Flash Tips and Tricks,

Volume Four

By Craig Campbell

Running Time: 3 hours, 32 minutes

  Overview

This compilation is the fourth in a series of Flash Tips and Tricks tutorials that have been featured in our LearnFlash.com newsletter. This collection of Flash tutorials is a must have for any Flash enthusiast.

  01 - LED Text Effect (7:51)

This effect would work great for a news ticker on your website. In this tutorial, Craig will show you how to create an LED text effect in Flash using a grid of tiny circles as a mask layer over your text.

  02 - Random Jumping (10:25)

Predictability is way overrated. Web users all over the world expect a button to stand still when they click on it. So why not take a little of that predictability away from them? In this video, Craig will show you how to generate random numbers in Flash and then use those numbers to create an elusive button or graphic that jumps to a random position on the stage every time your user hovers his mouse cursor over it.

  03 - Keyboard Shortcuts (12:44)

Today's tip won't really show you how to do anything new in Flash, but it WILL show you how to save a little time while doing the things you already know how to do. In this video, you'll learn several very helpful keyboard shortcuts that can save you loads of time once you get used to using them.

  04 - Arrow Key Control (8:17)

This video contains information that will be very useful if you want to get into the world of creating games with Flash. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to capture keystrokes to trigger events. More specifically, you'll learn how to move an object around the stage using your arrow keys.

  05 - Centering Your Flash File (4:13)

Once you've finished and published your Flash website, you might discover that Flash has shoved everything over to the left side of the browser window. In this video tutorial, you'll learn how to edit the html of the published Flash file in order to center your website and even change the background color if you'd like.

  06 - Loading Pictures Dynamically (9:56)

The loader component in Flash is a very handy tool for loading external images into your Flash file. In this video, you'll learn the fundamentals behind creating a photo gallery, using the loader component to load pictures one at a time.

  07 - Autoscrolling Menu (12:02)

If you've spent any time at all looking at popular Flash websites on the internet, you've probably come across a photo gallery with a series of thumbnails at the bottom of the page that automatically scroll left and right in the opposite direction of the horizontal movement of your mouse cursor. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to create this automatic scrolling effect using a simple calculation and just a couple lines of Actionscript.

  08 - Digital Clock (17:25)

It's always helpful to know what time it is, and in today's video tip, you'll learn how to pass this information on to the users of your website. In this tutorial, you'll discover how to use dynamic text fields and Actionscript to create your own digital clock for your Flash website.

  09 - ActionScript Paths (12:21)

When working in Flash, it's imperative to know how to point your ActionScript in the right direction. For example, if you want a button click to send you to a different page in your website, the code for that click will depend on what timeline the button is placed in. In this video, you'll learn how to target your actionscript to point to the right timeline and the right objects.

  10 - Disabling Buttons (9:26)

If you're on the homepage of your website, obviously it won't do the user much good to click on the "home" button of your menu. In this video, you'll learn how to disable a button when you're on the page that the button is designed to take you to.

  11 - Swapping Movie Clip Depths (9:08)

In this video tutorial, you'll learn how to use the swapDepths() function in Flash to change the stacking order of movie clips on the stage. In other words, if you want to be able to click on a partially obscured object to bring it on top of the object that's obscuring it, then this tutorial is for you.

  12 - Editing and Animating Imported Graphics (11:35)

Not talented enough to draw your own graphics for animation? Not to worry! In this tutorial, you'll learn how to break down, edit, and animate an imported bitmap illustration using Flash.

  13 - Animation Setup (15:38)

Animation can be a tricky process if you've never done it before, but Flash makes it possible to reuse pieces of your animation so you don't have to continually redraw everything. In this tutorial, you'll learn some basics for drawing and preparing your drawings for animation in Flash.

  14 - Reusing Flash Assets (11:49)

Sometimes you might notice that your Flash file is getting a little bit too big, and you start to wonder how you can whittle that file size down to something a little more manageable. In this video, you'll learn a couple ways that you can reuse assets in your Flash file in order to cut your file size down significantly.

  15 - ComboBox Interactivity (11:34)

In Flash, the ComboBox component is basically nothing more than your basic dropdown list that you see in forms on the Internet. In this video, you'll learn how to use this component to communicate with another movie clip on the stage.

  16 - Fading Text Effect (8:22)

Trying to keep the novices in mind, in this tip Craig shows you how to create text that fades in. To make it a little more interesting and a little more useful for those of you who already know how to fade in text, Craig also added some subtle animation that will hopefully give you some ideas for your own website.

  17 - Common Mistakes with Actions and Buttons (6:59)

There are two ways to add actions to a button in Flash. You can add the actions to the button itself or you can refer to the button when adding actions to a frame. Unfortunately, the actions you add will be a little different depending on which method you choose. Because of this difference, the ActionScript involved can be a little confusing to beginners. In this video, we'll clear up all the confusion and fix some common mistakes that are made in the process.

  18 - Actions for Movie Clip Buttons (12:00)

In an earlier tip, Craig spoke a lot about using movie clip symbols as buttons, but there's one very important thing that was left out. If you've been having problems getting your movie clip buttons to work properly, then you might want to watch this video.

  19 - Conditionals and Toggle Switches (10:04)

A conditional is a way of executing a piece of code only if the circumstances are right. In this tutorial, you will learn how to use the if() statement to control a toggle switch in Flash.

  20 - Blur Text Effect (9:31)

In this video tip, you'll learn how to create a text effect where the text starts out large, in your face, and blurry before falling with a thud onto the stage and regaining it's focus. This tip features Flash Professional 8's filters, so if you're using an older version of Flash, you might have to leave out that step.

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