Introduction to Macromedia Flash MX

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Macromedia Flash MX Workspace

ToolboxTimeline Panels

Property inspector

Stage

Currentscene

Layers

Work area

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Screen ResolutionDisplay Area in Microsoft

Internet Explorer

640 x 480 620 x 318

800 x 600 780 x 438

1024 x 768 1004 x 606

1280 x 1024 1260 x 862

Stage

Where you compose content in a movie

Set Stage size to match a specific browser size

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Toolbox

Tools create the content of a movie.

Tools: Draw, paint, create text, select objects, modify objects, and erase objects

View: Zoom and pan

Color: Set stroke and fill colors

Options: Modify the currently selected tool

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Panels

Additional tools for creating and editing movies

Click the Options menu control to view additional options for the current panel.

You can hide or show panels by using the options on the Window menu.

Options menu control

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Timeline

Organize and control the content of a movie over time.

Layers

FramesPlayhead

Frame rate

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Frames and Keyframes

Frames: Like films, Macromedia Flash movies divide lengths of time into frames, which are organized in the Timeline.

Keyframes: Frames that define a change in what is displayed in a movie or include frame actions to modify a movie. When you open a new blank movie document, it contains one layer with one blank keyframe.

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Frames and Keyframes

Keyframe with content

Blank keyframe

Empty frames

Empty slots for new frames

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Layers

Layers are like multiple film strips stacked on top of each other, each with a different element that appears on the Stage.

Graphics

Animations

Text

Sounds

Buttons

Frame actions

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Symbols and Libraries

Symbols are elements that you reuse within a movie to reduce file size.

Types of symbols include graphics, buttons, movie clips, sound files, and text.

A library is where you store and organize symbols.

When you drag a symbol from a library to the Stage, you create an instance of the symbol.

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Advantages of Using Symbols

Easy editing: If you change the symbol in the library, all instances of the symbol are updated automatically.

Smaller file sizes: Symbols are downloaded only once, regardless of the number of instances you’ve included in the movie. This reduces the size of your published movies and decreases download times.

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Animation with Tweening

Tweening: A series of frames that change incrementally to create smooth movement or change over time. You can set the beginning and ending frames, and have

Macromedia Flash automatically create the frames in between.

Macromedia Flash has two types of tweening: shape tweening and motion tweening.

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Shape and Motion Tweening

In Macromedia Flash, a shape is a vector-based object. You create a shape by using the drawing tools or by importing a vector drawing from another program.

Use shape tweening to animate one shape into another. You cannot shape-tween grouped objects, bitmaps, text that has not been broken apart, or symbols.

Use motion tweening to animate symbols, groups, and text blocks.

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Shape and Motion Tweening

Shape Group SymbolText

Block

Broken- apart Text

Shape Tween

Yes No No No Yes

Motion Tween

No Yes Yes Yes No

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Sound

First, import a sound file into the library.

Add sound to a movie by dragging an instance of the sound into a frame.

To minimize file size, loop shorter sounds (to make them repeat).

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Actions

ActionScript statements instruct a movie to do something while it is playing. Frame action: An action attached to a frame is

triggered when the movie plays that frame.

Object action: An action attached to an object is triggered when the viewer interacts with the object, such as moving the pointer over a hotspot or clicking a button.