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Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Flash Cs3 Professional in 24 Hours (Sams Teach Yourself...in 24 Hours)by Phillip Kerman
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Flash CS3 Professional in 24 Hours Phillip Kerman 24 Proven One-hour Lessons
In just 24 lessons of one hour or less, you will be able to create dynamic animations using Adobe® Flash® CS3 Professional. Using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, each lesson builds on the previous ones, enabling you to learn the essentials of Flash from the ground up. Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common Flash tasks. Quizzes and Exercises at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge. By the Way notes present interesting information related to the discussion. Did You Know? tips offer advice or show you easier ways to do something. Watch Out! cautions alert you to possible problems, and give you advice on how to avoid them.
Learn how to… o Create, optimize, and export dynamic animated movies for the Web, disk, or CD o Integrate Flash animations with static HTML pages o Use Flash’s vector graphics tools, including filters and blends, to create drawings and animations o Use digital video in Flash movies o Animate using time-tested techniques and Flash’s special “tweening” features o Create powerful, interactive movies using the basics of ActionScript o Design Button, Graphic, and Movie Clip symbols and use them over and over without increasing file size o Import existing graphics from Illustrator® and Photoshop®
Phillip Kerman is an internationally recognized expert on the use of the Web and multimedia for training and entertainment. He frequently presents at Flash user conferences and has taught Flash and other authoring tools in workshops around the world.
Register your book at www.samspublishing.com/register for convenient access to downloads, updates, and corrections as they become available.
Book News Annotation:Kerman, a trainer in Flash and other authoring tools, walks readers
through essentials of creating animations using Adobe Flash CS3
Professional. Twenty-four lessons of one hour or less outline
step-by-step instructions for common Flash tasks, and chapter
summaries, quizzes, exercises, and FAQs at the end of each chapter
offer a review. Material is in sections on assembling graphics for
animation, animating in Flash, adding interactivity and video, and
linking work to web sites. Rather than the previous edition's three
lessons on the difficult topic of ActionScript, this fifth edition
offers one lesson on basic ActionScript and two on using
ActionScript's Components. An ActionScript primer is available
online. This fifth edition also covers Flash's new Photoshop and
Illustrator import features, and includes a new lesson on Flash video.
Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Synopsis:In just 24 lessons of one hour or less, Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Flash CS4 in 24 Hours will show Flash beginners and upgraders how to build high-impact vector-based graphics and animations with Adobe Flash CS4. In this book's straightforward, step-by-step approach, each lesson builds on the previous ones — helping you master all the essentials of Adobe's newest version of Flash from the ground up. Friendly, accessible, and conversational, this book gives Flash beginners a practical grounding in the entire package, without ever becoming overwhelming or intimidating. Coverage includes: assembling graphics for use in Flash; utilizing each leading approach to creating Flash animations; adding interactivity and advanced animation; optimizing and publishing Flash content; preparing for deployment on mobile devices; and much more. Throughout, step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common Flash questions, issues, and tasks... Q and As, Quizzes, and Exercises help you build and test your knowledge... "Did You Know?" tips offer you insider advice and shortcuts... and "Watch Out!" alerts help you avoid problems. By the time you've finished with these lessons, you won't just understand Flash CS4: you'll be comfortable using it in real-world projects. Synopsis:<> In just 24 lessons of one hour or less, you can learn how to design, create, and deploy high-impact graphics and animation with Adobe Flash CS4 Professional. Using this book’s straightforward, step-by-step approach, you’ll master the skills and technologies you need, from creating interactivity and animation to optimizing and publishing your Flash movies on the Web. Each lesson builds on what you’ve already learned, giving you a rock-solid foundation for real-world success! * Full-color figures and clear step-by-step instructions visually show you how to use Flash. * Quizzes and Exercises at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge. * Notes, Tips, and Cautions provide related information, advice, and warnings. Learn how to… * Make the most of the updated Flash interface, including its new Motion tools * Draw and paint original art in Flash * Use layers and the Library to efficiently organize your content * Build animations using shape tweening, Flash CS4’s new motion tweening, and advanced inverse kinematics * Create special effects with shapes, filters, and the new Deco Tool * Add interactivity to your Flash movies * Integrate a wide spectrum of audio and video content * Use ready-built components to create sophisticated content without programming * Get started with ActionScript 3 * Publish your movies to the Web * Design modular Flash sites that load quickly and perform well Phillip Kerman is an internationally recognized expert on the use of the Web and multimedia for training and entertainment. He has frequently presented at Macromedia and Adobe user conferences, and has taught Flash and other Adobe Web development technologies to working web professionals worldwide. Lynn Beighley, a freelance web programmer and designer, has written several Flash, Dreamweaver, and Photoshop books and training CDs. She has worked at Los Alamos National Labs, Palm, and Yahoo! Her dynamic Flash advertisements have appeared on Yahoo!’s home page. About the AuthorPhillip Kerman is an independent programmer, teacher, and writer who specializes in the Adobe Flash platform. His degree in imaging and photographic technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology was earned back when “multimedia” had a different meaning than it has today. One of Phillip’s internships, for example, involved programming multiple slide projector presentations with dissolves synchronized to a sound track–the multimedia of the 1980s. In 1993 he found Macromedia Authorware a natural fit for his interests and skills. After getting his start at The Human Element, Inc., he moved back to Portland, Oregon, more than a decade ago to work on his own.
Phillip has transitioned his expertise from Authorware to Director and, now, to Flash. Over the past decade, he has had to adapt to more than 20 version upgrades! In addition to retooling and building his own skills, Phillip finds teaching the biggest challenge. He has trained and made presentations around the world, in such exotic locations as Reykjavik, Iceland; Melbourne, Australia; Amsterdam, Holland; and McAlester, Oklahoma. Phillip has programmed several games on MSN and Messenger Live including Sudoku Too and Jigsaw Too. He also programmed the real-time cattle auction site stampedecattle.com.
Phillip is also the author of Macromedia Flash @work, Flash MX 2004 for Rich Internet Applications,and ActionScripting in Flash MX from New Riders Publishing.
Feel free to email Phillip at flash@phillipkerman.com.
