The sample project shows some of the features that may be added to your animation.
You may use the sample to try out features and to experiment to see how changing object properties affects the animation.

To load the sample project select Open Sample Project from the Welcome to Express Animate dialog when the program first opens or alternatively select File -> Open Sample Project.

The sample has been built using two compositions.

  1. Main Composition

    The main composition is made up four objects, three of which are animated, the other is a child and is animated by its parent.

    The main composition's background is a solid blue color. This could be changed to be a gradient so that it is lighter towards to top of the frame to give a more sky like coloration.

    Try:

    Change the background to a gradient click on the Composition Settings button next to the composition name on the Objects Panel, open the Background tab and select the Gradient radio button. Move th Direction arrow so that it points vertically from bottom to top, then change the color of the top Stop to be a medium blue and the top Stop to be a lighter blue. Click OK to accept the change.

  2. Clouds Composition

    The clouds composition is made up of two sets of clouds made up of 10 small and 14 large clouds, each of which were created as Custom Shape objects. They are grouped into small clouds and large clouds by making them the children of either the 'Small clouds' or 'Big clouds' dummy objects. The two dummy objects are a way to create simple groups of objects.

    The background fill color is ignored when it is included as a child composition by the main composition.

    The clouds composition in this sample does not contain any animation timings itself, it is merely a static image which is animated by the main composition.

    Try:

    Add animation keys to either the small clouds or the big clouds so they move at a different rate. See how it looks when you play the Clouds composition by itself and how the main composition now looks.

The order of the layers is controlled by the positions of the objects in the Composition Panel, objects higher in the order are on top of the lower ordered objects.

In this sample the "Sun" object is made up of two objects, a yellow disk and the "Rays" shape object.

The "Sun" is higher in order then the "Rays" object so that it sits on top of the Rays.

The "Clouds" object is the lowest object in the order so that they are beneath all the other objects.

Try:

Change the order so that the "Clouds" layer is above the the "Sun" layer so that the clouds appear nearer than the Sun.