Flash 4 Bible

by Robert Reinhardt; Jon Warren Lentz

• ISBN13: 9780764533563
• ISBN10: 0764533568
• Edition: CD
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-01-01
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc

Summary

If Flash 4 can do it, you can do it too... Whether you're a Flash beginner or an old hand, this is the one guide you need to unleash the full potential of this state-of-the-art Web animation software. Packed with examples and illustrations - including eight pages in full color - as well as expert tutorials from animations pros, the Flash 4 Bible covers everything from creating graphics and building interactive effects to using Flash with other applications and deploying Flash animations on the Web. It's all you need to discover the secrets of great Flash animation - and take any Web site to the next level! Inside, you'll find complete coverage of Flash 4 Create streaming animation and moving logos for any Web site Build pop-up menus and rollover buttons with ease Explore Flash drawing tools, animation controls, and file format support Use Flash with Dreamweaver, Photoshop, FreeHand, Illustrator, Premiere, and other design software Discover useful techniques such as in-betweening and onion-skinning Take advantage of JavaScript interactivity to make Flash movies Create standalone Flash projectors for floppy-disk distribution Add-one, plug-ins, and more on CD-ROM Trial software, including Director 7, Dreamweaver 2, Fireworks 2, Flash 4, and Freehand 8 Time-saving templates Examples from the book Shareware programs are fully functional, free trial versions of copyrighted programs. If you like particular programs, register with their authors for a nominal fee and receive licenses, enhanced versions, and technical support. Freeware programs are free, copyrighted games, applications, and utilities. You can copy them to as many PCs as you like-free-but they have no technical support. www.idgbooks.com System Requirements: Mac: Power PC at 100MHz or greater, 32MB RAM, System 7.6.1 or later. PC: Pentium PC at 133MHz or greater, 32MB RAM, Windows 95, 98, or NT 4

