Overview

In This Chapter

Using Guide layers for reference

Creating Motion guides to control animation

Setting up elements for animation with Distribute to Layers

Applying Mask layers for special effects

Masking animation and creating nested animated masks

Besides storing and organizing the contents of your project (.fla), Flash layers offer some special features that help you create more advanced animation. Standard layers can be locked, hidden, or displayed as outlines, but they can also be converted into Guide layers, Motion guides, or Mask layers. You can use each of these layer types to accomplish specific authoring tasks.

Flash gives you the flexibility to quickly change the behavior of layers at any time in the authoring environment, so that you can take advantage of the special characteristics of each of these layer types as needed.

With the layer buttons at the lower-left corner of the Timeline window, you have the option of creating standard layers, Motion guide layers, and Folder layers. If you have already created a standard layer, you can convert it into any of the special layer types by using the contextual menu (invoked by right-clicking or Ctrl+clicking the layer bar), or by changing settings in the Layer Properties dialog box (invoked by double-clicking the layer icon or by choosing Modify ð Timeline ð Layer Properties from the application menu).

Flash automatically converts layers if you drag them into specific positions in the stacking order with other layer types — although this sounds a bit cryptic, it will make sense as you read about each layer type and how it affects other layers. Each layer type has a unique icon, as shown in Figure 13-1.

Figure 13-1: A unique icon in the layer stack identifies each of the layer types. You can quickly assign or change the behavior of a layer using the contextual menu.