Creating A Car

Tutorial: Creating a Car Animation

In this short tutorial you will learn how to make a multi-layered animation using animation effects and movie clips. It is best if you already know the basic principles of Motion Tweens, Animation effects, and symbols before taking on this tutorial.

• Step one: Draw a Background on the first Keyframe of layer 1. For example:



• For organizational purposes you should rename layer 1 to Background. To rename a layer, double click on where it says layer 1 in your timeline.
• Step two: Create a new layer, (Insert > Timeline > Layer) and rename this layer Car. In this new layer draw the frame of a car, do not draw wheels, we will be adding them later on a separate layer.



Next we will animate the car by adding two keyframes, right click on frame 30 and insert Keyframe, move the car body to the middle of the stage or to where ever you want your car to stop. Right click on frame 50 and insert Keyframe. Move the car off the stage. Next, right click in between frame 1 and 30 and Create Motion Tween. Right click in between frame 30 and 50 and Create Motion Tween. Right click on frame 50 and Create Motion Tween. You should now have an animation where your car travels straight across the stage.



• Step three: Left click on Keyframe 1, in your properties panel change the Ease to ease out +100



• Left click on Keyframe 30, in your properties panel change the Ease to ease in -100



Here is an example of what your animation should look like so far:

• Step four: We are now ready to add our wheels. First create a new layer and name it Wheels. In this new layer draw one wheel (its very important that you only draw one wheel), select it, right click on it and convert to symbol.

  

  Choose Movie Clip for its behavior and name it Wheelmovie. Once its converted to a symbol, double click on the wheel in the stage or in your library panel. You should now see your wheel in a new timeline. We are going to apply the same Motion Tween that we did for the car body with the addition of rotation.

  Right click on frame 30 and insert Keyframe, then right click on frame 50 and insert Keyframe. Next, right click in between frame 1 and 30 and Create Motion Tween. Right click in between frame 30 and 50 and Create Motion Tween. Right click on frame 50 and Create Motion Tween.

  Next left click on Keyframe 1 and in the properties panel choose a CCW rotation and have it rotate 3 times. Then left click on keyframe 30 and do the same

  And last we need to add the ease. Left click on Keyframe 1, in your properties panel change the ease to ease out +100. Then Left click on Keyframe 30, in your properties panel change the ease to ease in -100

• Step five: Click on the Scene 1 tab at the top of your timeline to return to the original scene.

  

  Next we need to bring in a copy of the wheel movie that we just made. Drag the movie clip from your library out onto the stage. If your library panel is not open you can open it by going to Window > Library. Once your wheels are aligned with the car on frame 1 we just need to apply the same Motion Tween that we applied to the car body.

  Right click on frame 30 and insert Keyframe, move the wheels to the middle of the stage or to where ever you want your car to stop. Then right click on frame 50 and insert Keyframe move the wheels off the stage along with the car body. Next, right click in-between frame 1 and 30 and Create Motion Tween. Right click in-between frame 30 and 50 and Create Motion Tween. Right click on frame 50 and Create Motion Tween. You should now have an animation where your wheels and your car travels straight across the stage.

  Left click on Keyframe 1 in your properties panel change the Ease to ease out +100. Then Left click on Keyframe 30 in your properties panel. Change the Ease to ease in -100.

• Step six: You are Finished! Test your movie and see if everything is working. Here is my finished animation: