book

Foundation Flash CS5 For Designers

Name: Foundation Flash CS5 For Designers
ISBN: 9781430229940

by Tiago Dias, Tom Green

August 2010

Intermediate to advanced

867 pages

21h 9m

English

friends of ED

Read now

Unlock full access

Copyright
About the Authors
About the Technical Reviewers
Acknowledgments
Preface
Book structure and flowLayout conventions
1. Learning the Flash CS5 Professional Interface
1.1. Getting started1.2. Creating a new Flash document1.3. Managing your workspace1.4. Setting document preferences and properties1.4.1. Document preferences1.4.2. Document settings1.4.3. Zooming the stage1.5. Exploring the panels in the Flash interface1.5.1. The timeline1.5.1.1. Frames1.5.1.2. Using the Motion Editor panel1.5.2. The Properties panel1.5.3. The Tools panel1.5.4. The Library panel1.6. Using layers1.6.1. Layer properties1.6.2. Creating layers1.6.3. Adding content to layers1.6.4. Showing/hiding and locking layers1.6.5. Grouping layers1.6.6. Where to get help1.7. Your turn: building a Flash movie1.7.1. Nesting movie clips1.7.2. Drawing the fly1.7.3. Creating the illusion of depth with Flash1.7.4. Creating an animated fly1.7.4.1. Using a motion guide1.7.5. Adding audio1.7.6. Testing and saving Flash files1.8. You have learned
2. Graphics in Flash CS5
2.1. The Tools panel2.1.1. The Selection and Subselection tools2.1.2. The Free Transform tool2.1.3. The Gradient Transform tool2.1.4. Object Drawing mode2.2. Drawing in Flash CS52.2.1. The Pencil tool2.2.2. The Brush tool2.2.3. The Deco tool2.2.4. The Spray Brush tool2.2.5. The Eraser tool2.2.6. The Pen tool2.3. Your turn: let's have a campfire2.3.1. Drawing the tree trunk2.3.2. Drawing the pine tree2.3.3. Adding pine needles2.3.4. Build the campfire movie2.4. Working with color in Flash2.4.1. The Color palette and the Color Picker2.4.2. Creating persistent custom colors2.4.3. The kuler Color Picker2.4.4. Your turn: playing with color2.5. Using bitmap images in Flash2.5.1. Working with bitmaps in Flash2.5.2. Your turn: tracing bitmaps in Flash2.5.2.1. Tracing an image2.5.2.2. Optimizing the drawing2.5.3. JPEG files and Flash2.5.4. Using GIF files in Flash CS52.5.4.1. Working with GIF images2.5.4.2. Working with GIF animations2.5.5. Importing Fireworks CS5 documents into Flash CS52.5.6. Importing Illustrator CS5 documents into Flash CS52.5.7. Importing Photoshop CS5 documents into Flash CS52.6. You have learned
3. Symbols and Libraries
3.1. Symbol essentials3.2. Symbol types3.2.1. Graphic symbols3.2.2. Button symbols3.2.3. Movie clip symbols3.2.4. Editing symbols3.3. 9-slice scaling3.3.1. How 9-slice scaling works3.3.2. Your turn: frames for an olive seller3.3.3. The 9-slice "gotchas"3.4. Sharing symbols3.4.1. Sharing libraries3.5. Filters and blend modes3.5.1. Applying filters3.5.2. Applying a Drop Shadow filter3.5.3. Adding perspective3.5.3.1. Some filter facts3.5.4. Playing with blends3.6. Managing content on the stage3.6.1. Aligning objects on the stage3.6.1.1. Snapping to the grid3.6.1.2. Aligning with guides3.6.1.3. Snapping in a guide layer and to pixels3.6.2. Stacking order and using the Align panel3.6.2.1. Using the Align panel3.7. Masks and masking3.7.1. A simple mask3.7.1.1. Creating a masked animation3.7.2. Using text as a mask3.8. Your turn: a sunny day on Catalina Island3.8.1. Adding the clouds3.8.2. Getting the clouds in motion3.8.2.1. Bonus round3.9. What you've learned
4. ActionScript Basics
4.1. The power of ActionScript4.1.1. Actions panel components4.1.1.1. Actions toolbox4.1.1.2. Script navigator4.1.1.3. Script pane4.1.1.4. Panel context menu4.1.2. The Actions panel vs. the Behaviors panel4.2. Everything is an object4.2.1. Classes4.2.2. Properties4.2.2.1. Using instance names4.3. Setting properties via ActionScript4.3.1. Methods4.3.2. Events4.4. Coding fundamentals4.4.1. Syntax4.4.2. Capitalization matters4.4.3. Semicolons mark the end of a line4.4.3.1. Mind your keywords4.4.4. Commenting code4.4.5. Dot notation4.4.6. Scope4.4.7. Variables4.4.8. Data types4.4.9. Operators4.4.10. Conditional statements4.4.11. Class files and the document class4.4.11.1. On migrating to ActionScript 3.0: the pain and the joy4.4.12. Syntax checking4.5. How to read the ActionScript 3.0 Language and Components Reference4.5.1. Getting help4.5.2. Search tactics4.6. Using ActionScript4.7. Your turn: pause and loop with ActionScript4.7.1. Pausing a timeline4.7.2. Looping the Timeline4.7.3. Using movie clips to control the timeline4.7.4. Using Code Snippets4.7.4.1. Adding a snippet into the Code Snippets panel4.7.4.2. Code completion for custom classes4.8. What you've learned
5. Audio in Flash CS5
5.1. Flash and the audio formats5.1.1. Bit depth and sample rates5.1.2. Flash and MP35.2. Adding audio to Flash5.2.1. Importing an audio file5.2.2. Setting sound properties5.3. Using audio in Flash5.3.1. Choosing a sound type: event or streaming5.3.2. Removing an audio file from the timeline5.3.3. Getting loopy5.3.4. Adjusting volume and pan5.3.4.1. A note from a master5.4. Your turn: adding sound to a button5.5. Controlling audio with ActionScript 3.05.5.1. Playing a sound from the Library5.5.2. Using a button to play a sound5.5.3. Playing a sound from outside of Flash5.5.4. Turning a remote sound on and off5.5.5. Adjusting volume with code5.5.6. Your turn: storm over Lake Superior5.5.7. Code snippet: visualize audio5.6. What you've learned

