Ellen Finkelstein and Gurdy Leete
Jazz Up Your Web site with Animations, Video, and Interactive Features
Build Flashy Animations That Enhance Web
 |
| Macromedia Flash 8 for Dummies |
Ellen Finkelstein has written numerous bestselling computer books on
AutoCAD, PowerPoint, and Flash. She also writes articles on these programs
for Web sites, e-zines, and magazines. The five editions of her AutoCad Bible
have sold more than 80,000 copies in the United States and abroad. As an
Adjunct Instructor of Management, she teaches eBusiness and Human
Resource Management courses. Her latest book is Syndicating Web Sites with
RSS Feeds For Dummies. She writes at home so that she can take the bread
out of the oven on time.
Gurdy Leete has been working as a computer animator, computer animation
software engineer, and teacher of computer animation since 1981. He has
been teaching Flash and other computer animation programs for 14 years at
Maharishi University of Management, where he is an Assistant Professor of
Digital Media. You can see his art on the Web at www.infinityeverywhere.net.
Authors’ Acknowledgments
This book was very much a group effort. First, I’d like to thank my coauthor,
Gurdy Leete, without whom I could not have completed this book nor even
thought of writing it. Gurdy was always a pleasure to work with, always in a
good mood, and helpful. He’s a brilliant artist and something of a programmer,
too, while I am neither. I’ve been quite impressed.
At Wiley, I’d like to thank Steve Hayes, our acquisitions editor, for trusting us
with this book. Great kudos go to Kim Darosett, our project editor, for doing
such a tremendous job.
Personally, I’d like to thank my husband, Evan, and my kids, Yeshayah and
Eliyah, who helped out and managed without me as I wrote every day,
evening, and weekend. I love you all.
Thanks to Macromedia, for creating Flash and supporting Flash authors
during the beta period while we were learning all the new features of Flash 8,
testing Flash, and writing, all at the same time.
Finally, I’d like to thank the Flash community and specifically all the Flash
designers who contributed Flash movies to make this book and its companion
Web site more valuable. Most computer books use dummy files, and we
made up a few of our own to illustrate the point, but the real-world files we
received for this book will help open up new vistas for our readers. And now,
a few comments from Gurdy:
I’d like to echo all of Ellen’s words and thank her for being such a great collaborator.
She has such a talent for explaining things with the simplicity, precision,
and humor that are so characteristic of the deeper workings of the
cosmos. I’d also like to thank my brilliant students Alek Lisefski
(www.bluesheepstudios.com) and Benek Lisefski (www.exhibit52.com),
and my intrepid research assistants, Nutthawut Chandhaketh, of Thailand;
Radim Schreiber, of the Czech Republic; Burcu Cenberci, of Turkey; and
Praveen Mishra, of Nepal, whose research activities on the Internet were so
helpful in the writing of this book. Thanks to my omnitalented M.A. in
Animation student Mike Zak, for the wonderful collection of clip art drawings
he created in Flash for the companion Web site. And thanks to my adorable
wife, Mary, and my children, Porter and Jackie, for being so supportive
during the many hours I spent working on this book.
Introduction
Welcome to Macromedia Flash 8 For Dummies, your friendly Webanimation
companion. In this book, we explain in plain English how to
make the most of Flash to create stunning Web site animations. Macromedia
Flash 8 For Dummies aims to give you all the information you need to start
using Flash right away — with no hassle.
About This Book
As though you hadn’t guessed, Macromedia Flash 8 For Dummies covers the
powerful animation product Flash 8, from Macromedia. (The preceding version
was Flash MX 2004.) Flash 8 is the latest version of the popular software
used on some of the coolest Web sites on the Internet.
