1. Introduction to Macromedia Flash 8

2. Flash Workspace Tools panel Timeline Panels Current scene Layers
Stage
Property inspector

3. Display Area in Microsoft Internet Explorer
Stage
You compose movie content on the Stage.
Set Stage size to match a specific browser size.
Screen Resolution
Display 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

4. Tools Panel Tools create the content of a movie.
Tools: Draw, paint, create text, select objects, modify objects, and erase objects
View tools: Zoom and pan
Colour tools: Set stroke and fill colours
Options: Modify the currently selected tool

5. Panels
Options menu
Panels provide additional tools for creating and editing movies.
Click the options menu to view additional options for the current panel.
You can hide or show panels by using the options on the Window menu.

6. Timeline
You can organize and control the content of a movie over time.
Playhead
Frames
Layers
Frame rate

7. Frames and Keyframes
Frames: Like films, Flash movies divide lengths of time into frames, which are organized on 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.

8. Frames and Keyframes Keyframe with content Empty frames Blank keyframe
Empty slots for new frames

9. 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

10. Symbols and Libraries
Symbols are elements 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.

11. 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.

12. 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 Flash automatically create the frames in between.
Flash has two types of tweening: shape tweening and motion tweening.

13. Shape and Motion Tweening
In 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.

14. Shape and Motion Tweening
Group
Symbol
Text Block
Broken- apart Text
Shape Tween
yes no
Motion Tween

15. 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).

16. 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.