Table of ContentsIntroduction xxiii Part I: Assembling the Graphics You’ll Animate in Flash HOUR 1 Basics 3 Jump Right In and Make an Animation.......................................................................... 3 Getting Your Bearings....................................................................................................... 6 The Stage.............................................................................................................. 7 The Tools Panel................................................................................................. 11 The Timeline....................................................................................................... 12 The Properties Panel......................................................................................... 14 The Library......................................................................................................... 19 Getting Around in Flash................................................................................................. 20 The Current Layer............................................................................................. 20 The Current Frame............................................................................................. 21 The Current Scene or Current Symbol........................................................... 22 Navigating Through the Interface.................................................................. 23 Document Properties....................................................................................................... 26 File Types.......................................................................................................................... 27 Source (.fla) Files............................................................................................... 27 Exported (.swf) Files.......................................................................................... 28 HTML Files That Host the .swf File............................................................... 29 Summary............................................................................................................................ 30 QandA................................................................................................................................... 30 Workshop......................................................................................................................... 31 Quiz...................................................................................................................... 31 Quiz Answers..................................................................................................... 31 HOUR 2 Drawing and Painting Original Art in Flash 33 Drawing on the Stage...................................................................................................... 34 Tools.................................................................................................................................. 34 Viewing and Modification Tools.................................................................... 35 Creation Tools................................................................................................... 37 Selecting and Transforming Objects............................................................................. 53 Object Draw Mode Versus Merge Mode...................................................... 54 Selection Tools ................................................................................................. 56 The Dropper Tool.............................................................................................. 60 Transforming Scale, Rotation, Envelope, and Distortion............................ 61 Using Snap to Objects to Connect Shapes................................................... 65 Summary............................................................................................................................ 68 QandA................................................................................................................................... 68 Workshop......................................................................................................................... 69 Quiz...................................................................................................................... 69 Quiz Answers..................................................................................................... 69 Exercise............................................................................................................... 70 HOUR 3 Importing Graphics into Flash 71 Vector Graphics Versus Raster Graphics...................................................................... 71 Reasons to Avoid Importing Graphics......................................................................... 72 Importing Vector Graphics.............................................................................................. 73 Importing from a File......................................................................................... 73 Using Bitmaps (Also Known as Raster Graphics)...................................................... 79 Importing Flat Raster Graphics........................................................................ 80 Adjusting Bitmap Properties........................................................................... 82 Importing Layered Raster Graphics................................................................ 87 Summary............................................................................................................................ 90 QandA................................................................................................................................... 90 Workshop......................................................................................................................... 91 Quiz...................................................................................................................... 92 Quiz Answers..................................................................................................... 92 HOUR 4 Using the Library for Productivity 93 The Concept of the Library............................................................................................ 94 How to Create and Use Symbols.................................................................... 94 How Symbols Help You................................................................................. 100 Using the Library........................................................................................................... 101 Getting Your Bearings.................................................................................... 101 Managing the Library by Using Names, Sorting, and Folders................. 103 Using Symbols from the Library.................................................................................. 106 Placing Instances of Symbols on the Stage................................................ 106 Modifying Instances of Symbols................................................................. 106 Using Color Styles.......................................................................................... 108 How Each Instance Behaves Differently..................................................... 112 Nesting Instances of Symbols Inside Symbols.......................................... 113 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 116 QandA................................................................................................................................. 116 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 117 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 117 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 118 HOUR 5 Controlling Color 119 Using Blends and Filters............................................................................................... 119 Controlling Color............................................................................................................ 124 Creating Solid and Gradient Swatches......................................................... 124 Using and Transforming Gradients.............................................................. 130 Applied Examples Using Blends and Filters............................................... 135 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 139 QandA................................................................................................................................. 140 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 140 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 141 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 141 HOUR 6 Applied Layout Techniques 143 Setting Text..................................................................................................................... 143 Static Text Layout........................................................................................... 