ptg Adobe fLAsh professionAL Cs5 CLAssroom in A book 31 Current color Color Picker Color choices Transparency 10 Make sure the empty keyframe in frame 36 of the title layer is selected, and then click on the Stage where you want to begin adding text. You can either click once and begin typing, or you can click and drag to define the width of your text field. 11 Type in a title that describes the photos that are being displayed on the Stage. Download from Library of Wow! ebook ptg 32 LESSON 1 Getting Acquainted tools Panel Overview The Tools panel contains selection tools, drawing and painting tools, and naviga- tion tools. The options area in the Tools panel lets you modify the selected tool. The expanded menu on the right shows the hidden tools. The black squares on the expanded menu to the right indicate the default tool that appears on the Tool panel. The single capital letters in parentheses indicate the keyboard shortcuts to select those tools. Notice how the tools are grouped together by similar function. Selection tools Drawing and Type tools Retouching tools Navigation tools Colors area Options area Selection (V) Subselection (A) Lasso (L) Text (T) Line (L) Pencil (Y) Deco (U) Eyedropper (I) Eraser (E) Hand (H) Zoom (Z) Stroke Color Fill Color Black and white Swap colors Download from Library of Wow! ebook ptg Adobe fLAsh professionAL Cs5 CLAssroom in A book 33 12 Exit the Text tool by selecting the Selection tool ( ). 13 Use the Properties inspector or the Transform panel to reposition or rotate your text on the Stage, if desired. Or, choose the Selection tool and simply drag your text to a new position on the Stage. e X and Y values in the Properties inspector update as you drag the text around the Stage. 14 Your animation for this lesson is finished! Compare your file with the final file, 01End.fla. undoing Steps in Flash In a perfect world, everything would go according to plan. But sometimes you need to move back a step or two and start over. You can undo steps in Flash using the Undo command or the History panel. To undo a single step in Flash, choose Edit > Undo or press Ctrl/Command+Z. To redo a step you’ve undone, choose Edit > Redo. To undo multiple steps in Flash, it’s easiest to use the History panel, which displays a list of all the last 100 steps you’ve performed. Closing a document clears its his- tory. To access the History panel, choose Window > Other Panels > History. For example, if you aren’t satisfied with the newly added text, you can undo your work and return your Flash document to a previous state. Download from Library of Wow! ebook ptg 34 LESSON 1 Getting Acquainted 1 Choose Edit > Undo to undo the last action you made. You can choose the Undo command multiple times to move backward as many steps as are listed in the History panel. You can change the maximum number of Undo commands by selecting Flash > Preferences. 2 Choose Window > Other Panels > History to open the History panel. 3 Drag the History panel slider up to the step just before your mistake. Steps below that point are dimmed in the History panel and are removed from the project. To add a step back, move the slider back down. Previewing Your Movie As you work on a project, it’s a good idea to preview it frequently to ensure that you’re achieving the desired effect. To quickly see how an animation or movie will appear to a viewer, choose Control > Test Movie > in Flash Professional. You can also press Ctrl+Enter or Command+Return to preview your movie. 1 Choose Control > Test Movie > in Flash Professional. Note: If you remove steps in the History panel and then perform additional steps, the removed steps will no longer be available. Download from Library of Wow! ebook ptg Adobe fLAsh professionAL Cs5 CLAssroom in A book 35 Flash creates a SWF file in the same location as your FLA file and opens and plays the file in a separate window. A SWF file is the compressed, published file that you would upload to the Web. Flash automatically loops your movie in this preview mode. If you don’t want the movie to loop, choose Control > Loop to deselect the option. 2 Close the preview window. 3 Click on the Stage with the Selection tool. Note at the bottom of the Properties inspector that the SWF History displays and keeps a log of the file size, date, and time of the most recent SWF file published. is will help you keep track of your work progress and revisions. Publishing Your Movie When you’re ready to share your movie with others, publish it from Flash. For most projects, Flash will create an HTML file and a SWF file. e SWF file is your final Flash movie, and the HTML file tells your Web browser how to display the SWF file. You’ll need to upload both files to the same folder on your Web server. Always test your movie after uploading it to be certain that it’s working properly. 1 Choose File > Publish Settings. 