Macromedia flash MX 2004 bible

* The bestselling guide to Macromedia Flash, the leading tool for creating animation and building interactive, multimedia Web sites, now fully updated and revised to cover the new release
* Covers everything readers need to know to master the newest version, including workarounds for hidden bugs and unpublished tricks and techniques not likely to appear in other books
* Packed with expert tutorials from the world's leading Flash gurus, with more coverage on using Flash with other applications than any other book
* Coauthor Robert Reinhardt is one of a handful of top stars in the Flash developer community and a regular speaker at FlashForward, the Macromedia User's Conference, WebTEK, Macromedia's traveling user seminars, and major universities

Author Notes

After discovering Macromedia Flash while working on an art project combining film, photography, animation and audio, Robert soon realized there was a need for more comprehensive documentation of its capabilities. In 1998, not many people had even heard of Flash and publishers were wary of the limited market, but IDG Books Worldwide, Inc. (now Wiley Publishing, Inc.) committed to doing the Flash 4 Bible . The rest, as they say, is history. After studying and working together for five years in Toronto, Robert Reinhardt and Snow Dowd established a multimedia consulting and design company in Los Angeles in 1999, called [ the MAKERS] (www.theMakers.com). In addition to work for entertainment companies, [ the MAKERS] has done work for independent artists and nonprofit organizations.

Robert Reinhardt- With a degree in photographic arts, Robert takes a holistic approach to computer applications for the creation of compelling multimedia. Since January 2000, in addition to design and content creation through [ the MAKERS], Robert has worked with the Content Project (www.contentproject.com) in Santa Monica, California. As a Director of Multimedia Applications, Robert has led various assignments including multimedia data analysis applications for Nielsen's Media and Entertainment division and creating interactive advertising for Warner Bros. films Dreamcatcher , Kangaroo Jack , The Matrix: Reloaded , and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines .
Robert continues to teach and write about Flash. In addition to this book, he is the coauthor of the Flash MX 2004 ActionScript Bible (Wiley), as well as Macromedia MX: Building Rich Internet Applications (Macromedia Press). He has developed and taught Flash workshops for education centers in California, including Lynda.com and Art Center College of Design, as well as doing on-site training and seminars for clients in the United States and Canada. Robert has been a regular featured speaker at the FlashForward, FlashintheCan, and SIGGRAPH conferences.

Snow Dowd- Snow initially collaborated with Robert Reinhardt on multimedia, film, and photography-based installation projects while earning a BFA in Image Arts at Ryerson University. During this time, she was also the production manager for Design Archive, one of Canada's preeminent architectural photography studios (www.designarchive.com). Working with renowned photographers and an exacting international client base of architects and designers helped her gain a deeper appreciation for architecture and industrial design. She also learned to love color printing, but the novelty of darkroom chemicals quickly faded. Fortunately, multimedia design offered a rewarding alternative to the health hazards of traditional photography.
Now fully immersed in digital production, Snow is able to synthesize her background in visual arts and communication theory with an ever-expanding software toolkit. Focusing on content architecture and interface design, Snow strives to make print and Web projects that are beautiful, functional and memorable. A recent challenge was designing a Flash interface for a project to deliver legal information to remote Navajo and Hopi communities. The content is available in three languages, online as well as through touch-screen kiosks hosted in the offices of DNA People's Legal Services, a nonprofit legal services organization.

