Adobe Flash Professional CS6 Essentials

Learn Flash Quickly and Easily This full–color guide covers the fundamentals of Adobe Flash Professional CS6 and prepares you for the Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) exam for Rich Media Communication Using Adobe Flash Professional CS6. First, you′ll review basic principles of rich media design. From there, this clear, task–based book covers all exam areas while showing you step by step how to draw shapes; use the Timeline; add text, audio, and video; and more. Whether you′re new to Flash, preparing for the exam, or updating your skills to Flash CS6, this book is the perfect primer. Learn these Flash essentials—and more: The basic principles and practices of rich media design How to navigate the complex interface without a hitch Creating designs using Flash shape tools The no–sweat basics of Flash layers and the timeline Using Flash text and symbols, and developing simple animations Complex animation techniques such as rotation and parallax scrolling Using the Flash Bone tool and Inverse Kinematics (IK) to animate characters Working with audio, video, and ActionScript® Learn about Flash′s new Text Layout Framework (TLF) engine Learn how to use Flash′s drawing tools for both 2D and 3D art assets This striking Essentials book features: Chapter–opening learning objectives Step–by–step tutorials Four–color screenshots and illustrations Essentials and Beyond—summaries and additional suggested exercises Downloadable exercise files

Introduction xxi CHAPTER 1 Before Jumping into Flash: Rich Media Design Principles and Practice 1 Working with Clients to Create Rich Media Projects  1 What Is Rich Media?  2 Viewing Great Rich Media Examples 3 Identifying Your Content’s Purpose and Audience 7 Choosing the Best Media Types  10 Addressing Accessibility Issues in Rich Media 12 Designing for People Who Are Blind  14 Designing for Low–Vision Viewers 18 Designing for Hearing–Impaired and Deaf Viewers  23 Designing for People with Physical Limitations  27 Designing for People with Cognitive Limitations 28 Designing for People with Photosensitive Epilepsy  28 Understanding Project Management 101 28 Identifying a Project 29 Creating the Project Plan 29 Creating the Project Schedule 31 Properly Closing Out the Project 32 Understanding Copyright Issues When Using Others’ Work  32 Understanding Text Copyright 33 Understanding Music Copyright  34 Understanding Video Copyright 34 Understanding Animation Copyright 34 Understanding Trademarks  35 CHAPTER 2 Getting Acquainted with Flash 37 Opening Flash for the First Time 37 Using Flash Panels  40 Frequently Used Panels  41 Other Handy Panels  43 Understanding Flash Workspaces 45 Understanding Flash File Types 47 FLA  48 SWF  48 HTML  49 CHAPTER 3 Drawing Shapes in Flash 51 Drawing Standard Shapes  51 Understanding Merge vs. Object Drawing  58 Creating Objects in Merge Drawing Mode  58 Creating Objects in Object Drawing Mode  60 Drawing Primitive Shapes  62 Drawing Polygonal or Star Shapes with the PolyStar Tool 65 Making Artsy Shapes with the Deco Tool  66 Drawing Other Shapes  68 Working with Color in Flash  75 Using kuler  75 Saving a Color Set  77 Working with Color Gradients 77 CHAPTER 4 Getting Started with the Timeline 81 Becoming Acquainted with the Timeline  81 Adding Different Frame Types to Your Animation  83 Copying and Deleting Frames  88 Frame Names  90 Organizing Your Work with Layers  91 Creating a UFO Scene  92 Hanging the Moon  96 Organizing Your Layers: Using Layer Folders 98 Working with Special Layer Types 102 Aligning Objects with Snapping 105 CHAPTER 5 Adding Flash Text and Fonts to Your Creat ions 109 Understanding When You Can Use TLF Text Fields 110 Flash Player  110 ActionScript  111 Flash Builder  112 Picking the Best Font  112 Choosing Serif or Sans Serif 112 Embedding Your Font  114 Using Placeholder Text 116 Checking Your Spelling  116 Using Classic Text 117 Deciding to Use Classic Text 117 Inserting Classic Text Boxes 117 Using Text Layout Framework  120 Deciding to Use TLF 120 Inserting TLF Text Boxes 121 CHAPTER 6 Working with Flash Symbols 129 Creating Graphic Symbols  129 Converting Assets to