In previous tutorials, we learned how to animate an object across the Flash^R stage using Motion Tween animation. This type of animation moves the object along a line from point A to point B. However, there will be many times when you will NOT want your animated object to just move along a straight line but you will want it to move in a loop, swirl or just fly around. You can do this with ActionScript or with a special type of Motion Tween which uses a Motion Guide to control the direction of the animated object.

A Motion Guide is a line that you will draw on the Flash stage. This line can go in any direction that you wish. Once you have drawn the Motion Guide and created the Guide layer, you will set up your object so that Flash can move it along the path.

1. Start with a new Flash CS3 project.
   
   
2. Set up the Oval Tool with no Stroke Color and a Fill Color of your choice. Now draw an oval on the stage. We will be using this as our animated object.
   
   
3. Click on the oval with the Selection Tool. From the Menu Bar, click Modify, Convert to Symbol. In the Convert to Symbol dialog box, name the oval "my_dot" and keep the Movie Clip option. In the Properties Inspector, you will see that the oval is now a Movie Clip. Let's give the Movie Clip an Instance Name of "ani_dot".
   
   
4. Rename the default Layer 1 to "my_dot_ani".
   
   
5. Right-click on the my_dot_ani layer in the Layers list and choose Add Motion Guide. You will see a new layer named "Guide: my_dot_ani" has been added above our original layer. It already has a keyframe in Frame 1. This new layer is the special Motion Guide layer.
   
   

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