Inserting Animations

In this second example, you’ll insert a Flash SWF file into a RoboDemo movie as an animation to produce this example:

1. In RoboDemo, open Example2_rd.rd.

   You’ll see that this is basically the same as the first example, but I’ve deleted the “Welcome” animation frame.

2. Double-click slide 3 to open it in the Edit window.

3. Select Insert > Animation, navigate to and open “Example1_a_complete.swf”.

   The New Animation dialog box displays, showing a preview of the selected animation and its statistics displaying next to it. Below are the Play Options, which include:

   
• Continue movie while playing animation plays an animation until it has finished. Objects on the current and subsequent slides display while the animation plays. This option lets you display an animation over multiple slides.
• Pause frame while playing animation stops all objects on a slide while the animation plays. No new objects are added or existing objects removed until the animation has finished.
• Stop playing when frame ends plays the animation for the duration of the current slide, objects on the slide display while the animation plays. The animation disappears at the end of the slide, even if it hasn’t yet finished playing.
• Show for X seconds plays an animation for the specified number of seconds, regardless of the duration of the animation. Objects on the frame display while the animation plays.
• Appear after X seconds plays the animation after the slide displays for the specified number of seconds.

4. Select Continue movie while playing animation, leaving all other options at their defaults, and then press OK.

   The animation appears on the slide. While it appears opaque, it will become transparent when played back. Because the animation is the same size as the slide, the animation fills the whole slide.

5. Drag the sizing handle at the top of the animation down slightly to resize the animation to 400 x 270 pixels. This prevents the welcome message from displaying too close to the caption “Slide 3.”

6. Now you can save the file (File > Save) and preview it (File > Preview).

   Notice how the animation appears on slide 3 and fades out on slide 4.

Now you’ll have a look at using interactive and nonlinear animations.