Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity By Robert Hoekman, Jr., Rich Shupe Publisher: O'Reilly Pub Date: March 2006 Print ISBN-10: 0-596-10223-2 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-59-610223-4 Pages: 358 Table of Contents | Index Macromedia Flash is fast becoming the Web's most widely used platform for creating rich media with animation and motion graphics, but mastering Flash isn't easy Most entry-level books teach through simple examples that concentrate on either animation or scripting, but rarely both together To get the most from Flash 8, you not only need to be proficient in programming/interface design, you need the creativity for story telling and the artistic insights to design fluid animation Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity teaches Flash design rather than simply Flash itself With a standalone series of walkthroughs and tutorials for Flash beginners coming from a graphics field, this book teaches Flash in the context of realworld projects Rather than learn a Flash tool for the sake of it, you learn which areas of Flash are important, and which are less used, simply by seeing how typical content is actually created And rather than a text-heavy approach, this graphically rich book leads you through hands-on examples by illustration Each project in the book starts with goals and broad sketches before moving to design and scripting This helps you understand design intent-the why of the process-rather than just learning the interfaces and the how of it all Along the way, you'll create Flash content that includes traditional animation techniques (as seen in full-length animated features), and ActionScript-based interactive animation, such as custom web site interface designs You also learn how to combine both traditional animation techniques and ActionScript to create feature-rich Flash assets from the ground up Co-authored by educational developers with years of experience creating compelling content, interfaces, and applications, Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity offers a content-driven approach that is also inspiration-driven You learn because you're accomplishing something tangible, not because you think you need to know how a tool works If you want to understand how various features of Flash come together to create a final end design, this book provides you with both the insight and the know-how Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity By Robert Hoekman, Jr., Rich Shupe Publisher: O'Reilly Pub Date: March 2006 Print ISBN-10: 0-596-10223-2 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-59-610223-4 Pages: 358 Table of Contents | Index Copyright About the Authors Preface Chapter 1 Getting Started, Right Out of the Box Section 1.1 Drawing Your First Box Section 1.2 Coloring Fills and Strokes Section 1.3 Merging and Stacking Shapes Section 1.4 Creating Reusable Graphics Chapter 2 Creating Quickly: Customizing Your Workspace Section 2.1 Designing Your Own Panel Layout Section 2.2 Customizing Movie Properties Section 2.3 Aligning Objects on the Stage Section 2.4 Behind Every Good Symbol Is a Good Editor Section 2.5 Automate Your Workflow Section 2.6 What's Next? Chapter 3 Your First Animation Section 3.1 Layers and the Timeline Section 3.2 Keyframes and Tweening Section 3.3 Preparing Text for Animation Section 3.4 Staggering Animation Section 3.5 Alpha Effect Section 3.6 Motion Effects Section 3.7 Your First Script Section 3.8 Publishing Your Movie Chapter 4 Buttons and Interactivity Section 4.1 Buttons as Symbols Section 4.2 Scripting Your Button Section 4.3 Components and Behaviors Section 4.4 Navigation Section 4.5 More Fun with Buttons Chapter 5 Working with Graphics Section 5.1 Importing Pixels Section 5.2 Working with Pixels Section 5.3 Importing Vectors Section 5.4 Using Scenes Section 5.5 Working with the Library Chapter 6 Movie Clips and Interactivity Section 6.1 Drawing a Cartoon Character Section 6.2 Controlling the Character with ActionScript Section 6.3 More Movie Clip Control Chapter 7 More Animation Techniques Section 7.1 Morphing with Shape Tweens Section 7.2 Frame-by-Frame Animation Section 7.3 Using Masks Section 7.4 Timeline Versus ActionScript Animation Section 7.5 What's Next? Chapter 8 Using Sound Section 8.1 Importing Sounds Section 8.2 Controlling External Sounds Section 8.3 Scripting Your Own Sound Control Chapter 9 Using Video Section 9.1 Importing Video Section 9.2 Controlling External Videos Section 9.3 Scripting Your Own Video Control Chapter 10 Compositing and Bitmap Effects Section 10.1 Runtime Bitmap Caching Section 10.2 Bitmap Filter Effects Section 10.3 Blend Modes Chapter 11 Working with Text Section 11.1 Text Types Section 11.2 Using Fonts Section 11.3 Loading and Styling Text Section 11.4 FlashType Chapter 12 Loading Assets on the Fly Section 12.1 Using ActionScript to Modularize Content Section 12.2 Preloading