Flash 101 - Part 4: Don't Touch Me

Breaking It Down

Typically, you cannot shape or apply a gradient fill to a text block. If you plan to do this, it becomes necessary to first break apart the block to create individual shapes that can be modified with the various shape tools.

In Flash 5, this is accomplished by selecting the text block with the Arrow tool and then breaking it into its component pieces via the aptly-named Modify -> Break Apart command.

Once the individual components of the block have been separated, you can use the drawing and colour tools to apply different kinds of effects to the object. Breaking apart a text block is a necessary precursor to applying a shape tween to the object.

How did I do this? Very simple.

First, activate the text tool and place some text on the stage. Use your favourite font and colour.

Next, select the text block with the Arrow tool and break the text apart -- you'll see that each element of the text block becomes a distinct object. You now have an initial shape for your tween.

Move to a new frame (say, frame #10), and insert a new keyframe. Delete the previously-created text block, and create a new block containing the end result of your tween. Break apart this text block as described above, too.

Go back to the first keyframe, and insert a shape tween. Now, when you play the clip, the word(s) in the first keyframe will morph into the word(s) into the second keyframe, as in the example above.

Fade Out

If you need to apply a motion tween to the text object, you need to first convert it into a symbol via the Insert -> Convert To Symbol command. Once it is a symbol, you can go ahead and apply regular motion effects.

Consider the following example, which uses a motion tween to simulate a simple scrolling tickertape.

In this case, I've first created a text box containing the tickertape text. I've then selected the box, converted it to a symbol, inserted a new keyframe a few frames down, and moved the symbol to the other side of the Stage. By applying a motion tween to the intermediate stages, you can simulate the effect of a scrolling tickertape.

This technique truly comes into its own when you can dynamically change the content of the tickertape a topic that I'll be covering when we move to ActionScripting and the database capabilities available in Flash.

Yet another interesting effect is the so-called "text fade" effect. Here's what it looks like:

This is again accomplished via a motion tween -- actually, two of them. Create a symbol containing the text, and place three instances of it on the Stage, at appropriate distances from each other in the timeline. The first and third instance should have an alpha level of 0% (fully transparent), while the second instance should have an alpha level of 100% (fully opaque). Finally, add a motion tween between the first and second instances, and another between the second and third instances.

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