Fade-in Effect for Text in Flash CS4 Ecard Project

In this tutorial, we will continue working on the envelope animation for our Flash intro. We have already built the fly-in tween that moves the envelope onto the center of the stage. Now, we will create the fade-in animation for the "Click on Stamp" text message.

We will want the message to fade-in during the last 10 frames of the fly-in animation that we just created. It will appear as the envelope lands onto the center of the stage. We will place the text just above the upper right corner of the envelope. Because the envelope passes over this area while it rotates to a halt, we will need to put the text on a layer below the EnvFront1_1 layer.

Open your fla file into Flash CS4 and let's get to work.

Lock the EnvFront1_1 layer and click on the Preloader layer. Add a new layer above the Preloader layer and name it "StampMessage1".

Let's begin this fade-in on Frame 70 and end it on Frame 80, which is the same frame that ends the fly-in animation.
Click on Frame 70 on the StampMessage1 layer and add a Keyframe.
Now click on Frame 80. This is the frame where the envelope will be in the final position. We will want to place the text just above it. Click just above the envelope with the Text tool and set the Character properties in the Properties panel. I set the Font to Comic Sans MS, the Color to 333333, the Style to Regular and the Size to 15 pt. Type the "Click on Stamp" message.
Go back to Frame 70 and right-click on the text with the Selection tool and choose Convert to Symbol from the pop up menu. In the dialog box, name the symbol StampMessage. Set the Type to Movie Clip and the Registration to centered. In the Properties panel, give this movie clip an Instance Name of "StampMessage1".
Still in the Properties panel, set the Alpha to zero in the Color Effect part of the panel.
Right click on the text and choose Create Motion Tween from the menu. Next, click on Frame 80 and then click on the text. In the Properties panel, set the Alpha to 100%. This will automatically add a keyframe to Frame 80.

Test your movie and you should see the text fade in as the envelope comes to a stop.

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