Flash is an application for developing rich content, user interfaces, and Web applications. Adobe Flash CS4 allows designers and developers to integrate video, text, audio, and graphics into rich experiences that deliver superior results for interactive marketing and presentations, e-learning, and application user interfaces. Most major commercial Web sites have implemented Flash content because of its cross-platform consistency, rich graphics capabilities, and small file sizes. After you create and fine-tune multimedia content in Flash, you can deliver it on the Web within a browser using the Flash Player. Flash Player is a software product developed by Adobe for browsers on the Macintosh and Windows. Flash is the world’s most pervasive software platform, used by over one million professionals and reaching more than 97% of Web-enabled desktops worldwide, as well as a wide range of consumer electronic devices, such as PDAs and mobile phones.
Flash operates virtually the same on both Macintosh and Windows versions, except for a few keyboard commands that have equivalent functions. You use the [Ctrl] and [Alt] keys in Windows, and the
and [Option] keys on a Macintosh computer. Also, the term popup on the Macintosh and list arrow in Windows refer to the same type of option.
Before you can install Flash CS4 and development content, you need to make sure your computer meets the minimum system requirements. You can create Flash content on Windows and Macintosh computers. As a Flash developer, you also need to be aware of the system requirements for viewers of your Flash movies in a browser using the Adobe Flash Player. Web users need to download and install the player in order to view and interact with Flash content. The Flash Player is free and widely distributed over the Web at www.adobe.com.
Some Flash CS4 features require the latest version of QuickTime or QuickTime Pro. During the installation, use the Recommended installation type to install the required components. You can obtain the latest version of QuickTime at www.quicktime.com.
You need to have a computer with the following minimum configuration:
• Intel Pentium 4, Centrino, Xeon, or Core processor or equivalent.
• 1 GB of RAM.
• 2.5 GB available disk space.
• 16-bit (thousands of colors), 1024 x 768 resolution.
• Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 3 or higher; Windows Vista with Service Pack 1.
• Internet or phone connection required for activation.
• QuickTime 7.x or higher; DirectX version 9.0c or higher.
You need to have a computer with the following minimum configuration:
• 1 GHz PowerPC G5; Intel-based Macintosh.
• 512 megabytes (MB) of RAM, 1 GB or above recommended.
• 2.5 GB available disk space.
• 16-bit (thousands of colors), 1024 x 768 resolution.
• Mac OS X 10.5.x, or later.
• Internet or phone connection required for activation.
• QuickTime 7.x or higher.
Your visitors need to have a computer with the Flash Player and the following minimum configuration:
• For Windows 98/Me. Internet Explorer 5.5, Netscape 7.x, Mozilla 1.x, Firefox 1.x, AOL 9, or Opera 7.11.
• For Windows 2000. Internet Explorer 5.x, Netscape 7.x, Mozilla 1.x, Firefox 1.x, CompuServe 7, AOL 9, or Opera 7.11.
• For Windows Vista/XP/Windows 2003 Server. Internet Explorer 6.0, Netscape 7.x, Mozilla 1.x, CompuServe 7, Firefox 1.x, AOL 9, or Opera 7.11.
• For Macintosh OS X 10.1.x - Mac X 10.4.x. Safari 2.x, Internet Explorer 5.2, Netscape 7.x, Mozilla 1.x, Firefox 1.x, AOL for OS X, Opera 6, or Safari 1.x.
To perform a standard application install, insert the Adobe Flash CS4 installation disc into the drive on your computer, and then follow the on-screen instructions. Because the setup process is different for Macintosh OS X and Windows platforms, general steps are provided to help you get started, and the on-screen instructions will guide you through the rest. Make sure to have your serial number handy because you’ll be asked to enter it during the installation process. If you’re updating from a previous version of Flash, you’ll be required to verify the older version with your serial number for the previous version. The Flash installation includes all the components you need, including the Flash Player 10 ( New!), to develop Flash content. The Flash Player is software installed on a user’s computer that allows them to view published Flash movies (SWFs) in a Web page or through the player.
Insert the Adobe Flash CS4 installation disc into your drive.
If necessary, double-click the disc icon, and then double-click the installer icon.
The installer window opens, displaying the opening screen of the Flash CS4 installer software.
