User Guide Cancel

Creating a Motion tween animation

  1. Adobe Animate User Guide
  2. Introduction to Animate
    1. What's New in Animate
    2. Visual Glossary
    3. Animate system requirements
    4. Animate keyboard shortcuts
    5. Work with Multiple File Types in Animate
  3. Animation
    1. Animation basics in Animate
    2. How to use frames and keyframes in Animate
    3. Frame-by-frame animation in Animate
    4. How to work with classic tween animation in Animate
    5. Brush Tool
    6. Motion Guide
    7. Motion tween and ActionScript 3.0
    8. About Motion Tween Animation
    9. Motion tween animations
    10. Creating a Motion tween animation
    11. Using property keyframes
    12. Animate position with a tween
    13. How to edit motion tweens using Motion Editor
    14. Editing the motion path of a tween animation
    15. Manipulating motion tweens
    16. Adding custom eases
    17. Creating and applying Motion presets
    18. Setting up animation tween spans
    19. Working with Motion tweens saved as XML files
    20. Motion tweens vs Classic tweens
    21. Shape tweening
    22. Using Bone tool animation in Animate
    23. Work with character rigging in Animate
    24. How to use mask layers in Adobe Animate
    25. How to work with scenes in Animate
  4. Interactivity
    1. How to create buttons with Animate
    2. Convert Animate projects to other document type formats
    3. Create and publish HTML5 Canvas documents in Animate
    4. Add interactivity with code snippets in Animate
    5. Creating custom HTML5 Components
    6. Using Components in HTML5 Canvas
    7. Creating custom Components: Examples
    8. Code Snippets for custom Components
    9. Best practices - Advertising with Animate
    10. Virtual Reality authoring and publishing
  5. Workspace and workflow
    1. Creating and managing Paint brushes
    2. Using Google fonts in HTML5 Canvas documents
    3. Using Creative Cloud Libraries and Adobe Animate
    4. Use the Stage and Tools panel for Animate
    5. Animate workflow and workspace
    6. Using web fonts in HTML5 Canvas documents
    7. Timelines and ActionScript
    8. Working with multiple timelines
    9. Set preferences
    10. Using Animate authoring panels
    11. Create timeline layers with Animate
    12. Export animations for mobile apps and game engines
    13. Moving and copying objects
    14. Templates
    15. Find and Replace in Animate
    16. Undo, redo, and the History panel
    17. Keyboard shortcuts
    18. How to use the timeline in Animate
    19. Creating HTML extensions
    20. Optimization options for Images and Animated GIFs
    21. Export settings for Images and GIFs
    22. Assets Panel in Animate
  6. Multimedia and Video
    1. Transforming and combining graphic objects in Animate
    2. Creating and working with symbol instances in Animate
    3. Image Trace
    4. How to use sound in Adobe Animate
    5. Exporting SVG files
    6. Create video files for use in Animate
    7. How to add a video in Animate
    8. Draw and create objects with Animate
    9. Reshape lines and shapes
    10. Strokes, fills, and gradients with Animate CC
    11. Working with Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects
    12. Color Panels in Animate CC
    13. Opening Flash CS6 files with Animate
    14. Work with classic text in Animate
    15. Placing artwork into Animate
    16. Imported bitmaps in Animate
    17. 3D graphics
    18. Working with symbols in Animate
    19. Draw lines & shapes with Adobe Animate
    20. Work with the libraries in Animate
    21. Exporting Sounds
    22. Selecting objects in Animate CC
    23. Working with Illustrator AI files in Animate
    24. Applying blend modes
    25. Arranging objects
    26. Automating tasks with the Commands menu
    27. Multilanguage text
    28. Using camera in Animate
    29. Graphic filters
    30. Sound and ActionScript
    31. Drawing preferences
    32. Drawing with the Pen tool
  7. Platforms
    1. Convert Animate projects to other document type formats
    2. Custom Platform Support
    3. Create and publish HTML5 Canvas documents in Animate
    4. Creating and publishing a WebGL document
    5. How to package applications for AIR for iOS
    6. Publishing AIR for Android applications
    7. Publishing for Adobe AIR for desktop
    8. ActionScript publish settings
    9. Best practices - Organizing ActionScript in an application
    10. How to use ActionScript with Animate
    11. Accessibility in the Animate workspace
    12. Writing and managing scripts
    13. Enabling Support for Custom Platforms
    14. Custom Platform Support Overview
    15. Working with Custom Platform Support Plug-in
    16. Debugging ActionScript 3.0
    17. Enabling Support for Custom Platforms
  8. Exporting and Publishing
    1. How to export files from Animate CC
    2. OAM publishing
    3. Exporting SVG files
    4. Export graphics and videos with Animate
    5. Publishing AS3 documents
    6. Export animations for mobile apps and game engines
    7. Exporting Sounds
    8. Best practices - Tips for creating content for mobile devices
    9. Best practices - Video conventions
    10. Best practices - SWF application authoring guidelines
    11. Best practices - Structuring FLA files
    12. Best Practices to optimize FLA files for Animate
    13. ActionScript publish settings
    14. Specify publish settings for Animate
    15. Exporting projector files
    16. Export Images and Animated GIFs
    17. HTML publishing templates
    18. Working with Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects
    19. Quick share and publish your animations
  9. Troubleshooting
    1. Fixed issues
    2. Known issues

