Thread: Creating Symbols:- Blend Modes & Colors

Color
The Color option in Flash helps in changing the color and transparency of an Instance. Every instance of a symbol has its respective color and transparency options for instances is set om the Property Inspector. All the changes made in the Property Inspector affect the bitmaps which are present in the symbols. If any change is made in the colour and transparency of an object in a particular frame, then that change is instantly noted b Flash. As Soon as that particular frame is dispalyed, Flash makes it a point to note the change.

It is better to apply a motion Tween in case a gradual change is required. If it is needed to Tween the color, then different effect settings needs to be entered in the beginning and ending keyframes of an instance. Mter this is done, the settings are Tweened. This makes the color of the instance change with time. When a color effect is applied to a movie clip symbol including multiple frames, then the effect is uniformly applied to each and every frame in that particular movie clip symbol.

To apply color effect on a movie clip symbol, follow these steps:
1. First, you have to select an instance on the stage.
2. Click on the Windows menu.
3. Click on Properties and then again Properties from the drop down menu.
4. Once the Properties Inspector opens, you will see that the Color option is available there.
5. Click on the Color menu.
6. Choose your desired Color mode from the drop-down menu.

There are several options available under Color menu in Flash. They are Brightness, Tint. Alpha and Advanced. Brightness: The relative amount of lightness and darkness of the image is decided by the Brightness option available under the Color menu. The value of Brightness varies from Black which is 0% to white which is 100%. The brightness value can either be adjusted by clicking the down arrow and dragging the slider or by putting a value in the box.

Tint: If we apply Tint property on an object, then the object gets colored with the same hue. The percentage of Tint varies from transparent which is 0% to saturated which is 100%. The percentage of Tintto be applied on the object can be determined by using the Tint Slider. The Tint Slider is present in the Property Inspector. In order to adjust the Tint, you can click the triangle and then drag the slider. Another way of adjusting the Tint is by entering a value in the box. If a color is to be selected, then different values for Red, Green and Blue has to be entered in the respective boxes. Another way that can be followed is to open the Color Picker and choosing a color from there. The Color Picker can be opened by clicking the Color Control.

Alpha: If the transparency of an instance needs to be adjusted, then the Alpha property is to be applied. The value of Alpha varies from transparent which is 0%, to fully saturated which is 100%. In order to adjust the Alpha, you can dick the arrow and then drag the slider.

Advanced: At times it may be required to adjust the value for transparency and the respective colors, that is red, green and blue of an instance separately. It is in such cases that the Advanced option can be used from the Color menu. By using the Advanced option, it often becomes easier to create and animate color effects on bitmap objects. In order to set the values for the Advanced effect, click on Settings after selecting it under the Color menu. In the Advanced effect dialog box, use the controls on the left if the transparency or the color value has to be decreased by a certain percentage. The controls on the right are used to either increase or decrease the transparency or the color values by a constant amount.

When the values are entered for the respective colors, red, green and blue and the Alpha value in the Advanced effect dialog box, then the values are first multiplied by the percentage values. The values are then added to the constant values present in the rIght column. After this is done, the new color values are created. Let's take an example. Say the current value for the color blue is 100. Now using the slider, the value in the left column is given as 50%. 'The value in the right column is input as 100%. The new color value that is produced is 150. The calculation can be shown as: ({ 100x.5} +100 = 150). The color of an instance can also be changed by using the Action Script Color Transform object.

Now let us see how we can create animations using this color menu.
1. Let us consider a bitmap image on your screen.
2. Click on the image to select it and press [F_8J .
3. A dialog box appears.
4. Choose Graphics option and click OK.
5. Now at 50th frame and a Key frame.
6. Return to the 1st key frame.
7. From the Properiies Inspector dialog box choose Alpha from color menu.
8. Set the value of Alpha to O.
9. However the value of Alpha for the last keyframe should be kept to 100.
10. Now click on the layer to select the time line in between keyframes.
11. Right-click on the selection and choose Create motion Tween.
12. Press [Ctrl] + [Enter] to see the preview.
13. You will find the image gradually becomes visible.