Foreword	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xix
Part I An Introduction to Flash Web Production	p. 1
Chapter 1 Understanding the Flash MX 2004 Framework	p. 3
It's a (Flash) MX 2004 World	p. 4
The Many Faces of Flash MX 2004	p. 12
Summary	p. 16
Chapter 2 Exploring Web Technologies	p. 17
Contextualizing Flash in the Internet Evolution	p. 17
Exploring Companion Technologies	p. 25
Recognizing Project Potential	p. 27
Summary	p. 28
Chapter 3 Planning Flash Projects	p. 29
Workflow Basics	p. 29
Using the Project Panel in Flash MX Pro 2004	p. 44
Summary	p. 54
Part II Mastering the Flash Environment	p. 55
Chapter 4 Interface Fundamentals	p. 57
Getting Started	p. 57
Managing Windows and Panels	p. 67
The Tools panel	p. 72
The Document Window	p. 78
The Timeline Window	p. 92
Printing	p. 108
Summary	p. 109
Chapter 5 Drawing in Flash	p. 111
Using Geometric Shape Tools	p. 112
Using Drawing Tools	p. 116
Creating Precise Lines with the Pen Tool	p. 126
Using Fill and Stroke Controls	p. 129
Optimizing Drawings	p. 134
Putting Selection Tools to Work	p. 135
Designing and Aligning Elements	p. 144
Summary	p. 154
Chapter 6 Symbols, Instances, and the Library	p. 157
Understanding the Document Library	p. 158
Defining Content Types	p. 166
Editing Symbols	p. 171
Modifying Instance Properties	p. 175
Building Nested Symbol Structures	p. 177
Using the Movie Explorer	p. 185
Using Authortime Shared Libraries	p. 189
Summary	p. 192
Chapter 7 Applying Color	p. 195
Introducing Color Basics	p. 195
Working in the Color Swatches Panel	p. 202
Using the Color Mixer Panel	p. 208
Working with Droppers, Paint Buckets, and Ink Bottles	p. 219
Summary	p. 220
Chapter 8 Working with Text	p. 221
Considering Typography	p. 221
Text Field Types in Flash	p. 222
The Text Tool and the Property Inspector	p. 226
Font Export and Display	p. 238
Font Symbols and Shared Font Libraries	p. 244
Modifying Text	p. 253
Summary	p. 257
Chapter 9 Modifying Graphics	p. 259
Sampling and Switching Fills and Strokes	p. 260
Transforming Fills	p. 266
Fill Transform Used for Effects	p. 269
Applying Modify Shape Menu Commands	p. 270
Free Transform Commands and Options	p. 275
Modifying Item Types	p. 280
Using Distribute to Layers	p. 288
Working with Compound Shapes	p. 290
Using Advanced Color Effects for Symbol Instances	p. 292
The Magic and Mayhem of Timeline Effects	p. 294
Editing with Find and Replace	p. 299
Using the History Panel	p. 301
Summary	p. 304
Part III Creating Animation and Effects	p. 305
Chapter 10 Animation Strategies	p. 307
Establishing Ground Rules	p. 308
Defining Variables	p. 308
Adding Personality	p. 311
Manipulating Perception and Illusion	p. 313
Understanding the Laws of Nature	p. 319
Summary	p. 322
Chapter 11 Timeline Animation and Effects	p. 323
Basic Methods of Flash Animation	p. 323
Frame-by-Frame Animation	p. 324
Modifying Multiframe Sequences	p. 326
Using Tweens for Animation	p. 331
Using Timeline Effects for Animation	p. 343
Integrating Multiple Animation Sequences	p. 352
Organizing Symbol Instances on the Main Timeline	p. 357
Reusing and Modifying Symbol Instances	p. 358
Summary	p. 364
Chapter 12 Applying Layer Types	p. 367
Guide Layers	p. 368
Motion Guides	p. 371
Mask Layers	p. 375
Motion Guides and Movie Clip Masks	p. 382
Summary	p. 386
Chapter 13 Character Animation Techniques	p. 38
Working with Large File Sizes	p. 387
Some Cartoon Animation Basics	p. 390
Animator's Keys and Inbetweening	p. 392
Coloring the Art	p. 396
Flash Tweening	p. 400
Lip-syncing	p. 402
Backgrounds and Scenery	p. 408
Finishing Up	p. 412
Summary	p. 416
Chapter 14 Exporting Animation	p. 419
High-Quality Video Output from Flash	p. 419
A Quick Video Primer	p. 420
Adjusting Flash Movies for Video Output	p. 423
Creating Sequences from Flash Movies	p. 428
Creating AVI Files on Windows	p. 432
Exporting Audio from a Flash Document	p. 434
Importing Image Sequences into After Effects	p. 435
Summary	p. 443
Part IV Integrating Media Files with Flash	p. 445
Chapter 15 Adding Sound	p. 447
Identifying Sound File Import and Export Formats	p. 447
