7.0

Core Principles
In your animation you are likely to have some objects that remain static between key frames (i.e. no
tweening is necessary) and other objects you will want to animate.
To tell Xara Web Designer 7 Premium which objects you want to
animate, it's necessary to give each object a name (via the Add
Names button on the Selector Tool
InfoBar).
For more information on naming objects, see section "Naming Objects" in the "Document Handling"
chapter.
Here is an overview of the typical process to create a new animation from scratch, which this chapter will
guide you through:
1.
Decide what size you would like your animation to be and set the page size accordingly (see "
File" > "Page Options").
2.
Draw your first frame. Name the objects that you want to animate.
3.
Create a new key frame (usually done by copying the earlier frame).
4.
Move and transform the objects as required.
5.
Preview the results.
6.
Repeat steps 3 through 5.
And so you can then build up your animation.
The Copy Frame button on the Animation
button bar.
Xara Web Designer 7 Premium provides an easy one-button way to create new key frames which are a
copy of a previous frame. The Frame Gallery allows you to view any key frame, and you can adjust the
frame order and display period for each key frame. The Frame Gallery
is described in depth later in this chapter.
For those familiar with the animated GIF features of Xara Web Designer 7 Premium (or its
predecessors), the whole process will be very familiar. The difference is that with Flash files Xara Web
Designer 7 Premium can automatically create all the tween steps to produce smoother, much more
compact animations than animated GIFs can offer.
Note:
Objects that you want to animate from one frame to another need to have a name. All other objects will
remain visible (but static) for the display period of the frame until the next key frame. So to delete an
object from an animation, just delete it on the first key frame on which you no longer need it to appear.
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