Need a description of how Animations work

[Graham Samuel]

I've searched the documentation and the digests, and doubtless I have 
missed something, but I have not found a full description of what 
animations can do.

For example, does an animation assume certain starting and ending 
coordinates for the object to be moved (as set when one uses the 
Animation Manager), or is the movement relative to the place the 
object happens to be when the animation starts? If the first notion 
is right, what if the object to be animated isn't at the starting 
point when the animation is played? (This did come up on the list in 
February, but not much detail was revealed). Really I need some more 
extended description of the animation construct - can animations have 
multiple objects and layers, can the visibility of individual objects 
be altered in flight, can the user be made to interact with them, can 
you synch sounds with them, etc. Anyone know how to find out more 
without hours of experiment? Basically I'm trying to decide whether 
to use animations instead of the filmstrips and simple QuickTime 
movies I used when developing Mac-only apps in Supercard.

TIA

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          Graham Samuel / The Living Fossil Co. / UK & France