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Chapter 8. Don't Just Sit There — Animate!

In This Chapter

• Creating and editing animations

• Adjusting your playback

• Working with tweening

• Animating with masks

• Exporting animations for the Web

Animations, used in moderation, can liven up a page. You can make simple animations to create effects of light and movement — or go to the max with dancing babies. The subtle approach probably is better because most folks are more intrigued by interesting content than by distracting animations. Still, you find animations being used every day, especially in rotating banner ads.

The animations you produce in Fireworks aren't quite the same as those in Flash. Fireworks animations typically are smaller and are saved in the GIF format, which doesn't require a plug-in to view. You create them by using the States panel, which we cover in detail in Chapter 7 of this book.

In this chapter, you use the States panel to create multiple versions of your artwork that play one after another to create an animation.

Note

The terms states and frames can be used interchangeably (though we generally prefer the term states).

Tip

As you create images for animation, experiment to find out how many colors you can include without increasing the file size dramatically. If you're working with size restrictions (as many advertising sites require), you may have to make the image files smaller by deleting states or adjusting color. Creating animations is a give-and-take process, in which you're trying to get the best effects from the ...