Macromedia Flash MX Advanced for Windows and Macintosh Visual QuickPro Guide

819 Pages·2002·11.673 MB·English

by  Russell Chun

Macromedia Flash MX Advanced For Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickPro
Guide
Russell Chun
Publisher: Peachpit Press

First Edition May 08, 2002
ISBN: 0-201-75846-6, 480 pages
Ready to take your Flash knowledge to the next level? Then Macromedia Flash MX Advanced
for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickPro Guide is your ticket. Designed for professionals
like yourself-users who have mastered the basics of Flash but need help with the advanced
animation techniques and ActionScripting--this guide is a must-have for graphic designers,
Web animators, game programmers, interface designers, and multimedia pros.
In this volume, veteran Flash instructor Russell Chun eschews "cool effects" and case studies
for an approach that emphasizes methodology and problem-solving. Using the task-based
format that readers have come to expect from this popular series, Russell has divided the text
into three primary sections: animation, navigation, and interactivity. The guide covers all of
Flash’s new features, including the revamped user interface, brand-new commands, and added
drawing and text tools. Plus, you’ll find plenty of screen shots and visual aids to reinforce the
text. With Flash MX Advanced for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickPro Guide by your side,
you’ll soon find yourself thinking--maybe even dreaming--in Flash.

Macromedia Flash MX Advanced For Windows and Macintosh:
Visual QuickPro Guide

Thank you

Introduction
Who Should Use This Book
Goals of This Book
What’s New in Flash MX

I: Approaching Advanced Animation

1. Building Complexity
Motion-Tweening Strategies
Using multiple guided layers
Shape-Tweening Strategies
Creating Special Effects
Animated and Complex Masks

2. Working with Video and 3d
Integrating Flash and Video
Exporting to QuickTime, QuickTime video, and AVI
Rotoscoping
Simulating Video
Simulating 3D

II: Understanding ActionScript

3. Getting a Handle on Actionscript
About Objects and Classes
About Methods and Properties
Writing with Dot Syntax
More on Punctuation
Using Objects
About Functions
Using Comments

III: Navigating Timelines and Communicating

4. Advanced Buttons and Event Detection
Events and Event Handlers
The Button Object
Invisible Buttons
Tweening Buttons
Animated Buttons and the Movie-Clip Symbol
Complex Buttons
Button-Tracking Options
Button Properties
The Movie Clip As a Button
Keyboard Detection
Mouse Detection
Clip Events
Creating Continuous Actions with enterFrame
Creating Continuous Actions with setInterval
A Summary of Events and Event Handlers

5. Controlling Multiple Timelines
Navigating Timelines with Movie Clips
Naming Instances
Target Paths
Absolute and Relative Paths
Using the with Action to Target Movie Clips
Slash Notation and tellTarget
Scope
Movie Clips As Containers

6. Managing Outside Communication
Communicating Through the Web Browser
Working with browser framesets and windows
Communicating with External Movies
Communicating with External Images
Communicating Between Two Movies
Using Projectors and the fscommand Action
Communicating with the Printer
Detecting the Movie’s Playback Environment
Detecting Download Progress: Preloaders

IV: Transforming Graphics and Sound

7. Controlling the Movie Clip
Dragging the Movie Clip
Setting the Movie-Clip Properties
Getting the Movie-Clip Properties
Modifying the Movie-Clip Color
Swapping Overlapping Movie Clips
Detecting Dropped Movie Clips
Detecting Movie-Clip Collisions
Getting the Boundaries of Movie Clips
Generating Movie Clips Dynamically
Removing Movie Clips Dynamically
Creating Shapes Dynamically
Using Dynamic Masks
Customizing Your Pointer
Beginning to Animate with ActionScript

8. Controlling Sound
Using the Sound Object
Attaching Sounds
Playing Sounds
Modifying Sounds
Modifying Independent Sounds
Transforming Sounds
Creating Dynamic Sound Controls
Loading External Sounds
Reading Sound Properties
Detecting Sound Events

V: Working with Information

9. Controlling Information Flow
Initializing Information
Using Variables and Expressions
Loading External Variables
Storing and Sharing Information
Modifying Variables
Concatenating Variables and Dynamic Referencing
Testing Information with Conditional Statements
Providing Alternatives to Conditions
Branching Conditional Statements
Combining Conditions with Logical Operators
Looping Statements

10. Controlling Text
Input Text
Dynamic Text
Selecting Text-Field Options
Concatenating Text
Displaying HTML
Tweening Text Fields
TextField Properties
Generating Text Fields Dynamically
Modifying Text in Text Fields
Manipulating Text-Field Contents
The Selection Object
Controlling the Focus of Text Fields
Controlling the Selection Within Text Fields
Detecting Changes in the Text Field
The String Object
Analyzing Strings
Rearranging Strings
Modifying Strings

