7. Animation Details

Let's learn an animation detail that can yield similar results using two different approaches. What we are going to do is learn two different ways to make an object appear and disappear. The first way is by setting opacity. The second way is by using isShowing.

First, let's start by exploring opacity.

1. Download the world at the bottom of the page titled "Opacity and isShowing World." You should see a grassy setting with a cow and gorillaRobot.

2. Select gorillaRobot.

3. Click properties.

4. You should see a property labeled opacity.

One thing to notice is that you select opacity by a percent/decimal value. If you click on 1(100%) you should see a drop-down menu like below.

Let's experiment with different values for opacity.

5. Drag the opacity tile into the code area.

6. Change the value of opacity to 0.8 (80%).

7. Select the cow.

8. Select properties.

9. Drag the opacity tile into the code area.

10. Change the value of opacity to 0.2 (20%).

Your code should now look like this:

Now press play and watch your code get executed.

Question: Will setting a high opacity (closer to 100%) result in a more transparent or less transparent object?

As you should have observed when you pressed play, the cow became much more transparent than the gorillaRobot.

Question: What do you predict will happen if opacity is set to 0 (0%)?

8. Change the opacity of the gorillaRobot to 0 (0%).

Press the play button.

Can you still see the gorillaRobot? It should have completely disappeared from the screen. Specifically, you should notice that it does not disappear all at once. It gets more transparent until it is completely gone. This is very different from the other property isShowing.