Shape Tweening allows a shape to appear to change into another shape over a period of time. The location, size, and color of shapes can also be tweened. In addition to that, text and images are also among the list of objects that can be tweened.
Step 1 - Place the object on the work area, Right- click on the key frame, choose panels
-> frame. Refer figure 1 for more details
Figure 1. Frame settings
Step 2 - In the Tweening drop down menu, choose shape
Figure 2. Tweening drop down menu
Step 3 - Insert a keyframe into any other frame, delete the previous object and place another object.
Figure 3. Insert keyframe
For text and images, break apart (CTRL+B) or modify -> break apart has to be done
Figure 5. Break apart
Shape Hints
To control more complex or improbable shape changes, you can use
shape hints. Shape hints identify points that should correspond in starting and ending shapes. For example, if you are tweening a drawing of a face as it changes expression, you can use a
shape hint to mark each eye. Then, instead of the face becoming an amorphous tangle while the shape change takes place, each eye remains recognizable and changes separately during the shift.
Step 1 – Perform the explained shape tween mentioned above.
Step 2 – Click on the first frame and then go to Modify -> Transform -> Add Shape Hints (Ctrl+shift+H)
Figure 6. Shape Hint
An “a” with a red colored circle below it, will appear at the center of the object like shown
in figure 6.
Step 3 – Continue pressing Ctrl + Shift + H according to how many you require and place each one at a corner of the object.
Figure 7.
Go to the last frame. Observe that the same alphabets used in the first frame are already present there. Place the alphabets at each corner like done for the first frame.
Notice that once an alphabet is placed at a corner, it’s color automatically changes to light green.
Examine the shapes located in the in – between frames.
The best part of using shape hints is that you get so many different shapes during the transition between the main shapes.
