Macromdia Flash MX for Designers CD Training (CBT) Course

This tutorial will first introduce you to the basics of the design side of Flash by describing the interface, setup and other flash fundamentals. Author Rick Martin then progresses to the more interesting aspects of Flash such as the tools, timelines, panels, working with video, flash websites, interactivity and many other useful tips, hints and techniques. After learning such things as importing sound and controlling movie clips you'll become a confident Flash user in no time!

Intro
about this Flash MX tutorial
welcome
what's new? (2 parts)

Interface and Setup
overview
the grid
rulers and guides
preference - basics and editing

The Basics
vector graphics versus bitmap graphics
symbols in Flash
Instances
shared libraries
actionscript
how to preview your movies
naming the conventions

The Toolbox
overview
Tools:
• Arrow
• Subselection
• line lasso
• Pen
• Text
• Oval and Rectangle
• Pencil
• brush
• free and fill transform
• Ink Bottle
• Paint Bucket
• Eyedropper
• Eraser
• Hand and Zoom
• Colour Selection

The Panels
overview
the toolbars
help panels and library
the properties and align
colour mixer and swatches
info panel
scene panel
transform
actions and reference
debugger & output
the movie explorer
accessibility
components and their parameters
sitespring

The Timeline
overview
how to customise the timeline
layers in flash
frames overview
keyframes overview
tweening overview
motion and shape tweening
onion skinning
some shape tips
motion guides
frame labels and actions
creating comments and named anchors
mask layers in MX

Creating and Editing Artwork in Flash
the basics of drawing and editing
editing symbols and drawn shapes
the transform menu
example: drawing a flower (2 parts)

Working with Bitmaps
bitmap basics
modifying
tracing bitmaps

Video in Flash
video basics
modifying and controlling video

Working with Text
an overview
text options
modifying
text from external sources

Working with Sound
overview
importing and placing sound
sound options
compression

Graphical Layout
interaction
grouping and aligning
stacking and instance interaction

Architecture
an overview
scenes and movie clips
Instance Names
hierarchy
targeting in MX
controlling your movie clips in flash

Interactivity in Flash MX
some simple buttons
the animated buttons
activating buttons
the custom cursors in MX
drag and drop
the variables

A Simple Flash Website
the nav panels and buttons
movie clip content
welcome messages
frame labels
1st button actions
duplicate button actions explained
controlling the variables

Extra ActionScript
flash object
flash functions

Components
overview
built-in
additional components
the nuts and bolts of a feedback form

Preloaders
the basics
a simple preloader
a progress bar
percentage preloader

Optimising and Publishing
some good practices - overview
Bandwidth Profiler
publishing formats
HTML publish settings
HTML Code

Where to Now?
the author contact details
Flash MX Tutorial round up