip.
      Motion tweens are the most commonly used tweens in Flash. Using a key frame, (which I understood to be an in point or out point for a motion from Final Cut Pro), you select your symbol in the movie and designate start and end points in the time line. All you have to do then is right click on the time line and select motion tween. Flash will do the rest!

Example of a vector shape

     Shape tweens are best understood as changing the shape of a graphic using motion. Vector shapes must be used to create a shape tween. Since I am not well versed in what vector shapes actually are, I had to look it up. A vector shape is a shape using geometrical elements like points an lines. (see example retrieved from www.openshotvideo.com) All you have to do is set your key frames in the time line, make the changes to your vector shape, and right click on the time line. Choose select shape tween, and that's it.
    If by now your head is about to explode, I can understand. I had to review these videos over, and now that I have the concept, I will be able to try it in the software.
       The last type of tween is the bone tween. This is one I really liked! By selecting parts of a limb on a movie, you can animate it! To achieve this, you first have to have created another layer of the part of the limb or bone you want to animate. Use the bone tool to click on the joints, click and drag from point to point, and set up the time line for the length of your animation. Use key frames to create your stop and start points and right click to select motion tween.

Bone tween in Flash. (Image from www.lynda.com)

     When I saw the arm of the movie file move, knowing it had been manipulated by Flash with little effort, I thought of some of the other things that I could animate with this software! I have a logo created for the name of news team. (SEN News: Soaring Eagle Network News). It's pretty, but certainly does not include and motion. So I was thinking, why not make the eagle fly in? I'll be working on it and will post my results!