Flash Essential

In this tutorial I’ll be showing you how to do a simple but powerful handwriting effect (shown below) in flash using a Shape Tween on the timeline. So lets open up Flash and get started.

Step 1

Go to the first key frame on the timeline and select the Text Tool, choose a font that looks like someones handwriting in this case I used Nueva Std Cond. Go ahead and type what you want on the stage.

Step 2

Select the first keyframe on the timeline and press Crtl B twice to break your text apart into vectors.

Step 3

Select the Eraser Tool and go to the last letter of the word. Press F6 and then delete a small portion of the letter working our way backwards. Repeat this until you have erased every letter of the word.

Tip: You might want to zoom in to make it easier to erase the portions of the letters.

Step 4

Select the last keyframe on your timeline hold down Shift, with Shift held down select the very first keyframe that should select every frame on your timeline. Now Right Click and select Create Shape Tween.

Step 5

Repeat Step 4 but this time I want you to select Reverse Frames in the dialog box when you right click.

Step 6

Press Ctrl Enter to see how that looks, not bad but it could be a lot smoother. So click outside the stage area and go to the bottom of the page and change the Frame Rate to 30 fps. Much better now don’t you think?

Conclusion

This is the easiest way I find to create this type of effect, it may create a slightly bigger file size but it is pretty accurate. You've probably noticed this technique could be used for other things such as a plant growing or a smoke effect, just use the same techniques shown above and Hey Presto! You've got yourself a plant growing or smoke coming out of a cigar.

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