834 flash CS6 the missing manual

I’m always amazed at the number of pros it takes to create a book like Flash CS6: The Missing Manual.. • Premiere Elements 8: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover• QuickBase: The Missing M

Flash CS6

Chris GroverThe book that should have been in the box®

Flash CS6: The Missing Manual

by Chris Grover

Copyright © 2012 Chris Grover All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

Published by O’Reilly Media, Inc.,

1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472

O’Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use Online editions are also available for most titles (http://my.safaribooksonline.com) For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or corporate@oreilly.com

June 2012: First Edition

Revision History for the 1st Edition:

2012-06-11 First release

See http://oreilly.com/catalog/errata.csp?isbn=0636920022787 for release details

The Missing Manual is a registered trademark of O’Reilly Media, Inc Flash CS6: The

Missing Manual, the Missing Manual logo, and “The book that should have been in

the box” are trademarks of O’Reilly Media, Inc Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks Where those designations appear in this book, and O’Reilly Media is aware of a trademark claim, the designations are capitalized

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained in it

ISBN-13: 978-1-449-31625-9

[M]

The Missing Credits ix

Introduction 1

Part One: Creating a Flash Animation CHAPTER 1: Getting Around Flash 15

Starting Flash 15

A Tour of the Flash Workspace 20

Panels and Toolbars 25

The Flash CS6 Test Drive 35

CHAPTER 2: Creating Simple Drawings 43

Plan Before You Draw 43

Preparing to Draw 47

Drawing a Shape 53

Choosing a Drawing Mode 55

Creating Original Artwork 65

Copying and Pasting Drawn Objects 82

Adding Color 84

CHAPTER 3: Animate Your Art 91

Frame-by-Frame Animation 91

Editing Your Frame-by-Frame Animation 99

Making It Move with Motion Tweens 103

Editing the Motion Path 110

Copying and Pasting Properties 115

Shape Tweening (Morphing) 117

Part Two: Advanced Drawing and Animation CHAPTER 4: Organizing Frames and Layers 127

Working with Frames 127

Working with Multiple Layers 135

Organizing Layers 148

CHAPTER 5: Advanced Drawing and Coloring 157

Selecting Graphic Elements 157

Manipulating Graphic Elements 170

Spray Painting Symbols 195

Drawing with the Deco Tool 196

Advanced Color and Fills 198

CHAPTER 6: Choosing and Formatting Text 215

Text Questions 216

Choosing TLF or Classic Text 216

About Typefaces and Fonts 219

Adding Text to Your Document 220

Choosing and Using Text Containers 228

Animating Text Without ActionScript .233

Text Properties by Subpanel .239

CHAPTER 7: Reusable Flash: Symbols and Templates 247

Symbols and Instances 248

Templates 280

CHAPTER 8: Advanced Tweens with the Motion Editor 295

Applying Motion Presets 295

Modifying a Motion Preset 299

Editing a Tween Span .307

A Tour of the Motion Editor .311

Easing Tweens 320

CHAPTER 9: Realistic Animation with IK Bones 325

Linking Symbols with Bones 326

Perfect Posing with Control Handles 339

Baby Steps with Pins 341

Making Shapes Move with Bones .342

Apply Spring to a Motion 346

Animating an Armature with ActionScript 349

CHAPTER 10: Incorporating Non-Flash Media Files 351

Importing Graphics 351

Importing Illustrator Graphics Files .354

Importing Photoshop Graphic Files .359

Importing Fireworks Graphics 361

Editing Bitmaps 364

Editing Bitmaps with Photoshop 366

Importing a Series of Graphics Files 368

Exporting Graphics from Flash 370

CHAPTER 11: Incorporating Sound and Video 373

Incorporating Sound 374

Incorporating Video 384

Importing Video Files .396

Part Three: Adding interactivity CHAPTER 12: Introduction to ActionScript 3.0 407

