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HunterBlake's avatar
HunterBlake
Community Member
2 months ago

Swapping States Continuously

I have a nice animated park slide with a guy meditating in the park. I want to make a bird fly overhead to give it some depth.

I have a bird on a motion path to fly across the slide. For the bird, I have two states "Normal" and "Flap". Normal has the wings up and flap is wings down. I would like Storyline to alternate these two states for the duration of the slide to make it look like it is flapping while it moves across the motion path. But CANNOT figure out how to do it.

HELP! :)

Thanks in advance,

Hunter

  • Create a blank layer, that has no effect on the base layer. Call this 'Animate' or similar.

    Add a trigger on your base layer to show the 'Animate' layer at the start of the timeline.

    On the 'Animate' layer, add the following triggers:

    • When timeline reaches 0 secs change state of Bird to Normal
    • When timeline reaches 0.5 secs change state of Bird to Flap
    • When timeline reaches 1 secs, Jump to Time 0 secs

    As long as the 'Animate' layer is displayed, it will continuously change the state of your object until the layer is hidden. 

    Adjust the timing to suit your needs, but consider accessibility and the impact of rapidly changing images on some users.

  • You can use Jonathans triggers and stick the on an object with a motion path that repeats that way you dont need to worry about the layer being visible. 

    • HunterBlake's avatar
      HunterBlake
      Community Member

      Thanks Phil. I ended up just putting them on the base layer and it looks pretty good. Thanks all!

  • HunterBlake's avatar
    HunterBlake
    Community Member

    Jonathan, 1) Thank you and 2) I am going to Fan Boy just a bit. Every time I see your name on the weekly challenge email I jump right into yours first. I love your work and pledge allegiance to you as my official mentor. :)

  • Create a blank layer, that has no effect on the base layer. Call this 'Animate' or similar.

    Add a trigger on your base layer to show the 'Animate' layer at the start of the timeline.

    On the 'Animate' layer, add the following triggers:

    • When timeline reaches 0 secs change state of Bird to Normal
    • When timeline reaches 0.5 secs change state of Bird to Flap
    • When timeline reaches 1 secs, Jump to Time 0 secs

    As long as the 'Animate' layer is displayed, it will continuously change the state of your object until the layer is hidden. 

    Adjust the timing to suit your needs, but consider accessibility and the impact of rapidly changing images on some users.