11. Manipulating Information
Calculating with the Math Object
Calculating Angles with the Math Object
Using Sine and Cosine for Directional Movement
Calculating Distances with the Math Object
Generating Random Numbers
Ordering Information with Arrays
Keeping Track of Movie Clips with Arrays
Using the Date and Time
Building Reusable Scripts
Building Custom Classes with Functions

12. Managing Content and Troubleshooting
Sharing Library Symbols
Sharing Fonts
Using Components
Editing ActionScript
Including External ActionScript
Using the Movie Explorer
Listing Variables and Objects in the Output Window
Tracing Variables in the Output Window
Debugging
Optimizing Your Movie
Avoiding Common Mistakes

A. Object Methods and Properties
Array Object
Button Object
Color Object
Date Object
Key Object
Math Object
Mouse Object
Movie Clip Object
Selection Object
Sound Object
Stage Object
String Object
TextField Object
TextFormat

B. Keyboard Keys and Matching Key Codes
Letters
Numbers and Symbols
Function Keys

C. Summary of the Actions Category
Descriptions of Actions

D. Summary of Events and Object Associations
Summary of Events and Object Associations

Peachpit Press
1249 Eighth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
510/524-2178
800/283-9444
510/524-2221 (fax)
Published by Peachpit Press, a division of Pearson Education.
Find us on the Web at www.peachpit.com.
To report errors, please send a note to [email protected].
Published in association with Macromedia Press.
© 2002 Russell Chun
Editor: Rebecca Gulick
Production Coordinator: Lisa Brazieal
Copyeditor: Kathy Simpson
Additional copyediting: Wendy Katz
Technical reviewer: Clint Critchlow, Macromedia Tech
Support
Additional technical feedback: Erica Norton and Bentley
Wolfe of Macromedia, Inc.
Compositor: Owen Wolfson
Indexer: Emily Glossbrenner
Cover design: The Visual Group
CD-ROM mastering: Victor Gavenda
Notice of Rights
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher. For information on getting permission
for reprints and excerpts, contact [email protected].
Notice of Liability
The information in this book is distributed on an “As Is” basis,
without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the
preparation of the book, neither the author nor Peachpit Press,
shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any
loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly
by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer
software and hardware products described in it.
Trademarks
Visual QuickStart Guide is a registered trademark of Peachpit
Press, a division of Pearson Education. Macromedia is a registered
trademark, and Macromedia Flash and Flash are trademarks of
Macromedia, Inc.
Throughout this book trademarked names are used. Rather than
put a trademark symbol in every occurrence of a trademarked
name, we state that we are using the names in an editorial fashion
only and to the benefit of the trademark owner with no intention of
infringement of the trademark.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed and bound in the United States of America

Thank you
Many thanks to everyone at Peachpit Press, especially my dedicated editor,
Rebecca Gulick, for her support throughout the process and for the polish she
put on my words. Thanks also to Lisa Brazieal, Kathy Simpson, Emily
Glossbrenner, Owen Wolfson, Victor Gavenda, Marjorie Baer, and Nancy
Ruenzel for their tremendous work, and to Gary-Paul Prince and Kim Lombardi
for their tireless promotional efforts.
Special thanks to Steve Vargas, my fellow Flash instructor, for cheerfully
writing the sections on XML and the CGI GET and POST methods and making
sense out of these complex topics.
Thanks to the technical reviewers at Macromedia: Erica Norton and Bentley
Wolfe, for their early review; and Clint Critchlow, for his enthusiasm, careful
attention, and helpful suggestions.
I’m grateful to the numerous people and friends who lent their time and
talents to the video, sound, photos, and illustrations: Eric Stickney, Josh Frost,
Ross “Hogg” Viator, Khin Mai Aung, David Harrington, SadSadFun (A. Gass, B.
Chulada, F. Parsa, and M. Chulada), Derek Jimenez, and Tim Cramer.
Additional images and sound provided courtesy of Benjamin Cummings, Corel
Photo, Gary Fisher bikes, Music4Flash.com, RocketClips.com, Kim Steinhaug
and SubReal from Flashkit.com, 3DModelz.com, 3DM-MC.com, Help3D.com,
and Eden, Jonah, Bennet, David, Alexandra, and Christina Chun and their
proud grandpa “Ang-Ang.”

Introduction
Macromedia Flash MX is one of the hottest technologies on the Web today.
Leading corporate Web sites use its streamlined graphics to communicate their
brands; major motion picture studios promote theatrical releases with Flash
animations; and online gaming and educational sites provide rich user
experiences with Flash interactivity.
As a vector-based animation and authoring application, Flash is ideal for
creating high-impact, low-bandwidth Web sites incorporating animation, text,
video, and sound. With robust support for complex interactivity and server-side
communication, Flash is increasingly the solution for developing Internet
applications as well. From designer to programmer, Flash has become the tool
of choice for delivering dynamic content across various browsers and
platforms.
As the popularity of Flash increases, so does the demand for animators and
developers who know how to tap its power. This book is designed to help you
meet that challenge. Learn how to build complex animations, integrate
sophisticated interfaces and navigation schemes, and dynamically control
graphics, video, sound, and text. Experiment with the techniques discussed in
this book to create the compelling media that Flash makes possible. It’s not an
exaggeration to say that Flash is revolutionizing the Web. This book will help
you be a part of that revolution. So boot up your computer and get started.