6. Text
6.1. Fonts and typefaces6.2. Adobe CoolType6.2.1.6.2.1.1. CoolType to the rescue6.2.2. Typefaces and fonts6.3. Working with device fonts6.4. Embedding fonts6.5. The two text engines: TLF and Classic6.6. Types of text6.6.1. Read-only text properties6.6.1.1. Character properties6.6.1.2. Advanced character properties6.6.1.3. Paragraph properties6.6.2. Container and flow6.6.3. Selectable and editable text6.6.4. TLF and ActionScript6.6.4.1. Creating a column of text with ActionScript6.6.4.2. Import statements for this exercise6.6.5. Using TLF text as a button6.6.5.1. Import statements for this exercise6.7. Hyperlinks and TLF6.7.1. Using ActionScript to add hyperlinks to TLF text6.7.1.1. Import statements used for this exercise6.8. Checking spelling6.9. Your turn: scrollable text6.9.1. Using the UIScrollBar component6.9.2. Rolling your own scroller6.9.2.1. Import statements used for this exercise6.10. What you have learned
7. Animation, Part 1
7.1. Shape tweening7.1.1. Scaling and stretching7.1.2. Modifying shape tweens7.1.3. Altering shapes7.1.3.1. Examining anchor points7.1.3.2. Shape changing7.1.4. Shape hints7.1.5. Altering gradients7.2. Classic tweening7.2.1. Rotation7.2.2. Classic tween properties7.2.3. Scaling, stretching, and deforming7.2.4. Easing7.2.5. Custom easing7.2.5.1. Adding anchor points7.2.5.2. Easing multiple properties7.3. Using animation7.3.1. A closer look at the Timeline panel7.3.2. Onion skinning7.3.3. Modifying multiple frames7.3.3.1. Swapping graphic symbols7.3.4. Combining timelines7.3.4.1. Movie clip timelines vs. graphic symbol timelines7.3.4.2. Nesting symbols7.3.4.3. Graphic symbols as mini-libraries7.3.5. Motion guides7.3.6. Tweening a mask7.3.6.1. Animating a mask7.3.6.2. Using motion guides with masks7.3.7. Tweening Filter Effects7.4. Programmatic animation7.4.1. Copying motion as ActionScript7.4.2. Using the keyboard to control motion7.4.3. Creating random motion using ActionScript7.4.3.1. Brownian bonus round7.5. What you have learned
8. Animation, Part 2
8.1. Animating with the Motion Editor panel8.1.1. Getting acquainted: scaling and moving8.1.2. Easing with graphs8.1.2.1. Built-in eases8.1.2.2. Creating custom eases8.1.2.3. Applying multiple eases8.2. Managing property keyframes8.2.1.8.2.1.1. Changing duration proportionally8.2.1.2. Changing duration nonproportionally8.3. Motion paths8.3.1. Manipulating motion paths8.3.1.1. Using advanced motion paths8.3.2. Motion tween properties8.4. Motion presets8.5. Inverse kinematics (IK)8.5.1. Using the Bone tool8.5.1.1. Bone tool properties8.5.1.2. Constraining joint rotation8.5.1.3. Deleting bones8.6. Putting some "spring" in your bones8.6.1.8.6.1.1. Applying joint translation8.6.1.2. A note about bone preferences8.6.2. Animating IK Poses8.6.3. Using the Bind tool8.6.3.1. Shape IK and fills8.6.3.2. Shape IK and anchor points8.6.4. Your turn: animate a fully rigged IK model8.7. Inspiration is everywhere8.8. What you have learned
9. Flash Has a Third Dimension
9.1. What 3D really means in Flash (and what it doesn't)9.2. Understanding the vanishing point9.3. Using the 3D tools9.3.1. The 3D Rotation tool9.3.1.1. Old-school 3D rotation9.3.1.2. Using 3D rotation9.3.2. The 3D Translation tool9.4. Strategies for positioning content in 3D space9.4.1. The parallax effect: traveling through space9.4.2. Use the 3D center point to your advantage9.4.3. Be aware of depth limitations9.5. Your turn: simulate a photo cube9.6. What you have learned
10. Video