Flash comes in two versions: Flash 8 Basic and Flash 8 Professional (Pro). In
addition to including all the features of Flash 8 Basic, the Pro version of Flash
has powerful features for programmers and production teams, such as project
file management, version control of Flash files, and the ability to connect
Flash to live external data sources and Web services. In addition, Flash 8 Pro
offers special graphics effects, custom animation controls, better handling of
bitmap scaling, and improvements in the way video content is handled. In
this book, we focus on the features of Flash 8 Basic rather than Flash 8 Pro
because they’re much more useful to people who are new to Flash. However,
we do sometimes describe the Flash 8 Pro features. We comprehensively
explain the Flash features, including
Working with the Flash screen, toolbars, and menus
Creating graphics and text in Flash
Adding sound and video
Using layers to organize your animation
Creating symbols, which are objects that you save for repeated use
Animating graphics (the key to Flash)
Creating interactive Web sites
Publishing Flash movies to your Web site
How to Use This Book
You don’t have to read this book from cover to cover. We provide just the
information you need, when you need it. Start with the first three chapters.
Then play around with graphics until you create what you need for your Web
site. You might want to check out Chapter 6, on layers, to help you organize it
all, and Chapter 7, which covers symbols. Then feel free to jump right to
Chapter 9, on animation, to create your first real Flash movie. Chapter 13 tells
you how to get your movie on your Web site. Then fire up your browser, sit back, and marvel.
Of course, you’ll want to check out other chapters when you need them so
that you can create text and buttons, add sound and video, and create an
interactive Web site. Chapter 12 provides some ideas for putting all the Flash
features together for your best Web site ever.
Keep Macromedia Flash 8 For Dummies by your computer while you work.
You’ll find it to be a loyal helper.
Foolish Assumptions
We assume that you’re not already a master Flash developer. If you want to
use Flash to create high-quality Web sites and you’re not an expert animator
already, you’ll find this book to be a great reference. Macromedia Flash 8 For
Dummies is ideal for beginners who are just starting to use Flash or for current
Flash users who want to further hone their skills.
Because people usually add Flash movies to Web sites, we also assume that
you know some of the basics of Web site creation. You should know what
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is and understand the process of creating
and structuring HTML pages as well as uploading them to a Web site.
If you want some help on the topic of Web sites, you might want to take a
look at Web Design For Dummies, by Lisa Lopuck (Wiley Publishing, Inc.).
Conventions Used in This Book
Sometimes it helps to know why some text is bold and other is italic so that you
can figure out what we’re talking about. (A typographic convention is not a convention
of typographers meeting to discuss the latest typography techniques.)
New terms are in italics to let you know that they’re new. When we suggest that
you type something, we show you we want you to type in bold. Messages and
other text that come from Flash, including programming code, are in a special
typeface, like this.
When we say something like “Choose File➪Save As,” it means to click the File
menu at the top of your screen and then choose Save As from the menu that
opens. When we want you to use a toolbar or toolbox button (or tool), we tell you to click it.
How This Book Is Organized
We start by presenting an overview of the Flash universe and then continue
in the general order that you would use to create a Flash animation. More
basic material is at the beginning of the book, and more advanced material
(but not too advanced!) comes later on. You might never use all the material
in this book in one Flash movie.
To be more specific, this book is divided into seven parts (to represent the
seven states of consciousness — okay, we don’t have to get too cosmic here).
Each part contains two or more chapters that relate to that part. Each chapter
thoroughly covers one topic so that you don’t have to go searching all
over creation to get the information you need.
Part I: A Blast of Flash
Part I contains important introductory information about Flash. In Chapter 1,
we tell you what Flash is all about, show you what the Flash screen looks
like, and explain how to get help when you need it most. You can also find
instructions for starting Flash, starting a new movie, and opening an existing
movie, and we give you a short list of steps for creating your first animation.
Chapter 2 explains in more detail the steps for creating a Flash movie. We
also explain some basic concepts that all Flash users need to know.
Part II: 1,000 Pictures and 1,000 Words
Part II explains all the tools available for creating graphics in Flash. Chapter 3
explains the unique drawing tools included in Flash. Of course, we also explain
how to import graphics if you don’t feel like creating your own. Chapter 4
shows you how to edit and manipulate graphic objects, and Chapter 5 is all
about creating text. Chapter 6 explains layers, which help you organize your
graphics so that they don’t interfere with each other.
