Multimedia
Flash Intro
Flash is a program for creating vector graphics and animations. Vector graphics (as opposed to raster graphics) can be resized without loss of quality.
Editable Flash files use the .fla extension.
Flash graphics may be exported in a number of formats, including .gif, .jpg, .bmp, and .png
The default layout shows the Tool Palette on the left, the Timeline at the top, and the Stage as the largest panel on the screen.
Each graphic in Flash is made up of a stroke (outline) and a fill (inside).
Frame-by-frame animations are created by drawing or moving objects each consecutive keyframe. This process may be aided by turning on the onion skin feature. Frame by frame animations may be exported as animated .gif files.
Movies are usually exported as .swf files.
Animations may be created using motion or shape tweening, a process where the program fills in missing frames between keyframes.
Motion tweening can be applied to symbols or text. Rotation, resizing, and visibility effects can be used to enhance the effect.
Symbols are created and stored in the library to avoid having to redraw complex figures.
The visibility of a symbol may be controlled using the alpha slider on the symbol’s properties.
Shape tweening (“morphing”) can be applied to shapes only. Text and symbols must be broken apart to apply shape tweens.
Any background drawing should be on its own layer. All tweening should be done on separate layers. You may rename, lock, turn off, or change the order of layers.
Movies may be organized using the scene panel.
Actions may be used to control the movie, open web pages, or many other advanced functions.
To use sound files (.mp3 or .wav), import them to the library, create a sound layer, insert a keyframe at the starting point, then drag the file from the library onto the stage.