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Written by Rawpulse
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Wednesday, 12 October 2005 |
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Page 1 of 2
This tutorial will take you through the basics of Flash, and even show you how to make your first animation
- When you first open Flash it can be quite overwhelming. There
are lots of tools and windows with lots of information thrown at you.
This tutorial will help you to understand the concept of Flash, as well
as what the tools are for, how to customise your Flash experience, and
it will even help you make your first basic animation.
- Depending on what version of Flash you have, the menus might be
in different locations. They are usually in similar places, so if I am
referring to something that you cannot find, look around and you are
sure to find it. This is only likely to occur if you are using an older
version of Flash, as this tutorial is based on Flash Professional 8,
which is the newest version, as of this week.
Macromedia Flash is software for creating animations, games, cartoons,
website graphics/effects, text effects and special effects. While it
may seem like you're in over your head, it's a fairly simple program to
work with. Open Flash and you will see several distinct areas which
are; your stage, tools, lower windows, and side windows.
In fact, when you open Flash you'll see a mainly white screen. If you
have your windows closed, anyway. The main area in the middle is the
stage. This is where you will create your animation, or whatever it is
you are developing.
[click to enlarge]
The timeline is effectively the brain. Well actually, Actionscript is
probably the brain, but as a beginner, I doubt you'll be getting into
coding. So, for the sake of simplicity the timeline is the brain. This
is where you set the project into frames and keyframes and decide the
order that things play in. You can create layers and much more advanced
things that you don't particularly need to know about yet.
[click to enlarge]
The tools are located on the left hand side along the side. These are
the main tools used to create your project. These range from a text
tool, which allows you to type text on to the stage with various fonts,
to a brush tool for drawing. The best way to learn these tools is to
experiment with them. The icon is pretty self explanatory, and you'll
learn exactly where everything this over time.
The windows are located below your stage and along the right hand side
of the screen. These can be customized so you have certain windows open
that you use more frequently. The windows that default around your
stage are the following:
Actions - To set Actionscript on your symbols etc
Properties - The most commonly used. For standard settings like size, frame rate, etc.
Color - For mixing colors that you assign to shapes, text etc.
Library - Where all your active files are listed for easier access.
Properties:
[click to enlarge]
Various Side Windows:
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 November 2005 )
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