Importing Sounds into Flash	p. 452
Assigning a Sound to a Button	p. 453
Adding Sound to the Timeline	p. 456
Organizing Sounds on the Timeline	p. 457
Synchronizing Audio to Animations	p. 458
Stopping Sounds	p. 460
Applying Behaviors That Control Sound	p. 463
Editing Audio in Flash	p. 472
Sound Optimization Overview	p. 475
Publish Settings for Audio	p. 476
Fine-Tuning Sound Settings in the Library	p. 481
Final Sound Advice and Pointers	p. 483
Summary	p. 489
Chapter 16 Importing Artwork	p. 491
Defining Vectors and Bitmaps	p. 491
Knowing the File Formats for Import to Flash	p. 493
Preparing Bitmaps	p. 497
Preserving Bitmap Quality	p. 499
Importing and Copying Bitmaps	p. 500
Setting Bitmap Properties	p. 503
Being Prepared for Common Problems	p. 506
Using the Bitmap Buttons in the Property Inspector	p. 508
Making Sense of Bitmap Compression	p. 509
Converting Rasters to Vectors	p. 512
Using External Vector Graphics	p. 514
Importing Vector Artwork	p. 515
Optimizing Vectors	p. 523
Summary	p. 527
Chapter 17 Embedding Video	p. 529
Importing the Video	p. 529
Using Video in a Timeline	p. 540
Publishing Flash Movies with Video	p. 545
Optimizing Video with the Flash Video Exporter	p. 550
Using Sorenson Squeeze for Flash Video	p. 553
Summary	p. 558
Part V Adding Basic Interactivity to Flash Movies	p. 559
Chapter 18 Understanding Actions and Event Handlers	p. 561
Actions and Event Handlers	p. 561
Your First Five Actions	p. 570
Making Actions Happen with Event Handlers	p. 576
Creating Invisible Buttons and Using getURL	p. 583
Summary	p. 588
Chapter 19 Building Timelines and Interactions	p. 591
Movie Clips: The Key to Self-Contained Playback	p. 591
Targets and Paths Explained	p. 594
Targeting Movie Clips in Flash MX 2004	p. 598
Targeting Movie Clips with Behaviors	p. 602
Integrating Behaviors with Movie Clips	p. 604
Summary	p. 610
Chapter 20 Making Your First Flash MX 2004 Project	p. 611
The Main Timeline as the Site Layout	p. 611
Adding Navigation Elements to the Main Timeline	p. 620
Text Scrolling with the TextArea Component	p. 624
Using the Custom Fade Component	p. 627
Adding Named Anchors	p. 628
Making the Movie Accessible	p. 629
Summary	p. 633
Part VI Distributing Flash Movies	p. 635
Chapter 21 Publishing Flash Movies	p. 637
Testing Flash Movies	p. 637
Publishing Your Flash Movies	p. 644
Publish Settings	p. 645
Publish Preview and Publish Commands	p. 664
Using Publish Profiles	p. 665
Summary	p. 666
Chapter 22 Integrating Flash Content with Web Pages	p. 669
Writing Markup for Flash Movies	p. 669
Detecting the Flash Player	p. 677
Using Flash Movies with JavaScript and DHTML	p. 691
Summary	p. 698
Chapter 23 Using the Flash Player and Projector	p. 699
The Stand-Alone Flash Player and Projector	p. 699
Stand-Alone Limitations and Solutions	p. 706
Using the Flash Player Plug-in for Web Browsers	p. 707
Using the Settings in Flash Player 6 and 7	p. 709
Alternative Flash-Content Players	p. 712
Player Utilities	p. 713
Summary	p. 714
Part VII Approaching ActionScript	p. 715
Chapter 24 Knowing the Nuts and Bolts of Code	p. 717
Breaking Down the Interactive Process	p. 718
The Basic Context for Programming in Flash	p. 720
One Part of the Sum: ActionScript Variables	p. 725
Declaring Variables in ActionScript	p. 731
Creating Expressions in ActionScript	p. 733
Creating a Login Sequence with Variables	p. 744
Summary	p. 748
Chapter 25 Controlling Movie Clips	p. 751
Movie Clips: The Object Overview	p. 751
Working with Movie Clip Properties	p. 772
Creating Draggable Movie Clips	p. 775
Summary	p. 790
Chapter 26 Using Functions and Arrays	p. 791
What Are Data Types?	p. 791
Overview of Functions as Procedures	p. 798
Managing Related Data: The Array Class	p. 800
Creating a Dynamic Reusable Flash Menu	p. 802
Functions as Methods of Objects	p. 807
Functions as Constructors for Objects	p. 810
Summary	p. 812
Chapter 27 Interacting with Movie Clips	p. 813
Movie Clip Collision Detection	p. 813
Using the Mouse Object	p. 816
Manipulating Color Attributes	p. 819