Part III: Getting Symbolic
Symbols are graphical objects that you save to use again and again. Whenever
you want to place an object on a Web page more than once, you can save the
object as a symbol. You can also group together many individual objects,
making them useful when you want to manipulate, edit, or animate them all at
one time. Chapter 7 explains creating and editing symbols. Chapter 8 describes
how to create buttons — not the kind that you sew, but rather the kind that
you click with your mouse. Buttons are a kind of symbol, but on a Web page
they execute an action when clicked.
Part IV: Total Flash-o-Rama
Part IV explains how to put all your graphics together and make them move.
Chapter 9 covers animation in detail — from frame-by-frame animation to
tweening, where Flash calculates the animation between your first and last
frames. Tween movement to make your objects move or morph into new
shapes. You can also tween color and transparency.
Chapter 10 shows how to create interactive Web sites that react to your viewers.
For example, when a viewer clicks a button, Flash can jump to a different
part of a movie or go to a different Web page entirely. To create interactivity,
you use ActionScript, Flash’s JavaScript-like programming language. We tell
you how to put ActionScript to work.
Chapter 11 is about adding multimedia — sound, music, and video — to your
Flash movies and buttons.
Part V: The Movie and the Web
This part helps you put all your animated graphics and cool buttons together
and publish your work on the Web. Chapter 12 outlines the various techniques
that you can use to create a great Web site using only Flash.
Chapter 13 explains how to test your animation for speed and suitability for
all browsers and systems. Then we cover all the details of publishing movies
as well as the other available formats, such as HTML and GIF. You can also
create projectors — movies that play themselves.
Part VI: The Part of Tens
What’s a For Dummies book without The Part of Tens? Chapter 14 answers
some frequently asked questions about Flash and introduces some fun techniques,
such as creating drag-and-drop objects and simulating 3-D effects.
Chapter 15 provides you with the ten best resources for learning about Flash
(besides this book, of course). Chapter 16 lists our winners for ten great
Flash Web designers, although new ones emerge all the time.
Part VII: Appendixes
Last, but not least, we come to the appendixes. They add some valuable
information to the end of this book. Appendix A adds instructions on
installing Flash as well as setting preferences and options, illustrations of all
the tools and panels in Flash 8. In Appendix B, we show you what’s what on
the Property inspector and on the various panels.
Appendix C tells you what’s on the companion
Web site (www.dummies.com/go/flash8).
We provide Flash movies that we illustrate in the book and others
that you can just play with to see how they work. We also add our own library
of graphics that you can add to your own movies. In addition, we provide a
bonus chapter, which is a glossary of obscure terms.
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Product details
Price
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File Size
| 10,174 KB |
Pages
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409 p |
File Type
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PDF format |
ISBN-13
ISBN-10 | 978-0-7645-9691-9 0-7645-9691-8 |
Copyright
| 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc |
Contents at a Glance
Introduction
Part I: A Blast of Flash
Chapter 1: Getting Acquainted with Flash 8
Chapter 2: Your Basic Flash
Part II: 1,000 Pictures and 1,000 Words
Chapter 3: Getting Graphic
Chapter 4: You Are the Object Editor
Chapter 5: What’s Your Type?
Chapter 6: Layering It On
Part III: Getting Symbolic
Chapter 7: Heavy Symbolism
Chapter 8: Pushing Buttons
Part IV: Total Flash-o-Rama
Chapter 9: Getting Animated
Chapter 10: Getting Interactive
Chapter 11: Extravagant Audio, High-Velocity Video
Part V: The Movie and the Web
Chapter 12: Putting It All Together
Chapter 13: Publishing Your Flash Files
Part VI: The Part of Tens
Chapter 14: Ten Frequently Asked Questions
Chapter 15: The Ten Best Flash Resources
Chapter 16: Ten Flash Designers to Watch
Part VII: Appendixes
Appendix A: Installing Flash and Setting Your Preferences
Appendix B: The Property Inspector and the Panels
Appendix C: What’s on the Companion Web Site
Index
Table of Contents
Introduction.....
About This Book ...
How to Use This Book .....
Foolish Assumptions ............
Conventions Used in This Book ....
How This Book Is Organized ...........
Part I: A Blast of Flash ............................
