Make twinkling stars in Flash movies.
As with nearly every effect in Flash, a leading animation program, there are many ways to create a twinkling stars animation. Twinkling stars, of course, shine, dim, shine, and dim repeatedly. One simple approach is to create a Movie Clip symbol containing the twinkling star animation, then use the Spray Brush Tool to disperse multiple copies of the Movie Clip symbol over a night sky background on the stage.
Instructions
1. Click the "File" menu, and choose "New." This opens the New Document dialog box.
2. Select "ActionScript 3.0" from the Type list, set the size of the stage with the "Width" and "Height" fields.
3. Click the "Background Color" swatch flyout, and choose a background color for the stage.
4. Click "OK."
5. Click the "Insert" menu, and choose "New Symbol." This opens the Create New Symbol dialog box.
6. Type "star" in the Name field, click the "Type" drop-down menu, choose "Movie Clip," and then click "OK." Flash creates new Movie Clip with a blank stage and timeline.
7. Select the "Oval Tool" in the Tools panel. The Oval Tool is on the Shape Tool submenu, the eighth tool in the panel, which, by default, is set to the Rectangle Tool. Click and hold the Rectangle Tool, then click "Oval Tool" from the flyout menu.
8. Draw a small oval on the stage. Make the oval about 3 by 3 pixels. You can use the W and H fields in the Properties panel to set the size precisely.
9. Select the oval, go to the Properties panel, click the "Fill" (paint bucket icon) color swatch, then choose the yellow color swatch.
10. Right-click in frame 50 in the Timeline Panel, and select "Insert Keyframe" from the popup menu.
11. Select the oval, go to the Properties panel and change the "W" and "H" fields to "8." This starts the twinkling effect, by expanding the oval.
12. Right-click in frame 100 in the Timeline Panel, and select "Insert Keyframe" from the popup menu.
13. Select the oval, go to the Properties panel and change the "W" and "H" fields to "3." This completes the twinkling effect by contracting the oval.
14. Right-click any frame between frames two and 49, then choose "Create Classic Tween." This animates the expansion of the oval.
15. Right-click any frame between frames 51 and 99, and then choose "Create Classic Tween." This animates the contraction of the oval.
16. Click "Scene 1" in the upper-right corner of the document window to return to the main stage and timeline.
17.Click the "File" menu, choose "Import," then select "Import to Stage" from the flyout menu. This opens the "Import" dialog box.
18. Navigate to the graphic of the night sky, select it, then click the "Open" button. This places the night sky graphic on the stage. You can find images of the night sky at several stock photography sites on the Internet.
19. Drag the image file into the desired position on the stage.
20. Select the "Spray Brush Tool" in the Tools panel. The Spray Brush Tool is the eleventh tool in the panel. By default, Flash displays the Brush Tool. Click and hold the "Brush Tool," then click "Spray Brush Tool."
21. Click the "Edit" button in the Symbol section of the Properties panel. This opens the Select Symbol dialog box.
22. Select "Random Scaling," Rotate Symbol," and "Random Rotation" in the Properties panel. These options tell Flash to create random shapes and sizes for each instance of the symbol.
23. Hold the mouse button and drag the mouse cursor randomly over the night sky background image. Flash sprays instances of the Movie Clip symbol over the stage. Continue spraying until you have the desired number of stars.
24. Click the "Control" menu, and choose "Test Scene." Your movie displays with twinkling stars wherever you sprayed them.