Getting to Know ActionScript 3.0 408

Beginning Your ActionScript Project 413

Object-Oriented Thinking 419

Using Data Types, Variables, and Constants 429

Conditionals and Loops 436

Combining ActionScript’s Building Blocks 440

CHAPTER 13: Controlling Actions with Events .443

How Events Work 443

Mouse Events 445

Getting Help for Events and Event Listeners 448

Keyboard Events and Text Events 471

Keeping Time with TimerEvent 476

Removing Event Listeners .477

In Case of Other Events 478

CHAPTER 14: Organizing Objects with the Display List 481

The Display List: Everything in Its Place 481

Adding Objects to the Display List 483

Managing the Stacking Order 500

Summary of Properties and Methods 507

CHAPTER 15: Controlling the Timeline and Animation 513

Slowing Down (or Speeding Up) Animation 514

Timeline Stop and Go 519

Organizing Your Animation .522

Looping a Series of Frames .536

Reversing a Series of Frames 541

CHAPTER 16: Components for Interactivity 543

Adding Components 544

The Built-In Components .558

Finding Additional Components 579

CHAPTER 17: Choosing, Using, and Animating Text 581

What Font Does Your Audience Have? 581

Controlling Text with ActionScript 585

Creating Text Fields with ActionScript 591

Formatting Characters and Paragraphs 596

Formatting with HTML and CSS 600

Choosing the Right Text Formatting System 608

CHAPTER 18: Drawing with ActionScript 611

What’s the Point? 611

Beginning with the Graphics Class 615

Drawing Lines 616

Drawing Curves 619

Drawing Built-In Shapes 622

Drawing Irregular Shapes 625

Making Drawings Move 626

Removing Lines and Shapes .632

Part Four: Debugging and Delivering Your Animation CHAPTER 19: Testing and Debugging Your Animation 637

Testing Strategies 637

Testing on the Stage 641

Using the Test Movie Commands .642

Testing Inside a Web Page 644

Testing Download Time 646

The Art of Debugging 652

Analyzing Code with the Debugger 662

CHAPTER 20: Publishing and Exporting 669

Optimizing Flash Documents 669

Publishing Your Animations 677

Exporting Flash to Other Formats 699

CHAPTER 21: Introducing Adobe AIR 705

Meet Adobe AIR 705

Creating Your First AIR Application 707

Create a Code Signing Certificate 710

Convert a Flash Animation to AIR 713

Publish Your AIR Application 715

Manually Install Adobe AIR Runtime .720

CHAPTER 22: Making iPhone Apps 721

Your First “Hello iPad” App .722

Joining the iOS Developer Program 723

Air for iOS App Settings 738

Building a Tap-Ready App 745

Tips for iOS App Development .749

CHAPTER 23: Building Android Apps 751

Meet AIR for Android 752

Building Apps for Both iOS and Android 760

Tips for Android App Development 763

Part Five: Appendixes APPENDIx A: Installation and Help 767

Flash CS6 Minimum System Requirements 767

Getting Help from Flash .770

Getting Help from Adobe 771

More Flash Books 772

Finding Flash Gurus 773

APPENDIx B: Flash Professional CS6, Menu by Menu 775

File 775

Edit .779

View .784

Insert 788

Modify 790

Text 798

Commands 799

Control 800

Debug 802

Window 804

Help 809

Index 813

The Missing Credits

AbouT The AuThor

Chris Grover is a veteran of the San Francisco Bay Area advertising

and design community, having worked for over 25 years in print,

video, and electronic media He has been using and writing about

computers from the day he first fired up his Kaypro II Chris is the

owner of Bolinas Road Creative (www.BolinasRoad.com), an agency

that helps small businesses promote their products and services His

writing has appeared in a range of media from Fine Homebuilding to Macworld.com

He’s also the author of Office 2011 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual, Adobe Edge

Preview 5: The Missing Manual, and several other books in the Missing Manual series

AbouT The CreATive TeAM

Nan Barber (editor) has been working on the Missing Manual series since its

incep-tion She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and various Apple products Email:

nanbarber@oreilly.com

Rachel Steely (production editor) is an avid lover of books in all their forms, and can

typeset, illustrate, and bind a book by hand She enjoys traveling and speaks fluent

Spanish In her spare time, she draws Celtic knotwork, reads, and plays the violin

Julie Van Keuren (proofreader) quit her newspaper job in 2006 to move to Montana

and live the freelancing dream She and her husband, M.H (who is living the

novel-writing dream), have two sons, Dexter and Michael Email: little_media@yahoo.com

Ron Strauss (indexer) specializes in the indexing of information technology

publica-tions of all kinds Ron is also an accomplished classical violist and lives in northern

California with his wife and fellow indexer, Annie, and his miniature pinscher, Kanga

Email: rstrauss@mchsi.com

Chris Deely (tech reviewer) is a software developer living in Philadelphia with his

wife, Nichole, and their son, Christopher Jr He has been working with the Flash

platform since 2004, building applications with ActionScript, Flex, and AIR Chris

currently leads a User Interface development team responsible for building

enter-prise application front-ends

Tina Spargo (technical reviewer), her husband (and professional musician) Ed,

their children, Max and Lorelei, and their two silly Spaniels, Parker (Clumber) and

Piper (Sussex), all share time and space in their suburban Boston home Tina

jug-gles being an at-home mom with promoting and marketing Ed’s musical projects

and freelancing as a virtual assistant Tina has over 20 years’ experience

support-ing top-level executives in a variety of industries Website: www.tinaspargo.com

