Flash Movies Tutorial
- When you first open Flash, you'll find that the basic interface is quite simple. The layout will be familiar to anyone who's used a program like Photoshop, Illustrator, or even Paint. You'll use various brushes and colors to paint objects on a canvas. Flash is interesting, however, for a couple of reasons. First, you can add animation to the pictures you create. Second, the movies you make in Flash can be interactive. Clicking on an object you create, for example, could send the viewer to a new scene or clip, or activate an additional animation.
- When you draw something in Flash, or when you import an existing image into Flash, the program won't immediately recognize it as something you wish to animate. To let Flash know that this is an object that will have animation or interactivity, you'll have to convert it to a symbol. To accomplish this, select your object with the cursor and find the "Modify" menu at the top of the screen. From here, click "Convert" to symbol and choose "Movie Clip" in the dialog box that appears. Your object is now ready for animation.
- Animation in Flash is known as "tweening," and there are two different types of tweening that you'll need to understand -- shape tweening and motion tweening. Shape tweening will change the shape of your object, while motion tweening will move it.
To perform a basic motion tween, first find the timeline at the bottom of your screen. The timeline is numbered, and each number will indicate a frame. Choose a frame later in the timeline, such as 15. Right click on this frame, and choose "Create blank keyframe." Now move your symbol to a new position, and right click the timeline between your new and original keyframes. Choose "Create Motion Tween" and press Control-Enter on your keyboard to test your animation.
A shape tween is performed in a very similar fashion. Instead of moving your object across the stage, change the shape of it by selecting it and using the selector tool to adjust its shape parameters.