Understand the Macromedia Flash environment Open a document and play a movie Create and save a movie Work with layers and the timeline Plan a Web site Distribute a Macromedia Flash movie. Unit Lessons

What is Flash MX? –A animation and interactive authoring program –Has tools for complex animation, as well as excellent drawing tools Using Flash MX

What can Flash MX be used for? –Web sites –Web-based applications –CD-Rom and interactive applications –Video Using Flash

Optimized for the web Flash’s Native format is vector images, which reduce the size of graphic files. –Vectors are scalable Flash provides streaming content over the internet –instead of waiting for the entire contents of a web page to load.

The Development Environment You can customize your workspace Flash works on a movie metaphor –Create Scenes on a Stage –Scenes run in frames on a timeline –You create a movie by arranging objects on the stage –You can play the movie on the stage using VCR-like controls

Playback of Flash content Movies are viewable through a browser Macromedia Flash Player is required –Free download from Macromedia’s Web site Movie’s can be played through the browser, the player, or as a stand- alone “projector”

How Flash Starts up Three parts to the Development Environment –Stage –Timeline –Workspace You can display other parts of the program –The toolbox –The properties panel

toolbox stage timeline panels

The Stage Contains all objects that are seen by the viewer in the final movie You can draw objects on, or import objects to the stage

The Timeline Used to organize and control the movie’s content by specifying when each object appears on the stage Images are contained within frames, which are units of the timeline. The timeline has separate layers The timeline has a playback head

The Toolbox Contains a set of tools used to draw and edit graphics and text Divided into four sections: Tools, View,Colors, Option Panels, such as the Properties Panel are used to organize and modify objects and features in a movie

Opening a movie in Flash The.fla extension is native, and can only be opened in Flash Flash exports web-ready files as.swf.swf files should be tested before being published Always keep the original.fla file

Previewing a movie Flash movies can be previewed in the development environment Control menu commands: –Play, rewind, step forward, step backward. The Controller acts similar to a VCR Controller

Testing a movie When previewing a movie, some interactive functions do not work unless the movie is played using the Flash Player. Use Control > Test Movie to test using the Flash player

Creating a Macromedia Flash Movie Movies are created by placing objects on the stage, editing these objects, animating them and adding interactivity You can create graphics in Flash,or import them from another program such as Photoshop

Creating a Macromedia Flash Movie Objects placed on the stage are automatically placed in a layer, and in the currently selected frame of the timeline A keyframe represents a frame which contains an object. –Always the first frame of every animation

An object in a keyframe Object on the stage Keyframe representing object

Creating an animation A basic animation requires two keyframes –The first keyframe sets the starting position –The second keyframe sets the ending position The number of frames between two keyframes determines the length of the animation

Motion animation Arrow between keyframes indicates motion animation

Adding an Effect to an Object In addition to animating an objects location, you can also animate an objects appearance –Shape –Color –Brightness –Transparency –Rotation

Understanding the Timeline Playhead Frames Frame View Icon Status Bar Layers Understanding how to read the timeline can help you determine what’s happening in your movie frame by frame

Layers Like transparent acetate sheets of content stacked on top of one another Adding a layer causes it to be placed on top of the other layers Can be re-ordered by dragging up or down

Using Frames The timeline is made up of individual units called frames Content is displayed in frames as the playhead moves over them when the movie plays The status bar indicates current frame the playhead is on

Using the Playhead The playhead indicates which frame is playing Can be dragged left or right Dragging back and forth allows you to check some animations in Flash without exporting to swf

Understanding Scenes A section of the timeline designated for a specific part of the movie. You can create and name scenes as you wish Great way to manage your flash movie production

Adjusting the Timeline view

Modifying the frame rate Change movie dimensions Adjust the frame rate Adjust the Background color

Plan a Web site First step in any site production Step 1: State the Purpose(Goals) Step 2: Identify the Target Audience –Who will use the Web site?

Plan a Web site Step 3: Determining the Treatment –What is the look and feel? –Tone –Approach –Emphasis

Plan a Web site Step 4: Develop the Specifications –Playback System –Elements to Include –Functionality –User Interface

Create a Storyboard

Using Screen Design guidelines Balance Unity Movement User Interface

Using Interactive Design guidelines Make it simple, easy to understand Build in consistency in the navigation scheme Provide feedback Give the user control

Distributing Flash Movies File > Publish to export movies out of Flash Export to.swf format Generate the HTML code that references the Macromedia Shockwave file

HTML code Code specifying the Macromedia Shockwave Movie that the browser will play.swf extension indicates a Macromedia Shockwave file

Other Publish options Stand-alone Projector Files Quicktime.mov files

Unit Tasks Understand the Macromedia Flash environment Open a document and play a movie Create and save a movie Work with layers and the timeline Plan a Web site Distribute a Macromedia Flash movie.