Flash 5 Bible

1324 Pages·2001·15.607 MB·English

by  Robert Reinhardt, Jon Warren Lentz

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Flash™ 5 Bible
Robert Reinhardt and Jon Warren Lentz
Hungry Minds, Inc.
New York, NY ✦ Cleveland, OH ✦ Indianapolis, IN
Chicago, IL ✦ Foster City, CA ✦ San Francisco, CA
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Flash™5 Bible For general information on Hungry Minds’ products
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About the Authors
Robert Reinhardt—Robert’s curiosity and autodidactic energy have carried him
from psychology (University of Toronto) to photography (Ryerson University) to
new media authoring, teaching, and writing. After discovering the Internet while
studying in the Image Arts department at Ryerson in Toronto, Robert began the
journey of discovery that eventually enabled him to fuse his interest in technology
and communication with his background in the visual arts.
Robert has developed and taught workshops addressing all aspects of content cre-
ation and has become increasingly involved with the development of systems for
interactive interfaces and data management. Although his head often leads him into
the land of scripting and programming, he remains dedicated to the world of images.
The main reward of digital literacy has been the ability to move freely between medi-
ums and tools to share ideas through art and design. Before leaving Toronto, Robert
worked as a collage and video artist to create set and screen art for the Warner Bros.
feature film, Gossip.
During their first year in Los Angeles, Robert and his partner, Snow Dowd, formed a
multimedia consulting and design company called the Makers (www.theMakers.com).
They created a broadband Web site for Gossipwith Warner Bros. Online, as well as
graphics for a tie-in video with the band Tonic. Recently, the Makers has also created
screen graphics for The Pledge,a film directed by Sean Penn, and worked with Outlaw
Productions on previsualization graphics for the forthcoming Warner Bros. film
Training Day(to star Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke). In addition to work for
entertainment companies, the Makers has done work for independent artists and
nonprofit organizations.
While establishing the Makers, Robert also worked as senior art director and program
developer with Rampt.com to create a unique Flash interface and search engine,
launched in November 1999. After being recognized as a Macromedia Site of the Day
and nominated in the FlashForward film festival in New York, Rampt received the
Bandies 2000 award for Best Interface Application, as well as an award of excellence
from the New Media Invision Awards 2000.
In addition to design and content creation through the Makers, Robert continues
an involvement with teaching, consulting, and writing. He currently develops and
teaches Flash workshops with Lynda.com and the Moviola Digital Education Center
in California, as well as doing onsite training and seminars for clients in the United
States and Canada. Robert was a speaker at the San Francisco and New York
FlashForward 2000 conferences, as well as the October 2000 DV Web Expo in
Long Beach, California.
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Jon Warren Lentz—In addition to the Flash 5 Bible,Jon Warren Lentz is involved
in a number of Flash-related projects, most notably, Flash-Guru.com. Jon founded
Flash-Guru.com because he observed the need for sustained, learner-centered
training on a variety of intermediate to advanced Flash topics. The courses at Flash-
Guru.com are designed to help you to implement advanced Flash techniques in
your workflow and include in-depth information and new developments as they
happen.
Jon’s favorite movie, Fellini’s Satyricon,was released the year that he graduated
from high school. A decade later, Jon graduated from the Classical Studies program
at UCSC, where he first received notice as a poet and translator. He then metamor-
phosed into a sculptor and began working with sand-carved glass—a process that
he helped to define as a fine art medium. Following a disabling accident, he rein-
vented himself as an artist working with cameras and computers. Jon’s images have
been featured in the Graphis Poster Annual, Mac Art & Design Magazine (Sweden),
IdN—The International Designer’s Network Magazine (Hong Kong), and Shutterbug
Magazine. His stock photography is represented by two agencies, AGE and
SuperBild. Jon’s abstract fine art and a selection of his glass sculpture may be
viewed online at www.uncom.com.
Jon is an occasional professor at Palomar College. Although he has taught and
lectured on digital art, design, and technology at many venues, he prefers to stay
home, work on his own projects, and go to the beach. He resides with his family
near San Diego, California.
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Technical Editors
High school did not represent Jeffrey Bardzell’sglory years, and it concluded inaus-
piciously with the release of Dances With Wolves, “memorable,” he writes, “because
it was so popular and I absolutely hated it.” A decade later and a Ph.D. Candidate in
Comparative Literature (Indiana University), Jeffrey sought a way to pull together
his then-conflicting desires to teach, to express himself creatively with vectors, and
to sustain himself with electronic publishing. An interesting job listing prompted him
to check Flash out. The job didn’t materialize, but Jeffrey became taken with Flash’s
potential for online learning. For him, tools such as Flash and the Internet pose as
fundamental a revolution in human communication and teaching as another period
he knows something about: the advent of literacy in twelfth century Europe. He has
created online learning environments for Indiana University and Ignatius University,
while working as a Flash and Fireworks author for Flash-Guru.com and eHandsOn.
He is also coauthoring Fireworks 4 Expert Edgewith Lisa Lopuck. In addition to his
computer-related publications, he has published on education finance reform, early
