How to Tween a Mask Along a Motion Guide
Saturday, September 30th, 2006
Masking in Flash is easy to implement. Take an existing layer with artwork, create a new layer above it, draw your mask shape, then right-click/Command-click and choose Mask. Done. Include as many layers as you like in the masked stack by dragging additional layers slowly up toward the stack then slightly right until they snap into place. Lock and unlock layers to show and hide the mask effect.
Your mask shape reveals the artwork beneath it and hides everything else. This works with imported photos, shapes and symbols, text fields (remember to embed font outlines if text is dynamic or input), and even video. In fact, you can add keyframes to the mask’s layer in order to tween it (shape tweening if the mask is a shape; motion tweening if the mask is a symbol). But what if you want to tween your mask along a motion guide? Select your mask layer and click the Add Motion Guide button at the bottom left of the Timeline panel: nothing happens. Interesting, right? Where’s that motion guide layer? Is it possible to tween masks in this way? Well, let’s see. Keep reading »