10.1. Video on the Web10.2. Video formats10.3. Encoding an FLV10.3.1. Using the Adobe Media Encoder10.3.1.1. Previewing and trimming video10.3.1.2. Video settings10.3.1.3. Audio settings10.3.1.4. Cropping video10.3.1.5. Running the render process10.3.2. Batch encoding10.3.3. Creating an F4V file10.3.4. More Media Encoder Goodness10.4. Playing an FLV in Flash CS510.4.1. Using the wizard10.4.1.1. A word about file paths10.4.2. Using the FLVPlayback component10.4.3. Playing video using ActionScript10.4.3.1. There's a snippet for that10.4.4. Using the FLVPlayback control components10.4.5. Navigating through video using cue points10.4.6. Adding captions with the FLVPlaybackCaptioning component10.4.7. Preparing and using alpha channel video10.4.8. Going full-screen with video10.4.8.1. Full-screen video the ActionScript/HTML way10.4.8.2. Full-screen video using Dreamweaver CS510.5. When video is not video10.6. Embedding video10.6.1. Embedding video as a movie clip10.6.2. Interacting with video content10.7. Adding cue points10.7.1. An alternate XML format for cue points10.7.2. Your turn: create XML captions for video10.7.2.1. Bonus round10.8. Your turn: play with alpha video10.9. Your turn: think big, really big!10.10. What you have learned
11. Building Interfaces with the UI Components
11.1. Button component11.1.1. Using the Button component11.1.1.1. Adding button events11.1.1.2. Referencing components in event handlers11.1.1.3. Considering UI component weight11.1.2. Changing the Button component's appearance11.1.2.1. Skinning11.1.2.2. Styling components11.2. CheckBox component11.3. ColorPicker component11.4. ComboBox component11.5. DataGrid component11.6. Label component11.7. List component11.8. NumericStepper component11.9. ProgressBar component11.10. RadioButton component11.11. ScrollPane component11.12. Slider component11.13. TextArea component11.14. TextInput component11.15. TileList component11.16. UILoader component11.17. UIScrollBar component11.18. What you have learned
12. XML (Dynamic Data)
12.1. Writing XML12.2. Loading an XML file12.3. Using E4X syntax12.3.1. Dots and @s12.3.2. Node types12.3.3. E4X filtering12.3.4. Double dots and more12.3.5. Namespaces12.3.6. Your turn: time to explore XFL12.3.6.1. What is XFL?12.3.6.2. XFL bonus round12.4. What you have learned
13. CSS
13.1. Styling with CSS13.2. Loading external CSS13.2.1.13.2.1.1. Block element styling13.2.1.2. Inline element styling13.2.2. Custom tags13.2.3. Style inheritance13.2.4. Styling hyperlinks13.2.5. Embedded fonts13.2.6. Selectors vs. the Properties panel13.3. What you have learned
14. Building Stuff
14.1. Loading content14.1.1. Are we there yet?14.1.2. Somebody stole my preloader14.2. Building a slide show with components and XML14.2.1. A tour of the Beijing art district14.2.1.1. Extending the tour14.3. Building an MP3 player with XML14.3.1. Setting up the external playlist14.3.2. Polishing up the symbols14.3.2.1. Renaming Library assets14.3.2.2. Improving the controls14.3.3. Wiring up the MP3 player controls14.3.3.1. Handling the button events14.3.3.2. Programming the sliders14.3.3.3. Finishing up the controls14.3.4. Evaluating and improving the MP3 player14.4. Going mobile14.4.1. A quick tour of Device Central14.4.1.1. "Wiring up" the game14.4.1.2. Testing the game in Device Central14.4.2. Package the game as an Android AIR app14.4.2.1. From Flash to AIR to Android14.4.3. Build more stuff14.5. What you have learned
15. Optimizing and Publishing Flash Movies
15.1. Flash's love-hate Internet relationship15.1.1. This "Internet" thing15.1.2. Enter the World Wide Web15.1.3. Bandwidth15.1.4. So, who are these folks we call users?15.2. Streaming15.3. The Bandwidth Profiler15.3.1. Simulating a download15.3.2. Pinpointing problem content15.3.3. Can I get that in writing?15.4. Optimizing and fine-tuning your Flash movies15.4.1. Planning your project15.4.2. Distributing the weight15.4.3. Optimizing elements in the movie15.5. Publishing and web formats15.5.1. Flash15.5.2. HTML15.5.3. Animated GIFs15.5.3.1. Exporting as an animated GIF15.5.3.2. Importing an animated GIF15.5.4. QuickTime15.6. It's showtime!15.6.1. Publish settings15.6.1.1. Formats15.6.1.2. Flash settings15.6.1.3. HTML settings15.6.2. Publishing the butterfly garden15.6.3. Publishing Flash movies containing linked files15.7. What you have learned

