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 "This text appears" Text object has been animated so that it will change its Scale as well change its Opacity over time. It starts of with an opacity of 0% and a scaling of 100% up until the 2 second mark then by the 4.17 second mark the opacity is 100% and the scaling is 113%
     The effect of this is the text will appear to fade into view between the 2 second mark and 4.17 seconds as well as grow slightly in size.
   • The "Sun" Shape object is made up by an Ellispe object with the proportions of a circle and the "Rays" child object which is another Ellispe which has been modified by adding extra vertices which were moved to give the rays effect.
     The Sun object has been animated so that it slowly rotates around its own center, this animation also applies to the child "Rays" object.
   • The "Clouds" object is the Clouds Composition which has been animated so that it scrolls from right to left over time. Since the Clouds Composition is wider then the parent composition it will not be fully visible at any one time as it will effectly be masked by the size of the parent composition.

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

Try: