1. Getting Started with Flash
Chapter 1
Getting Started with Flash

2. Chapter 1 Lessons Understand the Flash workspace
Open a document and play a Flash movie
Create and save a Flash movie
Work with the Timeline
Distribute a Flash movie/application
Plan an application

3. Getting Started with Flash
What is the Adobe Flash Platform?
An integrated set of tools and technologies used to develop and deliver compelling applications running on computers, websites, and mobile devices.

4. Getting Started with Flash
What is the Adobe Flash Professional?
A development tool that allows you to create compelling interactive applications, which often include animation.

5. Getting Started with Flash
Flash uses vector images.
Vectors are scalable
Reduces the size of graphic files
Flash provides for streaming content over the Internet.
Does not need to wait for entire contents of web page to load to start playing

6. A Typical Flash Workspace
Understand the Flash Workspace
Title Bar
Movie Menu bar
Menu Bar
Tools panel
Object on the stage
–Stage–
Object in the Library panel
Pasteboard
Playhead
Selecting frame 1 displays the object (car) on the Stage
A Typical Flash Workspace
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7. Understand the Flash Workspace
You can place objects on the stage and they are incorporated on a timeline.
You can create a movie by arranging objects on the stage and then animating the objects.
You can play the movie on the stage using movie controls, such as play, stop, and rewind.

8. Understand the Flash Workspace
There are three parts of the workspace.
Menu bar organizes commands within menus
Stage is where you place objects
Timeline is how you organize and control objects on the Stage
You can display one or more panels at the same time.

9. Understand the Flash Workspace
The Stage contains all the objects such as drawings, photos, animations, text, and video.
Shows how the objects behave within the movie and how they interact with each other
You can resize and change the background color

10. Understand the Flash Workspace
The Timeline is used to organize and control the movie’s contents by specifying when each object appears on the Stage.
The images of the Timeline are contained within frames.
Layers help to organize the objects on the Stage.

11. Understand the Flash Workspace
You can use panels to view, organize, and modify objects and features in a movie.
The Tools panel contains a set of tools, used to draw and edit graphics and text.
The Properties panel is used to display and change the properties of an object, such as size and transparency of a circle.

12. Understand the Flash Workspace

13. Understand the Flash Workspace
The Library panel is used to store and organize the various assets of a movie such as graphics, buttons, sounds, and video.
You can expand a panel to show all of its features or collapse it to reduce the clutter on a workspace.

14. Understand the Flash Workspace
Floating panels can be resized by dragging the left side, right side, or bottom of the panel.
Flash provides several preset workspace configurations that provide panels and panel sets most often used.

15. Open a Document and Play a Movie
Flash files are called documents or movies interchangeably.
To play a Flash movie on computers without Flash, you must change the movie to the Flash Player (.swf) file format.
Flash players can be downloaded free at

16. Understand the Flash Workspace
To preview a movie, you can play the frames by directing the playhead to move through the Timeline, and watch the movement on the Stage.
You can preview a movie using the Controller.
To display the Controller, open the Window menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Controller.

17. Open a Document and Play a Movie
Control commands
The Control menu commands and the Controller have buttons that resemble common DVD-type options.
Controller

18. Open a Document and Play a Movie
To preview the full functionality of a movie, you need to play it using a Flash Player.
You can use the Test Movie command on the Control menu to test the movie using a Flash Player.

19. Open a Document and Play a Movie
Example of an Application

20. Open a Document and Play a Movie
To view a Flash movie on the web, your computer needs to have the Flash Player installed.
An important feature of Flash Player is that you are able to decompress a compressed file.
A compressed file is small and delivered more quickly over the Internet.

21. Create and Save a Movie Creating a Flash Movie
Flash movies are created by:
Placing objects on the Stage
Editing the objects
Animating the objects
A keyframe indicates that there is a change in the movie, such as the start of an animation, or the resizing of an object on the Stage.

22. Create and Save a Movie Circle object in frame 1
Object on the Stage is in frame 1 on the Timeline
Circle object in frame 1

23. Create and Save a Movie Creating an Animation
The blue background color on the Timeline indicates a motion animation that starts in frame 1 and ends in frame 24
The dotted line on the Stage indicates the path the object will follow during animation
A basic motion animation requires two keyframes: the starting and ending positions

24. Create and Save a Movie Motion Animation
Dotted line indicates the path the object will follow during animation
Blue shading indicates a motion tween animation
Motion Animation

25. Create and Save a Movie
Flash provides a process called motion tweening that makes it relatively simple to move objects.
Only symbols and text blocks can be motion tweened.
Tween span is the number of frames in the motion tween.

26. Create and Save a Movie
Two important things happen during the motion tween animation process.
The Timeline shows the tween span (also called the motion span), which is the number of frames in the motion tween
A dotted line is created, called the motion path, representing the path the object takes from the beginning frame to the ending frame

27. Create and Save a Movie
Flash provides several preconfigured motion tweens that you can apply to an object on the Stage.
You can preview each preset before applying it and you can easily change to a different preset, if desired.

