Course Description

Flash MX 2004, Flash 8, and CS3 came jam-packed with so many bells and whistles that it is necessary to have a class just on the new productivity features that were not included in the earlier Flash classes. This 5 week class explores these new features in Flash, such as Timeline Effects, Behaviors, Commands & Extensions, and Image in Textfields to name just a few. Click here to view a very clever Flash movie created by Alan Becker. Click here to see sample assignment movies LVS Online Classes Flash Blog: http://www.lvsonline.com/online-flash-classes This is a self-study course. Access to all lessons will be provided as soon as the registration is processed. LVS is a Corel Training Partner. LVS students may purchase Corel products at a significant savings. Follow this link for details. LVS students are also eligible take advantage of special offers made available by famous software developers such as Andromeda, AV Bros, Extensis, Harry Heim, namesuppressed, Nik Multimedia, and Ulead. Details are provided in the classinfo link found in the confirmation of registration. If you would like to receive more information regarding this course, click on the "Contact Us" link in the Information section and we'll try to answer any of your questions within the day.

Course Requirements

Flash MX2004, Flash 8, or Flash CS3 Software. You may download a trial version of Flash, but be aware that it is only good for 30 days. Up-to-date browser such as Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, Firefox or Safari. Flash will work on both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Lessons are written in PC format, but are compatible for Macintosh users. You must know how your operating system works as instructors use PC. Homework must be reviewed by the instructor in order to earn a certificate. Students have the option of using the Student Upload Area or free web hosting made available for LVS students. Details are provided in the classroom. If you prefer to use your own web space, you must know how to upload your files to a server. Free tutorials are available: Basic HTML page WS_FTP SmartFTP If using your own web space, your web host must be configured (MIME-Type) to handle Shockwave Flash files (.swf) and native Flash files (.fla). Details are provided in the classroom. Students should have working knowledge of their operating system: Free Windows Class Here Directory Structure Tutorial Here Zip files may be necessary to complete the exercises provided each week. WinZip, PKZip, Windows Compression or similar program is required to unzip these files. Winzip Tutorial Here Windows Compression All lessons are available in PDF format. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view/print the lessons. Plan to devote 4 - 6 hours per week on the lesson and assignment.

Course Prerequisites

Class Level - Advance Flash MX2004 / 8/ CS3 Intro and Flash MX2004 / 8/ CS3 Intermediate Basic knowledge of HTML is required. If you are not familiar with HTML, consider taking the Build Your Website Intro class.

Course Syllabus

Lesson 1 Timeline Effects Lesson 2 Behaviors Lesson 3 Actionscript 2.0 vs 1.0 Creating a Photo Scrapbook Creating a Flash Site Lesson 4 History Panel Commands Installing and Running Extensions Lesson 5 Components Halo Interface Customize Components Lesson 6 CSS Support Image Support in Textfields Import PDF

Course Excerpt

LESSON 1 Timeline Effects Timeline Effects are not really a new kind of animation; they are simply a new way to create a tweened animation. You can spend a lot of time repeating the tweening process the old way. This is where Timeline Effects come in. Basically they are a series of preset animations that you can apply to just about any element in your movie. In Flash MX 2004, Macromedia has built a JavaScript interpreter. JavaScript, or Flash JavaScript to be more precise (also known as JSAPI), can now be used to do all sorts of fun things while authoring in Flash MX 2004. Macromedia has created several specific uses for Flash JavaScript to make common tasks and effects easier to apply with Timeline Effects and Behaviors. Timeline Effects are used to automate animation and other types of visual effects for movie clips on the stage like adding a drop shadow to a movie clip or applying a transition animation. Sometimes creating a simple animation can be tedious, especially if you have to repeat the process over and over. Timeline Effects simplify this matter. Complex animations can be created without ever having to work with the traditional motion tween and frame by frame animation techniques. Timeline Effects are basically a series of preset, although editable, animations that you can apply to just about any element in your movie. There are 8 Timeline Effects; Blur, Copy to Grid, Distributed Duplicate, Drop Shadow, Expand, Explode, Transform, and Transition. Not all Timeline Effects are animated. The Drop Shadow, Copy to Grid, and Distributed Duplicate don't really result in an animation...they simply change the appearance of the selected element. Timeline Effects can be applied to shapes, text, grouped objects, bitmaps, Graphic symbols, Button symbols, and Movie Clips. When a Timeline Effect is applied, a new folder is added to the library. You'll also notice that if the element you are applying the effect to is not converted to a Movie Clip, Flash will do that for you. Don't worry...that's what is supposed to happen. Flash will generate the additional assets needed to make that effect happen and adds them to your library. OK, enough dilly-dallying, lets start playing... Applying a Timeline Effect Draw an object or type some text on the stage. 2. With the object selected, choose Insert > Timeline Effects and select one of the effects in the list. OR you may right click on the object and choose Timeline Effects from the contextual menu and select the effect. Based on the Timeline Effect selected, a dialog box will open which allows you to edit the properties of this effect. Editing a Timeline Effect Select the object on the stage that you applied the Timeline Effect to and want to edit. Access the Properties Panel and click on the Edit button. * Or you may right click on the object and choose Timeline Effects > Edit Effect from the contextual menu. * Or you may choose Modify > Timeline Effects > Edit Effect from the contextual menu. When the Timeline Effects dialog box opens, you can change the effects properties to your liking. Continued... Please note: Lessons provide step-by-step instructions with detailed screen captures.

Course Goals

At the end of this class you will have a good grasp of the new productivity features in Flash.

Course Reviews

Joe Shultheis: “Showed the use of behaviors, components, CSS. The whole course was informative. I have been trying to learn things on my own, having a class show me things I might not otherwise look into has been very beneficial.” More...