The Xara Xone Tutorials Xara Xone Xara Tutorials  Page 2
0   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   Download Zipped Tutorial

THE XARA XONE | XARA.COM | THE XARA CONFERENCES

The Animation Objects

In this part of the tutorial, we'll create and name the objects that we will be using in this animation. Remember, objects that will be tweened need to be named.

Xara Xone - Xtreme Pro Flash animation tutorial

The size and colors for the animated objects are not important so just make them about the same size and color as shown here.

Using the Ellipse Tool (Shift F4) create an ellipse (shown top). Clone the ellipse (Ctrl k) and move the clone to the right about 10 pixels.

Select both ellipses and Arrange > Combine Shapes > Subtract Shapes or press Ctrl 2, the keyboard shortcut.

Clone and flip the crescent shape to make a loop. Duplicate (Ctrl d) the loop, scale it downward a bit and skew it to the left. (Double click on an object to enable Roate/Skew mode). Duplicate and flip another skewed loop to create 3 loops. Select all the loops and Arrange > Combine Shapes > Add Shapes, or press Ctrl 1 . Change the color to red and set the outline to None from the Width drop down list on the Infobar.

Using the Rectangle Tool (Shift F3) create the box and lid and two sections of red ribbon. Group (Arrange > Group or Ctrl g) the box top objects and make a second group of the box bottom objects.

 

Xara Xone - Xtreme Pro Flash animation tutorial

Using the Ellipse Tool, and holding down the Ctrl key while you drag the circle to constrain the ellipse to a circle, create a circle for the face, two white eyes, two black pupils.

Using the Shape Editor Tool (F4), create two flat lines for the eyebrows, and a wider line for the mouth. (Change the outline width by selecting a line width from the Width drop down list on the Infobar). Drag the mouth line into a small smile.

To make a line with the Shape Editor Tool, click once on the page to start the line then click where you want the line to end. Once the line has been created, you can drag on the line with the Shape Editor Tool to turn the line into a curve.

With the eyebrows and mouth lines selected, open the Line Gallery (F12). From the Set Join Type and Set Line Cap drop down lists select Round Join and Round Cap . This is necessary because Xtreme Pro only supports these line attributes for Flash animations.

    TIP: If possible avoid using lines. Especially if you are resizing the line. The line will become fatter or thinner which for the most part is not good. You can convert a line to shape using Arrange > Convert Line to Shape but you will loose the uniform width of the line.

 

Xara Xone - Xtreme Pro Flash animation tutorial

Add a new line on either side of the box using the Shape Editor Tool (F4), increase the line Width until it is about the same size as the ribbons, and curve the lines as shown by dragging on a selected line with the Shape Editor Tool. Convert the lines to shapes (Arrange > Convert Line to Shape).

    NOTE: To edit an existing outline with the Shape Editor Tool, the line has to be selected first with the Selector Tool (the arrow pointer). But you can edit a line while you are drawing it with the Selector Tool. For more information on drawing lines see Xara's 3 Drawing Tools in Workbook 34.

 

Xara Xone - Xtreme Pro Flash animation tutorial

Using the Text Tool (F8), create individual characters for the words HAPPY HOLIDAYS (feel free to substitute your holiday of choice). Each character must be a single character as we will be tweening them in the animation. Use a different color and a different type style for each character to make the message more festive.

 

Xara Xone - Xtreme Pro Flash animation tutorial

One-by-one, select and name each object, or in the case of the box and box top and ribbon, group of objects that you have just created.

When you are done, take a short break. When you return, we'll begin the animation.

    NOTE: You can create your animation objects in Xtreme Pro's drawing window and then copy and paste them as needed into the animation. If you do this, name the objects when you paste them into the animation window. The names do not travel with the object between modes.

NEXT PAGE >

 

 

LAST PAGE   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12     NEXT PAGE