Page 539 - Xara Designer Pro X17

Animations 539

It’s not possible to change the shape between key frames in exported Flash animations.

Because the shape changes (i.e. it morphs from one shape to another), this is not
possible in Xara Designer Pro X Flash animations.

What you can't do with Xara Designer Pro X Flash
Xara Designer Pro X does not support more complex Flash features such as scripting
(programming), audio, or embedded movies.

Additionally, since Flash vector rendering is relatively primitive compared to Xara
Designer Pro X’s, there are advanced Designer Pro effects such as feathering that
cannot be used in Flash. These are detailed in the "What Xara Designer Pro X Features
Does Flash Support? (on page 556)" section towards the end of this chapter.

Core Principles

In your animation you are likely to have some objects that remain static between key
frames (i.e. no tweening is necessary) and other objects you will want to animate.

To tell Xara Designer Pro X which objects you want to animate, it's necessary
to give each object a name (via the ADD NAMES button on the SELECTORTOOL
InfoBar).

For more information on naming objects, see section "Naming Objects" in the "Document
Handling (on page 33)" chapter.

Here is an overview of the typical process to create a new animation from scratch, which
this chapter will guide you through:

1. Decide what size you would like your animation to be and set the page size
accordingly (see "FILE" > "PAGE OPTIONS (on page 634)").
2. Draw your first frame. Name the objects that you want to animate.
3. Create a new key frame (usually done by copying the earlier frame).
4. Move and transform the objects as required.
5. Preview the results.
6. Repeat steps 3 through 5.

Your First Animation

To create a new animation:
Create a new animation document. To do this:

Choose "FILE" > "NEW" > "ANIMATION" ("Ctrl + Shift + N").