143 Embedding Fonts for Dynamic Text............................................................. 145 Applied Examples Using Color Styles, Blends, and Filters..................................... 148 Practical Uses for Blends............................................................................... 148 Practical Uses for Filters................................................................................. 150 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 153 QandA................................................................................................................................. 153 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 154 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 154 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 155 Part II: Animating in Flash HOUR 7 Understanding Animation 159 How Animation Works................................................................................................. 159 Elements of Animation.................................................................................................. 160 Frames and Frame Rate................................................................................... 160 Frame Rate Versus the Number of Frames................................................... 163 Frame Rates of Different Types of Animation............................................ 164 Keyframes and Blank Keyframes.................................................................. 165 Tweening.......................................................................................................... 169 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 170 QandA................................................................................................................................. 170 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 171 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 172 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 172 HOUR 8 Animation the Old-Fashioned Way 173 Understanding the Brute-Force Animation Technique........................................... 173 Previewing an Animation Using Test Movie.............................................. 176 Editing One Keyframe at a Time.................................................................... 177 Changing the Frame View Setting................................................................. 177 Using the Onion Skin Tools.......................................................................... 177 Enhancing a Frame-by-Frame Animation................................................................... 182 Incorporating Pauses...................................................................................... 182 Implying Motion.............................................................................................. 183 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 185 QandA................................................................................................................................. 185 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 186 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 186 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 187 Exercise............................................................................................................. 187 HOUR 9 Using Motion Tweens to Animate 189 Creating a Motion Tween............................................................................................. 189 Following the Rules of a Motion Tween..................................................... 192 Motion Tweening Techniques and Tips..................................................... 193 Fine-Tuning a Motion Tween...................................................................................... 198 Using Multiple Keyframes............................................................................. 198 Using Ease In and Ease Out.......................................................................... 200 Custom Easing................................................................................................. 201 Rotating in a Motion Tween.......................................................................... 204 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 205 QandA................................................................................................................................. 206 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 207 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 207 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 208 Exercises........................................................................................................... 208 HOUR 10 Using Shape Tweens to Morph 209 Making a Shape Tween................................................................................................. 209 Following the Rules of a Shape Tween........................................................ 211 Techniques and Tips...................................................................................... 211 Refining and Fine-tuning a Shape Tween.................................................................. 215 Using Shape Hints.......................................................................................... 215 Understanding Shape Hints.......................................................................... 218 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 220 QandA................................................................................................................................. 221 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 222 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 222 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 222 Exercise............................................................................................................. 222 HOUR 11 Including Sound in Animations 223 Importing Sounds.......................................................................................................... 223 Supported Formats.......................................................................................... 224 Using Sounds................................................................................................................. 227 Synch Settings................................................................................................. 229 Effect Settings.................................................................................................. 232 Loop Settings................................................................................................... 234 Controlling Quality and File Size................................................................................. 236 Digital Audio Fundamentals ......................................................................... 237 Export Settings................................................................................................. 238 Tricks for Efficiency........................................................................................ 242 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 243 QandA................................................................................................................................. 244 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 245 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 246 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 246 HOUR 12 Using Layers in Animations 247 How Layers Work.......................................................................................................... 247 The True Purpose of Layers.......................................................................... 247 Layer Properties That Help You Edit............................................................ 250 Managing Layers............................................................................................ 254 Using Layer Properties for Visual Effect.................................................................... 255 Guide Layers.................................................................................................... 255 Motion Guide Layers...................................................................................... 260 Mask Layers..................................................................................................... 