Enabling Sound with ActionScript	p. 827
Printing with ActionScript	p. 837
Summary	p. 843
Chapter 28 Sharing and Loading Assets	p. 845
Managing Smooth Movie Download and Display	p. 845
Preloading a Flash Movie	p. 846
Loading Flash Movies	p. 852
Loading JPEG Images into Flash Movies	p. 863
Loading an Asset with the MovieClipLoader API	p. 866
Loading MP3 Audio into Flash Movies	p. 869
Loading a Flash Video into a Flash Movie	p. 871
Using a Preloader for External Assets	p. 874
Using the Loader and ProgressBar Components	p. 878
Accessing Items in Shared Libraries	p. 884
Summary	p. 889
Chapter 29 Using Components	p. 891
What Are Components?	p. 891
Why Use Components?	p. 892
Components in Flash MX 2004	p. 899
Understanding the Listener Event Model for V2 Components	p. 907
Using Components in Your Movie	p. 908
Modifying Components	p. 912
Custom Components	p. 916
Summary	p. 917
Chapter 30 Sending Data in and Out of Flash	p. 919
Using Text Fields to Store and Display Data	p. 919
Defining a Data Process with States	p. 923
Creating a Flash Form	p. 925
Using XML Data in Flash Movies	p. 930
Summary	p. 940
Chapter 31 Applying HTML and Text Field Formatting	p. 943
Exploring HTML Usage in Text Fields	p. 943
Controlling Text Field Properties	p. 956
Manipulating Text with the Selection Object	p. 957
Summary	p. 959
Chapter 32 Creating a Portfolio Site in Flash	p. 961
Creating an Extensible Site Structure	p. 961
Preparing Graphics	p. 967
Putting It All Together	p. 979
Summary	p. 994
Chapter 33 Creating a Game in Flash	p. 995
The Game Plan: Four Phases of Game Design	p. 995
Building the Project	p. 997
Scripting the Game	p. 998
Initializing Variables and Creating Sound Objects	p. 999
Building the Interface	p. 1000
Starting the Game	p. 1003
The User Input	p. 1006
Interpreting the User Input	p. 1006
Checking the Status of the Game	p. 1008
Added Feature: Storing User and Game Information	p. 1010
Summary	p. 1013
Chapter 34 Managing and Troubleshooting Flash Movies	p. 1015
Customizing the Actions Panel	p. 1015
Managing Your Code	p. 1020
Using the Output Panel	p. 1025
Knowing the Flash Debugger Panel	p. 1029
Assigning Breakpoints	p. 1034
Debugging a Flash Movie Remotely	p. 1038
Storing Code in External Files	p. 1041
Troubleshooting Guidelines	p. 1044
Community Help	p. 1048
Summary	p. 1049
Part VIII Expanding Flash	p. 1051
Chapter 35 Working with Raster Graphics	p. 1053
Preparing Bitmaps for Use in Flash MX 2004	p. 1053
Enhancing Web Production with Fireworks	p. 1054
Preparing Images for Flash with Photoshop CS	p. 1067
Exporting Raster Images from Flash	p. 1073
Using Raster Animation Tools	p. 1078
Summary	p. 1078
Chapter 36 Working with Vector Graphics	p. 1079
Optimizing Vector Graphics for Use in Flash	p. 1079
Creative Type Layouts	p. 1086
Enhancing Flash Production with Macromedia FreeHand	p. 1093
Enhancing Flash Production with Adobe Illustrator	p. 1108
Exporting Vector Graphics from Flash	p. 1112
Summary	p. 1115
Chapter 37 Working with Dreamweaver MX 2004	p. 1117
Why Use Dreamweaver with Flash?	p. 1117
What's New in Dreamweaver MX 2004?	p. 1119
Importing Flash into Dreamweaver	p. 1119
Launch and Edit Flash from Dreamweaver	p. 1124
Using Built-in Flash Objects	p. 1125
Using Flash Elements	p. 1129
Adding Dreamweaver Behaviors	p. 1134
Site Map & Link Checker	p. 1137
Writing ActionScript with Dreamweaver	p. 1139
Summary	p. 1140
Chapter 38 Working with Director MX	p. 1141
Advantages of Director over Flash	p. 1141
Advantages of Flash over Director	p. 1142
Benefits of Flash Assets in Director	p. 1143
Creating Director-Specific Actions in Flash	p. 1144
Controlling Flash Movies in Director	p. 1146
Controlling Flash Movies with Lingo	p. 1154
Summary	p. 1157
Part IX Appendixes	p. 1159
Appendix A Keyboard Shortcuts	p. 1161
Appendix B Digital Audio Basics	p. 1167
Appendix C Digital Video Basics	p. 1175
Appendix D Using the CD-ROM	p. 1185
Appendix E Guest Experts Information	p. 1191
Index	p. 1195
End-User License Agreement	p. 1251

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