Computing & Technology

Articles Index

ActionScripting Challenge: Flash Candy Heart Explained

This lesson breaks down the various functions involved in the ActionScripting Challenge to make a custom candy heart generator in Flash.

Flash Color Quiz: What's Your Mood?

Learn how to make a basic color quiz that analyzes one's mood based on split-second color choices.

Flash Fortune-Teller/Random Sentence Generator with User Input

Similar to the Magic 8-ball but building on the techniques used, you can create a random sentence generator that can take user-input words and string them together into funny sentences.

Ask the Magic 8-Ball: Using Flash to Create a Magic 8-Ball Application

Will you have a merry Christmas? Will 2007 be a good year? Will you get that promotion? Ask the magic 8-ball....or use Flash and Actionscripting to make your own.

Five Inexpensive Animation Solutions for the Mac

Frustrated by the dearth of inexpensive animation solutions compatible with the robust and powerful Macintosh platform? Take a look at this list of five software packages that will let you animate for $250 or far less.

Dynamic eCard with Flash and PHP

Combing Flash animation, ActionScripting, and PHP to create an eCard with user-defined messages taken from input fields, and then dynamically generate a URL that allows users to share their custom eCard message via e-mail, IM, or web pages.

Custom Christmas Tree Ornaments that Move with Drag & Drop or Arrow Keypresses

With Flash, you can enhance user interactivity by creating objects - such as the ornaments on this "Decorate Your Own Tree" game - that can be moved not only by dragging them with the mouse, but by directing them with keypresses to move them up, down, left, or right.

Flash Halloween Jigsaw Puzzle

Make a fun little jigsaw puzzle by breaking artwork down into pieces, and then using Flash to make them draggable so that they can be rearranged into the correct image.

Breaking Down the Screaming Maze Trick

You've been pranked by it, most likely--now learn how it was done, and turn the tables on your friends.

Flash Halloween Trivia Quiz

Use if statements and variables to create a trivia quiz that calculates the score as you go based on right or wrong answers, and determines "pass" or "fail" based on meeting a minimum value.

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 Costume Dress-Up Doll II: Controls & Scripting

Take the next step to making the Halloween costume doll work by setting up the menu and learning how to hide and unhide the various parts when their menu elements are clicked.

Flash Halloween Costume Dress-Up Doll I: Artwork & Setup

Don't feel like getting dolled up for Halloween? Then create a virtual doll to do the trick-or-treating for you. This lesson starts off a two-part look at how to create a Flash version of a paper doll, by walking through creating the various layers of artwork required and arranging that artwork in Flash.

Flash Kids' Corner: Draw A Halloween Jack o'Lantern

Create your own animated, flashing Jack o'Lantern for Halloween - without all the mess of a real pumpkin.

Flash Halloween Bobblehead

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Building an Animation-Ready Character from the Ground Up

Whether you draw your 2D animations traditionally or digitally, there are some skills essential to both incarnations of the craft. One is the ability to draw simple but effective animation characters with clean, easy lines and basic shapes.

Animation Character Sheet/Character Breakdown Basics

Before you start animating, it's a good idea to draw up a character sheet/character breakdown of the subject of your animation, both for reference and to familiarize you with drawing different views. Let's take a look at the basics for a character sheet.

Flash Tip: Program Tools: Brush Tool

Using the Brush tool, you can paint in freeform in Flash, fine-tuning the way your fills are applied using various options.

Flash Tip: Program Tools: The Pen Tool

This overview will help you become more comfortable with Flash's pen tool and how to create different types of anchor points in paths.

Coloring Detailed Flash Artwork

You don't have to restrict your Flash artwork to solid colors and blocked shadows just because you're working in an animation program; digital animation has removed many of the limitations involved in hand-painted animation, and you'd be surprised at how easy it is to first color in detailed artwork...and then animate it afterwards.