Tweening alpha with GreenSock - actionscript-3

Question

Trying to tween the alpha of a graphics object in AS3 using GreenSock, but the functions are not working. Trying to tween to from alpha 0 to 0.7 in 2 seconds. The fromTo(); method doesn't work either. I don't want to, but would I have to instead, use an incremental for loop to do this?—As this wouldn't give me control over the time of the tween.
public function overlayBox():void {
var overlaySquare:Sprite = new Sprite();
overlaySquare.graphics.beginFill(0x00000);
overlaySquare.graphics.drawRect(0, 0, displayRes, displayRes);
overlaySquare.graphics.endFill();
overlaySquare.x = xScreenPos;
overlaySquare.y = yScreenPos;
TweenMax.from(overlaySquare, 2, {autoAlpha:0});
TweenMax.to(overlaySquare, 2, {autoAlpha:0.7});
addChild(overlaySquare);
trace("overlaySquare index: " + getChildIndex(overlaySquare));
}
EDIT: I've fixed the fade from alpha 0 to 0.7 by replacing the TweenMax functions from above to this:
overlaySquare.alpha = 0;
TweenMax.to(overlaySquare, 5, {alpha:0.7});
However, there's a problem with the alpha tween when it's run with the rest of the program. The tween "flashes" and instantly becomes 0.7 (it looks like it's "jumping" from 0 to 0.7) as soon as you can see it. The problem has been isolated to the function which is being called after overlayBox(); An overview of the program: an image is loaded in using loader. Inside loader, there is a myTimer.start();. This is used to run the rest of the program once the image has been loaded. The overlayBox(); is the first method that follows and runs fine. The next method, textAnimation();, is what breaks it, and I have no idea why:
public function textAnimation():void {
//set text format
textFormat.font = "Helvetica Neue Light";
textFormat.size = 28;
textFormat.bold = false;
textFormat.color = 0xFFFFFF;
//textFormat.letterSpacing = 5;
//set text size
var size18bold:TextFormat = new TextFormat();
size18bold.size = 36;
size18bold.bold = true;
// pass text format
textOne.defaultTextFormat = textFormat;
textTwo.defaultTextFormat = textFormat;
var xScreenPosStart:Number = xScreenPos + 440;
var xScreenPosEnd:Number = xScreenPos - 300;
textOne.text = "Blah blah blah";
textOne.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT;
textOne.x = xScreenPosStart;
textOne.y = yScreenPos + 240;
TweenMax.to(textOne, 14, {x:xScreenPosEnd, ease:SlowMo.ease.config(1, 0), repeat:-1});
textTwo.text = "Blah blah blah";
textTwo.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT;
textTwo.x = xScreenPosStart;
textTwo.y = yScreenPos + 140;
TweenMax.to(textTwo, 12, {x:xScreenPosEnd, ease:SlowMo.ease.config(1, 0), repeat:-1, delay:4});
//add to stage
addChild(textOne);
trace("textOne index: " + getChildIndex(textOne));
addChild(textTwo);
trace("textTwo index: " + getChildIndex(textTwo));
textOne.setTextFormat(size18bold);
}

Answer 1

Instead of using TweenMax.from, set the alpha manually.
overlaySquare.alpha = 0;
TweenMax.to( overlaySquare, 2, { alpha : .7 } );

Answer 2

Give an initial value for alpha And use tweenMax.To only
Have you activated the auto alpha plugin? If not, then do it by
import com.greensock.TweenLite;
import com.greensock.plugins.TweenPlugin;
import com.greensock.plugins.AutoAlphaPlugin;
//activation is permanent in the SWF, so this line only needs to be run once.
TweenPlugin.activate([AutoAlphaPlugin]);
If you don't need auto alpha then just use alpha Property
I tried this:
private function _Show() : void {
var overlaySquare:Sprite = new Sprite();
overlaySquare.graphics.beginFill(0x00000);
overlaySquare.graphics.drawRect(0, 0, 200, 200);
overlaySquare.graphics.endFill();
overlaySquare.x = 100;
overlaySquare.y = 100;
TweenMax.to(overlaySquare, 2, {alpha:0.7});
addChild(overlaySquare);
trace("overlaySquare index: " + getChildIndex(overlaySquare));
}
This works.