Follow the on-screen instructions to install the product; the installer asks you to read and accept a licensing agreement, enter a serial number, indicate the language you want (New!), and specify where you want to store the software.
Important
Adobe, in an attempt to thwart software piracy, now requires online or phone activation of the program. The activation occurs during the installation process, but you can postpone it for 30 days after product installation. If activation is not achieved within 30 days, Flash will cease to function. You can click the Help menu, and then click Activate to complete the process.
You can start Flash in several ways, depending on the platform you are using. When you start Flash, the computer displays a splash screen and then the Flash window. When you start a new Flash session or close all documents, a Welcome screen appears in the Document window, providing easy access links to open, open recent, create new, create from template, and tutorial actions to help you get started. You can also use the Extend link to access the Adobe Flash Exchange Web site, where you can download additional applications and information.
Click Start on the taskbar.
Point to All Programs (which changes to Back).
Point to an Adobe Collection CS4 menu, if needed.
Click Adobe Flash CS4.
If you’re starting Flash CS4 for the first time, perform the following:
• Enter your serial number, and then click OK to continue.
• Click OK to complete the activation process.
• Fill in the registration form, click Register Now.
Did You Know?
You can hide the Welcome screen. On the Welcome screen, select the Don’t Show Again check box.
You can set launch preferences to customize how Flash starts. Click the Flash (Mac) or Edit (Win) menu, click Preferences, click the General category, select an option from the On Launch popup, and then click OK.
Open the Applications folder (located on the main hard drive).
Double-click the Adobe Flash CS4 folder.
Double-click the Adobe Flash CS4 application icon.
If you’re starting Flash CS4 for the first time, perform the following:
• Enter your serial number, and then click OK to continue.
• Click OK to complete the activation process.
• Fill in the registration form, click Register Now.
FL 1.2
Before you begin to create a movie in Flash, it’s important to develop a project plan first. The project plan provides a site map for you to follow as you build your project in Flash. Without a project plan, you’ll inevitably hit road blocks, which will cause you to waste time redesigning all of or portions of the movie. Planning a movie project involves determining its purpose, identifying the audience, logically developing the content, organizing the structure of the content, developing the layout and design, and identifying the delivery computer system. With a project plan in place, you’ll be ready to create a movie in Flash.
Creating a movie can take a long time; it’s worth the effort to plan carefully. The tendency for most first-time Flash developers is to start creating a movie without carefully planning the project. Before you begin, you need to develop and follow a plan. Otherwise, you might end up spending a lot of time fixing or completely changing parts of the movie, which you could have avoided from the beginning. You need to figure out the goal of the project, the look and feel of your production, its length and size, how it will interact with the viewer, and how and for whom it will be distributed.
When planning a movie, it’s important to accomplish the following:
Is it for training? Sales? Entertainment? Informing? The answer will determine the types of features you may want to include or exclude in the movie. If the purpose is to create a training site, you might want to include simple navigation, easy-to-use instructional material, and a help system. On the other hand, if the purpose is to create a sales promotion, you might want to include eye-catching graphics, videos, and audio to get users’ attention and draw them into the presentation.
How you create your movie will depend on how you classify the intended audience. If the intended audience consists of novice computer users, you will have to concentrate on making the navigational controls and layout as simple to use as possible. If the users are experienced computer users, you can include more advanced features and interactions.
The most beneficial planning tools for the multimedia developer are the script and schematic flowchart. The script tells the story of your movie production in text form. Just like in the movies, a script is used to describe each section, to list audio or video, and to provide a basis for the text that will appear onscreen. Schematic flowcharts are the best way to sketch the navigational structure of a movie and make sure that each of the sections is properly connected. After you have the script and schematic flowchart mapped out on paper, you will quickly see the correlation between what you have developed and what you will begin to set up in Flash.
The storyboard tells the story of your movie in visual form. It helps you design the layout of each screen in your movie. The storyboard follows the script and develops visual frames of the movie’s main transitional points, which help you develop the Flash media elements you will use to create your movie. A storyboard can take a long time to develop, but the media elements you assemble and create in the process will shorten the overall development time. As you develop your layout and design, be sure to keep:
• Navigation easy to understand and consistent from page to page, such as navigation bars or drop-down menus
• Text easy to read
• Sound and animation limited
• Movie file sizes as small as possible for fast downloads. Break up large files into small ones for easy management
• Color consistent and appropriate for the audience
• Content accessible to users with visual or auditory impairments
Some computers are more up-to-date than others. You need to determine the minimum computer hardware and software requirements in which your movie will be delivered. The hardware and software requirements will determine what types of media you can use and how the movie will play back.