 

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:

  • Drag a different symbol from the library onto the tween span in the Timeline
  • Use the Modify > Symbol > Swap Symbol command.

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

Tween span:

  • Is a sequence of frames in the Timeline in which an object has one or more properties changed over time.
  • Motion tween span appears in the Timeline as a group of frames in a single layer with a  background color.
  • You can select the tween spans as a single object and drag them from one location in the Timeline to another, including to another layer.
  • You can animate only one object on the Stage in each tween span. This object is called the target object of the tween span.

Property keyframe:

  • Is a frame within a tween span where you explicitly define one or more property values for the tween target object.
  • These properties could include position, alpha (transparency), color tint, and so on.
  • Each defined property has its own property keyframes.
  • If you set more than one property in a single frame, then the property keyframes for each of those properties reside in that frame.
  • Use Motion Editor to view each property of a tween span and its property keyframes.
  • To choose which type of property keyframes to display in the Timeline from the tween span context menu, right-click any property keyframe and select View keyframes. 

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:

  • You can save a tween as a preset for reuse. 
  • You can easily move the motion tweens on the Timeline (drag the tween span around) or on the Stage.
  • To apply a new instance to an existing tween:
    • Paste it onto a tween to swap it out
    • Drag a new instance from the Library
    • Use the Swap Symbol. 

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:

  • 2D X and Y position
  • 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.

  • Skew X and Y

  • Scale X and Y

  • 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:

  • Create a graphic or instance that you want to tween, and then right-click a frame and select Create Motion Tween.
  • Select the graphic or instance that you want to tween, and select Insert > Motion Tween from the main menu.
  • Create a graphic or instance that you want to tween, and then right-click the instance on the Stage and select Create Motion Tween.

 Usage of ActionScript in animation is optional.

Creating a Motion tween Animation

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.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

     You can display different types of property keyframes in tween spans. Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Macintosh) a tween span and choose View Keyframes > property type from the context menu.

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

  6. 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.

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Add a blank keyframe to the layer (Insert Timeline Blank Keyframe), add items to the keyframe, and then tween the items.
    • Create a tween on a separate layer and then drag the span to the desired layer.
    • Drag a static frame from another layer to the tween layer and then add a tween to an object in the static frame.
    • Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Macintosh) to duplicate an existing span from the same layer or a different layer.
    • Copy and paste a tween span from the same or different layer.

Get help faster and easier

New user?