1 SEG3120 Analysis and Design for User Interfaces Flash Anis Zarrad Parallel Simulations and Distributed Systems (PARADISE) Research Laboratory SITE, University of Ottawa

2 Outline What is a flash? Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Flash concepts Flash Demos Conclusion Additional help

3 What is a flash Macromedia Flash is a multimedia graphics program specially for use on the Web Flash enables you to create interactive "movies" on the Web Flash uses vector graphics, which means that the graphics can be scaled to any size without losing clarity/quality Flash does not require programming skills and is easy to learn

4 The Software Engineering of Flash In terms of interactivity: HTML  DHTML  Flash Specify exact positioning of the various page elements statically or dynamically. Progressive streaming by default (Flash MX as well as Flash Communication Server MX) Supports vector graphics Open source file format specs (not an open source technology, only the file format specs are)

5 Flash Concepts Timeline Organize and control a flash movie content over time in layers and frames Key frames A frame in which a change in an animation is defined Tweening –In between  in-tween  tweening –Motion vs. Shape ActionScript Symbols (graphic, movie clip, button) Path animation

6 Need to know Basic knowledge of HTML Basic knowledge of java script Knowledge of graphics programs like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator will make creating graphics in flash much easier

7 Is it an industry leader? Macromedia Flash player numbers indicate that it is used by more then 386 million people. It is included in all the most popular browsers, so anyone with a new version of Netscape or Internet Explorer is guaranteed to be able to view Flash movies on the Web

8 Flash vs. Animated Images and Java Applets Animated images and Java applets are often used to create dynamic effects on Web pages. The advantages of Flash are: Flash loads much faster than animated images Flash allows interactivity, animated images do not Flash does not require programming skills, java applets do

9 Flash vs. Animated Images and Java Applets Websites made up of music, videos, and custom, graphic intensive interfaces are all possible with Macromedia Flash. Quick loading, especially compared to traditional methods like GIF animations

10 Flash screen shot Tool Box menu Timeline frames Stage

11 Demos Motion Tweening Simple animation Draw object motion guide Falling text How to change the color of an object.How to change the color of an object Shape tweening Morphing a shape Create your own Button Flash Sound

12 Conclusion Flash is easer to create them java applet Some applets are programmed so they eventually take up all resources on the computer, and this results in "freezing" the browser. There are things that you can program in java that just can't be done with Flash.

13 Additional Help With Shape Tweening animation change a circle to a square using frames. Use a modify transform to flip a horizontal text

14 References Macromedia Flash web site