Getting Familiar with Flash

Flash's interface should be familar to you if you have experience with other Adobe design tools. Panels, and Panel groups allow you to modify your Flash project.

Flash Layout

Items specific to Flash include:

• Stage - Where you will develop your Flash project. Items can be off the stage, however, they will only show to the end user if they are in the stage area.
• Layers - Similar to layers in Photoshop or Illustrator. Top layers cover bottom layers. Suggestion: Only put one item in a layer.
• Timeline - This is where you define when layers appear/dissappear and change position/settings.
• Properties Inspector - an important panel which will be used edit existing items that are on the timeline.
• Tools Panel - for creating and modifying items on the timeline.

Working with Flash

There are several ways to create a new Flash Document. One of the most common is to press CTRL - N, or go to File > New

Clicking in a blank spot on the stage, (or by clicking nothing) allows you to edit the stage properties using the property inspector. Stage properties allow you to change the size of the stage as well as the background color.

Library

The library stores resources for your Flash project. You can import external items like audio clips, video clips, and images into the library. Use the File > Import to Library command to import to the library directly.

Timeline

The timeline allows you to add, rename, and organize your layers. Layers store items in the timeline.

Hint: Only put one item in each layer, especially if it will be animated at all.

Keyframes allow you to indicate a change in the content on a layer, at a particular frame.

Tools Panel

The tools panel allows you to create and edit content within Flash.

Publishing Your Movie

A Quick Preview can be done by holding the CTRL-Enter key. To Publish the file (which creates the HTML and SWF files), use the File > Publish menu commands.