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Written by Rawpulse
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Wednesday, 22 February 2006 |
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Learn how to make a very professional looking alpha text effect.
There is a very simple way to make a nice looking text effect. It involves the alpha effect. It is fairly time consuming, but the end result is worth it. If you would like to see the effect we will make, click here.
So, to begin, set your background color to black, via the Properties menu at the bottom. You can leave the default size of the stage. Type your text on the stage using the text tool. Adjust the font size and color so it looks tidy. Set the frame rate to 40, again from the Properties menu.
Select your text with the selection tool. Now you will need to break it apart. This will allow us to edit each letter of your text individually. To break it apart, press Control + B while it is selected, or select Modify > Break Apart. Your text should now look like this:
Once you have done this you need to put each letter on its own layer. You can do this automatically with Flash instead of having to cut and paste individually. Right click your broken apart letters and select "Distribute To Layers". You can also delete Layer 1, as this is no longer needed.
Now you need to convert each letter to a symbol. A movie clip to be more precise. Select your first letter, and press F8, make sure movie clip is selected, then press ok. You first letter is now a symbol. Repeat this for every letter you have. They must be converted to symbols before they can be animated. Now we can begin animating them.
Each layer will have a keyframe on frame 1 of the timeline. Click on the keyframe on your top layer (which will be your first letter). Now, click it again, and drag it to the right, to frame 5. This is because we want the animation to wait 5 frames before anything happens. The frame rate is so high, so this won't be a very long wait.
Now, add a second keyframe to your top layer, on frame 20. Your top most layer should look like this:
Now go back to frame 5 where your first keyframe should be. Click on your first letter, and the Properties menu, at the bottom of the screen, should change slightly. You should see a "Color:" drop down box. Select Alpha from the box. Adjust the percentage bar so it is 0%.
Go back to frame 20, where your last keyframe should be. Do the same, except select 100% instead of 0%. The last thing to do is add a motion tween. Do this by right clicking on a frame between 5 and 20 and selecting "Create Motion Tween". Now, if you test your movie, your first letter should gradually fade in. Don't worry about the rest of the text not being animated, that is our next project.
Your second letter should have its own layer, and it should be the second one down, beneath the one we just animated. Do the exact same process as above, except this time, move the first keyframe to frame 20, where the animation on layer 1 ends. Obviously this means you don't need to add a keyframe here now, but instead we need to add it 20 frames further down. So add your keyframe to 40. Once you have done this, add the alpha and tween, and move to layer three. Remember to keep moving the keyframes along. This is done to make sure that when one letter has fully appeared, the next wil then begin to appear. Otherwise all f your letter will appear at the same time. Your timeline should look something like this when you have finished:
However, if you try to play the animation now, you will notice that the letters disappear once they have faded in. This is because we have not added any frames afterwards. Find out how many frames you have used, and make sure you add the equal number of frames to every layer. Now if you play your animation, you should have a nice smooth, professional looking effect. If you would like to see the finished product, click here. If you had problems with this tutorial, tell us about it on the KnowFlash forum.
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