Part II: 1,000 Pictures and 1,000 Words ......
Part III: Getting Symbolic ........................
Part IV: Total Flash-o-Rama ..............
Part V: The Movie and the Web ...
Part VI: The Part of Tens ........
Part VII: Appendixes .......
Icons Used in This Book ...
Where to Go from Here ........
Part I: A Blast of Flash ..................................................7
Chapter 1: Getting Acquainted with Flash 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Discovering Flash ...........................................................................................10
Understanding What You Can Create with Flash 8 ....................................11
Determining When Not to Use Flash 8 .........................................................12
Getting the Right Start ...................................................................................12
Starting Flash on a PC ..........................................................................13
Starting Flash on a Mac ........................................................................13
Creating a new movie ...........................................................................13
Opening an existing movie ..................................................................13
Taking a Look Around ....................................................................................14
Tooling around the toolbars ...............................................................15
Using panels ..........................................................................................15
Discovering the Flash menus ..............................................................16
Staging your movies .............................................................................18
Following a timeline .............................................................................19
Getting Help in a Flash ...................................................................................20
Multiple Help manuals .........................................................................20
Finding more help on the Web ............................................................21
Try It; You’ll Like It .........................................................................................21
Conceiving your first animation .........................................................21
Creating flashy drawings .....................................................................22
Making graphics move .........................................................................25
Publishing your first animation for posterity ...................................27
Exiting Flash ..........................................................................................28
Chapter 2: Your Basic Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Looking at the Big Picture .............................................................................31
Setting the Stage .............................................................................................33
Choosing the Stage color .....................................................................33
Specifying the frame rate .....................................................................34
Setting the Stage size and adding metadata ......................................34
Grabbing a Graphic ........................................................................................35
Understanding vectors and bitmaps ..................................................36
Finding graphics ...................................................................................37
Going to the Library .............................................................................37
Using a Template ............................................................................................41
Printing Your Movie .......................................................................................42
Part II: 1,000 Pictures and 1,000 Words ......................45
Chapter 3: Getting Graphic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
Sharpening Your Pencil .................................................................................47
Setting the Pencil modifier ..................................................................48
Setting the stroke type .........................................................................49
Setting the color ...................................................................................52
Creating Shapely Shapes ...............................................................................52
Line up ...................................................................................................52
Be square ...............................................................................................53
Be an egg ................................................................................................54
Mixing and Matching Shapes ........................................................................54
Cutting up shapes .................................................................................55
Placing objects on top of each other .................................................55
Keeping objects safe and secure ........................................................56
Creating Curves with the Pen .......................................................................57
Drawing straight lines ..........................................................................57
Drawing curves .....................................................................................58
Getting Artistic with the Brush .....................................................................59
Brush Mode modifier ...........................................................................60
Brush Size drop-down list ....................................................................60
Brush Shape drop-down list ................................................................60
Pressure and Tilt modifiers .................................................................62
Brush smoothing ..................................................................................63
Pouring on the Paint ......................................................................................63
Strokes, Ink ......................................................................................................64
A Rainbow of Colors .......................................................................................65
Solid citizens .........................................................................................65
Gradient colors .....................................................................................67
Bitmap fills .............................................................................................69
Locking a fill ..........................................................................................71
Drawing Precisely ...........................................................................................71
The ruler rules ......................................................................................71
Using guides ..........................................................................................72
Working with the grid ...........................................................................73
Snapping turtle .....................................................................................73
Pixel, pixel on the wall .........................................................................74
The Import Business — Using Outside Graphics .......................................75
Importing graphics ...............................................................................75
Using imported graphics .....................................................................76
Chapter 4: You Are the Object Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Selecting Objects ............................................................................................79
Selecting with the Selection tool ........................................................80
Lassoing your objects ..........................................................................81
Selecting everything in one fell swoop ..............................................82
Moving, Copying, and Deleting .....................................................................82
Movin’ on down the road .....................................................................83
Aligning objects with the Align panel ................................................86
Copying objects ....................................................................................86
Makin’ objects go away ........................................................................87
Making Shapes More Shapely .......................................................................87
Reshaping shapes and outlines ..........................................................88
