Recommendations for flash training 1

[1DMF]

Hi,

Does anyone know of a good, quick, easy and cheap way to learn flash?

I bought a template for another one of my many stupid websites and started fumbling around at the weekend, but although I worked some stuff out, some of it isn't making sense to me.

Also as I worked one bit out, in doing so I seemed to corrupt some animation and image positions, and just seem so far to be going round in circles rather than moving forward.

I hoped someone might be able to recommend a course or trainer or at least a good place to look for one.

I have a few months spare before I start my next part of my Diploma, so hoped to get this under my belt before that begins in October.

I'm using Studio 8.

Cheers,1DMF.

"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"

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[audiopro]

As you are a programmer, I would suggest you have a play with Actionscript rather than just the basic timeline Flash. It is powerful although the OOP side of things threw me for a while I soon got my head round it.
There is a well known forun for Flash which has a specific Actionscript section. Not sure if I can advertise it on here but it is easy to find.

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[1DMF]

Hi Keith,

Well I've been fumbling around in the main timeline with the template I have, and I'm very confused over how it all works.

There is a window that is labled 'Actions' , which I assume shows you the AS2 attached to each object, I've clicked on every movie clip in the Library and I can't find any AS2 in the Actions window.

I cannot understand what is trigering mouse clicks or how stuff sitting 'off stage' is brought in and animated on mouse click.

To just open a very complicated template and throw yourself in the deep end is very overwhelming and confusing.

I've had a quick look at local colleges for courses, but the only one I could find was a 2 year course for over a grand!

As I'm already studying a 4 year computing diploma, that's just out of the question.

Dunno maybe i'm trying to take on too much at once.

Hopefully my previous course "OOP with Java" will help if AS2 is OO by design.

Currently I can't even work out,why when I edit an action movie and place an object on it, the published flash is showing it in a different positon.

Isn't Flash suppose to be WYSIWYG? I'm obviosly missng some fundamentals about how it all fits together, or not aware of potential bugs / foibles of the version i'm using.

Oh well, gotta keep trying I guess.

"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"

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[audiopro]

I had the same problem and I couldn't get a proper explanation from anywhere of how to get started.
I would suggest that you forget the complicated template approach and start from the ground up.
All the action script goes in an 'actions' layer in the first frame. More complex stuff involves moving around frames but you can do some clever stuff with just a single frame.

Try this little animation.

Open a new Flash document
Draw a box, don't worry about colour or style, any box will do.
Select it using the select tool.
Press F8 - that makes the box into a symbol
Name - m1
Type - Movie Clip
There is a grid of 9 little boxes - select top left.
That sets the registration point of the movie clip to 0,0.
Click OK
In properties instance name - mc1 (use that to refer to the properties of the box)
Create a new layer
Call it 'actions'
Open the actions window for that layer and paste

var mcx:Number=20;
var mcy:Number=20;
onEnterFrame = function () {
	mcx+=1;
	mcy+=1;
	mc1._x=mcx;
	mc1._y=mcy;
}

It is a simple demo but will give you something to work on.



Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[1DMF]

You've lost me at

In properties instance name - mc1 (use that to refer to the properties of the box)

and why does my box only show two of the 4 sides?

"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"

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[audiopro]

You may not have the properties panel open.
top menu - window - properties - properties

or CTRL+F3

and why does my box only show two of the 4 sides

You got me there - does your box have a fill colour set?

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[1DMF]

Got it, not sure what it's demoing though?

I get 2 sides of a box and the lines slowly draw till all 4 sides show.

Is that what it is meant to do?

If I click play from the SWF preview menu nothing happens.

Rewind doesn't do anything either.

y box was simply drawn using the rectange tool with colour red selected. no fill or stroke colour.

If I then click the m1 clip on the right in the library and choose edit, the box has no lines at all all I see is a blank page?

Where has my rectangle gone and why are two sides missing?

"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"

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[audiopro]

Not sure what you are doing there.

Draw box with red fill and no stroke.
Box should appear on screen and then slowly move diagonally across the stage.

I have attached the .fla file to get you going.

Have fun

Keith
www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[1DMF]

lol when I followed your instructions I get...

http://dance-music.org/test2.swf

http://dance-music.org/test2.fla

"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"

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[audiopro]

It looks like you have got some dodgy setup there.
It should be a black box floating across the screen - some people are just jinxed lol

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[1DMF]

bizzare! yet your version shows fine?

What do you get if you open my .fla file.

Does it show correctly? is it configured as per your instructions or have I made a mistake?

"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"

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[audiopro]

I get what you get so you must be doing something wrong but no idea what.

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[1DMF]

- seems like the blind leading the blind here!

"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"

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[audiopro]

Been away for a few days - did you get it sorted?

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[audiopro]

I think the prob;em is in the way you are creating the box.
I have changedyour instance name of your mc to mc2 and created a new 'mc1' as a black box.

That works ok.

You don't have a fill in the box or the fill is white.

Delete the black box I created.

Create a new box, set the stroke colour to nothing (white box with red line across), select a fill colour.
Draw the box on the stage.
Select it.
F8 to convert to mc and assign it instance name 'mc1'

Keith
www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[1DMF]

Hope you had a nice time

why does the box behave in that weird way if it doesn't have a fill colour?

"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"

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[audiopro]

The stroke effect is not a complete box but rather 4 separate lines. It is possible to pick up only some of the lines if you do not select the entire image.
I only used a box as an example, you could easily use an image or text if you wished.

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[1DMF]

Gotcha, I see that now, when I went to delete the box I had to remove each side as separate lines.

It's taking a while, but I'm actually getting somewhere!

"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!"

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