Working with Frames

The Frames Panel

Let’s take a look at the various features of the Frames Panel.

Adding New Frames

1. To add a new frame click the PANEL MENU BUTTON on the frames menu.
2. Select add new frame.

The options at the bottom left hand corner of the Frames Panel control Onion Skinning and Looping. Let’s set Onion Skinning aside for a minute and concentrate on Looping. You can control the number of times that your animation plays by clicking on the Looping Options Button .

This ability is more important when it comes time to export our document. For the moment we’ll just be previewing our work document so we can set the loop option now if we wish or later.

In the main window of the Frame Panel you will see your frames listed in descending, numerical order. Frames can be moved around the stacking order but their labels cannot be changed. Frame 1 will always be at the top, Frame 2 will always be second and so on. If you want to change the stacking order of a frame you simply click on its label and drag it. Again, the frame labels won’t change but the content will move.

Renaming Frames
Fireworks MX® MX allows you to rename individual Frames. An input field will appear if you Double click on a FRAME LABEL. Type a name into the field and click your mouse button to finalize the change. Frame labeling is very useful if an important event occurs on a particular Frame and you need to access it quickly.

Adjusting Frame Timing
You can adjust the timing of individual frames by double clicking the default frame rate in the frames panel. A small dialog box will appear prompting you to change the timing of the individual frame. Fireworks MX® measures animation time in hundredths of seconds with the default timing set at 20/100th’s of a second. This default is reflected in the initial value set in the text field of the dialog box and the timing listed to the right of each frame label. You can export your timing settings when you create your final product by checking the INCLUDE WHEN EXPORTING checkbox.

Adjusting the timing of individual frames can be very useful if you want to create motion that doesn’t seem mechanical. You may, for instance, want to fade in a block of text over a period of two seconds. At 20/100ths of a second you would end up with 10 frames of animation, all playing at exactly the same rate. To give the animation some character you might want to adjust the speed of the first frame to 40/100ths of a second, make the second frame 35/100ths of a second, 30/100ths for the third, and so on until you have 10 frames that play at different speeds. If you time your frames correctly they will still play out over a 2 second duration and the graphic will fade up gradually at a variable rate.

The more frames you use the heavier your animation becomes.