FrontLook.com Newsletter Tip

Volume 1 - Issue 9 - December 2001

Using FrontLook FX Page Effects Custom Animation Templates
By David Pfeiffer of FrontLook.com

There are several types of Page Effects custom animation templates:

Using a Single Image Animation Template - Step by Step
Adding a FX page effect logo image to a page is easy as outlined below. This is the easiest animation template to use because it requires only one image and is great for logo and small banner advertisements. The animation templates using a single image are labeled "Custom - Single" in the Effects list.

Step 1: Bring up the page you would like to add a FrontLook FX page effect on in the FrontPage editor. Select the "Insert->FrontLook->FrontLook FX->FrontLook Pages Effects..." menu item. The "Page Effects" properties dialog will appear. 

Step 2: Pick out an Custom Page Effect from the "Effects" popup menu. You will find Single Image and Multiple Image custom templates in the Effects popup. Here we selected the "Custom - Single Bounce" effects item.

Custom Effect Template Selected in Page Effects Dialog

Step 3: Press the "Images" tab to bring up the "Effect Images" list for the custom page effect.

Image Panel

Step 4: To add a logo image select an image in the "Effects Images" list. Then go to the "Image" popup menu and select a different image or add a new image. 

To add a new image, select the "Add File..." item (you may have to scroll up to find this item in the list). The "Open" dialog will appear, select the new image from your hard drive and press the "Open" button. This image will appear in the image preview and in the "Effect Images" list. This image can be a .gif, animated .gif or JPEG file.

Step 4: You can now press the Preview button to see the effect in operation. Press OK to save the Page effect on your page.

Multi-Image / From One Direction Animation Templates
Using one of the Multi-Image Custom Animation templates is basically the same

Multi-Image Page Effect

The Multi-Image / From One Direction Animation Templates allow you to modify a single list of images on the Image panel.

Multi-Image from One Direction

Multi-Image / From Two Directions Animation Templates
The Multi-Image / From Two Directions Animation Templates are labeled "Custom - Multiple From" with two direction indicators, like Left- Right or Top-Bottom. After selecting one of these items, you will note the Images panel will have a double list of Effect Images to modify.

Multi-Image / From Two Directions Page Effect

The Multi-image from two directions Image panel allow you to specify different images from each of the two directions in the animation.

Multi-Image from Two Directions Effect Images list

Tip: If there are more Effects Images than you need in the Effects Images list, you can set some number of images to "None" in the Image popup menu.

Saving Animation Setups for Later Use
When using one of the FrontLook FX to create your own animation, it maybe desirable to create your animation library for later use. This is easily done by saving the FrontLook Page Effect on a blank web page in a special web just for your animations. Each page in the web would contain a different animation.

Using a Saved Page Effects Animation
To use a saved animation, bring up the animation library web and the page that contains the Page effect you wish to copy, select the "PE" logo on the page and press the "control-c" key sequence to copy the Page Effects component to the clip board. Then open up the page you want to paste the Page effect on, select "control-v" to paste the Page Effect on the page. Then double- click the PE logo and press OK, to place the support images on the web.