Introduction

This book assumes you have a working knowledge of Flash, meaning that you have probably already drawn with the Brush tool, converted artwork to a symbol, created a tween, personalized your Flash workspace, and published a SWF file. If you are not yet familiar with these tasks, it is recommended that you read a beginning-level Flash book before attempting the exercises in this book.

To best understand the approach to animating with Flash in this book, it helps to know a little bit about Flash history.

The Nature of the Beast

In 1996, FutureSplash Animator was released with a basic set of editing tools and a Timeline, which at the time was one of the few ways to create animations for the web. That same year, Macromedia acquired FutureSplash Animator and renamed it Flash. Over the next three releases, a Library was added, the Movie Clip symbol emerged, and basic scripting was built into the package. In Flash 5, Macromedia introduced ActionScript 1.0, XML support, and HTML formatting. Flash 6, known as Flash MX, included video capabilities and user interface components. Version 7, known as MX 2004, introduced ActionScript 2.0, an extensibility language, more video support, and many other features. Flash 8 expanded on the previous features and added additional mobile support. In 2005, Adobe purchased Macromedia. In 2007, Flash Professional CS3 was released as part of the Adobe Creative Suite and included ActionScript 3.0. Flash is now a platform capable of exporting to the web, television and film, mobile devices, and computer desktops (as native applications). Adobe has introduced a developer tool, Flash Builder (formerly Flex Builder), and a designer tool, Flash Catalyst, which also author Flash content (SWF files).

The Flash we use today is not unlike a chimera, the beast from ancient Greek mythology composed of parts from several different animals.

Who Should Read This Book?

This book is for you: the aspiring animator, motion designer, or graphic designer who seeks to exploit the chimeric nature of Flash to get the most out of your animating experience. If you’re interested in creating animated shorts, video games, mobile games, or websites, this book can introduce you to parts of Flash that you may have previously shied away—or even recoiled—from, or that you simply didn’t know about.

What makes Flash Professional different from the other tools in the Flash platform is that, at its core, it’s still an animation program. The nonanimation components can be used to radically improve your animations, as well as your animating experience. Although activities such as writing ActionScript and extending Flash can feel daunting to nonprogrammers, once you have completed a project or two using these techniques, much of that original hesitation subsides.

You may have been working in Flash for a little while, and you might feel like you’ve plateaued at a certain skill or productivity level. If you find yourself at such a juncture, it is our hope that this book will provide some novel techniques. The book also includes several “best practices” for working in teams and may provide insight into the roles of your colleagues who may be using Flash in a different way.

You may have noticed that the titles of many professional Flash users (as well as those seen in job postings) contain “hybrid slashes” (e.g., animator/designer, designer/developer), and even more eccentricities (e.g., Flash guru and Flash ninja) are becoming increasingly common. This book will help you wear any combination of hats you find necessary while you’re on the job animating.

After you have completed the exercises in this book, you will probably be pleased to find yourself off that plateau and onto a higher level, and you and that Flash beast will be playing a whole new game.

What’s in This Book?

We’ve compiled a mix tape containing some of Flash’s greatest hits. Here’s a rundown of the playlist:

Chapter 1: Getting Started. This chapter covers some “best practices” for file setup while introducing a few important animation concepts.

Chapter 2: Character Animation. This chapter covers the basics of creating a character and animating using inverse kinematics or “bones” in Flash.

Chapter 3: Introduction to ActionScript Classes. This chapter reaches right for the most powerful developer tools. Don’t worry; we’ll provide the safety goggles. If you follow the exercises, you’ll create some beautiful, reusable effects that can be repurposed for as long as you like.

Chapter 4: Workflow Automation. This chapter focuses on speeding up some of the otherwise time-intensive tasks common to most animation projects.

Chapter 5: Sharing Your Animation. In this last chapter you’ll assemble an animated portfolio to showcase your creations made in previous chapters. The chapter also provides additional ways (broadcast, video sharing sites, mobile, and desktop) to share your animation.

Conventions Used in this Book

This book uses Mac OS X for all the figures. Fortunately, there is little difference between using Flash on a Mac and on a Windows PC. All shortcuts are listed with the Mac version first (e.g., Command+A/Ctrl+A). Because the average Mac mouse has only one button, Ctrl-click refers to accessing context menus on Mac systems that lack a right-click mouse option.

Code within the book is displayed in a monospaced font. When new code is added to existing code, it is highlighted in blue as follows:

A return character () in front of a line break is used to designate continuous lines of code.

What’s on the CD?

The CD included with this book contains finished versions of the exercises for each chapter, as well as the assets necessary to complete the exercises. The CD also contains an Extensions folder that provides you with free Flash extensions to support your animation workflow.

Beyond This Book, Where Can I Go?

If you have the print version of the book, your copy comes equipped with a tracking device. If you’re reading the electronic version, we’re already monitoring your location via satellite.

As a Flashstar, Chris is famously accessible. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and/or via his blog:

• Twitter. @keyframer

• Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/chris.georgenes

• Blog. http://www.keyframer.com

• Portfolio. http://www.mudbubble.com

You can find Justin at one or more of the following locations:

• Twitter. @justinputney

• Blog. http://blog.ajarproductions.com

• Portfolio. http://putney.ajarproductions.com

There is also a special landing page for this book at http://animflashbook.ajarproductions.com.