263 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 267 QandA................................................................................................................................. 268 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 269 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 269 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 270 Exercises........................................................................................................... 270 HOUR 13 Nesting Animations in Movie Clip and Graphic Symbols 271 Movie Clip Symbol Behavior....................................................................................... 272 Creating Nested Movie Clips........................................................................ 272 Comparing Movie Clip Symbols to Graphic Symbols................................ 274 When to Use Movie Clips............................................................................. 277 Subtleties of Movie Clips............................................................................................. 278 Addressable Movie Clip Instances.............................................................. 278 Effects on Download Order........................................................................... 280 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 280 QandA................................................................................................................................. 280 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 281 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 282 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 282 Exercises........................................................................................................... 283 HOUR 14 Creating Special Effects 285 Effects with Shapes....................................................................................................... 285 Painting with Bitmaps..................................................................................... 286 Breaking Apart Text........................................................................................ 287 Turning Text into a Shape.............................................................................. 289 Using Filters for Special Effects................................................................................... 291 Showing Depth with Shadows...................................................................... 292 Adding a Motion Blur.................................................................................... 294 Masking Effects............................................................................................................. 295 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 301 QandA................................................................................................................................. 302 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 302 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 302 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 303 Exercise............................................................................................................. 303 Part III: Adding Interactivity and Video HOUR 15 Basic Interactivity 307 Basic ActionScript......................................................................................................... 308 Specifying Actions by Using Parameters.................................................... 311 Frame Actions.................................................................................................. 315 Making Simple Buttons................................................................................................. 316 Listening for Events...................................................................................................... 320 Understanding Event Handling.................................................................... 322 Properties and Methods................................................................................. 324 ActionScript Application............................................................................... 326 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 330 QandA................................................................................................................................. 330 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 331 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 331 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 332 HOUR 16 Introducing Components 333 What Is a Component?................................................................................................. 334 Using the Button Component...................................................................................... 338 Using the RadioButton Component............................................................................ 340 Changing Component Appearances........................................................................... 344 Manually Editing Component Skins............................................................. 344 Setting the Style of a Single Component Instance..................................... 346 Setting the Style of One Component Type................................................. 346 Setting the Style of All Components............................................................ 347 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 347 QandA................................................................................................................................. 347 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 349 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 349 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 349 HOUR 17 Using Components 351 Using Data Providers.................................................................................................... 351 Using the List Component............................................................................. 355 Using the DataGrid Component.................................................................... 357 Exercises with Other Components............................................................................... 359 Using the ProgressBar Component.............................................................. 359 Using the Slider Component.......................................................................... 361 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 363 QandA................................................................................................................................. 364 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 365 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 365 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 366 HOUR 18 Using Video 367 Embedding Video Versus Playing External Video..................................................... 367 Making Video Look Good.............................................................................. 368 Supported Formats.......................................................................................... 370 Using Video.................................................................................................................... 376 Playing an Embedded Video.......................................................................... 376 Playing External .flv Videos........................................................................... 378 Special Effects.................................................................................................. 380 Optimizing Quality and File Size.................................................................... 386 Using Outside Video Editors......................................................................... 387 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 387 QandA................................................................................................................................. 388 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 389 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 389 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 390 Part IV: Putting It All Together for the Web HOUR 19 Linking a Movie to the Web 393 Basic Publishing............................................................................................................. 