Macromedia Flash MX

Tutorial Contains

- Tools Describtion

- Animation Describtion

- Shortcuts key & Hotkeys setting

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Basic shaping tools

  Circle, Square, Line and Arrow tool

Circle tool: Use to draw a circle, line color and fill color should be set before begin to draw a circle

Square tool: Use to draw a square object, line color and fill color should be set before begin to draw

Line tool: Line tool use to draw a straight line

Arrow tool: Known as a selection tool, use to select any material in Flash MX

Pencil tool: Pencil tool has 3 different drawing styles

Straighten line

Flash MX will calculate and modify your line to a straight line

Smooth line

Flash MX will calculate and convert your line to a straight line

Ink

Free hand drawing

Brush tool

Brush tool is different from pencil tool. Size of the brush can be select and come with 4 unique painting styles

Paint behind = paint behind the picture
Paint selection = paint current area or selected area
Paint fills mode = paint inside an object
Paint inside = paint inside an object. The color won't split out an object with this option.

Pen tool

Pen tool can be continuously draw a line and the line you draw can be modify later

Refine shapes

Use black arrow tool (selection tool) to modify rim of all object by click at the object and drag mouse in and out of the rim of any objects

Use white arrow tool (sub selection tool) to modify the object delicately

Eraser tool

Eraser mode – Same as options in brush tool option selection

Eraser faucet: Eraser faucet use to erase all same (Duplicate) color on the object

Soft fill edge option: Soften fill edge option use to soften the edge of an object. The more level of soften light you put in an object, the more slower computer can process the information of an image

Transformation tool: Transform and modify size, light level, color pattern, gradient color, gradient level, and can rotate an object as well.

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Breaking apart groups and objects

To separate groups, instances, and bitmaps into ungrouped, editable elements, you use the Break Apart command. Breaking apart significantly reduces the file size of imported graphics.

To break apart groups or objects:

1 Select the group, bitmap, or symbol that you want to break apart.

2 Choose Modify > Break Apart.

Note: Breaking apart animated symbols, or groups within an interpolated animation, is not recommended and might have

unpredictable results. Breaking apart complex symbols and large blocks of text can take a long time. You might need to increase

the application's memory allocation to properly break apart complex objects.

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Duplicating and removing colors

You can duplicate colors in the palette, delete individual colors, or clear all colors from the palette.

To duplicate a color or delete a color:

1 If the Color Swatches panel is not visible, choose Window > Color Swatches.

2 Click the color that you want to duplicate or delete.

3 Choose Duplicate Swatch or Delete Swatch from the pop-up menu in the upper right corner

Using the default palette and the Web-safe palette

You can save the current palette as the default palette, replace the current palette with the default palette defined for the file, or load the Web-safe palette to replace the current palette.

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Load or save the default palette:

In the Color Swatches panel, choose one of the following commands from the pop-up menu in the upper right corner:

Load Default Colors replaces the current palette with the default palette.

Save as Default saves the current color palette as the default palette. The new default palette is used when you create new files.

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Adding sounds to buttons

You can associate sounds with the different states of a button symbol. Because the sounds are stored with the symbol, they work for all instances of the symbol.

To add sound to a button:

1 Select the button in the Library panel.

2 Choose Edit from the options menu in the upper right corner.

3 In the button's Timeline, add a layer for sound.

4 In the sound layer, create a regular or blank keyframe to correspond to the button state to which you want to add a sound.
For example, to add a sound that plays when the button is clicked, create a keyframe in the frame labeled Down.

5 Click the keyframe you have just created.

6 Choose Window > Properties.

7 In the Property inspector, choose a sound file from the Sound pop-up menu.

8 Choose Event from the Synchronization pop-up menu.

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Using sounds with Sound objects

You can use the Sound object in ActionScript to add sounds to a movie and to control sound objects in a movie. Controlling sounds includes adjusting the volume or the right and left balance while a sound is playing. See Creating sound controls.

To use a sound in a Sound action, you assign an identifier string to the sound in the Symbol Linkage dialog box.

To assign an identifier string to a sound:

1 Select the sound in the Library panel.

2 Do one of the following:

Choose Linkage from the options menu in the upper right corner of the panel.

Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the sound name in the Library panel, and choose Linkage from the context menu.

3 Under Linkage in the Symbol Linkage Properties dialog box, select Export for ActionScript.

4 Enter an identifier string in the text box, and then click OK.

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Creating frame-by-frame animations

To create a frame-by-frame animation, you define each frame as a keyframe and create a different image for each frame. Each new keyframe initially contains the same contents as the keyframe preceding it, so you can modify the frames in the animation incrementally.

Create a frame-by-frame animation:

1 Click a layer name to make it the current layer, and select a frame in the layer where you want the animation to start.

2 If the frame isn't already a keyframe, choose Insert > Keyframe to make it one.

3 Create the artwork for the first frame of the sequence.

You can use the drawing tools, paste graphics from the Clipboard, or import a file.

4 Click the next frame to the right in the same row and choose Insert > Keyframe, or right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) and choose Insert Keyframe from the context menu.

This adds a new keyframe whose contents are the same as those of the first keyframe.

5 Alter the contents of this frame on the Stage to develop the next increment of the animation.

6 To complete your frame-by-frame animation sequence, repeat steps 4 and 5 until you've built the motion you want.

7 To test the animation sequence, choose Control > Play or click the Play button on the Controller.

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Tweening shapes

By tweening shapes, you can create an effect similar to morphing, making one shape appear to change into another shape over time. Flash can also tween the location, size, and color of shapes.

Tweening one shape at a time usually yields the best results. If you tween multiple shapes at one time, all the shapes must be on the same layer.

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Technical Corner - Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcut let user can call into a tool more faster than pointing a mouse and search for a tool

Ex. Once you setup your hotkeys for Flash MX, next time you type on a shortkey a certain tool suddenly selected

Customizing keyboard shortcuts

To create a custom keyboard shortcut set, you duplicate an existing set, and then add or remove shortcuts from the new set. You can delete custom shortcut sets.

To select a keyboard shortcut set:

1 Choose Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.

2 In the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box, choose a shortcut set from the Current Set pop-up menu.

To create a new keyboard shortcut set:

1 Select a keyboard shortcut set as described above.

2 Click the Duplicate Set button.

3 Enter a name for the new shortcut set and click OK.

To rename a custom keyboard shortcut set:

1 In the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box, choose a shortcut set from the Current Set pop-up menu.

2 Click the Rename Set button.

3 In the Rename dialog box, enter a new name and click OK.

To add or remove a keyboard shortcut:

1 Choose Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts and select the set that you want to modify.

2 From the Commands pop-up menu, select Drawing Menu Commands, Drawing Tools, or Test Movie Menu Commands to view shortcuts for the selected category.

3 In the Commands list, select the command for which you want to add or remove a shortcut.

An explanation of the selected command appears in the Description area in the dialog box.

4 Do one of the following:

To add a shortcut, click the Add Shortcut (+) button.

To remove a shortcut, click the Remove Shortcut (-) button and proceed to step 6.

5 If you are adding a shortcut, enter the new shortcut key combination in the Press Key text box.

Note: To enter the key combination, simply press the keys on the keyboard. You do not need to spell out key names, such as Control, Option, and so on.

6 Click Change.

7 Repeat this procedure to add or remove additional shortcuts.

8 Click OK.

To delete a keyboard shortcut set:

1 Choose Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts. In the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box, click the Delete Set button.

2 In the Delete Set dialog box, choose a shortcut set and click Delete.

Note: You cannot delete the built-in keyboard shortcut sets that ship with Flash.

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