FLASH 4 WEB ANIMATION

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Demonstrates updated features while reviewing Web design and Flash fundamentals and presenting case studies of animated Web sites.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction (p. xxi)
• Part 1 Honing Flash Essentials
• Chapter 1 A Flash Snapshot (p. 3)
• What Flash Does Better Than HTML (p. 5)
• Equally Useful For Presenting Interactive Content On Or Off The Web (p. 5)
• Way Faster Than Bitmapped Graphics (p. 6)
• Size Doesn't Matter (p. 7)
• Image And Text Quality (p. 7)
• Still Easy After All These Years (p. 8)
• The Evaporating Plug-in Barrier (p. 9)
• Flash And The Web (p. 10)
• Automatic Anti-Aliasing Of Animations And Graphics (p. 11)
• Animations And Graphics Of Any Dimension (p. 11)
• Fast Animations, Even Over 14.4Kbps Connections (p. 11)
• Automatically Scales To Fit The Window (p. 11)
• Automatic Anti-Aliasing Of Shape Edges And Type (p. 12)
• Flash And HTML (p. 12)
• Zoom-In Increases Detail (p. 12)
• Flash As A Visualization Tool (p. 12)
• Flash As A Graphics And Animation Utility (p. 13)
• Flash As An Illustration And Presentation Program (p. 14)
• Teaming Flash With Other Multimedia Web Tools (p. 17)
• Exporting To GIF (p. 17)
• Exporting To JPEG (p. 18)
• Exporting Bitmaps To Lossless Formats (p. 19)
• Using Flash With Director And Authorware (p. 19)
• Using Flash With Video Editing Programs (p. 19)
• New Features In Flash 4 (p. 19)
• Interface Redesign (p. 20)
• New Publish Command (p. 21)
• QuickTime 4 Support (p. 22)
• Actions And Action Scripting (p. 22)
• Color Sets (p. 23)
• Inspector Windows (p. 24)
• Changes In Color-Chip Modifiers (p. 24)
• Changes In Tools (p. 25)
• Bitmap Image Support (p. 26)
• Editable Text Fields (p. 26)
• Redesigned Symbols Library (p. 27)
• Sound And MP3 Support (p. 28)
• Timeline Redesign (p. 28)
• New Tutorials (p. 29)
• Chapter 2 Macromedia Synergy (p. 31)
• Choosing Whether To Design For Browsers Or For Offline Viewing (p. 34)
• A Precision Placement Tool (p. 34)
• Perfect Type And User Text-Entry Fields (p. 35)
• New User-Editable Text Fields And Aliased Text Options (p. 37)
• Easy Shapes (p. 37)
• Exporting To Bitmapped File Formats (p. 40)
• GIF Format (p. 42)
• JPEG Format (p. 42)
• PNG Format (p. 42)
• Using The New Publish Feature (p. 42)
• Integration With Other Macromedia Products (p. 43)
• Creating Templates For Flash Generator (p. 44)
• Chapter 3 Drawing Reference (p. 47)
• The Drawing Tools And Their Modifiers (p. 48)
• Arrow Tool (p. 48)
• Lasso Tool (p. 51)
• Line Tool (p. 52)
• Text Tool (p. 53)
• Pencil Tool (p. 59)
• Brush Tool (p. 62)
• Ink Bottle Tool (p. 63)
• Paint Bucket Tool (p. 64)
• Dropper Tool (p. 64)
• Eraser Tool (p. 65)
• Hand Tool (p. 66)
• Magnifier Tool (p. 66)
• Flash's Drawing Aids (p. 66)
• Grids (p. 66)
• Guide Layers (p. 68)
• Snap (p. 68)
• Alignment (p. 68)
• Commands And Tools For Refining Drawing Elements (p. 69)
• Assistant (p. 69)
• Transformations (p. 70)
• Arrange (p. 72)
• Curves (p. 72)
• Assembling And Disassembling Groups And Symbols (p. 74)
• Inserting Objects Created In Other Applications (p. 74)
• What You Shouldn't Expect From Flash As A Drawing Program (p. 74)
• Part II Professional Flash Techniques
• Chapter 4 Basic Drawing Techniques (p. 79)
• You Don't Need Drawing Talent (p. 80)
• Limbering Up Before The Exercises (p. 81)
• Tracing A Scanned Sketch (p. 82)
• Modifying Clip Art (p. 90)
• Learning To Draw Freehand With Flash (p. 96)
• Hints For Drawing Efficiently (p. 99)
• Making A Basic Freehand Drawing (p. 99)
• Drawing With Animation In Mind (p. 107)
• Chapter 5 Advanced Drawing Techniques (p. 113)
• The New Hot Keys For Drawing Tools (p. 114)
• Understanding And Using The New Color Sets (p. 115)
• Tracing Bitmaps (p. 115)
• Optimizing Your Drawings (p. 116)
• Automatic Optimization (p. 119)
