The document provides an overview of the Flash authoring environment and how to create basic animations and publish Flash files. It discusses the Flash interface including the tools, panels, timeline, layers and properties. It also covers creating shapes, symbols, motion tweens, sounds and publishing Flash movies for the web.

1. Foundation Flash By : Mohd Faizol Sulaiman

2. Introduction Welcome to Flash live. You have seen a lot of the great stuff Flash can do and it is now time for you to get into the game. I also suspect you are here because Flash can be one great big, scary application to those unfamiliar with it.

3. What we’ll cover in this session: Exploring the Flash interface Using the Flash stage Working with panels Difference between a frame and a keyframe Using frames to arrange content on the stage Using layers to manage content on the stage Adding objects to the library Testing your movie

4. What we are going to do to begin with is take a walk through the authoring environment - called the Flash interface -pointing out the sights and giving you an opportunity to experiment with the features. By the end of the stroll, you should be fairly comfortable with this tool called Flash and have a fairly good idea of what tools you can use and how to use them as you start creating a Flash movie.

5. The Start page and Creating a Flash document The first thing you see when you launch Flash is the Start page. This interface, common to all of the Adobe CS3 applications, is divided into three areas. The area on the left side shows you a list of documents you have previously opened. Click one of them, and that document, provided it hasn’t been moved to another location on your computer, will open. The Open link at the bottom of the list lets you navigate to a document that isn’t on the list.

6. The Start Page

7. The middle area of the page is where you can choose to create a variety of new Flash documents. Your choices include a blank Flash document, a project aimed at a mobile phone or PDA (a mobile document), a series of code-based documents, and a Flash project. The major change in this panel is the ability to select a new document based upon which version of ActionScript will be used in the document. Flash Professional CS3 marks the latest version of the Flash programming language named ActionScript. The previous version of this language, used in Flash MX 2004 and Flash 8, was ActionScript 2.0. The right area of the screen is reserved for a variety of templates you can use.

8. The Extend area at the bottom of the Start Screen contains a link to the Flash Exchange. This is a hyperlink that takes you to a page on the Adobe site where you can download a variety of tools and projects that are available for free or a nominal cost.

9. What Can a Flash Animation Include? Vector-based graphics Has the ability to "tween" Automatically generates fill-in frames between a beginning and an ending image Bitmap-based graphics Can be moved & rotated Embedded fonts Can be moved, resized, skewed, rotated, recolored Sound Can synchronize sounds with animation frames

10. Flash Environments Flash authoring environment Design environment (graphics tools) Scripting environment (create program code) You can download a free trial version at http://www.adobe.com/ Flash player Users must have this installed on their workstations If not present, automatically prompted to install when they start your animation

11. Flash Files ("Movies") Authoring file .fla extension This file creates the design version of your animation Published file .swf extension ("swiff" file) Can't be edited Can play on most operating systems Fairly small files

12. Flash CS3 Authoring Environment Flash Stage Tools Panels Timeline Menus Layers Properties

13. Flash 8 Workspace Tools panel Timeline Panels Property inspector Stage Current scene Layers Workspace

14. Tools create the content of a movie. Tools: Draw, paint, create text, select objects, modify objects, and erase objects View tools : Zoom and pan Color tools : Set stroke and fill colors Options : Modify the currently selected tool Tools Views Colour Options

15. Timeline You can organize and control the content of a movie over time. Layers Frames Playhead Frame rate

16. Panels Panels provide additional tools for creating and editing movies. Click the options menu to view additional options for the current panel. You can hide or show panels by using the options on the Window menu.

17. Document Properties

18. 1. Enter the following values into the Document Properties dialog box: Title: Pond Description: My first Flash exercise Width: 400 Height: 300 Background colour: #000066 2. Click OK and the stage will shrink to the new dimensions and change colour to a dark blue. These changes will also be shown in the Property inspector.

19. Stage You compose movie content on the Stage. Set Stage size to match a specific browser size Screen Resolution Display Area in Microsoft Internet Explorer 640 x 480 620 x 318 800 x 600 780 x 438 1024 x 768 1004 x 606 1280 x 1024 1260 x 862

20. The Property Inspector Document Size Access the Publishing Settings Background Colour Frame Rate Movie Name

21. Zooming the Stage There will be occasions when you will discover that the stage is a pretty crowded place. In these situations, you’ll want to be sure that each item on the stage is in its correct position and is properly sized. Depending on the size of the stage, this could be difficult because the stage may fill the screen area. Fortunately, Flash allows you to reduce or increase the magnification of the stage through a technique called zooming. Zooming the stage has no effect upon the actual stage size.

22. Select a zoom level using the Magnification dropdown.

23. Exploring the Panels in the Flash Interface Panels can be moved around and opened or closed depending upon your workflow needs. We will now take a closer look at the more important panels that you will use every day. They include the following: Timeline Library Property Inspector Actions panel Tools panel Help panel

24. The Timeline There is a fundamental truth to becoming proficient with Flash: master the timeline and you will master Flash. At its most basic, all animation is movement over time, and all animation has a start point and an end point. The length of your timeline will determine when animations start and end, and the number of frames between those two points will determine the length of the animation. As the author, you control those factors.

25. Frames and Keyframes Frames: Like films, Flash movies divide lengths of time into frames, which are organized on the Timeline. Keyframes: Frames that define a change in what is displayed in a movie or include frame actions to modify a movie. When you open a new blank movie document, it contains one layer with one blank keyframe.