Author Biography

About the Authors Robert Reinhardt has developed multimedia courses for educational facilities in Canada and the United States, delivered conference seminars on Web design, and served as technical editor for several Photoshop and Web books. With a degree in photographic arts, Robert takes a holistic approach to computer applications for the creation of provocative multimedia. Recently, he created installation and digital art for the Warner Bros. feature film Gossip. Now based in Los Angeles, he continues his work through "The Makers" (www.theMakers.com) as a multimedia artist, programmer, and instructor with his partner Snow and his creatively inclined dog, Stella. Jon Warren Lentz is a graduate of the Classical Studies program at UCSC, and a freelance artist and author. He is the lead co-author of a popular Web design book, <deconstructing web graphics.2>, co-authored with Lynda Weinman. He's also an associate editor and columnist for EFX Art and Design magazine, formerly known as Mac Art & Design. Prior to entering the photodigital frontier, Lentz achieved notice as a sculptor working with sand-carved glass — a process that he helped to define as a fine art medium. Jon's images have been featured in the 1997 Graphis Poster Annual, Mac Art & Design magazine (Sweden), IdN — the International Designer's Network magazine (Hong Kong), and other magazines. In July 1998, Shutterbug magazine explored connections between his fine art abstractions and commercial works. His work may be viewed online at www.uncom.com. Jon has lectured on digital art, design, and technology at many venues, including the Maine Photographic Workshops, and the Thunder Lizard Photoshop Conference. In 1998, Jon was the visiting artist at Bradford College in Bradford, Massachusetts. In 1999, he joined the faculty at Palomar College, where he now teaches Photoshop, Flash, and Web design. Jon's personal interests are board surfing, photography, fine art, and the study of classical Latin and Greek poetry. He lives with his wife and son in Carlsbad, a beach community near San Diego, California. Contributors and Technical Editors Justin Jamieson ([e-mail]) started using his first computer when he was eight years old. Years later, after studying design and cinematography, he combined his training with his computing knowledge to co-found mediumLarge (www.mediumLarge.com), a new media design firm in Toronto. In 1997, while developing a Web site for a local Toronto rap group, Justin began his research into the use of sound on the Internet and there's been no turning back. He recently began an online record company for unsigned Canadian acts that will distribute CDs and MP3s to listeners around the world. One of the first true Flashmasters, Paul Mendigochea has been working with the program since the release of FutureSplash. He's renowned as the architect of the award-winning FlashPad Web site (www.flasher.net/flashpad.html), which was the first community forum for like-minded Flashers. FlashPad is built entirely in Flash 4, with exemplary use of the new features. According to Paul, "Flash 4's robust forms and client/server features make Flash 4 a viable alternative to HTML-based Web sites." Paul predicts that these new features will propel "the great Internet facelift era," meaning that clunky HTML interfaces will soon be replaced with easy-to-use Flash front ends. To kick-start this era, he also maintains the Flashcgi Web site (www.flashcgi.com), which delivers support to developers who build Flash-based client/server applications. Having originally studied fine arts (BA, University of Waterloo) and literature, language, and computer-mediated-communication (MA, University of Waterloo), Colin Moock now explores theoretical and practical creativity on the Web. During the mid '90s, Colin produced SoftQuad Inc's corporate Web site, when SoftQuad's HoTMetaL PRO ruled the Web-authoring software world. He's now a Web designer at Toronto-based new media firm ICE (www.iceinc.com), creating Web sites and interactive experiences for companies such as Levi's, Sony, The Movie Network, and McClelland & Stewart. Colin's personal exploration of the Web occurs at www.moock.org, where he maintains online artwork, Web experiments, and collections of essays and tutorials for Web developers.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Mastering Flash Tools	p. 1
Defining the Flash Toolbar	p. 3
Flash Tool Basics	p. 3
The Flash Drawing Toolbar (a.k.a. The Toolbar)	p. 7
Flash Selection Tools	p. 11
The Arrow Tool	p. 11
The Lasso Tool	p. 17
The Flash Drawing and Painting Tools	p. 19
The Pencil Tool	p. 21
New Pencil Tool Functionality	p. 28
The Line Tool	p. 29
The Oval Tool	p. 29
The Rectangle Tool	p. 30
Using the (Paint) Brush Tool	p. 31
The Dropper Tool	p. 36
The Ink Bottle Tool	p. 37
The Paint Bucket Tool	p. 40
The Eraser Tool	p. 44
The Text Tool	p. 46
Flash Color	p. 55
Web Safe Color Issues	p. 56
Hex Defined	p. 56
ColorSafe and Other Solutions	p. 57
Toolbar Color	p. 61