393 Simple Hyperlinks.......................................................................................................... 398 Using Style Sheets......................................................................................................... 403 What Other Web Tasks Can Flash Do?..................................................................... 405 Targeting Windows........................................................................................ 405 Sending Email: The mailto: Command.......................................................... 406 Using Flash Inside a Larger Website.......................................................................... 407 Pop-up Windows............................................................................................ 407 Uploading Files to a Web Server................................................................................. 410 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 412 QandA................................................................................................................................. 412 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 413 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 413 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 414 HOUR 20 Designing a Website to Be Modular 415 Loading Movies or Images........................................................................................... 416 Determining When a Movie Is Fully Loaded............................................................ 419 Playing External Sounds............................................................................................... 422 Loading External Text.................................................................................................... 423 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 425 QandA................................................................................................................................. 426 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 426 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 427 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 427 Exercise............................................................................................................. 427 HOUR 21 Minimizing File Size 429 File Size Considerations................................................................................................ 429 Calculating Download Times......................................................................... 430 What’s Big? What’s Small?........................................................................... 431 Sounds and Bitmaps....................................................................................... 434 Using the Bandwidth Profiler........................................................................ 438 Improving the Download Experience........................................................... 447 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 448 QandA................................................................................................................................. 448 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 449 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 449 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 450 HOUR 22 Optimizing Performance 451 Measuring Performance................................................................................................ 451 Impacts on Performance................................................................................................ 452 Be Creative....................................................................................................... 453 Avoiding Gratuitous Special Effects............................................................ 453 Avoiding Streaming Sounds......................................................................... 454 Graphic Issues................................................................................................. 454 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 457 QandA................................................................................................................................. 457 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 457 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 458 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 458 HOUR 23 Advanced Animation Techniques 459 It’s the Result, Not the Technology........................................................................... 460 Simple Techniques to Use Sparingly........................................................... 460 Ways to Fool the User................................................................................... 461 Applying Conventional Techniques.......................................................................... 462 Adding a Motion Blur.................................................................................... 463 Using Anticipation.......................................................................................... 465 Using Overkill.................................................................................................. 467 Simulating Depth............................................................................................. 469 Controlling Point of View............................................................................... 474 Beginning with the End in Mind................................................................... 476 Summary.......................................................................................................................... 477 QandA................................................................................................................................. 477 Workshop....................................................................................................................... 478 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 478 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 478 Exercise............................................................................................................. 479 HOUR 24 Publishing a Creation 481 How to Publish............................................................................................................... 481 Ensuring Users Have the Flash Player......................................................... 485 Using Publish Templates............................................................................... 488 Adding Metadata to Your Flash Creation.................................................................. 490 Deciding Which Media Types to Publish.................................................................. 492 Publishing Flash (.swf) Files.......................................................................... 492 Publishing HTML Files.................................................................................. 495 Publishing GIF, JPG, and PNG Files.............................................................. 496 Exporting Other Media Types...................................................................................... 502 Publishing AVI Files........................................................................................... 502 Publishing Image Sequences............................................................................. 502 Summary...................................................................................................................... 503 QandA............................................................................................................................. 504 Workshop................................................................................................................... 504 Quiz.................................................................................................................... 505 Quiz Answers................................................................................................... 505 Exercise............................................................................................................. 505 GLOSSARY 507 Online Bonus Content Appendix A Shapes You Can Make in Merge Drawing Mode Appendix B Resources Appendix C ActionScript Primer0672329379, TOC, 5/22/2007
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