I’m always amazed at the number of pros it takes to create a book like Flash CS6: The Missing Manual My thanks go out to everyone who worked on this book Nan Barber has worked with me on several books and her skill and grace under fire is always appreciated I’d also like to thank Rachel Steely for coordinating the produc-tion and Ron Strauss for writing the index Rebecca Demarest managed to take my screenshots and crude charts and make them suitable for publication A special thanks to the people who catch the errors that always try to sneak onto the pages: technical reviewers Chris Deely and Tina Spargo and proofreader Julie Van Keuren And of course, thanks to Joyce, my wife, who helps me in everything I do

—Chris Grover

The MiSSing MAnuAl SerieS

Missing Manuals are witty, superbly written guides to computer products that don’t come with printed manuals (which is just about all of them) Each book features

a handcrafted index; cross-references to specific pages (not just chapters); and RepKover, a detached-spine binding that lets the book lie perfectly flat without the assistance of weights or cinder blocks

Recent and upcoming titles include:

• Access 2010: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald

• Buying a Home: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner

• CSS: The Missing Manual, Second Edition, by David Sawyer McFarland

• Creating a Website: The Missing Manual, Third Edition, by Matthew MacDonald

• David Pogue’s Digital Photography: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

• Dreamweaver CS5.5: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland

• Dreamweaver CS6: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland

• Droid x: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla

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• Excel 2010: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald

• Facebook: The Missing Manual, Third Edition by E.A Vander Veer

• FileMaker Pro 11: The Missing Manual by Susan Prosser and Stuart Gripman

• Flash CS5.5: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover

• Galaxy S II: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla

• Galaxy Tab: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla

• Google+: The Missing Manual by Kevin Purdy

• Google Apps: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner

• Google SketchUp: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover

• HTML5: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald

• iMovie ’11 & iDVD: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and Aaron Miller

• iPad 2: The Missing Manual, Third Edition by J.D Biersdorfer

• iPhone: The Missing Manual, Fifth Edition by David Pogue

• iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual by Craig Hockenberry

• iPhoto ’11: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and Lesa Snider

• iPod: The Missing Manual, Tenth Edition by J.D Biersdorfer and David Pogue

• JavaScript & jQuery: The Missing Manual, Second Edition by David Sawyer

McFarland

• Kindle Fire: The Missing Manual by Peter Meyers

• Living Green: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner

• Mac OS x Lion: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

• Mac OS x Mountain Lion: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

• Microsoft Project 2010: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore

• Motorola xoom: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla

• Netbooks: The Missing Manual by J.D Biersdorfer

• NOOK Tablet: The Missing Manual by Preston Gralla

• Office 2010: The Missing Manual by Nancy Connor, Chris Grover, and Matthew

MacDonald

• Office 2011 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover

• Palm Pre: The Missing Manual by Ed Baig

• Personal Investing: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore

• Photoshop CS5: The Missing Manual by Lesa Snider

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• Photoshop Elements 10: The Missing Manual by Barbara Brundage

• PHP & MySQL: The Missing Manual by Brett McLaughlin

• PowerPoint 2007: The Missing Manual by E.A Vander Veer

• Premiere Elements 8: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover

• QuickBase: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner

• QuickBooks 2012: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore

• QuickBooks 2013: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore

• Quicken 2009: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore

• Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Lion Edition by David Pogue

• Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Mountain Lion Edition by David Pogue

• Wikipedia: The Missing Manual by John Broughton

• Windows xP Home Edition: The Missing Manual, Second Edition, by David Pogue

• Windows xP Pro: The Missing Manual, Second Edition, by David Pogue, Craig Zacker, and Linda Zacker

• Windows Vista: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

• Windows 7: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

• Word 2007: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover

• Your Body: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald

• Your Brain: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald

• Your Money: The Missing Manual by J.D RothFor a full list of all Missing Manuals in print, go to www.missingmanuals.com/library html

Flash’s evolution is unique, even for the fast-changing computer software world

First released in 1996 under the name FutureSplash, it was a tool for creating

web-based animations It’s still the go-to application for that job; however,

along the way it’s acquired new capabilities Today, Flash powers video websites

like YouTube and Hulu (Figure I-1) It’s used to develop desktop applications like

eBay Desktop As you read this, Flash/ActionScript pros are developing the next

generation of apps for handheld devices like the Droid RAZR and the iPhone Flash

has grown up with the World Wide Web and managed to carve out an important

niche In fact, there are a whole slew of programs that make use of Flash

technol-ogy They include Flex, Flash Builder, and Flash Catalyst Still, if you want to learn

Flash’s design and animation features as well as its programming and development

features, then Flash Professional CS6 is the place to start

Here are just some of the things you can do with Flash:

