Introduction To Flash

FL ASH

•Animation is a rapid display of a sequence

of images of 2-D artwork or model positions in
order to create an illusion of movement.

•It is an optical illusion of motion due to the

phenomenon of persistence of vision.
 FL ASH

•originally
Flash is a vector animation software,
designed to create animations for
display on web pages. Vector graphics are ideal
for the web because they are so lightweight.
• Flash is a multimedia graphics program
specially for use on the Web .
• Flash enables you to create interactive
"movies" on the Web .
 FL ASH

•that Flash uses vector graphics, which means

the graphics can be scaled to any size
without losing clarity/quality.
• Flash does not require programming skills
and is easy to learn.
•controllable
Macromedia has made Flash more and more
via programming, where they have it
positioned as a competitor to HTML to build
interactive web sites and applications such as an e-
commerce store. Macromedia argues that Flash is the
way to go instead of HTML because of the following
reasons :
 FL ASH

•downloadFlash movies load faster and save on

time because Flash is vector based
whereas HTML is not.
• Flash intelligently ‘caches’ it’s movies so
they don’t have to be reloaded.
• Flash gives the user (the person
viewing/using the Flash movie) a more
responsive ‘rich-client’ like experience.
 FL ASH

• Flash pages can be made to load faster, but most

of the time, the way they are designed in the real
world, they do not. That is not a Flash problem, it is
more an issue of the Flash developers going nuts with
fancy and heavy Flash movies.

• downloaded
HTML caches pages as well, once images are
they are held in your browser's cache.
The cached images are then used instead of
downloading them from the server again.
 FL ASH

• Server With new technology like ASP.net and Java

Faces, HTML now can react just like a ‘rich-
client’ application. Even without these new tools,
properly designed HTML for most dynamic sites can
provide a good user experience.

• Flash loads much faster than animated images .

• Flash allows interactivity, animated images do not .
•applets
Flash does not require programming skills, java
do .
 F L A SH – W O R K E N V I R O N M E NT

•movie
The Stage, the rectangular area where the
plays.
•The Timeline, where graphics are animated
over time .
•Symbols, the reusable media assets of a movie
•organized
The Library window, where symbols are
• The .
Movie Explorer, which gives an overview
of a movie and its structure.
 F L A SH – W O R K E N V I R O N M E NT

•Floating, dockable panels, which enable

you to modify various elements in the
movie and configure the Flash authoring
environment to best suit your workflow .
The stage and Timeline :-
• Like films, Flash movies divide lengths of time into
frames. The Stage is where you compose the content
for individual frames in the movie, drawing artwork
on it directly or arranging imported artwork.
F L A SH – W O R K E N V I R O N M E NT

•timing
The Timeline is where you coordinate the
of the animation and assemble the
artwork on separate layers. The Timeline
displays each frame in the movie..
• Layers act like stacked sheets of
transparent acetate, keeping artwork
separate so you can combine different
elements into a cohesive visual image.
FL ASH– WORK ENVI RONMENT
Symbols and instances

•with aSymbols are reusable elements that you use

movie. Symbols can be graphics, buttons,
movie clips, sound files, or fonts. When you create
a symbol, the symbol is stored in the file's library.
When you place a symbol on the Stage, you create
an instance of that symbol.
FL ASH– WORK ENVI RONMENT
Symbols and instances

• Symbols reduce file size because, regardless of

how many instances of a symbol you create, Flash stores
the symbol in the file only once. It is a good idea to use
symbols, animated or otherwise, for every element that
appears more than once in a movie. You can modify the
properties of an instance without affecting the master
symbol, and you can edit the master symbol to change all
instances .
FL ASH– WORK ENVI RONMENT
The Library Window
•organize
The Library window is where you store and
symbols created in Flash, as well as imported
files, including sound files, bitmap graphics, and
QuickTime movies. The Library window lets you
organize library items in folders, see how often an item is
used in a movie, and sort items by type.
TOOLS IN FLASH
SHORTCUT KEYS OF THE TOOLS

