The Flash Workspace

I know what it’s like to open a program for the first time and be overwhelmed by all the windows so I’m only going to explain what is necessary to get started. Fortunately if you are familiar with Adobe Photoshop or Dreamweaver the rest will begin to come clear as you begin to work with flash.

The Stage and Properties Inspector
The white square in the centre of the screen is known as the Stage. As you have nothing on the stage, tale a look at the properties inspector (top right) it will currently should the Stage properties. The main Properties you will be concerned with is FPS (Frames Per Second) The Size of the Stage, default is set to 550 x 400 px, you can alter this buy clicking edit. Also the Stage background color, set this to whatever best suits your intended output.

The Timeline
Next, lets take a look at the Timeline, as you will see your first layer is pre populated. For those familiar with Photoshop, layers can be stacked on top of each other and can also be sorted in folders. The main difference here is that each layer has a timeline made up of keyframes. Each keyframe is like a page in a flick book, you will notice the counter running above the timeline, if your FPS is set to 15 you quickly be able to calculate each second of footage.

There are three tools for operating the timeline and layers these are from left to right. New Layer, New Folder and Delete.

The Library
The library can be found in the bottom right of the workspace and is used to locate all of your imported graphics, imagery, sound and video clips. You can drag and drop these assets to the stage from the library.

Ok that’s enough to get started, much of the other windows Will become apparent as you begin to work with Flash.

Introduction to Drawing in Flash
Things to Remember #1 – when drawing in Flash only place one ‘object’ in a layer – treat it as if you were drawing on separate layers of acetate. For example – sky (Layer 1), grass (Layer 2), sun (layer 3), tree (layer 4) etc…

Start drawing and see how shapes, lines and fills work in Flash. Save all your experiments to your journal.

The Toolbar
Click on the different icons to see what each tool function does. Whenever you click on a tool you will notice it’s properties appear as icons below the Tool Bar. Make sure you click around to experiment with these so you can gain an understanding of Flash’s functionality.

Arrow: (Selection Tool) This is used for when ever you are not using any of the other tools. It selects individual objects or frames or a marquee for selecting multiple objects. It operates the tool bar and menu systems. Etc.

Subselection Tool:

Brush: The Brush tool is not unlike the pencil but it allows you to create thicker objects for freehand drawing.

Dropper: Use the eyedropper tool to copy fill and stroke attributes from one shape or line and immediately apply them to another shape or line.

Eraser: Pretty self-explanatory really..

Lasso: This is used for selecting single or multiple objects in hard to reach places by allowing you to draw a line, which then becomes the selection.

Line: This tool does what the title suggests. It draws lines. Useful for drawing polygons and other weird shapes the Oval and Rectangle tools can’t deal with.

Pen Tool: Allows you to draw very precise lines vector lines and curves for filling

Magnifier: You will be able to zoom in on your stage and objects with this tool. Holding down the “Alt” key will change the pointer to a “minus” sign. This will enable you to zoom out.

Paint Bucket: This will fill objects with a colour of your choosing. Ink Bottle: This tool creates lines around objects. For example, after selecting the tool and clicking on a circle object it will create a circular line around it. This can then be turn into a separate object.

Pencil: This tool draws freehand lines. Some bright sparks at Macromedia have granted you the ability to straighten and smooth the ravages of your unsteady hand. Have a play with this by choosing Modify> Curves> …

Rectangle: Another useful tool and you guessed it! It draws squares. When you draw one it will create a border too if you have to border colour selected. Clicking on the border once and it will only highlight one side. A double click will highlight all four sides. Oval: A very useful tool, which allows the designer to create circles and ovals of any size. Remember: When you draw an oval, Flash creates a border around it if you have a border colour selected. So if you don’t want it there either turn the border colour off or click on the border of the object, this will highlight the border, and delete it. (These borders can be useful in your design)

Text: This tool allows the designer to create text or text fields. Fill Transform tool; Adjusts the direction and angle of a gradient or bitmap fill

Free Transform tool: Allows you to rotate, scale or skew a selected object.

Hand Tool: Allows you to quickly move around the stage.

Deco Tool: Fills the stage with annoying patterns, useful for almost… nothing!

3D Rotation Tool: Exactly what it suggests but will not be needed at the moment.