This is the final part of my ‘Creating Shell Animations for SkinStudio’ tutorial series. If you haven’t read Part 1 WWW Link and Part 2 WWW Link I suggest to go through them before proceeding with the final part.

In this part I will show you how to use the ‘Explode’ effect that is ideal to use for the ‘Empty Bin’ and ‘Permanent Delete’ animations. To get started either open the source file with which you ended up at the end of Part 2 or click here WWW Link to download it.

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STEP 1
First we need to delete the right folder as we don’t need it in this tutorial. To do this select the ‘Selection Tool’ and select the folder (1) and press key ‘Delete’ on your keyboard.



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STEP 2
Next we need to remove the second half of the animation as we will replace it later on with the 'Explode' effect. Click on the last keyframe (1) and press 'Shift+F6' to remove it.



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STEP 3
Now we need to remove the 'Motion Tween' of the second half of the animation. First click on the frame next to the middle keyframe and press 'F6' to create new keyframe (1) and then right-click on it and select 'Remove Tween' (2) from the drop-down menu. We needed to remove the tween because the 'Explode' effect can't be applied properly on the 'Motion Tween'.



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STEP 4
Now the fun begins. Right-click on the object you wish to 'Explode' (LOL) and select Timeline Effects>Effects>Explode (2) from the drop-down menu.



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STEP 5
After completing STEP 4 an 'Explode' window opens. I suggest you to try-out different settings until you get the desired effect. I used the below settings for this tutorial. First select the duration of the 'Explode Animation' you want (1). After that set the direction (2) in which the explode fragments should move to after the explosion. Next are Arc Size (3) and Rotate Fragments by (4). As I wanted that my fragments don't fly around too much I set them both to 20. The higher you set these numbers the bigger the explosion. Finally set the size change of your fragments if you wish to do so (5) and the final alpha of your animation (6). You should just leave it on 0% as this will make all the fragments disappear. When you set all the settings click the 'Update Preview' button (7) to see your animation. Please note that every time you change a setting you will need to hit this button to see the changes. Once happy with the explosion hit 'OK' to insert it into your flash document. You will probably need to wait a few seconds so please be patient.



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STEP 6
The final step you need to do is set that the explosion plays only once in case you still have some extra frames after it so it will not loop. In 'Properties' (1) tab click on the 'Loop' and select 'Play Once' (2) from the drop-down menu.



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Press CTRL+ENTER to preview the animation and if happy with it export it to AVI as described in Part 1. WWW Link



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This part completes the tutorials that you will need to create all the 'Shell Animations' so now you are ready to create stunning animations. You can download the final source file here WWW Link. Please post in comments your final results or if you have any further questions. Good luck!