Now I will discuss different things you should know when you are trying to get your project to look just right.
Changes|The Stage|Grouping & Ungrouping|Positioning|Library|Task
Different versions of Flash will cause you to have to use slightly different methods for editing certain things, based on the different interfaces. For MX, you can usually find what you need under Properties. In older versions, the different windows you need can be found by going to Window on the menu, then going down to Panels, and choosing what you need.
To change the stage size and/or color, you can find the options under movie properties. By clicking on the stage (deselect any objects) and going to the Properties Window (old version: right-click stage, Movie Properties.
You may have noticed that when you draw an object on another, the stuff underneath is gone
when you try to move the object. If you don't know what I mean, try this:
Make a rectangle with green fill.
Make a circle with red fill, smaller than the rectangle.
Place the circle over the rectangle.
Deselect the circle.
Select the circle again and move it.
Do you see what I mean now? To avoid this, here is what you will do.
You select the objects you want to group (such as the circles for an eye). Goto Modify on
the menu, then go down to Group. This can be undone by choosing Ungroup or
Break Apart.
When you group objects, the most recently grouped may not appear in the layered position that
you want it to. You can place them how you want by going to Modify, Arrange, and
choose what order you want to arrange them.
You can place an object in the same position somewhere else in the timeline, different layer, or
scene. First, copy the object. Then, goto where you want the object. Right-click, then select
paste in place. If you want to be exact in positioning objects, such as trying to align
perfectly, you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard.
Similarly to ungrouping, you can create word/letter art by choosing Break
Apart (while text is selected) from Modify and then edit the text's shape with the
selection tool.
There are many different things you will probably want to change about your
text, such as the font color, face, style, and any linking you may want to do. You can do this
from the Properties window (Old version: Character panal). When you
see in the fonts _serif & _sans, this stands for the default fonts appointed to the computer for
serif or sans serif. Keep in mind when using text, that not all computers have the same fonts
availible, so if you use a fancy text, you may want to consider changing it to wordart, or you
won't know what kind of font will replace what you have chosen on a different computer.
To save memory size and a headache on bigger projects, You can save your objects to the Library. To open it, goto Window on the menu and choose Library. When you put an object in the Library, you can use that object anywhere in your project. When you edit a library object, that edit applies to all the parts of the project where you used that object. If you want to edit an object and not have it affect the others, you can either duplicate an object and edit that, or you can choose Break Apart for the object on the stage. If you try to import anything into Flash, that is where you will find it. Within Flash you can choose to create a movie clip, graphic, or button directly in the Library. You can also put your object that you created on the stage into the Library by going to Insert on the menu and then Convert to Symbol.
Take that dolpin you created from the previous task and put it into the Library
as a graphic. Create a ball with some sort of design on it. A beachball would be perfect.
Change the background color to a light blue-green.
"Flash For Beginners" was created by Rachel Bliss for the purpose
of course design and shall not be redistributed/edited without consent.
Flash is a product of Macromedia.