Some hardware requirements you need to consider for the delivery computer system are (1) CPU (central processing unit), which determines the speed with which your computer can compute data; (2) RAM (system memory), which determines how fast files load and how smoothly they run; (3) Sound cards, which determine if you can use sound files; (4) Video cards, which determine the quality and speed of the graphic and video display, and (5) Monitor resolution, which determines the color display (number of available colors), size (800 x 600 is typical and 1024 x 768 is becoming the new standard, while 1440 x 900 is becoming more and more available), and overall look of your movie.
Some software requirements you need to consider are the operating system version and supported browser type and version. See “Preparing to Install Flash” on page 2 for specific details about these requirements.
FL 1.2
After you develop a project plan, you can use Flash to create a movie according to the plan. Creating a movie involves six main steps: setting up movie properties, assembling media elements, positioning the media elements on the Stage and sequencing them in the Timeline, adding custom functionality and interactive elements, previewing and testing the movie, and finally publishing or exporting the movie for distribution.
Before you start creating a movie using Flash based on your project plan, it’s important to understand the process of developing Flash software. The basic steps for developing interactive multimedia software with Flash are listed below.
Before you start a Flash project, you need to create a new document and set up initial document properties, such as the user’s viewable screen size, for how your movie looks and operates. It is important to specify document property settings that affect the entire movie at the beginning of the project, such as how colors are defined and the size and location of the Stage, so you don’t have to redesign the movie later.
Media elements include graphics, images, buttons, videos, sounds, and text. You can create new media elements in Flash or import ones that have already been developed. Flash provides several tools for creating media elements, including shape and paint tools, and text creation tools. You can also add media elements from the Library, a media storage area. Media elements are either static or dynamic. Static media is an element, such as text or graphics, created or imported into a movie that doesn’t change unless the author makes the change and republishes the movie. Dynamic media is an element, such as data, MP3 sound, a JPEG image, or Flash Live Video (FLV) video, stored outside of the published movie and loaded when needed or changed by scripting, which makes updating easy, keeps file sizes down, and provides personalized information to the user.
The Stage is the viewing area you use to display where media elements appear in a movie, and the Timeline is the area you use to organize what you want to occur at the time and duration you specify. You use the Stage to create the look and feel for your production; you use the Stage and Timeline together to arrange the media elements in space and time. The Stage represents the media elements’ position in space (where) and the Timeline represents the media elements’ position in time (when).
Scripting allows you to add custom functionality to your movie, such as moving objects on the Stage, formatting text, storing and managing information, performing mathematical operations, and controlling the movie in response to specific conditions and events, such as a mouse click. In Flash, scripts are written in ActionScript, a Flash-specific programming language. To help you get started scripting and save you some time, Flash comes with built-in components, and scripts called behaviors. Components are elements you can use to quickly create a user interface. For example, components can include buttons, arrows, or other navigation elements that move the viewer to different parts of a movie or to different locations on the Web. After you add a component, you can use behaviors to add functionality to the component to make it do what you want. In addition to behaviors, you can use built-in Timeline effects to add motion to elements. As you build in movie navigation and organization, it’s good design to break up large projects into smaller movies, which can be quickly accessed from a main movie. This keeps Internet download times to a minimum, and it makes projects easier to update, and more manageable for a team to produce.
After you create your project, you use the Test Movie command to preview and test the movie to make sure it runs the way you want it to. It’s important to test the functionality of your movie early and often during the development process to catch problems while they are still minor.
When the movie runs the way you want it to, you can publish your production as a Flash movie that viewers can play on a Web page, using a browser with the Flash Player. Flash publishes the movie file (.swf) and creates an HTML file with information to display the movie file. Viewers can’t change the movies in the .swf format; they can only play them.
