Lesson-5

Flash
You will learn
What is flash and its uses
 What is flash and its uses
Flash 8 is a powerful tool created by Macromedia that has
 Crea
Aboutng animation
symbols and
overcome the best expectations of its creators. Macromedia
Flash was originally created in an effort to realize colorful  instances
Types of symbols(graphic,
bu ons, movies clip etc.)
animations for the web as well as to create animated GIFs.  Conver ng an object to a
Designers, web professionals and amateurs symbol
 Introducing me line and its
have selected Flash 8 by many reasons. use in anima on
 Frames and key frame
 About layers (inser ng a
new layer, renaming &
dele ng layer)
 Types of anima on (frame
and tweened)

Why should I use FLASH 8?

The possibilities of Flash are extraordinary, each new version has outstripped the previous
one, and the present Flash 8 is not an exception. Although its common usage is to create
animations has far more applications. They are so numerous that all web designers should
learn how to use Flash.
Flash has been made up in order to fix the great lack in the Internet: that is, Dynamism. This
dynamism does not imply only animations but rather interactive animations, which allow users
to see the web as something attractive, not static (unlike most of the pages that are made by
the use of the HTML language). With Flash we can easily and quickly create animations of all
types.
It is easy to learn how to handle Flash, it has a friendly environment that invites us to
sit down and spend hours making whatever our imagination suggests, but that is not
sufficient to be preferred by professional designers.

Features of flash
 Attractive Designs: Flash 8 allows the using of visual effects that will ease the creation of
animations, presentations and forms more attractive and professional
 Font Optimization: It also includes some readability options for small sized fonts, what
makes our texts more comfortable to read.
 Consolidated Libraries: Now you can search any object existent in our movies faster,
browsing our open libraries from a single panel.
 More powerful animation: Flash 8 allows much more control of the interpolations setting a
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 new edition mode form which you will edit the velocity the rotation, shape, color and
movement are applied.
 More powerful graphics: Avoid the unnecessary representation of vectorial objects setting
an object as a bitmap.
 Improvements in video importing: To ease the working with video formats, Flash 8
provides high-quality new independent codec, completely skinnable.
 Metadata Compatibility: Include your SWF files in searching engines defining a title,
description and/or keywords.
 Mobile devices Emulator: Preview your Flash Lite compatible mobile devices movies
oriented with the new emulator Flash 8 includes.

Creating animation
One of the main characteristics of Flash 8 is its simplicity, the straightforwardness in its use
allows to create animations in an effective and quick way.

Let's suppose you want to create an animation in which a

globe goes up and down. It may seem a job for long hours, but
it is not as bad. Let's see how easy is to handle it with Flash.

At first glance, it seems logical to draw the globe at each

moment, so that growing number of moments makes the movement more real: the more
drawn instants, the more realistic movement.

Nevertheless, with Flash it is sufficient to create only 3 frames: firstly, we will draw the globe
at the initial instance (above all), secondly, we will draw the globe at the moment when it
touches the ground and then the globe will come back to its initial position (actually you can
create this frame by making a copy of the first one). So far as we see now, most part of the
work (drawing objects) is already done.

Now, the duration of each movement is determined by setting

the time between the moments when the globe is at the top and
at the bottom, and finally Flash is pointed out to create an
animation of movement between those two frames. It is easy,
isn't it?

About symbols and instances

The Symbols come from objects that we've created using the tools that Flash 8 provides us.
When transforming these objects into symbols, they are included in a library at the moment of
creation that allows us using them on several occasions, either in the same or another movie.
When we create a symbol, Flash saves it to a library. Every time we use this object in a
movie, it's converted into an instance.

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 Although they seem to be the same, there is an important distinction: when using a
symbol, after we've created it for our movie, on modifying it the instance will be updated,
whereas the object will continue being intact, as it was at the moment of its creation, so then
we'll be able to return to use it at another moment.

Types of symbols (graphic, button, movie clip etc.)

Graphic symbols
Graphic symbols are the simplest and most obvious type of symbol. When you create a Flash
movie, you create objects on the Stage. Some objects may remain still, such as backgrounds
You create graphic symbols to reduce the size of your file and to make it easier to add multiple
copies of a graphic to your movie. Symbols are stored in the Library and are available to not
only the movie in which you created them but also any other movie. Therefore, using symbols
is a good way to store graphic images for use in Flash movies.

Movie Clip Symbols

A movie clip is like a movie within a movie that you can manipulate by using interactive controls
(also called actions, created with ActionScript). A movie clip doesn't take place on the main
Timeline; instead, it has its own Timeline. For example, you can go to a movie clip at any time,
play it, and then return to where you left off on the Timeline. You can also attach movie clips to
buttons.
Flash comes with several components, special movie clips that allow you to add user
interface elements — such as radio buttons, check boxes, and scroll bars — to your movies.

Button Symbols
Button symbols create buttons — those little graphics that you click in Web sites to
take you to other places on the site or the Internet. In Flash, you can use buttons in
the same way, but you can also use buttons to let viewers decide whether they want to
see a movie — when they click the button, the movie starts.

Converting an object to a symbol

 We select the object that we want to convert to a symbol. We open the dialog box of Symbol
Properties, acceding to the menu Insert → New Symbol or just by pressing Ctrl + F8 or F8.

 Type a name of the symbol, which we are going to create.

 The only that remains is to select the type of symbol or behavior into which we
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 convert our object. We can choose between Movie Clip, Button and Graphic..
Click OK to create our symbol.

