Flash CS4 Tips and Tricks

Remember the new tweens live on the object, NOT the timeline, so select the object first then move the red playback head to the new frame and make your changes. The changes are "property changes" not "keyframes".

You want an object to finish its tween then stay in that state for an extended time? Shift-drag the last frame to the right (if you just drag, you extend the animation).

Be very careful with the scroll wheel on your mouse when you are over an editable field in the property or motion inspectors - most of the fields are active the moment your cursor is over them and scrolling the wheel changes values (handy if you're aware it's happening, annoying when you're trying to navigate).

BONUS TIP: If you are using the scroll wheel to change values, adding the SHIFT key changes the values by 10, COMMAND-Mac/Control-windows changes values by .1

InDesign and Flash CS4 preview

Last week at the InDesign Conference in Miami, Adobe showed off a pre-release version of InDesign. It showcases an amazing ability to export InDesign files to Flash.

part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3-0AtqeSng

part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi-MNlNqPMk

Flash Library Management

The Library Panel in Flash is where you store all the assets needed to complete a Flash project. The nature of Flash development leads to libraries filled with false starts, unused elements, extraneous imports and general disarray.

Here is my solution that I use for every Flash project I work on. A well managed library can save hours of frustration and speed up the development process. In team based development it's practically required. Of course this is not the only way to work - treat this as a starting point for you to develop your own personal organization that works best for you and the type of projects you work on.

Here are the folders I create to manage my assets and some elements I start every project with (see screen shot at bottom of post)

00 Code Snippets

My favorite trick. this one is so good it's getting its own post and download next week. but the short answer is it's a movie clip with hundreds of lines of sample actionscript code that I can refer to during any project. the clip itself is never used in a movie but it's a fast, fast reference for quick copy and paste.

01 LTG

Stands for Layouts, Templates and Guides. Stuff that should not appear in final movie but is needed for placement purposes.

02 Imported Images

Imported JPG, PNG files.

03 Imported Vector

Vector art from other programs.

04 Imported Audio

Short audio pieces or sound effects less than about 2 seconds long. I always leave longer audio as an external file.

05 Basic Shapes

A simple square and circle that I use over and over in every movie. Why the awful lime green? It's easy to tell if there is a stray, unmodified occurrence in my movie. I also add any artwork that is not animated (movieclips with just one frame of art) to this folder.

06 Buttons

Buttons go here, this folder always starts with an invisible square button (built from the square in folder 05 Basic Shapes - reuse your symbols!)

07 Text

Movieclips with text.

08 Components

If I use any prebuilt Flash components they would go here.

09 Reserved for future use

As the name implies I'm not using 09 for anything right now.

10 Temp

holds test movieclips and experimental work. When and if these become part of the movie they move to a more appropriate folder. If they don't go into the final movie they go to folder 99 below (the trash). At the end of a project this folder is always empty.

11 Project Specific

folders 00 thru 10 are part of every project and they stay in that order for consistencies sake. Project specific folders holding complex parts of the movie always start at 11 and may have folders nested inside.

12 Project Specific

Just another example folder for this project.

99 Trash this

The 99 makes it sit at the bottom of the library panel. I consistently move unused elements to this folder as they are replaced by final or improved artwork. If it's in this folder it's not used in the movie. I delete this folder before handing the file off to the client. I do keep the folder in my master file.

Primitive tools in Flash CS3

If you didn't look close you may have missed two new  tools in Adobe Flash CS3, the Rectangle Primitive tool and the Oval Primitive tool. They can be found in the toolbox under the Rectangle tool (press and hold on the icon to show the hidden tools). These new shape tools allow for very fast (and non-destructive) basic alterations to shapes that you draw. Imagine rounded corners that you can go back and tweak without remaking the shape or taking the center out of a circle without running a permanent Modify>Combine Objects>Punch

(see animation demoing below)

Use up that training budget!

We're just weeks away from the end of 2007! Still have some of your training budget left over? Help get your team up to speed - whether it's upgrading to CS3, intense instruction on certain applications, or a general overview of certain programs. We'll design a specific training course just for you.

By booking your classes by the end of next week we'll help you use up your budget before the end of the year and save money by honoring 2007 rates for all classes booked in the first quarter of 2008.

We'll even come to you! Our instruction for up to 4 hours of on-site training for up to 6 people is only $850.00* and for up to 9 hours of instruction is only $1400.00*. What if you don't have a training room? You can also rent machines from us and we'll set them up for your staff's use during the training! (*plus travel if you're more than 30 minutes away).

And don't forget, all of our instruction comes with a reference textbook & follow up support from our Certified Instructors.

We currently have the following days open for your on-site, custom training - just contact Tiffany (that would be me) to arrange your class!

Photoshop/Illustrator Instruction:
December 17 December 19 December 27 December 28
January 2 January 3 January 4 January 9
January 10 January 16 January 17 January 23
January 23 January 24 January 30 January 31

Quark/InDesign Instruction:
December 17 December 20 December 28 January 2
January 3 January 4 January 8 January 11
January 14 January 15

Flash/Dreamweaver Instruction (including Actionscripting 3.0!):
December 28 January 9 January 11 January 18
January 23 January 24 January 28 January 29
January 30 January 31

Video Instruction:
December 19 December 20 January 2 January 3
January 4 January 14 January 15 January 16
January 18

And don't forget about $5.00 Fridays! January 18, in conjunction with Studio Two, we'll go over tips & tricks in deciding whether or not to use stock photography vs. original and we'll show you time-saving trips for color correction & retouching. Get more information.

Did you miss the How to WOW with Direct Mail $5.00 Friday in October? We're having round two on February 22. We ran out of space last time, so get your seat early.