To learn how to create and use: simple flash animations, layers, simple shapes, simple action scripts.
Your mission is to create something similar to the animation above. You need to have 2 layers of buildings. The vehicle needs to first go in front of all buildings, then turn around and go behind the first row of buildings. You need to have buttons that start and play the movie.
Create a new flash document. Make it 550 x 400 pixels (MODIFY>DOCUMENT).Set up your timeline like the timeline above.
After you create the layers, select the layer and make the graphics using the Flash drawing tools. Don't spend a lot of time on the graphics.This first exercise is more about learning some basic Flash concepts.
As you finish working on a layer you might want to lock it (click on the dot under the lock in the timeline). It will keep you from accidentally getting graphics on the wrong layer.
If the stage (the area your Flash project is in) gets too cluttered you can make your vehicle in a new document, make it into a symbol and drag it to your assignment stage.
Terms to know:
Animation - Can be tweened (you create the first and last frame, the computer creates the in between frames) or frame by frame (you create each frame in the timeline individually).
Stage - Flash project area. Like the canvas in Photoshop. This is where you build your Flash project.
Timeline - Where the layers are. Layers work the same way they work in Photoshop. Also where the playback head and frames are. You see on the stage what the playback head is over in the timeline.
Playback Head - When you play a flash project you see on the stage what is under it.
Action Script - Used to control the playback head (and other things later on). Can be put on objects or frames.
.FLA -This is a flash file extension for your flash file. Save the file like this to work on it again in Flash.This is like a Photoshop file with all the layers.
.SWF -This is the file extension for your Flash movie. Save the file like this to put your project on a web page. This can not be edited in Flash again.This is like a jpeg from Photoshop.
Library - This is where objects in you Flash projects are stored.
Instance - When you drag something from the library to the stage, the thing on the stage is an instance.Kind of like a short cut for an application.
Symbols - Can be graphic, buttons, and movie (short animations that play within animations).
I'll evaluate how closely you followed the directions above. Remember, we are more concerned with understanding and using the concepts than creating good art work at this point.
