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Flash CS3: The Missing Manual
book

Flash CS3: The Missing Manual

by E. A. Vander Veer, Chris Grover
May 2007
Beginner content levelBeginner
530 pages
16h 16m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Flash CS3: The Missing Manual

Opening a Flash File

Download the file rolling_ball.fla and save it on your computer. Launch Flash, and then choose File →Open (the Welcome screen goes away automatically). When the Open dialog box appears, navigate to the file you just downloaded and then click Open. Flash shows you the animation on the Stage, surrounded by the usual Timeline, toolbars, panels, and (at the bottom) the Property Inspector. It should look like Figure 1-19. (To run the example animation, either press Enter or select Control → Play.)

Note

If you don't see the Property Inspector, you can display it by selecting Window →Properties →Properties or by typing Ctrl+F3.

Exploring the Property Inspector

The Property Inspector appears automatically beneath the Stage when you open a new document. As shown in Figure 1-19, it displays specific information about whatever object you've selected on the Stage. Such details can be helpful when you want to recreate an object precisely in another program, or incorporate your finished animation into a Web page you've already created. For example, the Size button shows your animation's dimensions (550 x 200 pixels, say) which is information you need if you want to place your animation in a Web page by hand. (In Chapter 14, you'll learn how to tell Flash to create a simple Web page that includes your animation so you don't have to do this work by hand.)

Select an object on the Stage, and the Property Inspector automatically displays the properties (characteristics) of that object. You can change most of the properties in this panel; when you do, Flash redisplays the object on the Stage to reflect your changes. Here, looking at the details for a text box, you can change the text to centered or justified, or change the font or font color used.

Figure 1-19. Select an object ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780596510442Supplemental ContentErrata Page