Chapter 13 e-Learning with Flash Section 13.1 Creating a Quiz: Getting Started with Templates Section 13.2 Sending Results with a Form Section 13.3 Saving and Retrieving Local Data Chapter 14 Flash for CD-ROM and Handhelds Section 14.1 Flash on CD-ROM Section 14.2 Flash on the Run Chapter 15 Think Outside the Box Section 15.1 Exporting to Video Section 15.2 The Drawing API Section 15.3 Extending Flash Section 15.4 The Rest Is Up to You Appendix A Tips and Resources Section Preferences Section Customizing the Tools Panel Section Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts Section Basic Tips Section Flash 8 Basic Versus Professional Section Troubleshooting Section Areas of Continued Study Section Extending Flash Section Resources Colophon Index Copyright © 2006 O'Reilly Media, Inc All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472 O'Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use Online editions are also available for most titles (safari.oreilly.com) For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: 800-998-9938 or corporate@oreilly.com Print History: Editor: John Neidhart Indexer: Johnna VanHoose Dinse March 2006: First Production Edition Editor: Genevieve d'Entremont Cover Designer: Linda Palo Interior Designer: David Futato Copyeditor: Rachel Wheeler Illustrators: Robert Romano, Jessamyn Read, and Lesley Borash Proofreader: Sada Preisch The O'Reilly logo is a registered trademark of O'Reilly Media, Inc The Digital Studio series designations, O'Reilly Digital Studio, Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity, and related trade dress are trademarks of O'Reilly Media, Inc Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks Where those designations appear in this book, and O'Reilly Media, Inc was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein 0-596-10223-2 [C] About the Authors Rich Shupe is a Certified Macromedia Professional and the founder and CEO of Force Mass Acceleration (http://www.fmaonline.com), a New Yorkbased multimedia development company and training facility located in midtown Manhattan He has trained digital professionals for more than a decade and is a frequent lecturer and trainer at FlashForward, Macworld, and other industry events He is on the faculty of New York's School of Visual Arts, teaching in both the undergraduate and masters programs, and has taught at many other academic institutions both in the United States and abroad Rich was first turned on by what would become Flash when it was still called FutureSplash Animator, yet he is still just shy of middle age His company, FMA, is a leading developer of digital supplements for educational texts and creates web sites, CDROMs, kiosks, DVDs, and installations for clients and artists of all kinds, using Flash, among other fine tools and technologies Rich is also the author of The Director Xtras Book (Ventana) as well as a monthly Flash article for DevX (http://www.devx.com) covering almost anything Flash-related for all skill levels He has contributed (writing or editing) to several now-ancient texts, including InterActivity Magazine, the Apple Enhanced CD Factbook (Apple), Multimedia Sound and Music Studio (Random House), and others He also created and published Reflex Magazine back in his "heyday." Robert Hoekman, Jr., is the cofounder of 33Inc.com, and is an Interface Designer and Usability Specialist for GoDaddy.com In the past several years, Robert has worked in corporate environments as an interaction designer and Flash developer, and has designed for audiences ranging from music- memorabilia collectors to executives at Fortune 1000 companies Robert is the author of Flash User Experience Best Practices (Lynda.com), a book on Flash design basics called Flash Out of the Box (O'Reilly), contributing author for Flash MX 2004 Magic (New Riders), and author of the extensive series of articles called "10 Minutes With Flash" (InformIT) Preface In this chapter Who This Book Is For More Than Just Marketing What Makes This Book Different? How to Use This Book Using Code Examples Safari® Enabled Comments and Questions Acknowledgments Welcome to Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity, a project-based introduction to the newest version of Flash This book includes everything you need to get started in Flasha robust animation and interactive development toolright out of the box, including a CD-ROM with trial versions of the software and all of the example files from the exercises herein Who This Book Is For This book is primarily geared toward beginning Flash users who want to bring their project ideas to life This is not an exhaustive look at every feature available in Flash, nor is it an ActionScript dictionary This book offers a different perspective Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity has been designed as a project-based introduction to the Flash world Easy-to-follow exercises, content-rich