Timing: Easing In and Out

A great way to make your animations move in a more life-like manner is to vary the rate at which they move. Animation imitates the world that we live in, so it's important that movements within your animations feel as if they are based on real world movements, even if they are exaggerated. In our world, it is very rare that something will move at a constant rate. For example, when your raise your arm straight up above your head, the action usually starts out slowly and then quickly accelerates.

Ease In/Out Slider bar feature
Flash has provided a very easy way to accomplish this with your motion and shape tweening. Once you have applied the tween function to your symbol or graphic, there is a slider that lets you either choose to have the movement "ease in" or "ease out".

The default is set to "0" which means that your tween motion will play at a constant rate. "Easing In" will have the tween motion start out slowly and then quickly speed up at the end of it's motion. "Easing Out" will have the tween motion start out quickly and then slow down as it comes to the end of it's motion

"Easing In" will have the tween motion start out slowly and then quickly speed up at the end of it's motion.

"Easing Out" will have the tween motion start out quickly and then slow down as it comes to the end of it's motion.

How far should I Ease In or Out?
Play with the slider or if you like you can type in the numbers in the box to dictate the amount of easing you want to have. Most of the time, if you ease your motion just a little bit, it will be hard to actually see much of a difference. Easing all the way out or in can often times produce the best results. The altered rate of motion is very noticeable and gives the added "life" your looking for in your animation.