Animating object and layer properties

You can animate the Transform properties and Object Attributes properties, which apply to the entire object. You can also animate the Layer properties, which affect only individual layers of the object. For example, color is a layer property and applies only to the selected layer.

Note: Animating object properties lets you achieve effects that are not natively supported by the Flash player (for example, animating the depth of a bevel). Animating these properties can therefore increase file size more dramatically than animating object transforms, since LiveMotion may need to export multiple pieces of artwork to SWF to reproduce the effect in the Flash player. For more information on how various animation techniques affect file size, see Optimizing your compositions.


Color is a Layer property and affects only that layer.

Timeline window A. Object property B. Layer property

The procedure for animating object properties and layer properties is basically the same.

To animate an object or a layer of an object:

1. Create or place the object you want to animate. All objects in LiveMotion contain one or more layers, whose properties you can animate.
2. Choose Timeline > Timeline/Composition Window or Window >Timeline to open the Timeline window.
3. Move the current-time marker to where you want the property to change.
4. Click the triangle to the left of the object's name in the timeline to display the three main categories of properties you can animate: Transform, Object Attributes, and one or more Layer properties (depending on the number of layers in the selected object).
5. Click the triangle to the left of Transform, Object Attributes, or Layer (number) to display the properties you can animate.
6. Click the stopwatch button to activate the desired property.
7. Move the current-time marker to where you want to make the next change.
8. Edit or manipulate the object as necessary.

Once a property has been activated, any change to its values automatically creates a new keyframe where the change occurs.

9. Set the keyframe interpolation method if necessary. (See Changing keyframe interpolation.)

Object properties can be animated to create special effects. For example, you can animate the position of an object so that it begins or ends off screen. You do this either by entering X and Y values in the Transform palette that exceed the dimensions of your composition, or by simply dragging the object off the composition (you might need to zoom out on the Composition window to do this). You can also enter rotation values that exceed 360° to make an object rotate more than once, or you can animate an object's anchor point while animating its rotation, creating a tailspin effect.