Week 11 (continued)

I had to make the windows, doors, lamps, wreaths, and trees their own symbols within my storefront symbol in order to avoid the future hassles. It is very convenient to be able to drag a Christmas tree or a window onto the stage from my library rather than drawing out ever little thing. For my UFO I worked within the graphic symbol as well as a movie clip to achieve the effect of flashing lights. Rather than just having the UFO fly across the screen and stop abruptly, I decided that making my UFO hover, moving up and down, for a few seconds would act as a good transition. I also decided that I would like the viewer to meet the aliens earlier in the animation than I originally planner. I am trying to achieve the effect of a window opening like a shield on the UFO. I need to learn how to use a layer mask in order to achieve this effect and avoid jumpiness.