Using the Subselect tool ......................................................................88
Freely transforming and distorting shapes .......................................89
Straightening lines and curving curves .............................................92
Modifying line endings .........................................................................92
Optimizing curves ................................................................................93
Expanding and contracting filled shapes ..........................................93
Softening edges .....................................................................................94
Converting lines to fills ........................................................................95
Transforming Fills ..........................................................................................96
Transferring Properties .................................................................................99
Finding and Replacing Objects .....................................................................99
Transforming Objects ..................................................................................100
Scaling, scaling . . . ..............................................................................101
’Round and ’round and ’round we rotate ........................................102
Getting skewy ......................................................................................103
Flippety, floppety ................................................................................104
Combining Objects .......................................................................................105
Getting Grouped ...........................................................................................105
Changing the Transformation Point ...........................................................106
Breaking Apart Objects ...............................................................................108
Establishing Order on the Stage .................................................................108
Undoing, Redoing, and Reusing ..................................................................110
Undoing actions ..................................................................................110
Redoing actions ..................................................................................110
Using object-level undo and redo .....................................................110
Reusing actions with the History panel ...........................................111
Chapter 5: What’s Your Type? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115
Presenting Your Text ....................................................................................115
Creating text ........................................................................................116
Editing text ..........................................................................................117
Setting character attributes ..............................................................121
Hyperlinking text ................................................................................124
Getting the best text appearance .....................................................124
Setting up paragraph formats ...........................................................125
Creating input and dynamic text ......................................................127
Creating Cool Text Effects ...........................................................................128
Chapter 6: Layering It On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
Creating Layers .............................................................................................132
Using layers .........................................................................................132
Changing layer states .........................................................................133
Getting Those Layers Right .........................................................................134
Deleting layers ....................................................................................135
Copying layers ....................................................................................135
Renaming layers .................................................................................136
Reordering layers ...............................................................................136
Organizing layers ................................................................................137
Modifying layer properties ................................................................138
Creating Guide Layers ..................................................................................139
Opening Windows with Mask Layers .........................................................140
Creating a mask layer .........................................................................141
Editing mask layers ............................................................................141
Animating mask layers .......................................................................142
Part III: Getting Symbolic ..........................................143
Chapter 7: Heavy Symbolism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
Understanding Symbol Types .....................................................................145
Using graphic symbols .......................................................................146
Using movie clip symbols ..................................................................147
Using button symbols ........................................................................147
Using font symbols .............................................................................147
Creating Symbols ..........................................................................................148
Creating symbols from existing objects ..........................................148
Creating empty symbols ....................................................................149
Converting an animation to a movie clip symbol ...........................149
Creating a symbol by duplicating a symbol ....................................150
Modifying Symbols .......................................................................................151
Changing the properties of a symbol ...............................................151
Editing symbols ..................................................................................151
Using Symbols from Other Movies .............................................................153
Using the Flash Library ......................................................................155
Using the Flash For Dummies Library ..............................................155
Working with Instances, for Instance .........................................................156
Inserting instances .............................................................................156
Editing instances ................................................................................157
Chapter 8: Pushing Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163
Creating Simple Buttons ..............................................................................163
Understanding button states ............................................................164
Making a basic button ........................................................................165
Putting Buttons to the Test .........................................................................166
Creating Complex Buttons ..........................................................................167
Adding a sound to a button ...............................................................167
Adding a movie clip to a button .......................................................169
Adding an action to a button ............................................................171
Creating a button that acts on text input ........................................176
Part IV: Total Flash-o-Rama .......................................179
Chapter 9: Getting Animated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
Who Framed the Animation? ......................................................................181
Preparing to Animate ...................................................................................182
Master of the Timeline .......................................................................183
Turtle or hare? ....................................................................................185
Creating Animations Instantly with Timeline Effects ...............................185
Animating with Keyframes ..........................................................................187
Frame after frame after frame ...........................................................188
Stillness in the night ...........................................................................190
The Animation Tween ..................................................................................190