A file in Flash is called a document. Flash documents, which have the .fla filename extension, contain all the information required to develop, design, and test interactive content. Flash documents are not the same as the movies you play with the Flash Player. Instead, you publish your Flash documents as Flash movies, which have the .swf filename extension and contain only the information needed to display the movie. When you open a new Flash document, it’s blank, ready for you to create or insert text, graphics, and other media content. By default, the first Flash document is titled Untitled1. You can create new documents in several ways including using the New command on the File menu and the New Document task pane. Flash numbers new documents consecutively. You can open and work on as many new documents as you have memory (RAM) for.
Click the File menu, and then click New.
Click the General tab.
Click Flash File (ActionScript 3.0) or Flash File (ActionScript 2.0).
Important
ActionScript 2.0 and ActionScript 3.0 are not compatible with each other. ActionScript 3.0 is recommended.
• If you want to create a specific type of document, click the type you want.
Click OK.
Flash makes it easy to create many common documents based on a template. A template opens a Flash document (such as an animation or set of menus) with predefined formatting and placeholder text, graphics, and actionscripts. Flash comes with a set of templates, which includes the following categories: Advertising, BREW Handsets, Consumer Devices, Global Handsets, Japanese Handsets, Photo Slideshows, and Quiz. When you select a template category, a list of templates appears. Select a template to display a brief description. If you can’t find the template you want, you can check the Adobe Flash Support Center Online Web site for more.
Click the File menu, and then click New.
Timesaver
Click a template category on the Welcome screen to open the New From Template dialog box, where you can select a template.
Click the Templates tab.
Click a template category.
Click the template you want to use.
View the templates in the Preview box and read the description.
Click OK.
See Also
See “Saving a Document in Different Formats” on page 22 for information on saving a document as a template.
FL 2.5
You can open an existing document file and the Flash program at one time, or you can open the file from within Flash. In Windows Explorer (Win) or Finder (Mac), you can double-click a Flash document to open the Flash program and the document. In Flash, you can use the Open section on the Welcome screen, Open commands on the File menu, or Adobe Bridge CS4 (a stand-alone file management program that comes with Flash CS4) to open Flash documents, scripts, and movies in several formats. You can also open content from Adobe InDesign and Adobe After Effects in the XFL file format (New!). When you open a document, a tab appears across the top of the Document window, which you can click to display it.
Click the File menu, and then click Open.
Timesaver
Click Open or a recently opened Flash document name on the Welcome screen to open a document.
To open a specific type of Flash file, click the File as type list arrow (Win), or the File type popup (Mac), and then select the file format you want.
Navigate to the drive or folder where the file is located.
Click the document file you want to open.
Click Open.
Other Dynamics
Click the File menu, and then click Browse in Bridge.
Adobe Bridge CS4 opens, displaying files and folder on your computer.
Select a workspace display to view your files the way you want.
Navigate to the drive or folder where the Flash file is located.
To open a Flash file, double-click the file icon.
When you’re done, click the File menu, and then click Return to Adobe Flash.
When you create a new Flash document or open an existing one, you need to set up or change the document properties. You set document properties at the beginning of the project to make basic decisions about how your movie looks and operates. You use the Document Properties dialog box or the Property Inspector to specify document property settings that affect the entire movie, such as the background color, the size and location of the Stage, the frame rate—the number of frames per second in which the computer plays an animation, and the unit of measure for rulers. These settings apply only to the current document unless you set Flash defaults to apply to every document. You can use the Properties command on the Window menu to display the Property Inspector, which appears vertically (New!) on the screen.
Click the Selection tool on the Tools panel.
Click the Window menu, and then click Properties to open the Property Inspector.
View the document properties at the top of the Property Inspector:
• Stage Size. The current size appears in the button label.
• Background Color. The color of the Stage background.
• Frame Rate. The speed at which the movie runs.
Did You Know?
You can change the background color quickly in the Property Inspector. Open the Property Inspector, click the Background color box, and then select a color from the panel.
You can change the frame rate quickly in the Property Inspector. Open the Property Inspector, and then enter the number of animation frames to be displayed every second in the Frame Rate box.
Create or open a document.
Click the Modify menu, and then click Document.
Timesaver
Click the Size button in the Property Inspector or double-click the frame-rate box in the Status bar on the Timeline.
