By learning frame-by-frame animation, you will have a better understanding of how the Timeline works and how you can control it.
2. Now, click on frame 2 in the layer and go to Insert > Keyframe, or press the shortcut key, F6. Another keyframe will be created and your rectangle will be automatically placed on the stage in the second keyframe.
3. If the rectangle is not highlighted as a fine checkerboard pattern, use the Selection tool to draw a selection box around the rectangle.
A checkerboard pattern indicates the graphic object is selected
4. Now, hold down the SHIFT key and press the down arrow on the keyboard to move the rectangle down a few pixels. (Without the SHIFT key pressed, the rectangle will move one pixel at a time.)
The rectangle moves further down in the next keyframe
5. Click the next frame in the layer and insert another keyframe (F6).
6. Move the rectangle down again in the same manner.
7. Repeat this process until you have 12 keyframes, each with the rectangle moving down a little further than the last time. Now, if you slide, or “scrub”, the timeline playhead back and forth from the first to twelfth frame, you will notice that the rectangle “moves” up and down.
8. Move the playhead to the first frame and press Enter on the keyboard to play the movie. Congratulations, you have created your first Flash animation!
9. To preview your movie as it will play in real time, press CTRL-Enter. Watch how your animation plays and repeats. Close the movie to return to Flash.
Frame-by-frame animation is rarely used in Flash. Its use is mainly confined to animation sequences that require exact positioning and strict rates of change. Another circumstance to use frame-by-frame animation is to display imported movie file images, which is beyond the scope of this tutorial.
