TweenNano is a super-lightweight (1.6k in AS3 and 2k in AS2) version of TweenLite and is only recommended for situations where you absolutely cannot afford the extra 3.1k (4.7k total) that the normal TweenLite engine would cost and your project doesn’t require any plugins. Normally, it is much better to use TweenLite because of the additional flexibility it provides via plugins and its compatibility with TimelineLite and TimelineMax.
TimelineMax – Sequence/Group Multiple Tweens, Control Them as a Whole
TimelineMax extends TimelineLite, offering exactly the same functionality plus useful (but non-essential) features like AS3 event dispatching, repeat, repeatDelay, yoyo, currentLabel, addCallback(), removeCallback(), tweenTo(), tweenFromTo(), getLabelAfter(), getLabelBefore(), and getActive() (and probably more in the future). It is the ultimate sequencing tool. Think of a TimelineMax instance like a virtual MovieClip timeline or a container where you position tweens (or other timelines) over the course of time.
LiquidStage – Automatically Reposition/Stretch DisplayObjects in Full-Browser SWFs
LiquidStage allows you to “pin” DisplayObjects to reference points on the stage (or inside other DisplayObjects) so that when the stage is resized, they are repositioned and maintain their relative distance from the PinPoint. For example, you could make a logo Sprite stay in the bottom right corner when the stage is resized.
You can also scale or stretch DisplayObjects using the LiquidArea class which allows you to define a rectangular area that expands and contracts as the stage resizes, and you attach DisplayObjects so that they fill the area, scaling in any of the following modes: STRETCH, PROPORTIONAL_INSIDE, PROPORTIONAL_OUTSIDE, WIDTH_ONLY, or HEIGHT_ONLY. For example, you could have a bar snap to the bottom of the screen and stretch horizontally to fill the width of the stage. Or add a background image that proportionally scales to fill the entire stage.
TweenGroup – Manage Sequences and Groups of TweenLite/Max Tweens
With the launch of v11, TweenGroup has been offially deprecated in favor of the much more capable, flexible TimelineLite and TimelineMax classes. They do almost exactly what TweenGroup did but in a much more intuitive, flexible, powerful way. You can even nest timelines within timelines. I realize TweenGroup’s deprecation may sound like bad news to some developers, but trust me, once you use TimelineLite/Max I’m confident you’ll see why this is a good move. I try very hard to avoid deprecating things because people grow to rely on the code, so rest assured that I didn’t make this decision lightly.
TransformManager (AS3) – Interactively Scale/Rotate/Move DisplayObjects
TransformManager makes it easy to add interactive scaling/rotating/moving of DisplayObjects to your Flash or Flex application. It uses an intuitive interface that’s similar to most modern drawing applications. When the user clicks on a managed DisplayObject, a selection box will be drawn around it along with 8 handles for scaling/rotating. When the mouse is placed just outside of any of the scaling handles, the cursor will change to indicate that they’re in rotation mode. Just like most other applications, the user can hold down the SHIFT key to select multiple items, to constrain scaling proportions, or to limit the rotation to 45 degree increments.
Utilities for Code Hinting and Strict Typing in TweenLite/Filter/Max
I created some AS3 utility classes that can (optionally) be used with TweenLite or TweenMax that address two requests:
- Code hinting – Sometimes it’s hard to remember all the special properties that are available in the tweening classes, so code hinting would be very useful. In most decent code editors like Flex Builder, FDT, etc. (NOT the Flash Authoring tool), these classes will trigger code hinting (see screen capture below).
- Strict datatyping – Some developers are extremely passionate about strict datatyping and they’re scared away by TweenLite/Max’s “loosey-goosey” treatment of the vars Object. Many others love the flexibility, efficiency, and readability of that same feature. This utility should make it easier on the strict datatyping folks.
TweenMax – TweenLite on Steroids
Version: 11.37, Updated 2010-05-24 File size added to compressed SWF: About 8.7kb (base), or 17.6kb with default plugins and OverwriteManager What's new in v11? v11 represents the biggest update to the platform ever, by far. Please check out the official announcement page for details about the changes and new features. Description TweenMax extends the extremely [...]
TransformMatrixProxy – Tween skewX, skewY, and more
TransformMatrixProxy has been deprecated in favor of the transformMatrix plugin for TweenLite and TweenMax which performs faster and is simpler to use.