Flash CS3 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

Pack pizzazz into your Web sites with Flash! Start with simple animation, or create whole pages in Flash The newest version of Flash offers all sorts of cool options for designing Web sites that stand out from the crowd, and this handy guide makes it easy. Enhance your site with animated graphics, boxes, or buttons; morph shapes; create text with exotically changing colors; add sound or video; and watch visitors flock to your site! Flash CS3 For Dummies 3 About the Authors 5 Dedication 7 Authors’ Acknowledgments 7 Contents at a Glance 9 Table of Contents 11 Introduction 21 About This Book 21 How to Use This Book 21 Foolish Assumptions 22 Conventions Used in This Book 22 How This Book Is Organized 23 Icons Used in This Book 25 Where to Go from Here 26 Part I: A Blast of Flash 27 Chapter 1: Getting Acquainted with Flash CS3 29 Discovering Flash 30 Understanding What You Can Create with Flash CS3 31 Determining When Not to Use Flash CS3 32 Getting the Right Start 32 Taking a Look Around 34 Getting Help in a Flash 41 Try It; You’ll Like It 42 Chapter 2: Your Basic Flash 51 Looking at the Big Picture 51 Setting the Stage 53 Grabbing a Graphic 55 Using a Template 60 Printing Your Movie 62 Part II: 1,000 Pictures and 1,000 Words 65 Chapter 3: Getting Graphic 67 Sharpening Your Pencil 67 Creating Shapely Shapes 72 Mixing and Matching Shapes 75 Keeping Objects Safe and Secure 77 Creating Curves with the Pen 80 Getting Artistic with the Brush 82 Pouring on the Paint 87 Strokes, Ink 87 A Rainbow of Colors 88 Drawing Precisely 94 The Import Business — Using Outside Graphics 97 Chapter 4: You Are the Object Editor 103 Selecting Objects 103 Moving, Copying, and Deleting 106 Making Shapes More Shapely 111 Transforming Fills 121 Transferring Properties 123 Finding and Replacing Objects 124 Transforming Objects 125 Combining Objects 129 Getting Grouped 130 Changing the Transformation Point 131 Breaking Apart Objects 132 Establishing Order on the Stage 133 Undoing, Redoing, and Reusing 134 Chapter 5: What’s Your Type? 139 Presenting Your Text 139 Creating Cool Text Effects 152 Chapter 6: Layering It On 155 Creating Layers 156 Getting Those Layers Right 159 Creating Guide Layers 163 Opening Windows with Mask Layers 165 Part III: Getting Symbolic 169 Chapter 7: Heavy Symbolism 171 Understanding Symbol Types 171 Creating Symbols 173 Modifying Symbols 177 Using Symbols from Other Movies 180 Working with Instances, for Instance 182 Chapter 8: Pushing Buttons 191 Creating Simple Buttons 191 Putting Buttons to the Test 194 Creating Complex Buttons 195 Part IV: Total Flash-o-Rama 203 Chapter 9: Getting Animated 205 Who Framed the Animation? 205 Preparing to Animate 206 Creating Animations Instantly with Timeline Effects 210 Animating with Keyframes 211 The Animation Tween 214 Editing Animation 226 Making the Scene 234 Chapter 10: Getting Interactive 237 Understanding ActionScript 237 Adding ActionScript to Frames 239 Using ActionScript with Buttons 241 Using ActionScript with Movie Clips 245 Exploring ActionScript Further 248 Chapter 11: Extravagant Audio, High-Velocity Video 251 Acquiring Amazing Audio 251 Editing Sounds 255 Managing Sound 257 Video Magic 259 Part V: The Movie and the Web 271 Chapter 12: Putting It All Together 273 Adding the Power of Components 273 Creating a Preloader 284 Creating an Entire Web Site with Flash 285 Testing for the Flash Player 290 Using the Movie Explorer 292 Making Your Site More Accessible 294 Chapter 13: Publishing Your Flash Files 297 Optimizing Movies for Fast Download 298 Testing Movies 300 Saving Your Work in Flash 8 Format 303 Publishing Flash Movies 304 Publishing to SWF 305 Publishing to HTML 309 Publishing to Other Formats 318 Using Publish Profiles 322 Using Publish Preview 325 Posting Your Movie to Your Web Site 325 Exporting Movies and Images 326 Creating Printable Movies 328 Part VI: The Part of Tens 333 Chapter 14: Ten Frequently Asked Questions 335 How Do I Combine Two Flash Movies? 335 Why Is Motion Tweening Not Working? 336 How Can I Sync Sound with Motion? 337 What Is the Best Way to Import Bitmaps? 338 How Do I Rescale My Movie’s Size? 339 What Are the Best Tips for Creating Movies? 340 Can Flash Do 3-D? 341 How Do I Center a Flash Movie in a Web Page? 345 What Are the Size Limits for a Flash Movie? 347 How Do I Dynamically Load Music from the Web? 348 Chapter 15: Ten Best Flash Resources 351 Check Out Award-Winning Movies 351 Look on the Flash Web Pages 352 Visit Our Site 352 Take a Course 352 Join a Flash Discussion Group 353 Check Out Flash Resource Sites 354 Check Out Sites That Use Flash 355 Attend a Flash Conference 355 Collect Flash Movies 355 Reuse Your Best Stuff 356 Chapter 16: Ten Flash Designers to Watch 357 Hillman Curtis 357 Anthony Eden 358 Chris Georgenes 358 Ben Hantoot 358 Seb Lee-Delisle 358 Eric Natzke 359 Keith Peters 359 Micaël Reynaud 359 Grant Skinner 359 Jared Tarbell 360 Part VII: Appendixes 361 Appendix A: Installing Flash and Setting Your Preferences 363 Installing Flash 363 Setting Your Preferences 366 Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts 372 Appendix B: : The Property Inspector and the Panels 375 The Tools Panel 375 The Property Inspector Gadget 376 The Align Panel 378 The Color Panel 378 The Swatches Panel 379 The Info Panel 379 The Scene Panel 380 The Transform Panel 380 The Actions Panel 381 The Movie Explorer Panel 382 The Output Panel 382 The Accessibility Panel 383 The Components Panel 383 The Component Inspector Panel 384 The History Panel 384 The Strings Panel 385 Appendix C: What’s on the Companion Web Site 387 Your Own Personal Library of Vector Graphics 387 Flash Movies Galore 388 Bonus Chapter 388 Index 389