How to use Shape Tweens (and why you shouldn't) - Adobe Animate CC Tutorial

shape tweens automatically create animation between two shapes on separate keyframes going into adobe animate you can see that we've already got a square on the first keyframe so let's go further down the timeline and create a new blank keyframe then use the shape tool to draw a new shape an important thing to keep in mind is that you can't apply shape tweens to groups symbols or text objects the square that we saw on the first keyframe is actually inside the symbol so we first need to use modify and break apart before creating a shape tween the same thing applies to groups and text so just remember to go up to modify and use the break apart command before you try creating a shape tween now that we know the square is not a symbol we can right click anywhere between the two keyframes and select create shape tween and you'll see when i press play that adobe animate has added a bunch of frames to animate between our two shapes it's worth pointing out that the shape tween also applies to position and color which is why our square moves across the screen and also changes color between green and orange the animation might look a little flat at the moment but an easy way to improve it is by adding easing you can add easing by clicking anywhere on the tween and then going to the tweening section in the properties panel in the effect drop down menu i'll double click to select one of the ease out presets and when i press play again you'll see that the animation now slows to a stop and looks a bit better and that's the basics of shape twins however i know that most of you want to animate something more complex than a square and a circle and that's where shape tweens can start getting complicated here's an example where i've got a cat shape on the first keyframe and a pikachu shape on the next keyframe let's try using what we've learned about shape tweens to turn this cat into a pikachu just like before right click anywhere between the two keyframes and select create shape tween and right off the bat we can see some issues especially around this corner and the ears specifically this kind of thing happens because adobe animate doesn't actually know what these shapes are it doesn't know that this is a cat and it doesn't know that this is a pikachu it's just trying to find the simplest way to turn the first shape into the second shape which is why we need to use shape hints to help adobe animate identify corresponding points on the first and second shapes to put it simply this basically means that we need to use shape hints to tell adobe animate that the cat's left ear should transform into pikachu's left ear the cat's right ear should transform into pikachu's right ear and so on to add a shape pinned make sure you're on the first keyframe of your shape tween and then go up to modify in the menu bar and select shape add shape hint this little circle that appears on both keyframes is the shape hint and if you don't see it go up to view in the menu bar and make sure that show shape hints is selected before showing you how to use the shape hints i recommend turning on snap to objects because it makes this process a lot easier you can turn on snap to objects here in the properties panel or by going up to view snapping and selecting snap to objects now if i move these shape pins to the tip of the left ear on both keyframes it tells adobe animate that this point on the first keyframe corresponds with this point on the second keyframe pressing play we can see that the shape tween is now doing a better job on the left ear and now we just need to keep adding shape hints until we get a decent looking tween like i said before having snapped objects turned on makes this process a lot easier and another important thing that some of you may have already noticed is that the shape pins we created are labeled with the letter a every pair of shape hinge that we create by going up to modify shape oops we've got to be on the first keyframe go up to modify shape add shape hint and you'll see that the next keyframe is now labeled with the letter b every new pair of shape hinge that you create will be labeled with a different letter up to the letter z and this is how we tell adobe animate that a pair of shape pins are connected so make sure when you're placing the shape pins that you're using a matching pair for example b pairs with b so far i've placed my shape hands at the tip of both ears on both keyframes and you can see that the ears are now transforming a little bit better than they were at the start from experience i like putting shape pins in the corners and at the tips but honestly at this point it's just a matter of trial and error until you're happy with how the shape tween looks and you now know how to use and fix shape tweens however i recommend using shape tween sparingly because as we just saw they can be hard to control and unpredictable which is bad especially if you're working in a professional setting like an animation studio where some other animator might have to open your file and mess around with your shape queen after you're done animating and that can just be terrible be a nightmare it's a headache trust me that said i hope this video has answered any questions you may have had about shape twins if there's still something else that you're unsure about just leave in the comments and i'll try my best to help you out ciao

Channel: Devon Kong

Views: 34,814

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Id: lrtH9iRqHqs

Length: 5min 1sec (301 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 09 2021