Arrow tool V Pencil tool Y

Sub select A Brush tool B

tool
Lasso tool L Ink Bot tle S
tool
Line tool N Paint Bucket K
tool
Pen tool P Dropper tool I

Text tool T Eraser tool E

Oval t ool O Hand tool H

Rectangl R Zoom tool M, Z

e tool
CREATING ANIMATION
FLASH

• You create animation by changing the content

of successive frames.
• You can make an object move across the Stage,
increase or decrease its size, rotate, change
• color, fade in or out, or change shape.
Changes can occur independently of, or in
concert with, other changes.
• For example, you can make an object rotate
and fade in as it moves across the Stage.
 FLASH

• There are two methods for creating an

animation sequence in Flash:
• Frame-by-frame
oimage
animation
In frame-by-frame animation you create the

• Tweened animation
in every frame.

o In tweened animation, you create starting and

ending frames and let Flash create the frames in
between. Flash varies the object's size, rotation,
color, or other attributes evenly between the starting
and ending frames to create the appearance of
movement
 FLASH

•to create
Tweened animation is an effective way
movement and changes over time
while minimizing file size.
• In tweened animation, Flash stores only
the values for the changes between frames.
• In frame-by-frame animation, Flash
stores the values for each complete frame.
KEYFRAMES
 FL AS H - KEYFRAME

•define
A keyframe is a frame where you
changes in the animation.
•animation,
When you create frame-by-frame
every frame is a keyframe.
•define
In keyframe (tweened) animation, you
keyframes at important points in
the animation and let Flash create the
content of frames in between.
 FL AS H - KEYFRAME

•Flash displays the interpolated frames of

a tweened animation as light blue or
green with an arrow drawn between
keyframes.
• Flash redraws shapes in each keyframe.
You should create keyframes only at those
points in the artwork where something
changes.
 FL AS H - KEYFRAME

•Keyframes are indicated in the Timeline:

a keyframe with content on it is
represented by a solid circle, and an empty
keyframe is represented by a vertical line
before the frame.
• Subsequent frames that you add to the
same layer will have the same content as
the keyframe.
 FL AS H - KEYFRAME

•To create a keyframe, do one of the

following:

oSelect a frame in the Timeline and choose

Insert > Keyframe.
o Right-click (Windows) a frame in the
Timeline and choose Insert Keyframe.
TWINING
 MOTION TWEEN

• Creation of Motion tween using timeline is the

basics of Flash.
• Motion tween is nothing but tweening a
Symbol's movement from one position to
another.
• To implement Motion Tween all that you have
to do is, provide Flash with Symbol's initial
position and the end position.
 S H A P E T WEEN

•Creation of Shape tween using timeline is

also the basics of Flash.
•By tweening shapes, you can create an
effect similar to morphing, making one
shape appear to change into another shape
over time.
• Flash can also tween the location, size, and
color of shapes.
Use of Movie Clips, Buttons, Graphics
 FLASH

•Each symbol has a unique Timeline and Stage,

complete with layers. When you create a
symbol, you choose how the symbol will behave,
depending on how you want to use it in the
movie.
o Use graphic symbols for static images and to create
reusable pieces of animation that are tied to the
Timeline of the main movie. Graphic symbols operate
in sync with the Timeline of the main movie.
Interactive controls and sounds won't work in a
graphic symbol's animation sequence.
 FLASH

oUse button symbols to create interactive buttons in the movie

that respond to mouse clicks or rollovers or other actions. You
define the graphics associated with various button states, and
then assign actions to a button instance.

oUse movie clip symbols to create reusable pieces of animation.

Movie clips have their own multiframe Timeline that plays
independent of the main movie's Timeline—think of them as
mini-movies inside a main movie that can contain interactive
controls, sounds, and even other movie clip instances. You can
also place movie clip instances inside the Timeline of a button
symbol to create animated buttons.