Introduction to Macromedia Flash MX

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Introduction to Macromedia Flash MX
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Macromedia Flash MX Workspace
Toolbox
Panels
Timeline
Layers
Currentscene
Stage
Work area
Property inspector
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Stage

• Where you compose content in a movie
• Set Stage size to match a specific browser size

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Toolbox

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

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Panels
Options menu control

• Additional tools for creating and editing movies
• Click the Options menu control to view additional
  options for the current panel.
• You can hide or show panels using the options on
  the Window menu.

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Timeline

• Organize and control the content of a movie over
  time.

Frames
Playhead
Layers
Frame rate
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Frames and Keyframes

• Frames Like films, Macromedia Flash movies
  divide lengths of time into frames, which are
  organized in 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.

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

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Symbols and Libraries

• Symbols are elements that 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.

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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
  youve included in the movie. This reduces the
  size of your published movies and decreases
  download times.

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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 Macromedia Flash automatically create the
  frames in between.
• Macromedia Flash has two types of tweening shape
  tweening and motion tweening.

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Shape and Motion Tweening

• In Macromedia 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.

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Shape and Motion Tweening
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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).

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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.