Review Syllabus

Class Text: Macromedia Flash Professional 8 Hands-On Training (Hands on Training (H.O.T)

Supplemental Text (Not Required): Macromedia Flash Professional 8 Beyond the Basics (Hands-On Training)

Hard Drive: Many files will be generated in and out of this class. Students are responsible for saving, organizing, and archiving their own work. Personal file storage is required; an external thumb drive or hard drive is recommended. The following links are suggested drives, depending on student need and scenario;

Lexar Jump Drive

SmartDisk FireWire Drives

Lacie Desktop Drives

Final Project:

›Purpose
›Feel
›Be aware of the impression it makes
›Begin gathering and organizing your artwork

Purpose of final Flash Site is essentially a “book” online. It should be an effective, appropriate, and efficient display of your work and a memorable and professional first impression of you.

Trends and Techniques for Animation and Interactivity on the Web

1998
This website was groundbreaking design when it came out. Notice how linear the navigation is.

Moosesyrup, Mike Hansen Portfolio
A personal flash portfolio site. This site is a strong contrast to the nonlinear navigation. This allows the user to access information.

Matt Mahon Portfolio
Another contemporary media rich environment. Notice the engaging use of sound and video.

Alix Northrup Portfolio
This is a good example of a personal portfolio website designed in this class.

What is Flash?

VECTOR vs. BITMAP

Flash’s various roles in multimedia

History of Flash

In 1995, FutureWave modified SmartSketch by adding frame-by-frame animation features and re-released it as FutureSplash Animator on Macintosh and PC. The product was offered to Adobe and was used by Microsoft in its early (MSN) work with the Internet.

In December 1996, Macromedia bought the rights to the vector-based animation software and later released it as Flash 1.0.

In 2007, Adobe bought the rights from Macromedia and has recently released it as Adobe Flash CS3.

Read: Jonathan Gay’s The History of Flash

A Short Introduction Into Flash

Timeline

The Timeline is used to control animation. It is essential to use layers when creating Flash. Any piece of artwork one wishes to animate must be on a separate layer.
›To add a new layer simply click on the lower left button that looks like a piece of paper with its edge turned up.
›To show or lock layers click on the eyeball or the padlock buttons located in the top right of the layer section.

Keyframe

A keyframe is located on the timeline. When the keyframe is a solid circle or dot, this means there is content located on the stage that can be accessed through this key frame. When the circle is empty or hollow this means that there is nothing on the stage that is located within that keyframe. This is called a blank keyframe.

Keyframes that are filled with content.

Blank or Empty Keyframes.

F6 vs. F5

The F6 key adds individual keyframes that are duplicates of the prior keyframe. (making a new keyframe is like copying and pasting the previous keyframe)

The F5 key adds space between two keyframes. The content located between the keyframes is that of the prior keyframe.

Stage

The stage is where the visual part of the project is created. The tools to create this content are very similar to the Adobe Illustrator Tools Palette.

Located within the Tools palette there are two types of selection arrows. One is black and is called the Selection Tool (v). The other is white and is called the Sub-selection Tool (a).

Selection Tool (black arrow)

This is what a shape looks like when it is selected by the Selection Tool.

Sub-selection Tool (white arrow)

This is what a shape looks like when it is selected by the Sub-selection Tool.

The Sub-selection Tool allows one the capability to distort the contour of the shape selected.

Properties

When an object on the stage is selected, additional options can be accessed within the Properties Palette. By clicking on the the stage with nothing else selected, the above options are displayed within the Properties Palette.

Frame Rate

Frame rate determines the speed at which Flash moves through the timeline. The default is 12 fps (Frames Per Second).

For smoother animation, most sites are designed at 22 fps or 24 fps.

To calculate the length of an animation or an entire movie use the following equation:
(frames per second) X (seconds of move) = (number of frames in movie)

i.e. (12 fps) X (5 sec) = 60 frames

Stage Size

Similar to a print document, Flash’s stage size determines the amount of area that will be viewed (most often in a web browser). Pixels are most often used as measurement in Flash.

Publish Settings .fla vs .swf

The Publish settings can be accessed through the Properties Palette or by going to File > Publish Settings. There are options when publishing a Flash file. When a Flash file is published it is then converted from a .fla to a .swf.

.fla: The editing and construction are done within this file type.

.swf: This is the file that the animation can be viewed from.

.fla is to .swf as .psd is to .jpg