Using layer masks...

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Using Mask Layers:

	1. -Create a new Flash movie -Create some text that's four or five characters long and turn it into a symbol (F8). Name the symbol "text".
	2. -Create a new layer. -Now create a box on that layer. We'll make it black to make it easily viewable, and make sure the box is big enough to completely cover the text. Turn that into a symbol as well and name it "mask".

	3. -Your stage should now look something like the image to the right. We're going to set another keyframe for the text, animate the text, then show a simple mask and how it works.
	4. -To make things a bit easier to reference double-click on the layer names and rename layer 1 "text" and layer 2 "mask".
	5. -Now right click on frame 10 of the mask layer on your timeline and Insert Frame (or click on the frame and hit F5). This makes sure that the mask object will be visible on the timeline up to frame 10.
	6. -Next right-click on frame 10 of the text layer and Insert Keyframe (or click on the frame and hit F6). This signifies a change in position for that symbol on that layer at frame 10.
	7. -Click on the text symbol on your stage and drag it up so that it's completely hidden by the mask object. Right-click on any frame between 1 and 10 on the text layer timeline and go to Create Motion Tween.
	8. -Your timeline should now strongly resemble mine on the left. If you drag the red slider along the top of the timeline you should see your text move behind the mask box on your stage.
	9. -Ok, this is it, we're about to create the mask and you're not going to believe how easy it is. Right-click on the name area of the mask layer and scroll down to Mask, and that's it, you're done. Drag the red slider back and forth and you'll see your text appearing and disappearing. So what's it's doing exactly..?
Well, when you create a mask layer you're using one layer (in this case "mask") to mask out another (our "text" layer). Any symbol on the text layer that's overlapped by a symbol on the mask layer is shown. Get it? So what happens if you've got a gradient symbol on the mask layer? Or maybe some other text? Do some experimenting and see what you can come up with...

If you have any questions or comments regarding this tutorial please post it in this thread
http://forum.teamphotoshop.com/showthread.php?t=24782
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