Using the Flash Color Window	p. 63
Defining the Flash Framework	p. 73
What's Flash Capable Of?	p. 73
What Can a Flash Movie Be?	p. 76
Components of the Flash Environment	p. 77
Contrast: Flash Movie File versus a Shockwave File	p. 79
Menus, Palettes, Settings, and Preferences	p. 81
Fundamental Flash Palettes	p. 81
From the Menu Bar	p. 92
The Edit Menu	p. 99
The View Menu	p. 101
The Insert Menu	p. 103
The Modify Menu	p. 104
The Control Menu	p. 108
The Libraries Menu	p. 110
The Window Menu	p. 110
The Help Menu	p. 112
Getting Flash Help	p. 113
Flash Help Topics	p. 115
Online	p. 117
Digging into Other Online Resources	p. 120
Creating Flash Graphics	p. 129
Drawing in Flash	p. 131
Simple Shapes and Objects	p. 131
Stacking Order	p. 139
Grouping	p. 140
Scale, Rotate, Skew, and Flip	p. 141
The Inspectors	p. 142
Stroke and Fill Effects	p. 144
Creating Type and Text Effects	p. 151
Using Media with Flash Artwork	p. 157
Vector versus Bitmap Images	p. 157
Importing External Media	p. 158
Animating with Flash	p. 167
Frame-by-Frame Animation	p. 167
Tweening	p. 169
Editing Animation	p. 174
Guide Layers	p. 177
The Flash Library: Symbols and Instances	p. 181
Symbol Types	p. 181
Adding Symbols to Movies	p. 187
Editing Symbols	p. 188
Modifying Instance Properties	p. 189
Sound Planning	p. 193
Understanding Sound for Flash	p. 195
Basics of Sampling and Quality	p. 195
Sound File Import Formats	p. 200
Sound Export Formats Used by Flash	p. 200
Controlling Sounds in Flash	p. 203
Importing Sounds into Flash	p. 203
Assigning a Sound to a Button	p. 204
Synchronizing Audio with Animations	p. 206
Incorporating Sound in the Timeline	p. 207
Editing Audio in Flash	p. 208
Optimizing Flash Sound for Export	p. 213
Sound Optimization Overview	p. 213
Publish Settings for Audio	p. 213
Fine-Tuning Sound Settings in the Library	p. 217
Publish Settings for QuickTime	p. 219
Flash Interactivity: Making Things Happen	p. 221
Understanding Basic Interactivity: Actions and Event Handlers	p. 223
Actions and Event Handlers	p. 223
Your First Six Actions	p. 225
Making Actions Happen with Event Handlers	p. 230
Gaining Advanced Control Over Your Movies	p. 237
Controlling Movie Clips with Tell Target	p. 237
Drag'n'Drop in Flash	p. 251
Managing Smooth Movie Download and Display	p. 255
Programming Flash with ActionScript	p. 263
The Basic Context for Programming in Flash	p. 263
The Parts of Its Sum: ActionScript's Components	p. 264
Revving Up Flash Generator	p. 285
How this Chapter was Written	p. 285
What is Generator?	p. 286
Using Flash with Other Programs	p. 297
Working with Raster Graphics	p. 299
Preparing Bitmaps for Flash Movies	p. 299
Using Photoshop to Create Images with Alpha Channels	p. 303
Using Live Picture to Create Animations	p. 312
Exporting Raster Images from Flash	p. 319
Working with Vector Graphics	p. 327
Preparing Vector Graphics for Flash Movies	p. 327
Converting Rasters to Vectors	p. 345
Exporting Vector Graphics from Flash	p. 349
Working with Audio Applications	p. 353
Preparing Audio for Use in Flash	p. 353
Working with 3D Graphics	p. 367
Introduction to 3D Modeling	p. 367
Simulating 3D with Flash	p. 373
Using Adobe Dimensions to Create 3D Objects	p. 382
Animating Figures with MetaCreations Poser	p. 385
Exporting Animations from Kinetix 3D Studio Max	p. 393
Working with QuickTime	p. 399
QuickTime versus Video for Windows	p. 399
QuickTime Support in Flash	p. 401
Importing QuickTime into Flash	p. 402
Combining Flash and QT Movies	p. 404
Using Digital Video in Shockwave Flash Movies	p. 415
Creating Full-Motion Video with Flash	p. 431
High-Quality Video Output from Flash	p. 431
A Quick Video Primer	p. 432
Adjusting Flash Movies for Video Output	p. 436
Creating Sequences from Flash Movies	p. 441
Creating .AVI Files on the PC	p. 446
Importing Sequences into Video Applications	p. 448
Creating Broadcast-Quality Cartoons	p. 453
Caution! Large Files Ahead	p. 453
The Storyboard	p. 454
Backgrounds and Scenery	p. 456
Some Cartoon Animation Basics	p. 459
Animator's Keys and Inbetweening	p. 463
Coloring the Art	p. 465
Flash Tweening	p. 467
Lip-Synching	p. 469
Finishing Up	p. 472
Working with Authoring Applications	p. 473
Integrating SWF Files into Dreamweaver	p. 474
Using SWF Files in Macromedia Director	p. 480
Distributing Flash Movies	p. 497
Exporting Shockwave Flash Movies	p. 499
Optimizing Flash Movies	p. 499
Testing Flash Movies	p. 502
Publishing Your Flash Movies	p. 508
Publish Settings	p. 509
Publish Preview and Publish Commands	p. 527
Structuring Flash Content	p. 529
Writing Markup for Flash Movies	p. 529
Using Flash Movies with JavaScript and DHTML	p. 538
Using Players and Projectors	p. 547
The Flash Standalone Player and Projector	p. 547
Standalone Limitations and Solutions	p. 553
Using the Flash Player Plug-In for Web Browsers	p. 554
Alternative Flash-Content Players	p. 558
Using the CD-ROM	p. 563
Author and Contributor Contact Information	p. 565
Index	p. 569
End-User License Agreement	p. 612
CD-ROM Installation Instructions	p. 616
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.