28. Panel set with Motion Presets panel active
Create and Save a Movie
Panel set with Motion Presets panel active

29. Create and Save a Movie You can animate an object’s appearance.
You can alter the object’s properties as it is being animated using the motion tween process.
You can make changes to an object by using the Properties panel.

30. Create and Save a Movie
The Timeline organizes and controls a movie’s contents over time.
By learning how to read the information provided by the Timeline, you can determine and change what will be happening in the movie, frame by frame.

31. Work with the Timeline

32. Work with the Timeline
Layers are like transparent sheets of plastic that are stacked on top of each other and can contain one or more objects.
You can add layers using the Timeline command on the Insert menu or by clicking the New Layer icon on the Timeline.

33. Work with the Timeline
When a new layer is added, Flash stacks it on top of other layer(s).
You can change the stacking order of layers by dragging them up or down in the list of layers.
You can name, hide, and lock layers.

34. Work with the Timeline The concept of layers The Stage
© 2011 Delmar Cengage Learning
The concept of layers
The Stage

35. Work with the Timeline
The Timeline is made up of individual segments called frames.
The contents of each layer appear as the playhead moves over the frames.
Frames are numbered in increments of five.

36. Work with the Timeline
If you create a motion tween, the first frame of the tween span will be a keyframe.
Types of keyframes.
Property keyframe specifies locations on the Timeline where you want an animation to change
Blank keyframe indicates that no content (objects) appear on the frame

37. Work with the Timeline

38. Work with the Timeline
Interpreting the Timeline: What is happening on the Stage is represented by symbols and colors.

39. Work with the Timeline
The Playhead indicates which frame is playing and can be manually moved by dragging it left or right.
Dragging the playhead allows you to do a quick check of the movie without having to play it.

40. Distribute a Flash Movie/Application
You can view Flash movies on the web as part of a website or directly from a viewer’s computer using the Flash Player; they cannot be viewed on the web using the web browser.
To publish a Flash movie, you must create and save a movie and then select the Publish command on the File menu.

41. Distribute a Flash Movie/Application
Publishing a movie creates two files.
.html—the HTML document
.swf—the Flash Player file
The HTML document contains the code that the browser interprets to display the movie on the web.

42. Distribute a Flash Movie/Application
Dimensions
Movie source
Background color
Sample HTML code

43. Distribute a Flash Movie/Application
Creating a projector file is another way you can distribute a movie that may or may not involve delivery on the web.
The projector file is an executable file where you can specify the type of file you want to create such as Windows .exe files and Macintosh .app files.

44. Plan an Application Use Flash to:
Develop animations that are part of a product and delivered via the Internet
Create enhancements to web pages, such as animated logos, interactive navigation buttons, and banner ads
Create games for smart phones

45. Plan an Application
Planning an application or an entire website should include:
Stating the Purpose (Goals). “What do we want to accomplish?”
Identifying the Target Audience. “Who will use our application or website?”
Determining the Treatment. “What is the look and feel?”
Developing the Specifications and Storyboard.

46. Plan an Application Defining Treatment
Tone: Will the website be humorous, serious, light, formal, or informal?
Approach: How much direction will be provided?
Emphasis: How much emphasis will be placed on various multimedia elements?

47. Plan an Application
A flowchart is a visual representation of how the contents of an application or a website are organized and how various screens are linked.
© 2011 Delmar Cengage Learning
Sample flowchart

48. Plan an Application
Specifications state what will be included in each screen as well as:
The Playback System: the choice of what configuration to target for playback
Elements to include: details about the various elements included in the site
Functionality: the way the program reacts to an action by a user

49. Plan an Application
A storyboard shows the layout of the various screens, often in the form of thumbnail sketches.
It describes the contents and illustrates how text, graphics, animation, and other screen elements will be positioned.

50. Plan an Application
Sample Storyboard

51. Plan an Application Screen design guidelines.
Balance refers to the distribution of optical weight in the layout of the screen design
Unity helps the screen objects reinforce each other
Intra-screen unity refers to how the various screen objects relate and how they all fit

52. Plan an Application Screen design guidelines (continued)
Inter-screen unity refers to the design that viewers encounter as they navigate from one screen to another, and how it provides consistency throughout the entire application or site
Movement refers to the way the viewer’s eyes move through the objects on the screen

53. Using Interactive Design Guidelines
Plan an Application
Using Interactive Design Guidelines
Simplicity: make it easy so users don’t have to spend time learning what the application does
Consistency: build in consistency in the navigation scheme so users don’t get lost

54. Using Interactive Design Guidelines
Plan an Application
Using Interactive Design Guidelines
Feedback: provide feedback to user’s when completing an action, such as changing the color of a clicked box
User control: allow the user to skip long introductions and provide controls for starting, rewinding, and skipping animations

55. Plan an Application Guidelines for a general workflow process
Create/acquire the elements to be used in the application
Arrange the elements and create animations
Apply special effects
Create the interactivity
Test and publish the application

56. Plan an Application Project Management
Develop a project plan that provides the project scope and identifies the milestones, including analyzing, designing, building, testing, and launching
Identify personnel and resources needs, budget, tasks, and schedules
Successful projects are a team effort