StepByStep Index
Top 5 Uses for Flash
Flash has many useful applications; from character animation to programming, it offers a dynamic platform for a multitude of uses. What's your favorite use for Flash?
Flash Tip: Understanding the "Lock Fill" Option with Gradients
To some, the "Lock Fill" option is a real pain in Flash; it's an easily-overlooked little button that changes the way your gradients behave when you fill multiple separate areas.
Creating Beveled Text in Flash CS3
Beveled text is just another of the easy Flash filter effects available in version CS3 and higher.
Creating Drop Shadow Text in Flash CS3
One great thing about the newest versions of Flash is that many effects that previously had to be constructed manually are now automatic features - including text drop shadows.
Using Variables from an External Source with Flash's loadVariables()
Using loadVariables() to pull values from an external file lets you update data in Flash movies quickly and easily without having to edit or republish the movie.
Password-Protecting an SWF
Password-protect your Flash SWFs to prevent anyone stealing your work by converting it to an FLA using a decompiler.
Flash Halloween Costume Dress-Up Doll II: Controls & Scripting pt. 2
Complete your Halloween costume doll with the finishing touch: one of the most difficult "simple" tasks in Flash, making a movie clip play smoothly backwards so that your menu can be moved to both sides, rather than just one.
Flash Halloween Bobblehead
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Hiding and Unhiding Movie Clips on Command Using _visible and !
Learn how to hide and unhide Flash movie clips with the click of a button and a very easy three-line actionscript, using _visible and the logical NOT operator (!) to alter the visibility state.
Flash Tip: Sending Mail Attachments from Within Flash
Send your Flash documents quickly and easily right from inside the Flash program, without having to go through the extra steps required to create a new e-mail and add attachments.
Animated Flash-Only Thumbnail Gallery II
This continuation on the lesson on animated Flash thumbnail galleries shows how to use movie clips to animate your content appearing and disappearing.
Animated Flash-Only Thumbnail Gallery I
Upgrade your static thumbnail gallery with Flash animations to make your thumbnails interactive, and keep all of your content contained on a single page.
Dynamic Animation in Flash: Moving Dynamically Drawn Shapes
You can use random motion animation not only to manipulate objects created on the Flash stage, but also to manipulate dynamically drawn objects.
Quick and Dirty Transparent Flash Videos II: From Flash to the Web
Once your bluescreen/greenscreened images have been prepared in Premiere, it's time to move them into Flash and get them ready to go on the web.
Quick and Dirty Transparent Flash Videos I: Premiere Preparation
You can bring bluescreen/greenscreen video into Flash to create a transparent movie played on top of web page content using wmode, but before you do that you have to do a little work in Premiere to clean the video up and prepare it for work in Flash.
Flash Tip: Importing a Sequence of Images
You can import a series of numbered images to Flash and have the program automatically distribute them in sequential order across keyframes.
Dynamic Animation in Flash: Controlling the Drawing API with Equations
You can use the Flash drawing API to create dynamic animations controlled entirely by mathematical functions rather than user input.
Using setTransform to Change Color and Opacity
Use setTransform to dynamically change the hue/tint of Flash symbols, as well as adjusting their brightness and opacity.
Deconstructing the Paint Application XI: Gradient Tool Options
The gradient tool options are controlled by user-input values stored in variables and then passed to the transform matrices used by Flash to create a gradient fill.
Deconstructing the Paint Application X: Color Palettes
This lesson on the Flash Oekaki/Paint application finally explains the mystery behind the oft-used currentcolor variable, how it's defined, and how it affects the various tools of the application.
Deconstructing the Paint Application IX: Brush Size and Opacity Sliders
The paint app has two options for setting the brush size for the Flash Oekaki/Paint application's brush tool and the opacity for the selected color: a text input box with an assigned variable, or draggable sliders.
Deconstructing the Paint Application IIX: User Layers, Clear Layer
You can use layers and createEmptyMovieClip to create user layers that duplicate all the functionality that we've covered in past lessons on multiple layers so that users have the option to paint above and below existing work without erasing/painting over.
Deconstructing the Paint Application II: The Brush Tool & the Flash Drawing API
The second tool that we're going to look at, the Brush Tool, will introduce you to the Flash Drawing API and a function called createEmptyMovieClip.
Deconstructing the Paint Application VII: The Text Tool
The last drawing tool on the paint application is the text tool, which turns the entire application canvas into an input text field.
Deconstructing the Paint Application VI: The Gradient Rectangle Tool
The gradient rectangle tool uses begingradientfill, matrices, and arrays to create a two-color gradient with user-specified colors and angle.