Flash Time Axis Tutorial

The timeline is used to organize and control the number of layers and the number of frames that a document's content plays over a specified period of time. As with film, the Flash document will also be divided into frames. Layers are like multiple slide films stacked together, each layer contains a different image that is displayed on the stage. The main components of the timeline are layers, frames, and playhead. The layers in the document are listed in the column on the left side of the timeline. The frames contained in each layer appear in the layer

The row on the right side of the name. The timeline caption at the top of the timeline indicates the frame number. The playhead indicates the frames that are currently displayed on the stage. When you play a Flash document, the playhead passes from left to right through the timeline. The timeline state appears at the bottom of the timeline, indicating the selected frame number, current frame frequency, and elapsed time until the current frame. You can change how the frame is displayed in the timeline, or you can display a thumbnail of the frame's contents in the timeline. The timeline shows which parts of the document are animated, including frame-by-step animations, motion tweens, and movement paths. The controls in the layer section of the timeline allow you to hide, display, lock, or unlock layers, and to display the layer contents as outlines. You can insert, delete, select, and move frames in the timeline. You can also drag frames to different positions in the same layer, or to different layers.