sidebars, and plenty of illustrations work together to guide you through the application's major features You will never find yourself overwhelmed by unnecessarily complex exercises or dry, Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y] [Z] Object Drawing mode Object Undo mode objects alignment 2nd 3rd onion skinning onRelease event handler order of layers 2nd 3rd organization of Library Over state Over.ow menu Overlay blend mode Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y] [Z] packages panel layout customization interface 2nd 3rd saving panel types 2nd panels dragging History Properties 2nd 3rd 4th stacking panning sound parameters perfect squares pixel-based video 2nd 3rd pixels bitmaps 2nd 3rd 4th importing 2nd 3rd 4th 5th placement snap align guides 2nd PNG le format preferences drawing text preloading preloader components 2nd 3rd scripting preloader 2nd 3rd 4th Preview window progressive download projectors 2nd 3rd enhancers Properties panel alignment and bitmaps blend modes dynamic text text publishing movies Push Button component Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y] [Z] QuickTime Media layer exporting to 2nd 3rd 4th 5th track 2nd quizzes loading forms to 2nd results templates and Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y] [Z] realistic motion in animation 2nd easing and Rectangle tool registration point results of quizzes 2nd 3rd reusable buttons 2nd 3rd 4th 5th reusable graphics 2nd reusing symbols roundtrip editing rulers runtime bitmap caching 2nd 3rd Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y] [Z] scaling Scene panel scenes adding changes 2nd navigation Screen blend mode Script Assist 2nd 3rd 4th scriptable masks 2nd 3rd scripting buttons 2nd parameters preloaders scenes 2nd Script Assist and 2nd 3rd sound 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th server script parameters 2nd shape hints 2nd 3rd 4th shape tweens in animations 2nd 3rd morphing and 2nd 3rd 4th 5th shapes merging 2nd scaling stacking 2nd sharing Library during authoring simple buttons sliding text 2nd smoothing snap align guides 2nd soft keys solid lls 2nd Sorenson Squeeze sound Component Inspector editing 2nd importing 2nd scripting and stereo volume squares stacking graphics 2nd shapes 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th Stage Align/Distribute to Stage mobile devices object alignment 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th staggered text statements 2nd 3rd 4th states buttons Down Over Up static text 2nd 3rd 4th 5th selectable stereo sound stream sounds streaming video strokes color 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th drawing freehand 2nd 3rd 4th 5th styles styling text 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th SWFs importing loading 2nd 3rd Swift 3D Xpress Symbol Editing mode symbols buttons as 2nd 3rd 4th creating synchronization of imported sounds 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y] [Z] templates Text animation preparations for 2nd text animated animation alpha effect preparations for 2nd staggered anti-aliasing CSS 2nd 3rd 4th dynamic 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th FlashType 2nd HTML links and HTML tags 2nd loading 2nd preferences static 2nd 3rd styling tiling Timeline Effects timelines animation 2nd 3rd layers 2nd 3rd 4th tips tools Rectangle tracing bitmaps 2nd 3rd troubleshooting tutorial web sites tweening characters layers shape tweens Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y] [Z] Undo command Up state usability 2nd 3rd Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y] [Z] variables vector drawing tools vectors importing 2nd 3rd 4th from FreeHand 2nd from Illustrator 2nd video embedding exporting to QuickTime Media layer external 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th formats importing interface progressive download volume volume control handle Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y] [Z] warning messages web sites companion to book Macromedia 2nd tutorial Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y] [Z] y-coordinates Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y] [Z] zero-based arrays Zoomifyer ... usually includes the title, author, publisher, and ISBN For example: "Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity, by Rich Shupe and Robert Hoekman, Jr Copyright 2006 O'Reilly Media, Inc., 0-596-10223-2."... If you want to understand how various features of Flash come together to create a final end design, this book provides you with both the insight and the know-how Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity. .. This book offers a different perspective Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity has been designed as a project-based introduction to the Flash world Easy-to-follow exercises, content-rich sidebars, and plenty of illustrations work together to guide you through the