26. Frames and Keyframes Keyframe with content Blank keyframe Empty frames Empty slots for new frames

27. Layers Layers are like multiple film strips stacked on top of each other, each with a different element that appears on the Stage. Graphics Animations Text Sounds Buttons Frame actions

28. Symbols and Libraries Symbols are elements you reuse within a movie to reduce file size. Types of symbols include graphics , buttons , movie clips , sound files , and text . A library is where you store and organize symbols. When you drag a symbol from a library to the Stage, you create an instance of the symbol.

29. Symbols Symbol: reusable object Save an animation image as a symbols This saves file space because the symbol is only saved once Types of symbols: Graphics (can't be shape tweened) Movie clips (self-contained animation within a movie) Buttons (Up, Down, Over, OverWhileDown states)

30. Saving Symbols Create a graphic in Flash then convert it to a symbol Right-click the graphic – Convert to symbol Import an existing graphic into a Flash symbol library File – Import – Import to Library To view your symbol library: Window - Library

31. Advantages of Using Symbols Easy editing : If you change the symbol in the library, all instances of the symbol are updated automatically. Smaller file sizes : Symbols are downloaded only once, regardless of the number of instances you’ve included in the movie. This reduces the size of your published movies and decreases download times.

32. When you open Flash, your timeline will be empty, but you will see a series of rectangles - these are the frames. You may also notice that these frames are divided into groups. Most frames are white and every fifth frame is gray. Flash movies can range in length from 1 to 16,000 frames, although a Flash movie that is 16,000 frames in length is highly unusual. The thing you need to keep in mind is that a frame shows you the content that is on the stage at any point in time. The timeline is nothing more than a series of frames.

33. The content in a frame can range from one object to hundreds of objects, and a frame can include audio, video, code, images, text, and drawings either singly or in combination with each other. When you first open a new Flash document, you will notice that frame 1 contains a hollow circle. This visual clue tells you that frame 1 is waiting for you to add something to it.

34. Creating Flash Animation Types of animation: Shape: uses shapes you create in Flash Can change shape position and/or properties Creates straight-line animation between a start position and an end position Can only be used with vector images Motion: uses symbols you create or import into Flash (bitmaps) Can create straight-line animation between a start position and an end position Can change the position or rotation of a symbol Can "kind of" make a symbol morph into a different symbol

35. Creating a Motion Tween Same as shape tweening, but uses a symbol rather than a shape Allows you to use bitmaps Can be moved, resized, rotated, morphed to a different symbol

36. Motion/Classic Tween The way motion tweens used to be done Allows more than one object to be tweened at a time Allows frame scripts over the tween span

37. Animation with Tweening Tweening : A series of frames that change incrementally to create smooth movement or change over time. You can set the beginning and ending frames and have Flash automatically create the frames in between. Flash has theree types of tweening: shape tweening and motion tweening , guide tweening ,

38. Shape Tween Used for morphing shapes Cannot be applied to symbols Can be used for broken-apart text (You have to select the text and do Modify/Break apart twice, or apply Ctrl-B twice).

39. Shape and Motion Tweening In Flash, a shape is a vector-based object. You create a shape by using the drawing tools or by importing a vector drawing from another program. Use shape tweening to animate one shape into another. You cannot shape-tween grouped objects, bitmaps, text that has not been broken apart, or symbols. Use motion tweening to animate symbols, groups, and text blocks.

40. Creating a Shape Animation Create a new layer Draw the shape at the start position Create a keyframe at the start time Create a keyframe at the end time With the end keyframe selected, modify the shape to its end size, position, & properties Select any frame between the beginning and ending keyframes and then create a "tween"

41. Create the layer Create the keyframes Create the tween Create the initial shape With the ending keyframe selected, create the final shape

42. Shape and Motion Tweening Shape Group Symbol Text Block Broken- apart Text Shape Tween yes no no no yes Motion Tween no yes yes yes no

43. Adding Sounds Create a sound layer Create a keyframe when you want the sound to play With target keyframe selected, drag the sound onto the stage

44. Sound First, import a sound file into the library. Add sound to a movie by dragging an instance of the sound into a frame. To minimize file size, loop shorter sounds (to make them repeat).

45. Actions ActionScript statements instruct a movie to do something while it is playing. Frame action: An action attached to a frame is triggered when the movie plays that frame. Object action: An action attached to an object is triggered when the viewer interacts with the object, such as moving the pointer over a hotspot or clicking a button.

46. Stopping an Animation By default, animations play continuously when published To configure an animation to play once: Select the frame in which you want the animation to stop, right-click, click Actions In the ActionScript window, type stop();

47. Stopping an Animation Layer Frame number Command

48. Publishing Save distribution files File – Publish Preview – Flash or HTML to preview File – Publish Settings to view file types .swf, .html, .gif, etc. Select desired settings File – Publish to actually save files Use HTML to create a new HTML document Use Flash (.swf) file to insert into an existing HTML document In Dreamweaver, Insert – Media - Flash

49. Using Flash to Create Embedded Multimedia You can embed audio and video files in Flash documents and then publish them on Web pages Advantages: Most people have a Flash player installed on their computer Gives you more control over object's appearance

50. Creating Embedded Flash Audio Import the audio file to a Flash document Create a timeline to stop the audio You can also create buttons to start and stop it, and add commands so it doesn't automatically play…

51. Creating Embedded Flash Video File – Import – Import Video You can import either a file or a URL to a streaming server You can also create buttons to start and stop it, and add commands so it doesn't automatically play…