Animation

Animation effects let you make objects move in your exported files. For example, you can apply a motion preset to an image that makes it appear to fly in from the left side of the screen while shrinking and spinning. Use the following tools and panels to animate documents.

Apply a motion preset and edit settings such as duration and speed.

Edit the path on which the animated object travels.

Determine the order in which objects on a page are animated.

View the animation in an InDesign panel.

Jeff Witchel from Infiniteskills.com provides a video overview on Animating layouts.

Motion presets are pre-made animations that you can apply to objects quickly. Use the Animation panel to apply motion presets and change animation settings such as duration and speed. The Animation panel also lets you specify when an animated object plays.

These motion presets are the same as those found in Adobe Flash CS5 Professional. You can import any custom motion preset created in Flash Professional. You can also save motion presets you create and use them in InDesign or Flash Professional.

To remove animation from an object, select the object and click the Delete icon in the Animation panel.

Convert selected objects to a motion path

You can create animation by selecting an object and a path and converting it to a motion path. If you selected two closed paths, such as two rectangles, the path on top becomes the motion path.

Motion preset options

Motion preset options appear in the Animation panel. Click the Properties option to display advanced settings.

Specify a name for the animation. Specifying a descriptive name is especially useful when setting up an action that triggers the animation.

Choose from a list of pre-defined motion settings.

By default, On Page Load is selected, which means the animated object plays when the page is opened. Choose On Page Click to trigger the animation when the page is clicked. Choose On Click (Self) or On Roll Over (Self) to trigger the animation when the object itself is clicked or moused over, respectively. If you create a button action that triggers the animation, On Button Event is selected. (See Add actions to buttons.) You can specify multiple events to start the animation.

If you select the On Roll Over (Self) event, you can also select Reverse On Roll Off. This option reverses the action of the animation when the mouse moves off the object.

Click this button to trigger the animation from an existing object or button. After you click Create Button Trigger , click the object that triggers the animation. The object is converted to a button, if necessary, and the Buttons panel opens.

Specify how much time it takes for the animation to occur.

Specify the number of times the animation is played, or select Loop to cause the animation to play repeatedly until it’s stopped.

Choose an option to determine whether the animation speed is a steady rate (None), starts slowly and speeds up (Ease In), or slows down at the end (Ease Out).

Choose From Current Appearance to use the object’s current properties (scale percentage, rotation angle, and position) as the starting point of the animation.

Choose To Current Appearance to use the object’s properties as the ending point of the animation. Using this option is especially useful in slide shows. For example, objects that fly in from off the page can appear on the page rather than on the pasteboard, improving the appearance of the printed document.

Choose To Current Location to use the current object’s properties as the starting point of the animation and the object’s position as the ending point. This option is similar to From Current Appearance, only the object finishes in its current location and the motion path is offset. This option is especially useful for certain presets, such as blurs and fades, to prevent the object from appearing in an undesirable state at the end of the animation.

Specify a rotation angle that the object completes during the animation.

Use the proxy to specify the origin point of the motion path on the animated object.

Specify a percentage value to determine whether the object increases or decreases in size during playback.

Choose an option to determine whether the animation remains solid (None), gradually becomes visible (Fade In), or gradually becomes invisible (Fade Out).

Select Hide Until Animated or Hide After Animating to make an object invisible before or after playback.

Manage motion presets

You can save animation settings as motion presets that you can easily reuse in InDesign. You can also import presets from XML files that can be shared with other InDesign users.

Save motion presets for reuse

Custom presets appear at the top of the Presets menu in the Animation panel.

Delete custom motion presets

Use the Manage Presets dialog box to delete motion presets that you’ve saved, duplicated, or imported. You cannot delete the motion presets in brackets that were installed with InDesign. When you delete a motion preset, it is deleted both from the Presets menu and from the computer.

Duplicate motion presets

Save motion presets as XML files

Saving motion presets as XML files is useful if you want to share a motion preset with other InDesign users.

When you save a motion preset as an XML file, the motion path is saved, along with the Duration, Speed, Scale, Rotate, and Opacity settings.

Import motion presets

You can import motion presets that have been exported from InDesign.

Edit a motion path

When you select an object that has animation, the motion path appears next to the object.

Use the Timing panel to change the animation order

Use the Timing panel to change the order of when animated objects play. The Timing panel lists the animations on the current spread based on the page event assigned to each animation. For example, you can change one set of animations that occur when the page is loaded, and then change another set of animations that occur when the page is clicked.

Animated objects are listed in the order they were created. Animations listed for the Page Load event occur sequentially by default. Animations listed for the Page Click event are played in sequence each time the page is clicked.

You can change the animation order, have objects play at the same time, and delay animation.