You can start creating a new, blank Flash document and set up your workspace in one of two ways:

Your new document is created and the workspace appears. Before you get to work, specify some important settings, such as width and height, for your file by using the Document Properties dialog box.

To open the Document Properties dialog box, choose Modify

When you're done fine-tuning your document's properties, click OK.

On the Flash workspace, shown in Figure 1-1, you create your Flash movies. The most prominent item you'll notice is at the top of your screen: The stage is where the action happens — where you draw, build, or import graphics, create text, and construct layouts.

The gray area surrounding the stage is the pasteboard. Items placed on it aren't visible in your finished movie because they're outside the bounds of the stage. However, it helps to think of this area as backstage — where text, artwork, and images can make their entrances or exits or be placed until they're ready to appear in your movie.

The Tools panel

What CS5 application would be complete without a fancy toolbar? Flash has a comprehensive set of tools for just about any drawing task you need to wrap your hands around. Table 1-1 gives you a rundown and description of the tools you'll find. The Tools panel has been redesigned to make your work area flow more smoothly. A double arrow at the top lets you toggle between expanded and icon views to maximize your work area.

Figure 1-1. The Flash workspace.

Table 1-1. The Tools Panel

Button	Tool Name/Keyboard Command	What You Can Do with It
	Selection (V)	Select and move objects on the stage and work area
	Subselection (A)	Select and move specific points on a path or a shape
	Free Transform (Q)	Change an object's dimensions, rotation, or proportions
	Gradient Transform (F)	Change the size, intensity, and direction of a gradient fill
	3D Rotation (W)	Translate 2D artwork into the 3D plane and rotate it around an x, y, and z axis
	3D Translation (G)	Click and drag artwork along the x, y, or z axis to illustrate depth and distance
	Lasso (L)	Create freehand selections around one or more points
	Pen (P)	Create accurate, point-by-point straight and curved paths
	Add Anchor Point (=)	Add anchor points along an existing path
	Delete Anchor Point (-)	Remove anchor points from an existing path
	Convert Anchor Point (C)	Change the curve orientation of an existing point
	Text (T)	Create text on the stage
	Line (N)	Draw straight lines
	Shape Tools (R, O)	Create rectangular, oval, or multisided shapes on the stage
	Primitive Tools (R, O)	Create rounded rectangles and multiradiused ovals that can be modified
	Pencil (Y)	Draw freehand paths
	Brush (B)	Draw broad, freehand fill areas
	Spray Brush (B)	Create a spattered, airbrush-like painting with symbols from the library
	Deco (U)	Create animated or non-animated flower-and-leaf style fills or symmetrical artwork with symbols
	Bone (M)	Join shapes or symbols with virtual "bones" for creating posable inverse kinematics (IK) objects
	Bind (M)	Edit connections between objects created using the Bone tool
	Paint Bucket (K)	Apply or modify the fill color of an area
	Ink Bottle (S)	Apply or modify the stroke color and style of a shape or path
	Eyedropper (I)	Sample the color property from an object
	Eraser (E)	Erase parts of a fill or path
	Hand (H)	Reposition the stage and work area within the workspace
	Zoom (Z)	Zoom in or out of a selected area of the stage

The Motion Editor

The Motion Editor lets you see and modify all properties of an animation in a graph-style format. All properties that can be animated are displayed in rows, each of which contains a value line that can be manipulated to change the behavior of a selected tween. You can also add complex forces, such as gravity and inertia, and even add to or subtract from your tween without using the Timeline or stage.

Figure 1-2. The Timeline contains frames and layers.

The Property inspector

Sitting at the right side of your workspace, the Property inspector lets you get (and set) attributes, such as height and width, for a selected item on the stage or work area (see Figure 1-3). The contextual Property Inspector displays adjustable options for any item you select on the stage, such as width and height for a selected shape or fill and stroke color. When you don't have any objects on the stage selected, the Property inspector will display global document properties such as frame rate.

Figure 1-3. The Property inspector shows options for selected graphics, frames, or tools.

Tip

To modify a document's properties, such as frame rate and dimensions, at any time, either use the Property inspector when no items on the stage are selected or choose Modify

Panels (right side)

The numerous panels included in Flash give you total control over most aspects of your movie, from creating and managing colors to exploring the structure of your project and adding code to frames.

The default (Essentials) workspace launches with the Property inspector and Library panel in full view, as well as a minimized group of eight panels that include

• Color

• Swatches

• Align

• Info

• Transform

• Code Snippets

• Components

• Motion Presets

Get familiar with panel behaviors and features so that you can manage their appearance and make organizing your workspace a snap.

Taking a look at the panel group

The panel group sits on the right side of the workspace and features multiple grouped panels. Panels can be added to or removed from the panel group on the right.

You can't freely reposition the panel group in the workspace. However, you can resize or collapse it to icon view with the double arrows found in its upper-right corner.

You can remove and float panels from the panel group. Simply click and drag a panel away from the group by its title tab. To add a panel to the group, drag it into the panel group on the right.

Managing individual panels

You can position each panel individually anywhere in the workspace by dragging it by its title tab. You can find additional appearance options under each panel's menu, accessible from the icon in its upper-right corner (see Figure 1-4). This panel menu also provides another way of reaching that panel's primary tasks.