From here to there — motion tweening ...........................................191
Tweening shapes ................................................................................198
Editing Animation .........................................................................................203
Adding labels and comments ............................................................203
Selecting frames ..................................................................................204
Copying and pasting frames ..............................................................204
Moving frames .....................................................................................205
Adding frames .....................................................................................205
Deleting frames ...................................................................................205
Turning keyframes back into regular frames ..................................206
Reversing your animation .................................................................206
Changing speed ...................................................................................206
Changing the animation settings ......................................................207
Using onion skins ................................................................................207
Moving everything around the Stage at once .................................209
Making the Scene ..........................................................................................209
Breaking your movie into scenes .....................................................210
Manipulating that scene ....................................................................210
Chapter 10: Getting Interactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .213
Understanding Actions ................................................................................213
Using Behaviors ............................................................................................214
Adding Actions to Frames ...........................................................................217
Adding a basic action to a frame ......................................................218
Stopping the movie before it starts ..................................................218
Adding Actions to Buttons ..........................................................................219
Adding an Action to a Movie Clip ...............................................................222
Using Actions ................................................................................................224
Timeline Control actions ...................................................................224
Browser/Network actions ..................................................................227
Making Objects Work for You .....................................................................229
Method acting .....................................................................................229
Creating animated masks with movie clips .....................................230
Exploring Advanced ActionScript ..............................................................231
Programming constructs ...................................................................231
Start-and-stop drag .............................................................................232
Making comments ..............................................................................233
ActionScript 2.0 ...................................................................................233
External scripting ...............................................................................234
Discovering more about ActionScript ..............................................234
Chapter 11: Extravagant Audio, High-Velocity Video . . . . . . . . . . . . .235
Acquiring Amazing Audio ............................................................................235
Importing sounds ...............................................................................236
Placing sounds into a movie .............................................................236
Editing Sounds ..............................................................................................238
Deleting parts of a sound ...................................................................240
Changing the volume .........................................................................240
Managing Sound ...........................................................................................240
Video Magic ...................................................................................................242
Four cool ways to use video in Flash ...............................................243
Preparing to embed video in Flash ...................................................244
Embedding and editing a video ........................................................245
Streaming a video ...............................................................................249
Part V: The Movie and the Web ..................................253
Chapter 12: Putting It All Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .255
Using Named Anchors .................................................................................255
Adding the Power of Components .............................................................257
Using radio buttons in a Flash movie ...............................................258
Using check boxes in a Flash movie .................................................261
Using combo boxes in a Flash movie ...............................................262
Using list boxes in a Flash movie ......................................................265
Using scroll panes in a Flash movie .................................................266
Using windows in a Flash movie .......................................................268
Creating a Preloader ....................................................................................269
Adding Web Search Information to Your Flash Movie .............................270
Creating an Entire Web Site with Flash ......................................................270
Creating navigation with getURL ......................................................272
Using the Timeline to store Web content ........................................272
Testing for the Flash Player ........................................................................275
Letting the user decide ......................................................................276
Detecting the Flash Player version ...................................................276
Creating alternative sites ...................................................................277
Using the Movie Explorer ............................................................................277
Making Your Site More Accessible .............................................................279
Sharing Libraries on the Run ......................................................................281
Creating a shared library ...................................................................281
Using a shared library ........................................................................283
Chapter 13: Publishing Your Flash Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .285
Optimizing Your Movies for Fast Download .............................................286
Simplifying artwork ............................................................................286
Optimizing text ...................................................................................287
Using shared libraries ........................................................................287
Compressing sound ............................................................................287
Animating efficiently ..........................................................................288
Testing Movies ..............................................................................................288
Using the Test Movie command .......................................................288
Testing a movie in a Web browser ....................................................290
Saving Your Work in Flash MX 2004 Format ..............................................291
Publishing Flash Movies ..............................................................................292
Publishing to SWF .........................................................................................293
Publishing to HTML .....................................................................................296
Understanding the HTML code for a movie ....................................297
Specifying Flash Player detection and other HTML settings ........299
Publishing to Other Formats .......................................................................305
Creating PNG graphic files .................................................................305
