INTRODUCTION TO FLASH
Flash is super cool.
Flash is an interactive web based animation program that can
help you build web pages or web page elements. Using Flash, you can pretty much
make your web pages do whatever you want them to do! Flash is the first
widely accepted real step towards turning the web into interactive television.
Its not even funny how much further Flash goes past what HTML can do. Flash
works great with animation, interactivity, and sound. Like a print based
program, it allows you to place elements wherever you want them on the screen.
Many consider Flash to be the future of the Internet. Flash
designers also usually command higher salaries than HTML designers, which is
also cool. The Academy's web design course site is built in flash.
Checking Out Flash Sites
The best way to get a good idea of what Flash can do is to
look at websites built with it. Check out the following links for inspirational
Flash pages.
Macromedias "Site of the Day" Showcase
Almost all of the sites showcased here are built with Flash.
http://www.macromedia.com/showcase/archive/
Flash Challenge
A running contest to declare the best
Flash based site. Youll see super advanced stuff here!
Eye4U
This design studios site was one of the first full flash
sites to make a big impression on the internet industry.
http://www.eye4u.com
NRG
This Belgian design site uses sound and voice to make their interactive
site more interesting.
http://www.nrg.be
The Academy of Web Design, San Francisco
The best Flash based site ever created. Or, um, something
like that.
http://www.awdsf.com
How Flash Works
Flash creates interactive presentations called "movies".
Flash movies are imbedded into a web page much like images are. The Flash movie
itself is not built in HTML, but an HTML page will be used to hold the Flash
movie. Movies can be set to take up the whole screen, or can occupy a small
portion of a web page as a banner or advertisement.
Flash Utilizes Streaming
Streaming is a technique used for transferring data, usually
video, animation or sound. Instead of waiting for the whole file to download
before it starts playing, by utilizing streaming, Flash can start showing you
animations or playing sounds the second that data starts "streaming" into your
computer.
Some Flash pages are too big to display correctly even
though Flash uses streaming technology. It is possible to pause the Flash movie
while waiting for a large enough portion to pre-download.
Flash Stores Page Elements in Memory
Traditional GIF animation works just like film animation in
that it requires the download of a totally new image for each frame of the
animation. This process is download intensive and inherently limits the
usability of animation.
Flash approaches this problem with a smart and novel
solution. If Flash wants to animate an image across the screen, instead of
downloading it in slightly different positions a hundred times, Flash only
downloads the image once, and stores it in the users computer memory. Flash then
downloads instructions telling the computer where to move the element and how
fast to move it. Flash takes the load off of a users modem and places it in the
much stronger hands of the processor.
Flash Uses Vector Artwork
Artwork seen on normal web pages is all bitmap, or raster, based. Its created with thousands of different colored dots displayed in a
pattern to produce a picture. Bitmap art looks great, but takes a long time to
download. Animation using bitmap art is processor intensive because Flash must
separately move each of the thousands of tiny dots.
Although Flash will accept and animate bitmap-based art, it
will also allow you to animate and download vector-based objects. Because
vector-based objects usually contain much less information, they work much
better for animations. They also scale without losing image quality.
Flash comes with some pretty nice vector drawing tools, but
you can also import vector-based art from applications such as Macromedia
Freehand, Adobe Illustrator, and Macromedia Fireworks.
Flash Needs a Plug-in to Work
Your browser is mostly designed to show you static HTML
based web pages. It doesnt understand Flash animations. To help your browser
understand Flash animations youll need the tiny Flash Plug-in. The Flash 5
player is free, and will not under any circumstances harm your computer. It
takes less than a minute to download on a 56K modem, and comes guaranteed virus
free.
Most people on the web can view Flash movies already.
According to Macromedia.com, "In September 2000, NPD Research, the parent
company of MediaMetrix, conducted a study to determine what percentage of Web
browsers have Macromedia Flash preinstalled. The results show that 96.4% of Web
users can experience Macromedia Flash content without having to download and
install a [plug-in] player."
The 96.4% result includes all versions of the Flash Player.
If you design your page to make use of some of Flashs newest features your
users may have to update their Flash Player. Youll learn ways to design sites
that automatically check to see if a user has the correct plug-in. If they
dont, theyll be sent to an alternative page where they can download the
plug-in or see a non-Flash version of the site. If you dont check for the
correct plug-in, viewers may be able to see a Flash 5 movie with the Flash 4
player, but certain elements may not work.
A Note about Flash 5
Flash 5,
the newest version of Flash, is significantly different than Flash 4.0. Users
will enjoy the new upgrades and automated features of Flash 5.0, but if you
have an older version, you might have a hard time translating your new 5.0
skills. My advice, sadly, is to throw down the credit card and upgrade.
Creating a Movie in Flash
To create a new Flash movie, simply click:
FILE->
NEW
The Stage is the main area where youll create your
Flash movie
Modifying Your Movie Right Away
The first thing youll want to do is set the height and
width for your Flash movie. If you decide to change your height and width
later, Flash will allow you to, but will not resize any movie elements or scale
any animations. If you make your movie smaller, things that were near the end
of the screen will be completely chopped off.
- Click MODIFY->MOVIE
The following are movie Properties you can set by clicking
MODIFY-> MOVIE:
Frame Rate: A traditional
filmstrip has thousands of tiny little pictures called frames. By showing you a
number of slightly changed frames every second, film can fool our eyes into
seeing motion. Computers can also quickly change the presented picture. The
more frames shown per second the smoother the animation will look. The standard
film rate is 24 frames per second, but animators often show each frame twice to
cut down on the number of necessary drawn frames. Flashs standard rate, at
12fps, corresponds with that halved rate.
It is important to
understand that a faster frame rate also means more work for the computers
processor. Often a Flash animators greatest enemy is slow processing speed,
not slow download speed. If a movie is too fast for the processor, it will
appear jerky and slow. Most Flash movies are created at anywhere from 8-20
frames per second, depending on the intended audience.
Dimensions: Set
your movies height and width here. You must carefully determine your height
and width because, as mentioned above, later changes may damage your movie.
Flash can be set to stretch a movie set to take up 100% of a browser window, so
it is more important to use the correct proportions than the correct
dimensions.
If your average user is high tech, you may want to set for your dimensions at 1000x600,
the average viewable browser window size for monitors 17" and up. Otherwise,
set your Flash movie to 760x420 to cater to the average user.
Background Color: Choose between any of the
216 web safe colors. You can also use the eyedropper to choose a color from the
screen. You can not choose a gradient as a background color, but later on you
can draw a gradient filled box and place everything on top of it, if you wish
Experiment with the
different movie sizes and background colors.
Continue
to Drawing |
