Introduction to Flash MX

Flash MX is the 6th version of Flash, which began as an animation tool for the web, and is now a multimedia tool for creating Web content, as well as animation. Flash allows you to create interactive websites, show video files and play audio files. A Flash plug-in is required to allow a browser (e.g., Internet Explorer or Netscape) to play Flash files. The good news is that at least 70% of viewers have a Flash plug-in. (Macromedia claims 98% have one.) You do need to keep file size in mind however. The majority of viewers still do not have cable or DSL, and they will not wait forever for a page to load.

Visit a few of the following web sites and answer these questions.
www.axix-media.com
firstbornmultimedia.com/websites/chr/crossfire.htm
www.panasonic.com
www.ry-guy.com
http://www.travelclick.net/index.cfm
www.chukchansigold.com/flash.html

1. What site did you visit?
2 . Describe how flash makes these sites more dynamic and inviting.
3 . List several of the things that flash adds to this site.
4. Find two web sites that use flash anywhere in the site. Write down the URL for each and describe what the flash animation adds to the site.

Now take a look at the Flash MX screen below. We have already covered an introduction to Dreamweaver MX. So, much of the screen should be familiar. You understand pull-down menus, layers, drawing toolbars and color swatches.

In the Flash screen, everything takes place on the stage. (If you do not see the stage, select File - New.) You draw on the stage, and you drag images and objects to the stage. The layers appear at the top of the Flash screen. Each layer has its own timeline where actions take place. The timeline is broken up into frames. (Think of a frame as a page in a flip book. As viewers flip through the book, they see motion as the images change from page to page. Of course, Flash is much more sophisiticated - you won't need to place an image in each frame to see motion, but you could.)

All of the images and objects that Flash uses are kept in the Library. In Flash, objects in the library are known as symbols. Instances (copies) of a symbol can be used multiple times and in multiple frames, but the symbol's size will only be added to the filesize once.

Flash has many moveable panels. When you open Flash MX for the first time, you may want to close most of the panels. Always keep the Property inspector panel open at the bottom of the screen; it displays the properties for a selected object. To close a panel, right-click on the title bar and select "Close Panel." To open a panel, select the Window pull-down menu and click on the desired panel name. To move a panel and resize it, click on the dots at the left of the panel's title bar and drag it to the stage. (You will now be able to drag it on top of other panels.) The down-pointing arrow at the left of the panel's title bar allows you to collapse the panel. The pull-down at the right of the panel's title bar allows you to access help features for the panel.

Select Modify - Document to look at/change the document properties. The dimensions are the dimensions of the stage. Please do not change the defaults as you may want to go back to the original settings.

• To specify the Stage size in pixels, enter values in the Width and Height text boxes.
• The default movie size is 550 x 400 pixels. The minimum size is 1 x 1 pixels; the maximum is 2880 x 2880 pixels.
• To set the Stage size so that there is equal space around the content on all sides, click the Contents button to the right of Match. To minimize movie size, align all elements to the upper left corner of the Stage, and then click Contents.
• To set the Stage size to the maximum available print area, click Printer. This area is determined by the paper size minus the current margin selected in the Margins area of the Page Setup dialog box (Windows) or the Print Margins dialog box (Macintosh).
• To set the Stage size to the default size, click Default.

The frame rate is the number of frames per second. At 12 fps, you would need 72 frames for a 6 second movie. For now, let's leave it at 12 fps. In fact, let's leave all of the settings at the default settings. (Notice that the document properties also appear in the Property inspector panel.)

5. Change the properties of your stage so it is 800pixels wide and 200pixels high. Give the stage a background color of #3399FF. Show your answers to questions 1-3 and your stage to your instructor for teacher check.

Now that you know what the Flash MX screen looks like, it is time to create your first Flash file!

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