This detailed lesson made for Flash 8 will teach you how to create a really cool and advanced light city animation. You will also learn:
– How to design a city using the Line Tool.
– How to use Flash 8 filters.
– How to design a little military aircraft and animate it
– How to design city lights
– How to design a clouds and animate it.
– How to create thunder and more…. Step 1 Open a new Flash document. Select Modify > Document (shortcut key: Ctrl+J ). Set the width of your document to 250 pixels and the height to 300 pixels. Select #A0A0A0 as background color. Set your Flash movie’s frame rate to 28 fps.
Step 2
Take the Line Tool and draw the city outlines like it is shown on the picture below. Step 3 While the city outilines is still selected, change the Stroke Color in black.
Step 4 Take the Paint Bucket Tool (K), for Fill Color choose black and paint the city. See the picture below.
Now we have designed the city. Simple and effective. Step 5 Double click on layer 1 to rename its name in city. Step 6 Create a new layer above layer city and name it clouds. Step 7 Take the Oval Tool (O). In the Colors portion of the Tool panel, block the Stroke color by clicking on the little pencil icon and then on the small square with the red diagonal line. For Fill color choose #313131, and draw a “cloud” like it is shown on the picture below.
Step 8 Take the Selection Tool (V) and click once on the “cloud” to select it. Then, press F8 key (Convert to Symbol) to convert this “cloud” into a Movie Clip.
Step 9 While the new made Movie Clip is still selected, go to the Properties Panel (Ctrl+F3) below the stage.On the left side, You will find the Instance name input field there.Call this Movie Clip cloud. See the picture below.
Step 10 While the “cloud” is still selected, duplicate it, by pressing Ctrl+D key few times. Step 11 After that, change the size of “clouds” using the “free trnsform” tool and place them in whatever positions wherever you like. See the picture below.
Step 12 Take the Selection Tool (V) and select any “cloud”. Then, open the Action Script Panel (F9) and enter the following action script code inside the actions panel: onClipEvent(load){ flagX=random(800)+50; flagY=random(60)+10; a=random(3)+1;
this._x=flagX; this._y=fleagY; speed=random(2)+0.5; }
onClipEvent(enterFrame){ if(this._x>0){ this._x=this._x-speed; } else{ this._x= 880; } }
Step 13 Repeat step 11 for every other “cloud”. Step 14 Using the “drag and drop” technique, move the clouds layer below the city layer. See the picture below. Step 15 Create a new layer above layer clouds and name it light city. See the picture below.
Step 16 Select light city layer and take the Rectangle Too (R). In the Colors portion of the Tool panel, block the Stroke color by clicking on the little pencil icon and then on the small square with the red diagonal line. For Fill color choose white and draw a rectangle (that will represent light) about 13x215px. See the picture below.
Then, take again Selection Tool (V), and do like the picture below shows you.
Now we have designed a “light”
Step 17
While the “light” is still selected, press F8 key (Convert to Symbol) to convert this “light” into a Movie Clip Symbol. Step 18 Using the mouse, place the “light” on the position like it is shown on the picture below.
Step 19 While the “light” is still selected, click on the Filters tab in the Properties panel. Click on the plus icon and select the Blur filter. Make the adjustements as follows: 1. Blur X and Y : 15 2. Quality : Low
Now, you get this:
Step 20 Double-click on the movie clip on stage with the Selection tool (V). You should now be inside the movie clip.
Step 21 While the “light” is still selected, press again F8 key to convert this “light” again into a Movie Clip Symbol.
Step 22 Using the “drag and drop” technique, move frame 1 on frame 30. See the picture below.
Step 23 Click on frame 45 and frame 80 and press F6 key. Then, while you’re still on frame 80, take the Free Transform Tool (Q), and slant the “light” a little on the right. See the picture below.
Step 24 Right-click anywhere on the gray area between frame 45 and 80 on the timeline and choose Create Motion Tween from the menu that appears.
Step 25 Click on frame 120 and press F6 key. Then, take again the Free Transform Tool (Q) and slant the “light” a little on the left side. See the picture below.
Step 26 Right-click anywhere on the gray area between frame 80 and 120 on the timeline and choose Create Motion Tween from the menu that appears. Step 27 Create a few “lights” in an equivalent way like we have created the first “light”. Step 28 Now, it’s time for “military aircraft”. Step 29 Create a new layer above layer city and name it military aircraft. See the picture below.
Step 30 Take the Line Tool (N), choose black color and draw a “military aircraft” like it is shown on the picture below.
Step 31 Take the Paint Bucket Tool (B), for Fill color choose black and piant the “military aircraft”. See the picture below.
Step 32 Take the Selection Tool (V) and Select the “military aircraft”. Then, press F8 key (Convert to Symbol) to convert this “military aircraft” into a Movie Clip Symbol.
Step 33 Using the mouse or by arrows key, place the “military aircraft” on the position like it is shown on the picture below.
Step 34 Double-click on the movie clip ( “military aircraft”) on stage with the Selection tool (V). You should now be inside the movie clip.
Step 35 While the “military aircraft” is still selected, press again F8 key (Convert to Symbol) to convert this “military aircraft” again into a Movie Clip.
Step 36
Click on frame 50 and press F6 key. Then, place the “military aircraft” on the right position. See the picture below. Step 37 Right-click anywhere on the gray area between the two keyframes on the timeline and choose Create Motion Tween from the menu that appears. Step 38 Create a few “military aircraft” in an equivalent way like we have created the first “military aircraft”. Step 39 Now it’s time for thunder. Create a new layer and name it thunder. Then, using the drag and drop technique movie it below the clouds layer. See the picture below.
Step 40 Take the Rectangle Tool (R). In the Colors portion of the Tool panel, block the Stroke color by clicking on the little pencil icon and then on the small square with the red diagonal line. For Fill color choose white color and draw a “rectangle” about 300x300px. See the picture below.
Step 41 While the rectAngle (that will represent our thunder) is still selected, press F8 key (Convert to Symbol) to convert this rectangle into a Movie Clip Symbol.
Step 42 Double-click on the movie clip on stage with the Selection tool (V). You should now be inside the movie clip.
Step 43 While the rectangle is still selected, press again F8 key (Convert to Symbol) to convert it again into a Movie Clip Symbol.
Step 44 Using the mouse and drag and drop technique, move frame 1 on frame 20. Step 45 Take the Selection Tool (V), click once on the Movie Clip (rectangle) to select it and go to the Properties Panel (Ctrl+F3) below the stage. On the right, you will see the Color menu. Select Alpha in it and put it down to 0%.
Step 46 Then, press F6 key eleven times. See the picture below.
Step 47 Click on every second frame, take the Selection Tool again (V), click once on the Movie Clip and go to the Properties Panel below the stage. On the right, you will see the Color menu. Select Alpha in it and put it down to 76%. See the picture below.
Step 48 Click on frame 70 and press F5 key. Step 49 Go back on the main scene (Scene 1) and test your Movie (Ctrl+Enter). Have a nice day. http://www.flashvault.net/tutorial.asp?ID=122