Course Description

Since its introduction in 1996, Flash has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages. Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, and various web page Flash components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich Internet applications. This 5 week Intro course focuses on learning the interface, tools, and basic features of Flash. You will create animated logos, buttons, and simple movies to brighten up your web site. Flash gives web developers the ability to create interactive, animated web sites. Before Flash appeared on the scene, creating animated web sites (especially with sound) involved using large, multiple files. This requires high bandwidth that the general public does not have. Flash files, in contrast, can be very small, so bandwidth is less of a concern. Flash also brings a level of advanced animation and interactivity previously unavailable using traditional Internet technology. Click here to view a very clever Flash movie created by Alan Becker. Click here to view more sample assignment movies LVS Online Classes Flash Blog: http://www.lvsonline.com/online-flash-classes This is a 5 week, self-paced, online course. If you need additional help understanding the material presented, you can communicate with the instructor and fellow classmates. The instructor will monitor and track your progress throughout the class. LVS Online offers many wonderful learning tools to help you get the most out of your online course, including an online portfolio service that manages all your course registrations, certificate of completion option, a class discussion board to interact with your instructor and fellow classmates, free hosting account, and a student upload area. 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 CS4 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, 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 - Intro Basic knowledge of HTML is required when we get into the Publish feature. If you are not familiar with HTML, consider taking the Build Your Website Intro class.

Course Syllabus

Lesson 1 Overview Flash Editor Panels Timeline Tools Saving and Uploading Files Lesson 2 Grouping Arranging Graphic Symbols Instances Library Layers Lesson 3 Keyframes Multiple Frames Frame by frame animation Onion Skins Alignment Lesson 4 Motion Tweening Stop Action Info Panel Shape Tweening Lesson 5 Button Symbols getURL Action Adding Sound to Buttons Lesson 6 Javascript in Buttons Publishing and Exporting Customizing the ToolBox Alias Text Spell Checker Find & Replace

Course Excerpt

LESSON 1 Introduction to the Flash Editor This lesson begins with a look at the Flash Editor and its components. Don't be intimidated by all that you will see and read here. You don't have to remember it all right now. We'll be going over it all in small steps during the coming weeks. Please be patient while the graphics load. Some of them are quite large because we wanted you to be able to read them clearly. NOTE: All screen captures are done with Flash MX2004 Professional. Most of the interface is exactly the same between the two versions. Flash 8 screen captures will be inserted where applicable if there is a considerable difference. If your Editor does not look like the one below, please do this before continuing: Click on Window > Toolbars and make sure Main and Edit are checked. Click on Window > Panel Set > Default. If your [Drawing] Tools Toolbar is floating, drag it over to the left side and dock it. NOTE: If you are on a Mac, the editor and its features may look a little different. Main Toolbar: Toolbars, including a standard button bar (Main), can be floated by grabbing them with your cursor and dragging them around your desktop. To re-dock a toolbar, just drag it to either side or the top and let go of it. You can choose which toolbars to view by clicking on "Window" in the menu bar at the top of the Editor screen. Tabbed Documents: One of the most notable enhancements to the Flash interface is the addition of the ability to work with multiple documents fluidly. Multiple documents are displayed in a tabbed format which makes switching between documents a snap. Simply click on the tab of the document you want to work in to bring it into view. TIP: If wanting to compare or work with two movies side by side, with both movies opened in Flash, go Window > Tile: Edit Toolbar: While not new, it has been renamed and changed so that it can be hidden. In previous versions of Flash it was known as the Scene and Symbol bar. To hide the Edit Toolbar, from the Window menu choose Toolbars and uncheck the Edit Toolbar option. Scene Name Edit Scene Button If there are multiple scenes, Flash will list them here. You can then click on the scene name of the scene you want to edit. Use of multiple scenes is discussed in the Intermediate class. Edit Symbols Button Flash will list the name of symbols found in your library here. Clicking on a symbols name will take you into Symbol Edit Mode of that symbol. If you click on that button right now, the list will be blank because no symbols have been created in the empty movie you are using to follow along. Symbols and Symbol Edit Mode will be discussed in more detail later. Stage Magnification Options Drawing Tools Toolbar: Here you will find your drawing and related tools. Hold your cursor over a tool and a label will pop up indicating the tool name. There will also be a letter in brackets - this is the shortcut key for that tool. The Rectangle Tool has two tool options. Notice the little black triangle in the bottom right corner. Click on the button to display the options. The Drawing Tools Modifiers are located at the bottom of the Drawing Tools Toolbar. Many of the drawing tools have their own set of modifiers which affect how they will act when the tool is used, or can be used to modify an object or fill after the fact. Modifiers change based on the tool that is selected and, in some cases, are only available when an object has also been selected with that tool. When modifiers are unavailable, they will appear grayed out. The Drawing Tools will be discussed in detail later. Panel Sets: Depending which version of Flash you have, you'll find several panels in the Default Panel layout. The panels can be docked, floating, or closed. Panel Sets are used to view, organize and change your objects and their attributes. We'll discuss the Panel Sets in more detail later. Bottom panels: Here you will find the Actions, Help and Properties panels. These panels can be docked, floating, or closed. You already read about the Help panel in the classroom. The Actions panel is used to enter ActionScripting. The Properties panel is a tool you'll find yourself using quite frequently. Essentially it serves as a doorway to the properties of any given object on the stage. The options displayed in the Properties panel change depending on what type of object is selected. The Properties and Action panels will be discussed in more detail later. Close/Open Buttons: Flash gives you the ability to close or open the panel sets by clicking the associated button. Handy little feature to get those panel sets out of the way when not in use. The Stage: Items in this white area are "on stage" and will appear in your published movie. The stage has several properties which can be changed, including size and color. This is discussed in more detail later in this lesson. The Timeline Panel: The Timeline displays and controls the organization of your movie's frames and layers. It can be floated or docked on either side, the top or the bottom of the Editor window. It can also be resized by dragging its edges outward. If you want to see more layers, dock your Timeline on the side; if you'd rather see more frames, dock it on the top or bottom. You can temporarily hide the timeline by clicking on its Title Bar. The Timeline is a complex organizational and navigational tool, which you will use extensively as you learn to use Flash, particularly in creating animations. The Timeline will be discussed in more detail later in this lesson. The Work Area (Offstage): Items in this gray area will not show up in your published movie. This area can be used as a pre-staging area to hide an object for a few frames while it waits its turn to come on stage. We'll talk more about this in Weeks 3 and 4. Continued... Please note: Lessons provide step-by-step instructions with detailed screen captures.

Course Goals

Anyone can make a Flash movie, but is it optimized for the net? This Intro class will take you step by step in doing it the "right" way from the ground up. We begin by introducing you to the interface and tools, then discuss grouping, creating graphic symbols, using multiple layers and keyframes. Then we move into the fun stuff.... animation, which consists of frame by frame, motion tween, and shape tween. We wind the class up with learning how to create a button symbol with getURL action, inserting javascript in buttons, and Publishing the movie.

Course Reviews

Danuta: “This was a terrific class!! I am looking forward to the next class. I wish LVS had some online College status. It certainly deserves it. I have been on and off taking college classes, but LVS is far better :)” More...