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Flash Animation 7: Let's Move, Baby.

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Moving the Main Limbs

Now we'll get the movement of the major parts out of the way first; this is the easy part, as all we have to do is select them and rotate them (remember, the human body moves on pivot points, not vertically or horizontally. Even lateral movement takes place through the pivoting of joints).

I'll start with the left arm (Lex's right.) Unlock the layer, make sure you're on the first frame, and then select it with the Free Transform tool. You'll notice there's a little dot in the center of the square that outlines the area of the symbol; that's the pivot-point for the shape. You'll want to "grab" that point with your mouse and move it up to about the center-area on the shoulder, where the normal pivot point for a real arm would be. For the head you would move it to around where you would imagine the neck would join to the head--try to think in 3D for that and visualize what's behind the 2D perspective.

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