a Symbol 130 Grouping Assets  132 Using the Library  134 Using the Symbols from the Library 134 Implementing a Library Naming Convention 135 Grouping Common Objects in the Library 135 Creating Button Symbols  136 Manually Creating a Button  138 Turning the Button into an Instance 140 Editing a Button 140 Using a Prebuilt Button  143 Creating Movie Clip Symbols  144 Creating and Editing Symbol Instances 146 Understanding ActionScript Linkages 148 CHAPTER 7 Developing Simple Flash Animations 155 Developing Storyboards to Describe Your Animation155 Creating a Storyboard for Cow Abduction  156 Animating the Cow Abduction  159 Creating a Frame–by–Frame Animation  165 Differentiating between a Stage Animation and a Movie Clip 171 CHAPTER 8 Using Tweens 175 Creating Shape Tweens 175 Making Changes to a Shape Tween 178 Adding Shape Hints  181 Creating Motion Tweens  183 Rotating Objects 185 Using Parallax Scrolling 186 Applying Granular Changes with the Motion Editor 189 Making Animations More Realistic with Easing 190 Using Motion Presets  192 Understanding Classic Tweens 194 CHAPTER 9 Techniques for Creating More Technical Animations 199 Creating a Bicycle with Rotating Wheels 199 Drawing the Crank Arms 200 Creating the Pedals  202 Repeating the Process for the Three Arcs 204 Creating the Sprocket  206 Creating the Tires  207 Creating the Bike Frame  209 Assembling the Bike 211 Setting Different Speeds Using Parallax Scrolling 213 Creating the Buildings 213 Adding Some Clouds  215 Assembling the Scene  216 Adding a Highway  217 Creating a Bouncing Ball with Color Gradients, Motion Presets, and Eases 218 Creating the Basketball Court’s Floor 218 Adding Pizzazz with Custom Color Gradients  219 Creating a Backboard by Combining Motion Tweens 222 Tweaking the Animation  225 Adding Perspective to the Basketball Scene with 3D Tools 225 CHAPTER 10 Creating Characters with Inverse Kinematics 231 Boning a Character  231 Snapping a Photo as a Base 231 Tracing Your Picture  233 Inserting Bones into Your Character  237 Constricting Animations  240 Animating IK’d Objects  242 Creating the Bicycle Animation 242 Creating Bouncing Movement Using IK Springs 244 CHAPTER 11 Working with Audio 251 Creating a Rich Media Project with Audio 251 Creating the Drum Set  253 Drawing the Bass Drum  254 Drawing the Bass Drum Hoops 254 Making the Drum Head  255 Moving the Back Hoop into the Back of the Front Hoop 256 Creating the Drum Shell  257 Drawing and Placing the Lugs and Rods 258 Creating the Tom–Toms and Snare 260 Making the Cymbals and Cymbal Stands  261 Drawing the Cymbal Stand 261 Drawing the Scissor–Style Brace for the Cymbal Stand Legs  263 Creating the Cymbal  266 Creating the High–Hat Stand and Cymbals 267 Adding Sounds to the Drums 268 Importing the Sounds and Preparing for ActionScript 268 Creating the Buttons  269 Adding a Hit Zone to the Cymbals  271 Compressing Audio 272 Using the Sounds Supplied with Flash  273 Putting a Sound on the Stage  274 Controlling a Sound with a Code Snippet  274 CHAPTER 12 Working with Video 279 Understanding Supported Flash Video File Types  279 Converting Non–supported File Types 281 Using the Import Video Wizard  282 Setting Up ActionScript Cue Points  289 Adding ActionScript Cue Points to Your Video 289 Adding Parameters to Cue Points  292 Adding the Buttons  293 CHAPTER 13 Working with ActionScript 299 Getting Started with ActionScript  299 ActionScript Basics  300 Working with Dynamic Text 303 Programmatically Adjusting a Text Object’s Coordinates and Formatting 304 Testing Your Work  305 Programming ActionScript to Calculate Your BMI 308 Writing the Code to Declare Variables and Hide Dynamic Text Fields  310 Garnering User Input 312 Calculating and Outputting the Results  314 Publishing Your Work 317 APPENDIX A Adobe Rich Media Communication Using Flash Professional CS6 Objectives 323 APPENDIX B Next Steps 327 Index 331

William Heldman is the Computer Science and Game Development instructor at Warren Tech (www.warrentech.org), a Career and Technical Education (CTE) high school in Lakewood, Colorado. He is the author or coauthor of several Sybex books, including the CompTIA Project+ Study Guide.