To set the Stage dimensions, do one of the following:
• Specify size in pixels. Enter values in the Width and Height boxes. The default size is 550 x 400 pixels.
• Set size to an equal space around content. Click Contents.
• Set size to the maximum print area. Click Printer.
• Set size to default setting. Click Default.
Click the Background Color box, and then select a color.
Enter a frame rate. For most computers playing from the Web, 8 fps (frames per second) to 12 fps is adequate. The default is 12 fps.
To specify the unit of measure for rulers, click the Ruler Units popup, and then select an option.
To set properties for all new documents, click Make Default.
Click OK.
When you open multiple documents, you can use the Window menu or tabs at the top of the Document window to switch between them. You can click a tab name to switch and activate the document. By default, tabs are displayed in the order in which you open or create documents. When you want to move or copy information between documents, it’s easier to display several Document windows on the screen at the same time and move them around (New!). However, you must make the window active to work in it. Each tab also includes a Close button (New!) to quickly close a document. If the document view is too small or large, you can change it to suite your needs.
Open more than one document.
Click the View Size list arrow in the Edit bar, and then select a view size: Fit in Window, Show Frame, Show All, or a percentage.
• You can also enter a custom percentage in the View Size box, and then press Enter (Win) or Return (Mac).
To display the document window in the full screen, click the Window menu, and then click Hide Panels.
• To show panels, click the Window menu, and then click Show Panels.
When you save a Flash CS4 document within the authoring environment, the document is saved in the .fla format. If you want to display a document in the Adobe Flash Player, you need to publish or export the document in the .swf format. When you save a new document, you give it a name and specify the location in which to save the file. Name your documents clearly so you can easily locate them later. Also, creating folders and subfolders with meaningful names helps to locate files easily and saves a lot of time. When you save an existing file, the file retains its original name and folder location unless you specify a change. An unsaved Flash file displays an asterisk (*) after the name in the document name tab. To retain older versions of a document as you update it, use the Save As command and give each new version a new number with the old name, such as project1, project2 and so forth. Saving your files frequently ensures that you don’t lose your work.
Click the File menu, and then click Save.
If you are naming your document for the first time, continue. Otherwise, Flash saves the current document.
Type the new file name.
Navigate to the drive or folder location where you want to save the document.
Click Save.
If the file was created in Flash CS3, click Save or Cancel to convert it to Flash CS4.
Did You Know?
You can revert to the last saved version of a document. Click the File menu, and then click Revert.
You can save more than one document at a time. Click the File menu, and then click Save All.
You can save and compact an existing document to reduce the file size. Click the File menu, and then click Save And Compact.
Click the File menu, and then click Save As.
Type the new file name.
Navigate to the drive or folder location where you want to save the document.
Click the New Folder button.
Type the new folder name, and then press Enter (Win) or click Create (Mac).
Click Save.
If the file was created in Flash CS3, click Save or Cancel to convert it to Flash CS4.
Did You Know?
You can rename a folder in the Save As and Open dialog boxes (Win). Right-click the folder you want to rename, click Rename, type a new name, and then press Enter.
You can move or copy a file quickly in a dialog box (Win). In the Open or Save As dialog box, right-click the file you want to move or copy, click Cut or Copy, open the folder where you want to paste the file, right-click a blank area, and then click Paste.
There is a difference between Save and Save As. When you save an existing document using the Save command, Flash performs a quick save, which appends new content to the existing file. When you save a new document using the Save As command, Flash performs a complete save, which saves and compacts the content into a small file.
A file type specifies the document format (for example, a template) as well as the program and version in which the file was created (for example, Flash CS4). You might want to change the type if you’re creating a custom template or sharing files with someone who has an earlier version of Flash, such as Flash CS3. You use the Save As dialog box to change the file type for a document. The Format popup (Mac) or Save As Type list arrow (Win) displays a list of the available formats for Flash.
Click the File menu, and then click Save as Template.
Type a name for the new template.
Click the Category list arrow, and then click a category template.
Type a description for the new template.
Click Save.
If the file was created in Flash CS3, click Save or Cancel to convert it to Flash CS4.
See Also
See “Creating a New Document from a Template” on page 13 for information on creating a new document from a Flash template.
