Queasy Tools is a new set of quick and easy tools for Flash designers and animators. This panel provides the fastest way to create tweened animation with easing in Flash (and now Animate CC) as well as putting together a set of common design functions in one location. Feature list and free download below…
UPDATE:
Details on newer version (1.5.0) features available here.
Screenshot
Features
(moving top to bottom, left to right on the user interface)
QUICK TWEEN CREATION WITH EASING
- Tween type: Motion or Shape
- Ease: Regular or Bounce of the EaseIn, EaseOut, and EaseInOut varieties
- Auto add keyframes: if checked, this with create keyframes at the beginning and end of your frame selection
- Make Tween: applies the tween to the selected frames (multiple layers allowed)
MACRO BUTTONS
In an attempt to clean out my “commands” menu, I’ve collected several actions into a set of macro buttons. Some of these add functionality to Flash (like changing the text case), and others are just quicker than hunting through the menus (like flip horizontal & vertical).
LAYER
- Duplicate Layer: creates a copy of the selected layer
- Guide, Hide, and Lock: Out of sight, out of SWF, but still in the FLA in case you need it later
LIBRARY
- Turn On Bitmap Smoothing: this applies “allowing bitmap smoothing” to all of the selected images in the library
- Swap Symbol: this swaps selected symbol(s) on the stage with an item selected in the library
ALIGN2STAGE
(these align the selected element(s) to the stage without changing the “to stage” toggle in the align panel)
- Top Left
- Center
INSTANCE PROPS
- Tint to White: Sets tint of selected symbol(s) to white.
- Alpha to 50: Sets alpha of selected symbol(s) to 50%.
- Alpha to 0: Sets alpha of selected symbol(s) to 0%.
- Reset: Removes all color settings on selected symbol(s).
TEXT CASE
- To Uppercase: Converts selected textfields or selected text to uppercase.
- To Lowercase: Converts selected textfields or selected text to lowercase.
- To Title Case: Converts first letter of each word to uppercase and remaining letters to lowercase (ignores words with 3 letters or less after the first work, e.g. “of” and the second “the” in “The Title of the Song”);
POSITION
- Copy Position: Stores the x and y positions of the selected element
- Paste Position: Applies the stored x and y positions to selected element(s)
ARRANGE
- Send to Front: Sends selected element(s) to the front of the stack within the layer
- Send to Back: Sends selected element(s) to the back of the stack within the layer
- Send Forward: Sends selected element(s) one step towards the back of the stack within the layer
- Send Backward: Sends selected element(s) one step towards the front of the stack within the layer
FLIP
- Flip Horizontal: Flips the selected element(s) across the y axis of the transformation point.
- Flip Vertical: Flips the selected element(s) across the x axis of the transformation point.
Installation
- Download the latest version, unzip and follow the instructions in the README.txt file to install.
- After installing, you can access the Queasy Tools panel by selecting Window > Other Panels > Queasy Tools in Flash.
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I love this extension! It’s been very helpful!
I would love to see Strong Easing built in as well (my personal animation fav) more than anything else.
Maybe a default of scaling actions too (150%, 100%, 50%). And finally (if possible), some basic filter effect presets (Blurs, etc).
Thanks so much & great work on a very useful extension!
BUG REPORT : I also noticed when selecting multiple instances with text in them, and I select the capital option, it puts all the text from all the capitalize text fields in each instance.
Chris,
Thanks so much for your comments. I appreciate the feedback and I’m glad you’re enjoying the tools. I think these are all good additions for the next version. I had considered some of them for the first release. I’ve also been milling on copy/paste buttons for scale. I want to also try and keep it to a manageable list of tools, so that will be an interesting challenge.
If you’ve got a good link for the strong easing (an equation or a graph would be even better) that you’re using, please pass it along and I can use it as a model. I think Penner might have made a tool to visualize his easing equations (the most common ones), so I can look into that.
Thanks for the note about the bug as well. I remember those text tools were a bit tricky to put together. I’ll look into that and see if I can find a way to fix it.
Wow. Thanks for getting back to me so quick. I know that Flash has a Strong easing function built in. It can be found in the fl.transitions.easing class I believe.
It can be referenced by the Strong.easeOut (or whatever)
You can read more about it here from the LiveDocs.
http://livedocs.adobe.com/flash/9.0/ActionScriptLangRefV3/fl/transitions/easing/package-detail.html
Thanks for the link, Chris. According to the documentation, “strong” easing is the same as “quintic” easing. Since Robert Penner created all of the easing equations used by Adobe, his easing chart is a great reference:
http://robertpenner.com/easing/easing_demo.html
I verified that the default easing is equivalent to “quadratic” easing, and I’ll be able to use this chart to include Strong easing in the next release of Queasy Tools.
I’ll keep you posted on the progress of the next release. Hopefully I’ll have some time this week to work on it.
07/14/08 Update: I’ve got the Strong easing working. I’ll work on the text bug next.
Chris,
I’ve got a new version posted. It’s got strong easing and scale controls. It is possible to add filter controls, but I think I’ll hold off on those until I figure out a good way to implement them.
http://ajarproductions.com/blog/2008/07/15/queasy-tools-panel-v150/
Thanks again for your suggestions!
This is a great tool! Thanks a lot for this. Hopefully this will be compatible with Flash CS4, I’m planning to buy it real soon.
Hi Nicolas, thanks for the comment. Queasy Tools is compatible with CS4. The only difference is that the motion tweens that it creates are now called “Classic Tweens” in CS4. Other than that, everything should be the same as CS3.
I can’t see the Quesy Tools in my Other Panels > Queasy Tools and I’m on CS4.
Tan,
Make sure you’re installing the extension with Extension Manager CS4. After a successful install, you’ll have to restart Flash in order to see the panel.
Justin
That’s what I did for the installation, but it is not working.
can a user custom tweak your preset eases? or add their additional eases with this extension?
thanks for all the work you’re doing!
Hi Dave,
That’s a good question. Not in the case of Queasy Tools, but checkout EaseCaddy. I think you’ll like it…