Creating self-playing movies .............................................................307
Using Publish Profiles ..................................................................................308
Creating a publish profile ..................................................................308
Duplicating a publish profile .............................................................309
Modifying a publish profile ...............................................................309
Deleting a publish profile ..................................................................309
Exporting and importing publish profiles .......................................310
Using Publish Preview .................................................................................311
Posting Your Movie to Your Web Site ........................................................311
Exporting Movies and Images .....................................................................312
Creating Printable Movies ...........................................................................314
Preparing your movie for printing ....................................................315
Specifying printable frames ...............................................................315
Specifying the print area ....................................................................316
Printing movies from the Flash Player .............................................317
Part VI: The Part of Tens ............................................319
Chapter 14: Ten Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .321
How Do I Combine Two Flash Movies into One? ............................321
Why Is Motion Tweening not Working? ...........................................322
How Can I Sync Sound with Motion? ................................................323
What Is the Best Way to Import Bitmaps? .......................................323
How Do I Rescale My Movie’s Size? ..................................................325
What Are the Best Movie-Creating Tips? .........................................326
Can Flash Do 3-D? ...............................................................................327
How Do I Center a Flash Movie in a Web Page? ..............................331
What Are the Size Limits for a Flash Movie? ...................................332
How Do I Dynamically Load Music from the Web? .........................333
Chapter 15: The Ten Best Flash Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .335
Play Around with the Samples ..........................................................335
Visit Our Site .......................................................................................335
Take a Course ......................................................................................336
Look on the Flash Web Page ..............................................................336
Join a Flash Discussion Group ..........................................................336
Check Out the Flash Resource Sites .................................................337
Check Out Sites That Use Flash ........................................................339
Attend a Flash Conference ................................................................339
Collect Flash Movies ..........................................................................339
Reuse Your Best Stuff .........................................................................340
Chapter 16: Ten Flash Designers to Watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .341
Ola Berger ............................................................................................341
Hillman Curtis .....................................................................................341
Joshua Davis ........................................................................................342
Anthony Eden ......................................................................................342
Ben Hantoot .........................................................................................342
Shane Mielke .......................................................................................342
Keith Peters .........................................................................................343
Ellen Pronk ...........................................................................................343
Micaël Reynaud ...................................................................................343
Craig Swann .........................................................................................343
Part VII: Appendixes ..................................................345
Appendix A: Installing Flash and Setting Your Preferences . . . . . . .347
Installing Flash ..............................................................................................347
Installing Flash onto a PC from a CD ................................................348
Installing Flash by downloading it to your PC ................................348
Installing Flash onto a Mac from a CD .............................................349
Installing Flash by downloading it to your Mac ..............................350
Setting Your Preferences .............................................................................350
General category ................................................................................351
ActionScript category ........................................................................353
Auto Format category ........................................................................354
Clipboard category .............................................................................354
Drawing category ...............................................................................355
Text category ......................................................................................355
Warnings category ..............................................................................355
Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts ..............................................................355
Appendix B: The Property Inspector and the Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . .359
The Tools Panel ............................................................................................359
The Property Inspector Gadget ..................................................................360
Property inspector with no selection ..............................................360
Property inspector with a shape selected ......................................361
Property inspector with keyframe selected ....................................361
Property inspector with a symbol instance selected ....................361
The Align Panel .............................................................................................362
The Color Mixer Panel .................................................................................362
The Color Swatches Panel ...........................................................................363
The Info Panel ...............................................................................................363
The Scene Panel ............................................................................................364
The Transform Panel ...................................................................................364
The Actions Panel ........................................................................................365
The Debugger Panel .....................................................................................366
The Movie Explorer Panel ...........................................................................366
The Output Tab of the Property Inspector ...............................................367
The Accessibility Panel ...............................................................................368
The Components Panel ................................................................................368
The Component Inspector ..........................................................................369
The History Panel .........................................................................................369
The Strings Panel ..........................................................................................370
The Behaviors Panel ....................................................................................370
Appendix C: What’s on the Companion Web Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .371
Your Own Personal Library of Vector Graphics .......................................371
Flash Movies Galore .....................................................................................372
Bonus Chapter ..............................................................................................372
Index ........................................................................373
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