Creating a Shine Effect in Flash

Flash tutorial that shows how to create an nice little sparkle/shine effect in Flash.

View Tutorial: Black Shine Animation

Editor’s Review:

Nicely written, well described instruction on how to create a simple shimmer effect to an image. Not really the most exceptional Flash effect, but it’s definitely worth checking out. Personally, I wouldn’t use this type of sparkle effect on an photograph, but it might work well on an illustration or cartoon where a “shine” or “sparkle” effect might be needed (the reason being, it looks illustrated and not natural). So, if you had say a cartoon with woman wearing a diamond ring, this effect might help it shine… if it were a photograph of a diamond ring, this effect might not work as well. That said, it’s a great tutorial for beginners to get into Flash animation without ActionScript.

A couple quick notes… On Step 9 in the tutorial:

Step 9

Go back on the first frame and repeat the previouse step.

You actually want to go to the first frame and repeat the TWO previous steps (steps 7 AND 8).

Also, the steps for creating the “shape_mc” can get a little confusing and there are few images that the author refers to that are missing. My advice is to read each step carefully and don’t try to rush. The instructions are there, you just need to follow them. Once you get through it once, you’ll see it’s really not that complicated.

A lengthy tutorial for a simple effect, but definitely worth the read.

Additional Info
Level: Intermediate
Version: 5 and up
ActionScript: N/A
Online example: Yes
Source files available: Yes
Video Tutorial: No