Does Flash work the same way twice in a row?

[hohriver]

I can see that Flash is probably a great tool, judging from some of the absolutely fantastic sites I've viewed that were created with this software. But I don't get it.<br>
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I find learning Flash the most difficult of any piece of software I've tackled in the past five years. It seems completely counterintuitive to me, and the absurd 'examples' which accompany the manual and 'tutorials' rarely work, or have an application one might use. I've purchased FOUR guides to Flash, and still I can't seem to get things to work consistently, or discover a tried and true formula for motion or shape tweening. I can find NOTHING about working the wonders I've seen with the type or font text. <br>
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I run over eighty pieces of software on my home pc; I'm employed in the IT industry as a web content developer and graphics designer for a major corporation. This inability to &quot;get&quot; Flash 4.0 is beginning to unnerve me: is it only me? Is there anyone else out there who finds that Flash is just a brainboggle? Or, even better, does someone know the definitive, step-by-step guide which will make the nightmare go away and the sun come out on Flash?<br>
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I'm just about ready to be committed over this darn program!<br>
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Hohriver Wandereer

 

[Judland]

Gee, I'm sorry to hear you're having so many problems learning Flash.<br>
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I don't know if I can help you. All I can tell you is what I've experienced. I wanted to learn how to program in Flash as you do. I wasn't sure where to even start or how making Flash animation was even done. I took my chances and ordered the book, Flash 4! Creative Web Animation.<br>
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After the first few chapers, I was practicing making simple Flash animations. The sites I've created since are nothing compared to the many other great Flash sites on the Net, but feel that I'm on my way.<br>
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I suppose my best advice is: start small. As soon as you're familar and comfortable in one aspect of Flash animation, move on to the next step.<br>
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In comparison, I find programming in HTML more cumbersome now than creating something using Flash.<br>
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Sorry, I can't be more help. Maybe someone else has better advice for you.<br>
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Regards,<br>
D. <p>Judland<br><a href=mailto:judlandwaste@netscape.net>judlandwaste@netscape.net</a><br><a href=

http://members.home.net/jdweb/jdintro.html>My

Flash proving ground...</a><br>

 

[MrTennis]

My experience was pretty much the same. Flash is not completely intuitive with respect to other designing type software. I got over the &quot;hump&quot; by signing up for a 2-day class in Flash at a local extension university. This gave me the push I needed to fully delve into the world of Flash. I hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[TheDemon]

Flash is a real brain-teaser to start with, but I would&nbsp;&nbsp;suggest that tackling it requires a different mind-set. <br><br>Flash is unlike any other programming 'language' that the traditional IT employee is used to as it's more akin to cinematics (rather than mathematics). Creating frames is like film editing and animating between key frames is as close to traditional animatronics as we've got. These skills are not taught through experience with traditional languages like VB, Java, etc, or even software packages like Paint Shop Pro, Dreamweaver, Adobe etc etc. <br><br>This may all sound obvious but I found that by detatching myself from all that I was used to helped me overcome that initial hurdle. <br><br>The only advice I can give is to use the tutorials as guides, and search the web for help pages (official and unofficial, though the macromedia site is a good one to start with). They're always so much easier to follow than published books. Having a mate to share and discuss problems always helps!<br><br>If it's any consolation, I've never done any real programming before. I've just had my first lesson in creating ASP pages and I'm finding that a real b***ch to get my head round!<br><br>Sorry if the above message isn't that much help but I'd hate to see anyone give up on Flash because it really is a powerful tool. Keep up the work and good luck.

 

[hohriver]

I want to thank Judland and 'helpmegod' for their consoling and common sense advice when it comes to Flash.<br>I've actually made headway, and can now control motion tweening with fairly predictable results.<br>Shape tweening is still boggling me, but &quot;starting small&quot; really seems to help.<br>Thanks to everyone who replied to my post.