18. Dynamic Animation

Dynamic animation can be one of the most rewarding uses of ActionScript, and it’s what makes ActionScript, Flash, and Flex applications so unique. The ability to animate (or tween) display objects at runtime using various classes, events, and methods is a must for game development and for creating random, always-changing animations in an application. In addition, creating transitions that introduce or remove display objects and content in a unique and interesting way within an application is another key ability.

By the end of this chapter, you should feel quite comfortable animating display objects with ActionScript using the Timer class, the ENTER_FRAME event, and the Tween class, along with various effects from the transition classes. You will also know how to improve performance during tweens using bitmap caching.