Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Flash CS4 Professional
Introduction 1
What’s New in This Edition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 2
Who Should Read This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 3
How This Book Is Organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 3
What’s on the Book’s Website . . . .. . . . . . . . 4
Part I: Assembling the Graphics You’ll
Animate in Flash
HOUR 1: Basics 7
Jump Right In and Make an Animation . . . . . . 7
Getting Your Bearings . . . . .. . . . . . . 9
Getting Around in Flash . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 23
Document Properties . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 28
File Types . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
HOUR 2: Drawing and Painting Original
Art in Flash 35
Drawing on the Stage. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 36
Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .
36
Selecting and Transforming Objects . . . . . . . . . . 54
HOUR 3: Importing Graphics into Flash 69
Vector Graphics Versus Raster Graphics . . . . 69
Reasons to Avoid Importing Graphics . . . . . . 70
Importing Vector Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 71
Using Bitmaps (Also Known as Raster
Graphics). . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 75
HOUR 4: Staying Organized with the Library
and Layers 89
The Concept of the Library . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 89
Using the Library. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 96
Using Symbols from the Library. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
100
HOUR 5: Controlling Color 113
Using Blends and Filters. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 113
Creating and Saving Color Swatches . . . . . . 118
HOUR 6: Applied Layout Techniques 129
Setting Text . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 129
Applied Examples Using Color Styles,
Blends, and Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Part II: Animating in Flash
HOUR 7: Understanding Animation 143
How Animation Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 143
Elements of Animation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 144
HOUR 8: Using Motion Tweens to
Animate 157
Creating a Motion Tween . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 157
Fine-Tuning a Motion Tween . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 165
HOUR 9: Using Shape Tweens to
Morph 177
Making a Shape Tween . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 177
Refining and Fine-Tuning a
Shape Tween . .. . . . . . . . . 182
HOUR 10: Advanced Animation with
Inverse Kinematics 191
Linking Symbols with the Bone Tool. . . . . . . . 191
Animating the Armature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 195
HOUR 11: Simulating 3D Animation 203
Creating a 3D Movie Clip. . . . . . . . . . .. . . 203
Moving Objects with the 3D
Translation Tool . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 209
Rotating Objects with the 3D
Rotation Tool . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 210
HOUR 12: Reusing Your Animations
with Motion Presets 215
The Motion Presets Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 215
Applying an Existing Motion Preset . . . . . . . . 217
Editing an Existing Preset with the
Motion Editor Panel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 222
HOUR 13: Including Sound in
Animations 229
Importing Sounds . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 229
Using Sounds. . . . . . . . . 232
Controlling Quality and File Size . . . . . . . . . . . .
241
HOUR 14: Nesting Animations in Movie
Clip and Graphic Symbols 253
Movie Clip Symbol Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 253
Subtleties of Movie Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 260
HOUR 15: Creating Special Effects 267
Effects with Shapes . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 267
Splatter Movie Clips with the Spray
Brush Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 272
Using Filters for Special Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . 274
Masking Effects . . . . . .. . . 277
Part III: Adding Interactivity and Video
HOUR 16: Basic Interactivity 287
Basic ActionScript . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .
287
Making Simple Buttons . . . . .. . . . . . . . 295
Listening for Events . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .
299
HOUR 17: Introducing Components 313
What Is a Component? . . .. . . . . . . . . 313
Using the Button Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 317
Using the RadioButton Component . . . . . . . . 319
Changing Component Appearances . . . . . . . . 322
HOUR 18: Using Components 329
Using Data Providers . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 329
Working with Other Components. . . . . . . . . . . . 337
HOUR 19: Using Video 345
Embedding Video Versus Playing
External Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .
. . . 345
Using Video . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
3D Animation with Video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 363
Part IV: Putting It All Together
for the Web
HOUR 20: Linking a Movie to the Web 369
Basic Publishing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .
. . 369
Simple Hyperlinks . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .
373
Using Style Sheets . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 378
What Other Web Tasks Can Flash Do? . . . . 380
Using Flash Inside a Larger Website . . . . . . . . 382
Uploading Files to a Web Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
386
HOUR 21: Designing a Website to
Be Modular 391
Loading Movies or Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 391
Determining When a Movie Is
Fully Loaded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .
. . . . 395
Playing External Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 398
Loading External Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 399
HOUR 22: Minimizing File Size 405
File Size Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 405
HOUR 23: Optimizing Performance 427
Measuring Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 427
Impacts on Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 428
HOUR 24: Publishing a Creation 435
How to Publish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .
. . . 435
Adding Metadata to Your Flash
Creation. . . . . . .. . . . 443
Choosing Which Version to Publish . . . . . . . . 445
Deciding Which Media Types to
Publish . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
Exporting Other Media Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 455
Index 459