Overview

Flash is one of the most engaging, innovative, and versatile technologies available—allowing the creation of anything from animated banners and simple cartoons to Rich Internet Applications, interactive videos, and dynamic user interfaces for web sites, kiosks, devices, or DVDs. The possibilities are endless, and now it just got better.

Flash CS5 boasts a host of new features, including better support for mobile devices, a whole new animation engine enabling full manipulation of tweens and paths, custom easing, improved inverse kinematics, a revamped timeline, built-in 3D, and much more.

This book is all you'll need to learn Flash CS5 from the ground up. If you already have Flash experience, this book will allow you to quickly catch up on all the cool new features. Flash experts Tom Green and Tiago Dias guide you step-by-step through all facets of Flash CS5, keeping the emphasis firmly on good design techniques that you use in your own projects.

Learn Flash design from the ground up, or just get to grips with the new features, with a series of step-by-step tutorials.
Provides an easy introduction to ActionScript 3.0 coding, but the focus is mainly kept on design.
Learn from the experts—written by renowned Flash designers Tom Green and Tiago Dias.

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.

Julian F.

Head of Cybersecurity

I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.

Addison B.

Field Engineer

I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.

Amir M.

Data Platform Tech Lead

I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.

Mark W.

Embedded Software Engineer

CS5.5 Update: Animation with Scripting for Adobe Flash Professional CS5 Studio Techniques

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781430229940Purchase book

Cloud Computing

Data Engineering

Data Science

AI & ML

Programming Languages

Software Architecture

IT/Ops

Security

Design

Business

Soft Skills