2 Click the Formats tab. Note: You’ll learn more about publishing options in Lesson 10. Download from Library of Wow! ebook ptg 36 LESSON 1 Getting Acquainted 3 Select Flash (.swf) and HTML (.html). 4 Click the HTML tab. 5 Deselect the Loop option. Download from Library of Wow! ebook ptg Adobe fLAsh professionAL Cs5 CLAssroom in A book 37 6 Click Publish at the bottom of the Publish Settings dialog box. 7 Click OK to close the dialog box. 8 Navigate to the Lesson01/01Start folder to see the files Flash created. Saving Your Movie You’ve already saved your Flash movie as an FLA file, but another option is to save your movie in an uncompressed format known as an XFL format. e XFL format is actually a folder of files rather than a single document. e XFL file format exposes the contents of your Flash movie so that other developers or animators can easily edit your file or manage its assets without having to open the movie in the Flash application. For example, all the imported photos in your Library panel appear in a Library folder within the XFL format. You can edit the library photos or swap them with new photos. Flash will make the substitutions in the movie automatically. 1 Choose File > Save As. 2 Name the file 01_workingcopy.xfl and choose Flash CS5 Uncompressed Document (*.xfl). Click Save. Flash creates a folder named 01_workingcopy, which contains all the information about your Flash movie. 3 Close the Flash document by choosing File > Close. Download from Library of Wow! ebook ptg 38 LESSON 1 Getting Acquainted Modifying an XFL document In this step, you’ll modify the Library folder of the XFL document to make changes to your Flash movie. 1 Open the LIBRARY folder inside the 01_workingcopy folder. e folder contains all the photos you imported into your Flash movie. 2 Select the photo3.jpg file and delete it. 3 Drag the photo4.jpg file from the 01Start folder and move it to the LIBRARY folder inside the 01_workingcopy folder. Rename photo4.jpg as photo3.jpg. Swapping out photo3.jpg with a new image in the LIBRARY folder automatically makes the change in the Flash movie. 4 To open an XFL document, double-click the .xfl file. e last image in keyframe 24 of your Timeline has been swapped with the photo4.jpg image with which you made the substitution. Download from Library of Wow! ebook ptg Adobe fLAsh professionAL Cs5 CLAssroom in A book 39 Finding Resources for Using Flash For complete and up-to-date informa- tion about using Flash panels, tools, and other application features, visit the Adobe Web site. Choose Help > Flash Help. You’ll be connected to the Adobe Community Help Web site where you can search Flash Help and support documents, as well as other Web sites relevant to Flash users. You can nar- row your search results to view only Adobe help and support documents as well. If you plan to work in Flash when you’re not connected to the Internet, down- load the most current PDF version of Flash Help from www.adobe.com/support/ documentation. For additional resources, such as tips and techniques and the latest product infor- mation, check out the Adobe Community Help page at community.adobe.com/ help/main. Note: If Flash detects that you are not connected to the Internet when you start the application, choosing Help > Flash Help opens the Help HTML pages installed with Flash. For more up-to-date information, view the Help files online or download the current PDF for reference. Download from Library of Wow! ebook ptg 40 LESSON 1 Getting Acquainted Checking for Updates Adobe periodically provides updates to software. You can easily obtain these updates through Adobe Application Manager, as long as you have an active Internet connection. 1 In Flash, choose Help > Updates. e Adobe Application Manager automatically checks for updates available for your Adobe software. 2 In the Adobe Application Manager dialog box, select the updates you want to install, and then click Download And Install Updates to install them. Note: To set your preferences for future updates, choose Help > Updates, and then click Preferences in the Adobe Application Manager. Select how often you want Adobe Application Manager to check for updates, for which applications, and whether to download them automatically. Click OK to accept the new settings. Download from Library of Wow! ebook . ebook ptg Adobe fLAsh professionAL Cs5 CLAssroom in A book 39 Finding Resources for Using Flash For complete and up-to-date informa- tion about using Flash panels, tools, and other application features,. the 01_workingcopy folder. Rename photo4.jpg as photo3.jpg. Swapping out photo3.jpg with a new image in the LIBRARY folder automatically makes the change in the Flash movie. 4 To open an XFL document,. History panel and then perform additional steps, the removed steps will no longer be available. Download from Library of Wow! ebook ptg Adobe fLAsh professionAL Cs5 CLAssroom in A book 35 Flash