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Shape hints will allow you to control more complex shape changes. Shape hints identify points that should correspond in starting and ending shapes. For example, if you are tweening text, you can use a shape hint to mark the corners of each letter to ensure that the letters don't twist out of shape before they finalize. Shape hints contain letters (a through z) for identifying which points correspond in the starting and ending shapes. You can use up to 26 shape hints. Shape hints are yellow in a starting keyframe, green in an ending keyframe, and red when not on a curve. (In complex shape tweening, create intermediate shapes and tween them instead of just defining a starting and ending shape.) Shape hints work best if you place them in counterclockwise order beginning at the top-left corner of the shape. The use shape hints follow these steps:

1. Select the first keyframe in a shape-tween.
2. Select Modify > Shape > Add Shape Hint. The beginning shape hint appears as a red circle with the letter a somewhere on the shape.
3. Move the shape hint to a point to mark.
4. Select the last keyframe in the tweening sequence. The ending shape hint appears somewhere on the shape as a green circle with the letter a.
5. Move the shape hint to the point in the ending shape that should correspond to the first point you marked.
6. To view how the shape hints change the shape tweening, play the animation again. To fine-tune the tweening, move the shape hints.
7. Repeat this process to add additional shape hints. New hints appear with the letters that follow (b, c, and so on).