Introduction to

Macromedia Flas 8
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 Stage

= You compose movie content on the Stage.

■ Set Stage size to match a specific browser
size.

Display Area In Microsoft

Screen Resolution
Internet Explorer

640 x 480 620 X 318

800 x600 780 X 438
1024 x 1004 X 606
768
1280 X 1024 1260 X 862

9 2005 Macromedia, Inc. 3

 Flash Workspace

Tools panel Timeline

anels

C u r r e n ! [ ? l
scene

Layers

Workspace + = = I

Stage
S e [@g p ] tern . were t
b e t ] e r g . ] re. c t o r s st 2 f i e All
Def . i t
4 d u h ]
l Coit Me

Property
inspector

9 2005 Macromedia, Inc. 2

 Tools Panel

Tools create the content of a movie.

h k
• Tools: Draw, paint, create text, select E1
objects, modify objects, and erase objects / 9
d
■ View tools: Zoom and pan oA r
?
• Colour tools: Set stroke and fill colours € $
0
• Options: Modify the currently selected tool

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l
1$} . .

mE
n
Options

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 Panels

Options
Panels provide additional Ci Vt':
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l~ X:
Y;
+ n

menu
tools for creating and +
R: 255
G: 255
5: 255
A: 10%
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Y: 273.0

editing movies. v transf

orm
t

• Click the options menu to

view additional options for the
current panel. w (olor Mixer L

[>m l
• You can hide or show panels
vo e s ¢

by using the options on the

Window menu.

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 Timeline

You can organize and control the content of a

movie over time.
Playhead Frame
animated_face.f s
a

[_nine_ll/ f scene1

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$

s 10 15 3 35
0
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124 f = ass [«] a]
100 150 20 250
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0
Frame rate

9 2005 Macromedia, Inc. 6

 Frames and Keyf rames

• 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 movie or
a include frame actions modify a movie.
When
to you open a new blank movie
document, it contains one layer one
wit h blank keyf rame.

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 Frames and Keyf rames

Keyframe with con~nt Empty frames

1
10
•I I I I I I

15

Blank keyframe Empty slots for new frames

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 Layers

• Layers are like multiple film -

animated f ace.fa
~-----
strips stacked on top of each [a]eae s e e :
other, each with a different
]
1:
ii

element that appears on the [ Actons • •

Stage. El
[ Buttons • El.
• Graphics •. • □

•
[ Nose
• Animations • • El
[et5ye
• • E
• Text [ RghtEye
- - • El
• Sounds
$ £ )
• a t
• Buttons
• Frame
actions

9 2005 Macromedia, Inc. 9

 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 tlhe 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 you've 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
Flash automatically create the frames in between.
• Flash has two types of tweening: shape tweening and
motion tweening.

9 2005 Macromedia, Inc. 12

 Shape and Motion Tweening

Broken•
Text apart
Shape Group Symbol Bloc Text
k
Shape
yes no no no yes
Tween
Motion
Tween no yes yes yes no
I I

9 2005 Macromedia, Inc. 14

 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 int o
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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 Sound

• First, import a sound file .

into the library. 'demo.fa
8items

• Add sound to a movie

by
dragging an instance of
+ the
Nam 'Type ±
«
, ._, ,.
e a h o ;

sound
shorter into a frame.
sounds (to make «d backgrou nd_music.mp3
% ,._Door
Soun
o
d , ,Close.mo3
og _ .,._ .,._.,._,
a w. av
Soun, _,, CJ

them repeat).file size, loop

To minimize «_.Door, , _. , So.u,.n_d.,,. ,d.,. ,,.
Lock
«< Elevator
2.mp3 Soun
d
« bell.mp3 Soun
% Knock d
d; Knock.mp3
Soun
«d Oen door.mo3 d [
trcdhorn.wav Soun
d
Soun
d

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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 frame.
tha t
• an object is
Object action:
triggered whenAn theaction
viewerattached towith the
interacts
object, such as moving the pointer over a
hotspot or clicking a button.

9 2005 Macromedia, Inc. 16