Flash Explained

This tutorial shows how you the way to design and code an old-style analog clock which shows the correct time.

In a previous tutorial, I showed you how to make an analog clock using ActionScript only. This time, there will be much less coding involved, and a lot more design.

Below is an example of what you can achieve by following my tutorial. You will be doing this in Flash 8, but you’ll have the source code for Flash MX (that is, if you are targeting Flash player 6 when publishing your .swf) available too.

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In this lesson, you will learn how to manipulate a movie clip via button symbols. You will create an interface and write ActionScript that will enable the rotation and movement of a movie clip across the screen.

Press and hold the buttons on the example below to see the little rocket spaceship move and rotate!

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I will show you how to make a preloader that acts as the cursor on the screen.

As you can see in the example below, the preloader moves and acts as the substitute of your mouse. This example is a document with small dimensions. However, what you will learn in this lesson can be applied to any flash document.

Of course, the user has to move the mouse over the flash area on the page in order to see the effect.

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In this easy tutorial made for Flash MX, Flash MX 2004 or Flash 8, you will learn to create a shiny animated effect which will appear once a user rolls his mouse over a button. Many visitors to my site have asked me to explain how to make this kind of effect once they have seen it in my tutorial in which I explain how to make a tabbed website menu in Flash. To all of you who have requested this – here it is! In particular, you will see how to:

• Make a button shape using the drawing tools in Flash,
• Turn the shape into a movie clip,
• Add more design layers inside the movie clip to create a button that looks more real,
• Use the linear gradient to create the shiny effect,
• Animate the effect via the frame-by-frame animation and
• Implement some simple ActionScript code to make the effect work.

You can see an example of what you are going to learn in this detailed lesson below. Move your mouse over the button to see the glittery shining rollover effect!

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Before starting, please note that this is a tutorial made for Flash 8 Professional. Some effects, like drop shadow and other blending fx, are not available in previous versions of Flash.

While making this button, you will learn to:

• Make a nice colored gradient effect,
• Create a button label with some modifications,
• Apply a drop shadow effect to the label to give it more depth,
• Create masks so that the button looks more compact,
• Make a rollover state with animation inside it,
• tips and tricks related to Flash design and much, much more.

You can see the final result that you’re going to achieve at the end of this tutorial below. Roll your mouse over the buttons and click on them to see how nice they behave.

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In this tutorial I will show you how to create a slick sliding effect that reveals an image while covering another one.

As is shown in the example below, this slideover is done with easing. Move your mouse over the movie and see how the imaginary line between the two images is slowing down as it approaches your mouse.

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In this tutorial, you will learn a cool thing that Flash can do: to load an external JPG (or JPEG, as you wish) image while the main SWF is running.

Loading external JPG images in Flash has many benefits:

• you don’t have to put the images in your SWF, so that its size will be much smaller and it will load much faster,
• if you ever decide to change a picture, you just change it and upload it without having to modify the SWF movie,
• you can make a simple interface which will be used to load as many different images as you want.

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There is a certain type of preloader often seen on flash sites: the one where the text showing the percentage of the movie loaded changes color as the loading bar passes over it. This is done with the use of a mask.

To see what I mean, look at the flash movie below. This is the one you’ll be making in this tutorial. The size of this preloader, including the image of the sparrow and the logo, is just 5 KB! Now isn’t that just extra cool?

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In this lesson you will see how easy it is to create a nice Flash website menu interface and make it work also! Particularly, you will learn how to:

• Create simple buttons and duplicate them,
• Make your link text look crisp and readable,
• Make mirror copies of your buttons easily,
• Design and code a simple navigational system.

In the Flash example below you can see what you are going to create with this tutorial. Try clicking the buttons!

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I have received many requests to explain how to create an mp3 player in Flash, so here it is! You will learn to create the following (please note that this is a Flash 8 tutorial):

• A visual equalizer with colored bars,
• A Sound object for external mp3 loading,
• A play / stop button for your users, to turn the music and the equalizer on and off,
• How to make your mp3 player a part of your Flash or HTML site.

You can see the player in action below this paragraph! Click on the stop and play buttons to see how easily a user can switch the music on or off. The is just a proposed design. Once you learn how to create this kind of a player, skinning it and making it blend in with the rest of your site design is an easy task.

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