reading intervention, and epic poetry. Not only did Jeffrey work as a technical editor
for the Flash 5 Bible, but he also drafted the Quick Start section and formatted the
initial Generator chapters.
From his first introduction to the ever-changing world of computing in his sophomore
year of high school, Shane Elliotthas found a familiarity in expressing his designs
and code ideas using a computer. While his years at North Carolina State University
revealed a certain duality between his fascination with computer programming and
his growing interest in acting and writing, he found a way to express himself both cre-
atively and logically through animation and design on computers. He was introduced
to Flash around the time Flash 4 was released, and learning the program wasn’t ever a
problem. As Shane puts it, “I had the author of the Flash Bible (Robert Reinhardt) sit-
ting next to me at work every day. How can you not learn Flash in that situation?”
Coming from an extensive background in the internet realm, including starting his
own company, Webshock, he quickly found a great value in Flash as a creative tool
and internet utility. “Robert suggested I begin teaching, and at first I was scared to
death, but the idea of sharing my knowledge with others was so fascinating, I couldn’t
pass it up.” And so he began teaching Flash part-time while continually pursuing his
acting and writing endeavors, which are still very much a part of his life. “I found that
creating designs in animation and movies on the internet isn’t such a far cry, on a cre-
ative level, from acting or any other type of creative expression. Currently Shane is
finishing up his first screenplay as well as working to continue his experimentation
with Flash technology involving other applications and languages such as Java, XML,
and the list goes on.
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Credits
Acquisitions Editor Graphics and Production Specialists
Michael Roney Robert Bihlmayer
Rolly Delrosario
Project Editor Jude Levinson
Julie M. Smith Michael Lewis
Victor Pérez-Varela
Technical Editors Ramses Ramirez
Jeffrey Bardzell
Shane Elliot Quality Control Technician
Ellen Finkelstein Dina F Quan
Copy Editors Book Designer
Richard H. Adin Drew R. Moore
Laura Stone
Illustrators
Proof Editors Gabriele McCann
Cindy Lai Ronald Terry
Patsy Owens John Greenough
Karl Brandt
Project Coordinators Brian Drumm
Louigene A. Santos
Danette Nurse Proofreading and Indexing
York Production Services
Permissions Editor
Carmen Krickorian Cover Image
Lawrance Huck
Media Development Specialist
Angela Denny
Media Development Coordinator
Marisa Pearman
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To Snow, Stella, and Al. I won’t forget the year 2000.
RJR
I dedicate my efforts on this book to the memory of my mother-in-law, Phyllis Rogers.
I would also like to thank my family—near and far—for their unconditional love,
support, and encouragement, especially my wife, Roanne; my son, Rob; and my
mother and father. In addition, I am also thankful for my newfound friends, Jeffrey
Bardzell and Nik Schramm, for their wisdom, expertise, and encouragement.
JWL
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Foreword
T
he Web has certainly changed the way that people work, live, and communi-
cate. One cannot help but draw parallels between the digital revolution and
other innovations that changed and shaped generations of people—the telephone,
radio, and television. Though each of these technologies were rather crude when
they started, they eventually became much more dynamic, powerful and attractive
to use. The telephone changed from a two-piece handset box to a tiny wireless com-
munication device that acts as mobile office. Television has evolved into high-defi-
nition systems that are akin to a movie theater experience in a living room. The
Web started out and for many people is still a slow-loading, static, uncompelling
experience. Macromedia Flash has revolutionized the way in which designers, ani-
mators, and developers alike can express their creativity, enabling over two hun-
dred million viewers worldwide to catch a glimpse into what the Web can be.
With each evolution of Macromedia Flash, we have seen a larger audience of users
take advantage of the many innovative features it has to offer. First there were illus-
trators and animators creating amazing vector work, and then there were Web
designers creating interactive navigation systems, motion graphics, and full Web
pages. Developers started creating cutting-edge Web applications and database
front-ends. Others create rich-media advertisements, viral marketing content,
screensavers, and product simulations. Still others are using Macromedia Flash to
create original cartoon series for television and short films. It is no wonder the
Macromedia Flash community has grown to include over half a million users, with
dozens of dedicated resource Web sites and thousands of attendees at regional con-
ferences, all sharing a common thread—the Macromedia Flash authoring tool. Our
users have never ceased to amaze and encourage me with the innovative works they
are developing with each release of Flash, continuing to push the envelope of what
can be done. The incredible user base and the content they create is the inspiration
that drives our team at Macromedia to improve and iterate the Flash platform.
It has been my privilege to know and work with the coauthors of this book—Jon
Warren Lentz and Robert Reinhardt—two of the most respected experts in the
Flash community. To bring greater breadth and depth to this book, they assembled
a team of over forty guest tutorialists; a group that includes some of the finest
artists, developers, and authors working with Flash. The Flash 5 Bibleis an essen-
tial all-purpose reference guide for Macromedia Flash, providing insights and tips
for mastering the creation of all types of Flash content. It is one book any serious
Web designer, developer, or animator should own.
Jeremy Clark
Flash Product Manager
Macromedia
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