Impressive Text Effects

• 1). Select the Text Tool from the toolbar and left-click anywhere on the stage. Type in a short line of text.
  
  
• 2). Click on the Selection Tool on the toolbar (or press Ctrl+V) before left-clicking on your text in order to select it. Press F8 on your keyboard to turn this text into a movieclip symbol. Give this symbol a name and press "OK."
  
  
• 3). Double-click on your new movieclip symbol on the stage in order to enter it for editing. With the text selected, press Ctrl+B in order to break apart your text to the first level. This takes your entire sentence and breaks it into its individual letters, which you can now move around independently. Press Ctrl+B a second time and this breaks the individual letters apart further into individually editable "pixels."
  
  
• 4). Use the tools on the toolbar to modify your text in new ways now that it is broken apart. You can select parts of a letter or word and change the color across keyframes, or erase parts of the text and have them reappear. Moving the text around now allows you to create text that "flies apart" or "comes together."
  
  

Impressive Line Effects

• 1). Click the Line Tool on the toolbar and drag out a line on the stage. Unlike text, lines do not need to be broken apart before they can be manipulated in any way.
  
  
• 2). Create a wavy line effect by placing your cursor near the middle of the line so that you get the small curved cursor symbol indicating that clicking will cause you to bend the line. Bend the line down, and insert a keyframe on the timeline before clicking and dragging the line straight.
  
  
• 3). Create a spinning line for a clock hand by simply moving your cursor near the end of the line and clicking to drag just that end of the line. You can also lengthen the line in this way if you would like to create a "drawing" effect.
  
  
• 4). Select part of your line by drawing a square around a segment of it. Change its color in the Color Picker. Insert a new keyframe on the timeline and select the next segment of line and change it to the color of the segment next to it. Select the original segment and return it to the original color of the line. This creates a "color in motion" effect along the line.
  
  
• 5). Select a segment of the line by drawing a square around part of it with the Selection Tool selected on the toolbar. With the line segment selected, click the Free Transform Tool on the toolbar and put your mouse cursor near one of the corner handles that appears around the segment. Click and spin the segment of the line around its central axis, breaking it away from the line. Select another segment of the main line and do the same thing. Continue until your line is broken into many pieces. You can now insert a new keyframe and restore one of the segments to its original orientation. Insert another new keyframe and attach the next closest segment. Continue inserting keyframes and restoring line segments until your line is whole again.