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Create animations using the Timeline
Last updated 6/15/2014
Aligning, Distributing, and Arranging Elements
The maxim that “everything has its place” is certainly true when it comes to animation. With more than one element
on the stage, their relationship to each other is critical. Designers often have a specific grid in mind when they’re
creating printed pages or web pages. It’s best when boxes of text or graphics are aligned with this invisible grid. When
several elements are aligned, it usually looks best when there’s an equal distance between them. You can spend a lot of
time eyeballing the stage to try to get everything just right, but fortunately, you don’t have to.
To experiment with Animate’s Arrange, Align, and Distribute tools, you may want to create three or four simple objects
f
ro
m the Rectangle and Rounded Rectangle tools like the ones shown in Figure 22. As you drag elements around the
stage, you’ll notice magenta-colored lines sprouting from the edges and midpoints. These are Smart Guides, and they
can help you to quickly align one or more objects while you’re mid-move. In many cases, that may be all the help you
need.
For more formal alignment needs, turn to the Modify?Align men
u. F
or align to work, you need to select at least two
elements. One of those elements may be the stage. You can select the elements on the stage or you can use the Elements
panel. To use these commands, select all the elements that you want to align and then choose one of the options:
• Modify?Align?Left
• Modify?Align?Horizontal Center
• Modify?Align?Right
• Modify?Align?Top
• Modify?Align?Vertical Center
• Modify?Align?Bottom You use the Modify?Distribute commands to put equal distance between three or more
elements on the stage. You can choose which part of your elements the distribute command uses for the process and
whether the action takes place along the horizontal or vertical axis. The specific commands are:
• Modify?Distribute?Left
• Modify?Distribute?Horizontal Center Modify?Distribute?Right
• Modify?Distribute?Top
• Modify?Distribute?Vertical Center
• Modify?Distribute?Bottom
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