Flash can create a variety of animations. Below will will discuss a large array of animation types. You need at least two keyframes to create many of the the animation types below. However, in Flash CS5 andt above, you can create animation with one keyframe.
"The birds and the bees" is an English-language idiomatic expression which refers to courtship and sexual intercourse, and is usually used in reference to teaching someone, often a young child, about sex and pregnancy. The phrase is evocative of the metaphors and euphemisms often used to avoid speaking openly and technically about the subject.
According to tradition, the birds and the bees is a metaphorical story sometimes told to children in an attempt to explain the mechanics and consequence of sexual intercourse through reference to easily observed natural events. For instance, bees carry and deposit pollen into flowers, a visible and easy-to-explain metaphor of male fertilisation. Another example, birds lay eggs, a visible and easy-to-explain version of female ovulation.
Word sleuths William and Mary Morris[1] hint that it may have been inspired by words like these from the poet Samuel Coleridge (1825): 'All nature seems at work ... The bees are stirring--birds are on the wing ... and I the while, the sole unbusy thing, not honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing.'"[2]
Several sources give credit to Cole Porter for coining the phrase.[3] One of the legendary musician's more famous songs was "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love." The 1928 standard contains the lyrics:[4]
And that's why birds do it, bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love
Famous uses of this phrase come from the work of John Burroughs, a naturalist who lived and worked in the Catskill Mountains. He wrote a small pamphlet called "Birds and Bees: Essays"[5] in which he explained the workings of nature in a way that children could understand. However, birds and bees are dealt with in separate sections; nowhere are they mentioned together. The phrase also had new meaning when it was adopted by singer Jewel Akens in the song, "The Birds and the Bees".
The simpliest type of animation that you can create is a shape tween animation. This type of animation requires you to use a basic shape (not a drawing object, symbol, etc.) You can animate an object in the same place or from two locations. It is best used to "morph" from one simply shape to another.
There are time when you need to have a better morphing between two shapes (i.e., 1 to 2). In this case, you will need to add shape hints to assist the morphing from one shape to another to assist in a smoother transistion. To add shape hints, select Modify > Timelines > Add Shape Hints.
TIP: One you add the first shape hint (denoted by a small "a" inside a red circle), instead of creating them from the menu, you can right click on the first one and select Add hints. They will appear on top of one another, so you will have to move to in place in the first key frame and then in the second keyframes. The color is original red for the shape hints in the first keyframes and second keyframes. However, they will change to green is the second key frames and yellow in the first keyframe once they have been moved along the shapes correctly. It is important also that you add shape hints in a clockwise direction and in alphabetical order.
Classic Motion Tween Animation is used when you want to animate an object from one place to another usint two or more keyframes.
While motion tween animations are easy to create, the animation between the keyframes are always linear (always in a straight line). If you create a motion tween animation with a guide, you can select the "Orient to Path" option in the Property Panel to force the animation to move along the path.
CAUTION: To create motion tween on a path, you need to start with a simple motion tween, then create the guide.
TIP: However, sometimes you may have to rotate the object at different points along the path to create a smoother path.
The newer style of animation requires only one keyframe.
TIP: To move or resize the whole animation, select the animation path and then press the "Q" key to enter the Free Transformation mode.
Some common animation effects can be created using motion presets. Select an object on stage and then select Windows > Motion Presets. In the Motion Presets dialog box select an preset and review its presets if there is one then click the Apply button to apply the animation to the object. By default the animation will start at the object location. To have the animation finish at the end of the preset, press SHIFT plus the Apply button.
Frame-by-frame animation is akin to the old-fashion cartoon-based animation. While it is easy to do, it can be very time consuming because you need to create an INDIVIDUAL keyframe for each movement of the object.
You can copy the animation path from one object (Copy Motion) and Paste it onto another objecdt (Paste Motion).
If you need animation to be fast, then you could copy the animation from an object as ActionScript 3. This is particularly usefull for games and mobile app development. NOTE: If you perform this step with Classic Motion Tween, you will be prompted to enter an instance name. If you perform this step with Motion Tween, you will have to end the last line of code in the ActionScript code to match an instance name that you give an object.
You can also animate a mask to create an animation. The rule to remember is that only what is under the mask gets animated.
You can use the bones tool to create IK animation either from a single shape or multiple movie clips. There are two ways to create an animation with the bone tool. One, you can use a shape and then draw bones WITHIN the single shape. Or, you can create multiple object and connect the bones together with bones.
You can create a 3D Tween animation. (Add more info here....)
To create an animation in an animation (a bee flapping its wings WHILE it flys around the screen)....
While not an animation type, using distribute to layers can be an easy way to set up for an animation (Modify > Timeline > Distribute to Layers
If you are good at programming, you can use ActionScript code to create animation. Typically, the ENTER_FRAME event is used to create programatic animation.
You cna animate with the built-in tweening classes that comes with Flash
You can also animate withe third party tweening classes like GreenSock.