Introducing time line and its use in animation

The Timeline represents a simple mode of visualization. It consists of two parts:

1) The Frames that are limited by vertical lines (forming rectangles)

2) The Numbers of frames that allow us to know the assigned number of each frame, its
duration and when it will appear in the movie.

Moreover, there are some tools on the bottom to work with Onion paper and its
information about the Number of current frame (1 in the image), the frame Speed (12.0 in the
image) and the Time of the movie (0.0 in the image).

On the definition level, “the Timeline represents the succession of frames in the Time”.
The Flash movie will not be only the frames that appear on the Timeline one after another in
the order established by the same Timeline

Frames and key frame

A frame represents the content of the movie at one moment of time. So far, an animation is
nothing more as a succession of frames. You can control all these from the Timeline, but not
all the frames have the same behavior and can be treated equally.
Key Frame They are frames with specific contents that are created to insert into the movie
inexistent content. You can identify them by the black point that is in the center or by the black

vertical line.
About layers (inserting a new layer, renaming & deleting layer)
A Layer could be defined as one independent movie of only one level. That is to
say, one layer contains its own Timeline (with endless frames) The objects that are at one
Layer share a frame and due to this fact they can "get mixed up" among themselves. Frequently
it could be interesting, but other times it is convenient to separate the objects in order that they
do not interfere among them. For this, we will create as many layers as necessary.

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Insert Layers : As its name indicates, it is used for Inserting layers in the present scene. It
inserts normal layers (in the following point the different types from layers will be seen).

Erase Layer : Erase the selected layer.

Change Name: To change Name: of a layer, it is enough to double click the current name.
Layer Properties: If we double click the icon , we'll be able to access a panel with the
properties of the layer we've clicked. We'll be able to modify all the options that we've
previously commented and some more of lesser importance.

Show /Hide Layers : This button allows us to show and hide all layers of the movie. It is
very helpful when we have many layers and we want only to see one of them. In order to
activate the view of a concrete layer (or to hide it) it is enough to click the corresponding layer
in the point (or in the cross) that is under the icon "Show/Hide layers"
Block Layers : It blocks the edition of all the layers, so we'll not be able to edit them until
unblocking them. In order to block or to unblock a concrete layer, we'll proceed like in the
previous point, clicking on the point or icon "Lock" located in the current layer under the icon
"Block Layers".

Types of anima on (frame and tweened)

Frame-By-Frame Animation
Frame-by-frame animation is the way cartoons have been animated since the early days of

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 animation. Using this method, the animator draws a figure or scene one frame at a time,
drawing slight differences between each frame. When the frames are then viewed in rapid
sequence, the differences between them create the illusion of change or motion. In Flash,
animators impose frame by frame animations over still images or other types of animation to
avoid redrawing an entire scene for every animation frame.

SUMMARY
1. Flash 8 is a powerful tool created by Macromedia that
has overcome the best expectations of its creators.
2. Flash has been made up in order to fix the great lack in the Internet: that is, Dynamism.
3. Dynamism does not imply only animations but rather interactive animations, which allow
users to see the web as something attractive, not static
4. One of the main characteristics of Flash 8 is its simplicity, the straightforwardness in its use
allows to create animations in an effective and quick way.
5. The Symbols come from objects that we've created using the tools that Flash 8 provides
us.
6. When we create a symbol, Flash saves it to a library. Every time we use this object in
a movie, it's converted into an instance.
7. Graphic symbols are the simplest and most obvious type of symbol. When you create a
Flash movie, you create objects on the Stage. Some objects may remain still, such as
backgrounds. A movie clip is like a movie within a movie that you can manipulate by using
interactive controls (also called actions, created with ActionScript).
8. Button symbols create buttons — those little graphics that you click in Web sites to take you
to other places on the site or the Internet.
9. The Timeline represents a simple mode of visualization. It consists of two parts: a
(a)The Frames that are limited by vertical lines and
(b)The Numbers of frames that allow us to know the assigned number of each frame, its duration
and when it will appear in the movie.

10. A frame represents the content of the movie at one moment of time.

11. Key Frame is frames with specific contents that are created to insert into the movie
inexistent content.

12. A Layer could be defined as one independent movie of only one level. That is to
say, one layer contains its own Timeline (with endless frames)

13. Insert Layers is used for Inserting layers in the present scene.

14. Frame-by-frame animation is the way cartoons have been animated since the early days of
animation.
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EXERCISES
A. Fill in the blanks
i. layer erase the selected layer.
ii. If we double click on the properties icon we’ll be able to
access a panel with the properties of the layer.
iii. layer blocks the edition of all the layer.
iv. Using method , the animator draws a figure or
scene one frame at a time.
v. does not imply only animations but rather interactive
animations.
vi. is one of the main characteristics of Flash 8.
vii. A represents the content of the movie at one moment of
time.
viii. Flash 8 has been made up in order to fix the great lack in the .

B. Find true or false

i. The symbols come from objects that we’ve created using the tools that Flash 8
provides us.
ii. The created symbol is saved into our created file.
iii. The time line represents complex mode of visualization.
iv. Graphic symbols are like a movie within a movie that you can manipulate
by using interactive controls.
v. A layer could be defined as one independent movie of only one level.

C. Short Answers Questions

i. What is Flash 8?
ii. What is key frame?
iii. Write one difference between Frame and Key frame.?
iv. Write the use of insert layer.?
v. What is time line?
vi. Name the two parts of time line.?
vii. What is Movie clip?
viii. What is show/hide layer in flash?
ix. Write the steps to start Flash 8.?
x. Write two features of Flash.?

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