At some time, everyone has a question or two about the program they are using. Flash Help uses a Community Help site (New!) on the web at adobe.com (which is updated regularly) to help you find the information you need. When you start Flash Help, your browser opens, displaying a web site with Flash help categories and topics. You can search the Flash Help site by using keywords or phrases or browsing through a list of categories and topics to locate specific information. When you perform a search using keywords or phrases, a list of possible answers is shown to you from adobe.com, with the most likely answer to your question at the top of the list. Along with help text, some help topics include links to text and video tutorials. In addition, comments and ratings from users are available to help guide you to an answer.
Click the Help menu, and then click Flash Help.
Your browser opens, displaying Flash Help from the web. An Internet connected is required.
Click Using Flash to get help information for Flash. If you want help with ActionScript, click the appropriate link.
Click Help categories (plus sign icons) until you display the topic you want.
Click the topic you want.
Read the topic, and if necessary, click any hyperlinks to get information on related topics or definitions.
When you’re done, close your browser.
In Flash, on the menu bar (Win) or title bar (Mac), type one or more keywords in the Search box, and then press Enter (Win) or Return (Mac). You can also press F1 to open Help and use the Search box at the top of the screen.
Your browser opens, displaying an Adobe web site with a list of topics that match the keywords you entered in the Search box. An Internet connected is required.
Click the topic you want.
Read the topic, and then if you want, click any hyperlinks to get information on related topics or definitions.
When you’re done, close your browser.
Did You Know?
You can find out what’s new in Flash. Click the Help menu, click Flash Help, click Using Flash, click Using Adobe Flash Professional, click Resources, and then click What’s New.
You can print out the selected Help topic. Open the Help screen in your browser, select the Help topic you want to print, select the Print command, specify print options, and then click Print (Win) or OK (Mac).
You can participate in the Adobe Product Improvement Program.(New!) Click the Help menu, click Adobe Product Improvement Program, and then follow the on-screen instructions. This is an opt-in program that allows you to test Adobe products and make suggestions for future products. This program enables Adobe to collect product usage data from customers while maintaining their privacy.
Adobe offers a quick and easy way to update Flash CS4 and other CS4 related programs with any new software downloads directly from Flash using the Help menu. If you need more detailed information about a Flash task or feature, you can find out the latest information on the Web from the Adobe Flash Support Center and Flash Exchange Web sites. The Adobe Flash Support Center provides technical notes, documentation updates, and links to additional resources in the Flash community, while the Adobe Flash Exchange allows you to download additional applications and commands that other Flash users have developed and posted to extend the functionality of Flash. Some of the posted items are free while other charge a fee. You can access the Flash Support Center and the Flash Exchange from within Flash using commands on the Help menu.
Click the Help menu, and then click Updates.
Flash checks your software with the latest available version and automatically updates it.
Click Download and Install Updates.
To change preferences, click Preferences, select the update options you want, and then click OK.
Click Quit.
Did You Know?
You can register to receive notices about upgrades and new products. If you haven’t already registered during installation, click the Help menu, click Registration, and then follow the online instructions.
You can deactivate and activate Flash using the Help menu. If you have Flash installed on two computers, yet only have one license, you can use the Deactivate and Activate commands on the Help menu to go between the computers.
Click the Help menu, and then click Flash Exchange.
Your Web browser opens, displaying the Adobe support Web site.
Search on the Web site for the help information you need, or click the Product popup, and then select a product to display the resource types you need.
Scroll through the list, and then follow the on-screen instructions to download and purchase (if necessary) the resources you want.
When you’re done, close your Web browser.
After you work on a document, you can close the document by closing the document or by exiting Flash. You should save the document before closing it. Exiting Flash closes the current document and the Flash program and returns you to the desktop. You can use the Exit command on the File menu (Win) or Quit Flash command on the Flash menu (Mac) to close a document and exit Flash, or you can use the Close button on the Flash Document tab (New!). If you try to close a document without saving your final changes, a dialog box opens, asking if you want to do so.
Click the Close button on the Document tab, or click the File menu, and then click Close.
Timesaver
Press
+W (Mac) or Ctrl+W (Win) to close a document. Click the File menu, and then click Close All to close all open documents.
If necessary, click Yes to save any changes you made to your open documents before the program quits.
