Adding shape hints in Visual Studio .NET

Encoder QR-Code in Visual Studio .NET Adding shape hints

A shape hint is a dot with a letter in the center You add a shape hint to a specific location on the object in the beginning keyframe and then move the shape hint to the desired location on the object in the last keyframe This gives Flash a hint (clever use of wording, Flash designers!) as to which area on shape A should morph into which area on shape B You can add up to 26 shape hints to a shape tween animation

After you determine that shape hints are needed, your next step is to decide where to place the hints on each shape You can drag the playhead from frame to frame and examine each in-between shape as Flash redraws it Enable onion skins to view the in-between shapes of several frames at once If you notice any jarring or unnatural transitions, you know exactly where to place each shape hint When a shape tween animation plays, your viewer should have an inkling of what the new shape will look like as Flash redraws the shape on the in-between frames To add shape hints: 1 Create a shape tween animation in which a simple shape transforms into a complex one

2 Preview the animation to determine the problem areas on each shape Press Enter or Return to preview the animation in the authoring workspace 3 Click the Onion Skin button to enable onion skins Onion skins make it possible for you to view several frames at once The objects on frames other than the one currently selected are of lower opacity 4 Click the first frame of the animation and choose Modify Shape Add Shape Hint A shape hint appears in the middle of the shape Shape hints are round circles surrounding a letter of the alphabet A shape hint s letter is how you determine which shape hints on the first shape correspond to the shape hints on the last shape For example, if you are morphing a circle into a star, you might place the first shape hint with the letter a on a point on the circle that you want to transform into one of the points of the star When you position the shape hints on the star, you would place the shape hint with the letter a on the applicable star point Shape hints on beginning shapes become yellow after they are positioned; they re green on ending shapes 5 Drag the shape hint to a trouble area on the first shape 6 Repeat Steps 4 and 5 for each problematic area on the first shape Apply shape hints counterclockwise in alphabetical order 7 Select the last keyframe in your animation The shape hints that you applied in the first frame are stacked in a neat little pile 8 Click a shape hint to select it and then drag it to its corresponding position on the animation s ending shape Remember to apply the shape hints in alphabetical order with counterclockwise rotation as you did on the first shape in the animation Figure 6-14 shows the animation previously seen in Figure 6-13 with shape hints applied

After you add a few or a bunch of shape hints to a shape tween animation, preview the animation by pressing Enter or Return If the animation still isn t up to snuff, you may need to add another shape hint or three Here are some additional modifications you may have to do with shape hints: To delete a shape hint, select it and drag it off Stage The shape hint is removed from both shapes To delete all shape hints, choose Modify Shape Remove All Hints