• Semi-Automatic Optimization (p. 120)
• Manual Optimization (p. 120)
• Using The Lasso Tools (p. 120)
• The Lasso Tool Modifiers (p. 121)
• Painting With A Bitmap (The Bitmap Fill) (p. 121)
• Tricks With Curve Effects (p. 124)
• Converting Lines To Fills (p. 124)
• Making Vignettes With The Soften Edges Command (p. 125)
• Expanding And Contracting Shapes (p. 125)
• Applying Curve Effects To Text (p. 127)
• When To Use Another Drawing Program (p. 127)
• Illustration Programs (p. 127)
• 3D Programs (p. 129)
• Transferring Files From Other Types Of Drawing Programs (p. 130)
• Inserting Objects Created In Other Applications (p. 131)
• Chapter 6 Flash Animation (p. 133)
• The Basics Of Animation (p. 134)
• Making A Basic Animation (p. 135)
• Saving Movies As Symbols (p. 142)
• Easy Animation Techniques (p. 143)
• Concentric Shapes (p. 143)
• Flashing Lights (p. 147)
• Traveling (p. 150)
• Radiating Lines (p. 152)
• Spin And Zoom (p. 154)
• Transition Effects (p. 157)
• Animation Reference (p. 159)
• Frame By Frame (p. 159)
• Tweening (p. 160)
• Still-Frame Sequences (p. 165)
• The Power Of Layers (p. 166)
• Using The Layer Pop-Up Menu (p. 167)
• Synchronizing Actions Among Layers (p. 168)
• Using Guide Layers And Motion Guide Layers (p. 168)
• The Power Of Symbols (p. 169)
• The Three Types Of Symbols (p. 171)
• Symbols That Aren't Symbols (p. 172)
• How To Make A Symbol (p. 172)
• Makin' The Scene (p. 173)
• Onion-Skinning (p. 174)
• Onion Skin (p. 174)
• Onion Skin Outlines (p. 175)
• Edit Multiple Frames (p. 175)
• Modify Onion Markers (p. 175)
• Markers (p. 177)
• Chapter 7 Symbols And Libraries (p. 179)
• Graphic Symbols (p. 180)
• Creating A Graphic Symbol (p. 180)
• Buttons (p. 181)
• Adding Sound To A Button (p. 183)
• Creating Animated Buttons (p. 185)
• Movie Clips (p. 185)
• Bitmaps (p. 185)
• Sounds (p. 185)
• Placing Sounds In A Movie (p. 186)
• Using The Library Window And Menu (p. 190)
• Libraries Menu (p. 192)
• Editing Symbols (p. 193)
• Making Animated Symbols (p. 193)
• Instances And Instance Modifications (p. 194)
• Making An Instance (p. 194)
• Changing An Instance's Properties (p. 195)
• Changing The Color Effect For An Instance (p. 198)
• Color Effect Tweening (p. 199)
• Part III Taking It Live
• Chapter 8 Advanced Animation Techniques (p. 205)
• The Timeline (p. 206)
• Combining Symbols (p. 207)
• Combining A Static Symbol With An Animated Graphic Symbol (p. 208)
• Using A Movie Clip Instead Of An Animated Graphic (p. 210)
• Making Animated Buttons (p. 210)
• Creating Multilayer Animation (p. 212)
• Characteristics Of Layers (p. 212)
• Creating Content On A New Layer (p. 212)
• More Layer Controls (p. 213)
• Specialized Layer Types (p. 214)
• Changing The Stacking Order Of Layers (p. 218)
• Moving The Content Of Multiple Frames To A Different Layer Or Movie (p. 218)
• Combining Interactivity And Multiple Scenes (p. 219)
• Creating And Naming Scenes (p. 219)
• Importing An SWF Movie (p. 220)
• Creating Transparency Effects (p. 220)
• Bitmaps And Alpha Channels (p. 220)
• Symbol Instances And Bitmap Transparency (p. 221)
• Solid Colors (p. 221)
• Gradients (p. 223)
• Tweening Transparency (p. 225)
• The Actions (p. 226)
• The Timeline Actions (p. 227)
• Tell Target (p. 227)
• Get URL (Opening Pages In HTML Frames) (p. 230)
• Load Movie (p. 231)
• If Frame Is Loaded And Preloading (p. 233)
• Drag Movie Clip (p. 234)
• Duplicate Movie Clip (p. 235)
• Sounds (p. 236)
• Putting Sound In A Movie (p. 236)
• Sound Events (p. 237)
• MP3 Sound Quality (p. 238)
• Flash 3, MP3, And Sound (p. 239)
• Sounds And Buttons (p. 239)
• Chapter 9 Automating Flash With ActionScript (p. 241)
• Variables (p. 243)
• Types Of Information That Variables Store (p. 243)
• Entering Variables (p. 244)
• Operators (p. 246)
• Expressions (p. 246)
• Numerical Expressions (p. 248)
