Animate a changing effect

You can animate the properties of an effect. For example, you could animate the Direction of a drop shadow so that it moves in a circle behind the object.

You could make this animation run under different conditions in your application. For example, you could add an effect to the template of a button, animate the effect in the scope of the template, and then configure the template to run the animation when a user clicks the button. For more information, see Controlling when your storyboard runs.

To animate the properties of an effect in a simple storyboard

1. Apply an effect to an object in your project. For more information, see Apply, modify, or delete an effect.

2. In the Objects and Timeline panel, open the storyboard in which you want to animate the effect, or click New  to create a new storyboard.

3. Move the timeline playhead  to the 1-second mark.

   Tip

   While a storyboard is open, any changes you make in your project will be recorded as keyframes  at the location of the timeline playhead. You can always move keyframes after they are created, and also copy, paste, or delete them. For more information, see Paste or move a keyframe and Delete a keyframe.

4. Do one of the following:

   • In the Objects and Timeline panel, expand an object that has an effect applied to it, and then select the effect.

     The Properties panel displays only the Miscellaneous category, listing the properties of the effect.

   • On the artboard or in the Objects and Timeline panel, select the object to which an effect is applied.

     Under the Appearance category of the Properties panel, click Expand  next to the Effect property to display its properties.

5. Enter new values for the effect and view the changes on the artboard. For example, to make a drop shadow move in a circle behind the object, add or subtract 360 from the value of the Direction property.

6. To test your animation, press Play  above the timeline.

See also

Tasks

Apply, modify, or delete an effect
Add or modify an object

Concepts

Animating objects

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