Who Should Use This Book
This book is for the designers, animators, and developers who want to take
their Flash skills to the next level. You’ve mastered the basics of tweening and
are ready to move on to more complex tasks involving video, masking,
dynamic sound control, or movie-clip collision detection. You may not be a
hard-core programmer, but you’re ready to learn how ActionScript can control
graphics, sounds, and text. You’re ready to integrate interactivity with your
animations to create arcade-style games, to create complex user-interface
elements like pull-down menus, and to learn how Flash communicates with
outside applications such as Web browsers. If this description fits you, then
this book is right for you.
This book explores the advanced features of Flash MX, so you should already
be comfortable with the basic tools and commands for creating simple Flash
movies. You should know how to create and modify shapes and text with the
drawing tools and be able to create symbols. You should also know how to
apply motion and shape tweens, and how to work with frame-by-frame
animation. You should know your way around the Flash interface: how to move
from the Stage to symbol-editing mode to the Timeline, and how to manipulate
layers and frames. You should also be familiar with importing and using
bitmaps and sounds, and assigning basic actions to frames and buttons for
navigation. Review the tutorials that come with the software, or pick up a copy
of Macromedia Flash MX: Visual QuickStart Guide by Katherine Ulrich.

Goals of This Book
The aim of this book is to demonstrate the advanced features of Flash MX
through a logical approach, emphasizing how techniques are applied. You will
learn how techniques build on each other, and how groups of techniques can
be combined to solve a particular problem. Each example you work through
puts another skill under your belt, so by the end of this book you’ll be able to
create sophisticated interactive Flash projects.
For example, creating a pull-down menu illustrates how simple elements—
invisible buttons, event handlers, button-tracking options, and movie clips—
come together to make more complex behaviors. Examples illustrate the
practical application of techniques, and additional tips explain how to apply
these techniques in other contexts.
How to Use This Book
The concepts in this book build on each other, so the material at the end is
more complex than that at the beginning. If you’re familiar with some of the
material, you can skip around to the subjects that interest you, but you’ll find
it most useful to learn the techniques in the order in which they appear.
As with other books in the Visual QuickPro Guide series, tasks are presented
for you to do as you read about them, so that you can see how a technique is
applied. Follow the step-by-step instructions, look at the figures, and try them
on your computer. You’ll learn more by doing and by taking an active role in
experimenting with these exercises.
Tips follow the specific tasks to give you hints on how to use a shortcut,
warnings on common mistakes, and suggestions on how the technique can be
extended.
Occasionally, you’ll see sidebars in gray boxes. Sidebars discuss related
matters that are not directly task-oriented. You’ll find interesting and useful
concepts that can help you understand how Flash works.
What’s in This Book
This book is organized into five parts:
Part I: Approaching Advanced Animation
This part covers advanced techniques for graphics and animation,
including strategies for motion tweening, shape tweening, masking, and
using digital video and 3D graphics.
Part II: Understanding ActionScript
This part introduces ActionScript, the scripting language Flash uses to
add interactivity to a movie. You’ll learn the basic components of the
language and how to use the Actions panel to construct meaningful code.
Part III: Navigating Timelines and Communicating
This part teaches you the ways in which Flash can respond to input from
the viewer and how complex navigation schemes can be created with
multiple Timelines. You’ll also see how Flash communicates with external
files and applications such as Web browsers.
Part IV: Transforming Graphics and Sound
This part demonstrates how to dynamically control the basic elements of
any Flash movie—its graphics and sound— through ActionScript.
Part V: Working with Information
The last part focuses on how to retrieve, store, modify, and test
information to create complex Flash environments that can respond to
changing conditions.
Appendixes
Four appendixes give you quick access to the essential ActionScript
objects, actions, key code values, and events.
What’s on the CD
Accompanying this book is a CD-ROM that contains nearly all the Flash source
files for the tasks. You can see how each task was created, study the
ActionScript, or use the ActionScript to do further experimentation. You’ll also
find a trial version of Flash MX as well as a list of Web links to sites devoted to
Flash and showcasing the latest Flash examples, with tutorials, articles, and
advice.
Additional Resources
Use the Web to your advantage. There is a thriving international community of
Flash developers; within it you can share your frustrations, seek help, and
show off your latest Flash masterpiece. There are free bulletin boards and
mailing lists for all levels of Flash users. Begin your search for Flash resources
with the list of Web sites on the accompanying CD and with the Answers panel
in the Flash application, which provides links to the Flash developer community
on the Web.

What’s New in Flash MX