• String Expressions (p. 249)
• Logical Expressions (p. 250)
• Comparisons (p. 250)
• Numeric Comparisons (p. 251)
• String Comparisons (p. 251)
• Using Logical Expressions To Combine Comparisons (p. 252)
• Conditional Statements (p. 253)
• Loops (p. 255)
• Properties (p. 258)
• The Movie-Clip Universe (p. 259)
• Movie-Clip Properties (p. 261)
• Global Properties (p. 263)
• Text-Field Scrolling Properties (p. 264)
• Built-In Functions (p. 264)
• Converting A Number To An Integer (Int) (p. 264)
• Getting A Random Number (Random) (p. 265)
• Measuring Elapsed Time (Get Timer) (p. 265)
• Boolean Functions (True and False) (p. 265)
• Adding A New Line (Newline) (p. 265)
• Extracting A Portion Of A String (Substring) (p. 266)
• Getting The Length Of A String (Length) (p. 266)
• Getting A Character From Its ASCII Value (Chr) (p. 266)
• Getting The ASCII Value Of A Character (Ord) (p. 267)
• MultiByte (MB) String Functions (p. 267)
• The Call Function (p. 268)
• Creating A Simple Array (p. 268)
• Evaluating A String Expression (Eval) (p. 269)
• Chapter 10 Using Flash With Other Macromedia Software (p. 271)
• FreeHand 8.01 And Flash 4 (p. 272)
• Swapping Files With FreeHand 8.01 (p. 272)
• Taking Advantage Of FreeHand's Advanced DrawingCapabilities (p. 281)
• Optimizing Bitmaps For Flash With Fireworks 2 (p. 291)
• Enveloping Flash In Dreamweaver 2 (p. 294)
• Dreamweaver's Flash Movie Properties (p. 295)
• Creating 3D For Flash (p. 298)
• Chapter 11 Using Text In Flash (p. 299)
• Understanding Fonts (p. 300)
• When To Break Apart Text (p. 301)
• Using The Text Tool (p. 301)
• The Text Controls (p. 302)
• Editable Text Fields (p. 304)
• Animating Text With A Tween (p. 305)
• Reshaping Text (p. 306)
• Editing Text As Curves (p. 306)
• Adding An Outline (p. 307)
• Filling Text With A Bitmap (p. 307)
• The Documentation Booboos (p. 308)
• Chapter 12 Flash Communications And Using Forms (p. 311)
• Forms (p. 312)
• Text For Forms (p. 312)
• Send Variables (p. 313)
• Load Variables (p. 314)
• Accessing Data From A Text File (p. 315)
• Accessing Server-Side Pages (p. 315)
• Round-Trip Access And Databases (p. 315)
• Communicating With Scripts (p. 316)
• The JavaScript: Protocol (p. 317)
• The Hidden-Frame Method (p. 318)
• FSCommand And JavaScript (p. 318)
• FSCommands For The Standalone Flash Players And Projectors (p. 318)
• Generator And Other Dynamic Servers (p. 321)
• Exporting To Other File Formats (p. 323)
• Exporting Movies (p. 324)
• Exporting Images (p. 325)
• Export For Use In High Resolution Printing (p. 325)
• Vector (p. 326)
• Bitmap (p. 326)
• Quick Time 4 And Flash (p. 327)
• Chapter 13 Publish And HTML (p. 331)
• Using The New Publish Feature (p. 332)
• What Happened To Aftershock? (p. 332)
• Publish Preview (p. 333)
• Using Publish Settings To Select File Formats (p. 333)
• Flash Publish Settings (p. 334)
• Generator Template Settings (p. 335)
• HTML Publish Settings (p. 337)
• GIF Publish Settings (p. 341)
• JPEG Publish Settings (p. 344)
• PNG Publish Settings (p. 345)
• QuickTime Publish Settings (p. 347)
• Creating Projectors (p. 349)
• Creating And Modifying HTML Templates (p. 349)
• The HTML Page And Flash (p. 353)
• The HTML Tags For Flash (p. 354)
• Movie (Object Only) (p. 355)
• Classid (Object only) (p. 355)
• Codebase (Object only) (p. 355)
• Wmode (Object only) (p. 355)
• Src (Embed only) (p. 355)
• Pluginspage (Embed only) (p. 356)
• Swliveconnect (Embed only) (p. 356)
• Height (p. 356)
• Width (p. 356)
• Align (p. 356)
• Base (p. 356)
• Bgcolor (p. 357)
• Loop (p. 357)
• Menu (p. 357)
• Play (p. 357)
• Quality (p. 357)
• Salign (p. 358)
• Scale (p. 358)
• Preparing Your Web Server For Flash (Setting Up The MIME) (p. 359)
• Appendix A A Visual Guide To Flash 4 (p. 361)
• Appendix B Features Introduced In Flash 3 (p. 397)
• Appendix C ASCII Character Values (p. 403)
• Index (p. 407)