Wow, so this second section was a little more intense that I originally thought. I flew through Chapter 3, but Chapter 4 had me rewatching sections to make sure I was completing every step correctly. Creating animations is too difficult for me to explain, but it's fun. If you want to learn how to do it, watch the tutorial, because I will when I try it out in the future.
Chapter 3 - Working with Multimedia (6 min, 58 sec - 3 sections)
- When importing media into Flash, you have the option to import it to the library or directly to the stage and add it to the library.
- When importing sound, you have the option to choose the type of compression used and the bit rate of the compression.
o ADPCM & RAW: Good for short sounds because there is no compression applied
o Speech: This compression format is optimized for voice over recordings.
o MP3: a common music compression format
- Any compression applied to the sound file in Flash will not effect the original file on the computer because the compression is not applied until the final Flash file is exported.
- When importing video into Flash, it must be in one of the acceptable video formats (.FLV, .F4V, or .MP4)
o If the video is not in one of these formats, use the Adobe Media Encoder (which ships with Flash) to convert it.
o Once the file is converted, import it by clicking File>Import>Import Video.
Chapter 4 - Creating Animations (17 min, 39 sec - 6 sections)
- Most ways of create animations in Flash involve "tweens," which is short for "in between"
o when creating tweens, you specify the start and end points of the animation, and Flash fills in everything in between
- Three types of tweens:
1. Shape - morph animations
2. Motion - allow you to animate symbols and apply spacial animation effects
3. Armature or Bone tweens - first you create a bone system for the animation
- Creating a shape tween can be difficult if you don't know the steps.
o I learned the steps, but it can be confusing.
o The biggest tip I learned is that you need to use the F5 & F6 keys.
§ If you don't have function keys turned on through your keyboard settings, you have to hit the "fn" key at the same time or you'll keep dimming or brightening your keyboard back light.
- Motion tweens are the most common animations used in Flash.
o Motion tweens are easy to create, as long as you are working with symbols.
o The motion editor gives you the opportunity to create other effects to go along with the motion tween, such as blur or glow.
o There are many motion presets that can be used, and you can also create your own by right clicking or command clicking on the layer on the timeline and then selection "Save as Motion Preset…"
- The Armature or Bone tween is by far the easiest to create, if you have your symbols on the stage.
o You have to use the Bone tool to create the bone system for the animation, but after that is created, you drag the pieces to create the animation.