Figure 1-4. Anatomy of a panel.

To group panels, simply drag one on top of the other; after they're grouped, you can move and minimize several panels as one unit. This technique is handy for keeping commonly used or related panels together.

You can save panel groups and panel positions as part of custom workspaces. (See the later section "Creating and Saving Workspaces.")

Tip

Panels can always be toggled on or off from the Window menu. If you don't see a panel you need or have accidentally closed one, look for it on the Window menu. Many panels have shortcut keys; if you use a panel often, use its shortcut key combination for easy access.

One of the most useful additions in recent versions of Flash is its ability to save your workspaces, or the appearance and layout of workspace items such as the toolbar, Timeline, Property inspector, and panels.

Saving workspaces is essential if you're sharing a computer workstation with other people and want to recall your favorite panels and setup instantly. However, a workspace can also be useful for maintaining different views for different projects, even if you're the only person working on your computer.

To create and save your workspace layout, follow these steps:

Tip

To recall a workspace, choose Window

You can view all saved workspaces at any time by choosing Window

Always save a document after you make significant changes or additions to it, and always save (though it isn't necessary) a new document immediately after you create it. To save a document, choose File

To open an existing document, choose File

You may need at some point to save a copy of your document under a new name, to either create an alternative version or perhaps make it compatible with an older version of Flash. Flash CS5 can save .fla files in CS4 format to make it compatible with the previous version of Flash.

Note

Flash CS4 can't open .xfl or Flash CS5–format .fla files. To share a file with someone using Flash CS4, choose File

To save a copy of your document under a new name, choose File

If you used previous versions of Flash, you probably noticed that Flash CS5 features a new file format: .xfl. Thus new, uncompressed file format results in a project folder containing a number of .xml files and any original assets (such as images and audio files) that you may have imported into your project's library. Because of this open file format, resources in your project can be exchanged with and opened in other applications. The XFL file format opens up the possibility of Flash files eventually being editable in other applications.

The traditional FLA file format combines all your project's vital information and resource files into a single file, making it more portable but less likely to exchange with other applications. You don't have direct access to assets you've imported into your project; for most purposes, however, the standard FLA file format is suitable, especially if Flash CS5 Professional is your sole editor for Flash applications.

Flash Player is at the heart of Flash technology. The player, which you can find as a plug-in to Web browsers or as a standalone application, runs and plays completed Flash movies, known as SWF (ShockWave Flash) files.

Beyond simple playback, Flash Player is also responsible for deciphering and carrying out instructions written in ActionScript, the powerful, built-in Flash scripting language. ActionScript, discussed in Chapter 7 in this minibook, gives your Flash movies many more capabilities, including playback control, real-time user interaction, and complex effects.

Users must have Flash Player installed in order to view movies. If you don't have it installed, you can get the free download from the Adobe Web site at www.adobe.com. Fortunately, the Flash Player is installed on over 90 percent of Internet-enabled PCs on average worldwide.

If you've worked with other programs that use layers (such as Photoshop or Illustrator), the concept is much the same as using layers to arrange and stack artwork in these applications. If you're new to layers, think of them as clear pieces of film stacked on top of each other. Each layer can contain its own artwork and animations.

In Flash, you use layers to stack artwork and animations on the stage, allowing them to exist together visually but to be edited or moved independently from one another. You can reorder layers to position artwork in front of or behind artwork on other layers.

To delete a layer, follow these steps:

The beauty of working with layers is that you can easily change the stacking order and appearance of artwork and animations distributed across those layers. To reorder layers, simply select a layer by clicking its label on the Timeline and then click and drag the layer up or down in the stacking order and release it to its new position (see Figure 1-5). Layers at the top of the list appear in front of other objects in lower layers; in contrast, layers at the bottom of the list appear below or behind items on higher layers.

Figure 1-5. Shuffling layers is easy—just drag.

Two additional aspects of managing layers include toggling a layer and its contents to be visible or invisible and locking layers to prevent their contents from being accidentally moved or modified.

Locking layers ensures that you don't accidentally move or delete the artwork it contains. Make a habit of locking layers whenever you aren't working with them.

Sometimes you need to use assets — such as artwork or photo files created in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, MP3 sound files, and even video files — that weren't created in Flash. Here are some of the file formats you can import into your Flash movie:

You can import these types of files directly to the stage for immediate use or to your document's library (see Chapter 3 of this minibook) for storage until you're ready to place them on the stage.

Follow these steps to import files to the stage:

Follow these steps to import files directly to the library:

In contrast to the Import menu, the Export menu is used to generate files from your current document out of Flash, most often to create a compressed SWF file (movie) for final delivery. Additionally, the menu can be used to generate static (such as JPEG or GIF) images from specific frames in your movie.

The final step in preparing your movie to be posted on the Web, distributed on CD-ROM, or used as a desktop application is the publishing process, which includes these important tasks:

The File menu's publish settings and options handle the setup and publication of your movie so that you can show the world your new creation.

Flash can create all these file types at publish-time:

Chapter 9 of this minibook explores publishing in more detail.