• Animate You can create original artwork using Flash’s tools, or you can add

images from your other favorite programs Flash recognizes the most common

image, video, and sound file formats Once your artwork is in Flash, you can

add motion, sound, and dazzling effects Surely you’ve spent some quality time

watching JibJab cartoons (Figure I-2)

• Multimedia websites Today’s websites include motion, video, background

music, and above all, interactive objects Flash’s built-in programming language,

ActionScript, was designed to create interactive objects You can create

eye-catching, attention-grabbing websites with Flash It’s your choice whether

you sprinkle Flash bits on various pages or go whole-hog and develop a 100

percent Flash site

Introduction

WhaT’s NeW

iN Flash

ProFessioNal

Cs6 • Tutorials Web-based training courses, which often include a combination of

text, drawings, animations, video clips, and voice-overs, are a natural fit for Flash By hooking Flash up to a server on the back end, you can even present your audience with graded tests and up-to-the-minute product information You don’t have to deliver your tutorials over the web, though; you can publish them

as standalone projector files (Chapter 20) or AIR applications (Chapter 21) and deliver them to your students via CDs, DVDs, or mobile apps

Figure i-1

Sites like Hulu and YouTube have made great use of Flash’s video abilities You can check any site to see whether it’s using Flash behind the scenes Just right-click (or Control-click) an image that you think might be Flash If it says “About Flash Player” at the bot-tom of the pop-up menu, you guessed right

• Presentations PowerPoint presentations are fine…up to a point With Flash,

you can create self-running presentations that are more creative and have a higher degree of interactivity

• Customer service kiosks Many of the kiosks you see in stores and building

lobbies use Flash to help customers find what they need For example, photo kiosks walk customers through the process of transferring images from their digital cameras and ordering prints; kiosks in banks let customers withdraw funds, check interest rates, and make deposits

• Television and film effects The Hollywood set has been known to use Flash

to create visual effects for TV shows and even small feature films But where the TV and film industry is seriously adopting Flash is on promotional websites, where designers can wed Flash graphics to scenes taken from their movies and

WhaT’s NeW

iN Flash ProFessioNal Cs6

shows to present powerful trailers, interactive tours of movie and show sets,

and teasers

• Games and other programs With support for runtime scripting, back-end data

transfers, and interactive controls like buttons and text boxes, Flash has

every-thing a programmer needs to create entertaining, professional-looking games

• Mobile apps With Flash CS6, the biggest change is the ease with which you

can develop apps for mobile devices, from iPads to Androids

Figure i-2

With a little creativity, your Flash animations can capture the public’s attention Just ask the folks at JibJab

What’s New in Flash Professional CS6

Flash has been evolving and adding features at a breakneck pace since Adobe

acquired Macromedia at the end of 2005 There are many benefits to being part

of Adobe’s Creative Suite, primarily the smooth interaction with applications such

as Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver If you’ve used other Adobe programs,

you’ll also welcome the consistency in drawing, text, and color-choosing tools By

the same token, if you’re new to the Adobe family, the skills you learn in Flash will

come in handy if you move on to other Adobe products

The last few versions of Flash Professional introduced a slew of new features For

example, CS4 added a more powerful, yet easy-to-use motion tween, complete

WhaT’s NeW

iN Flash

ProFessioNal

Cs6 with Motion Editor New 3-D capabilities opened up the world of motion, and IK Bones (inverse kinematics) made it easy for animators to link objects for realistic

movement Flash CS5 added a new text engine called Text Layout Framework (TLF), which provides the kind of text control that you’d find in Adobe Illustrator

or InDesign, and Adobe simplified the mysterious process of font embedding IK bones were enhanced with a new Spring property ActionScript coding was made easier with code snippets—cut and paste bits of code that are easy to drop into your document Code hinting provides an instant reference and tips on what to do next Flash CS5 also made it easier to build Adobe AIR projects that run as standalone programs on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers An interim release, Flash CS5.5 added the ability to develop apps for iOS (iPhones and iPads) and Android devices

Of course, all those features are covered in this book, along with the latest batch

of enhancements Flash CS6 comes quickly on the heels of the incremental release CS5.5 and refines many of the features added then The development of mobile apps heads the list:

• App development for multiple devices It’s easier than ever to develop an

application that works on desktops (Windows, Mac, and Linux) and mobile devices like smartphones and tablets Flash enhancements make it easier to share files and scale projects for a variety of screen sizes

• Built-in iPhone and iPad App Packager The much-publicized squabble

be-tween Apple and Adobe is at least partially resolved Using Flash, you can build apps for all of Apple’s iDevices

• Built-in Android app packager Use your Flash skills to build apps for Android

smartphones and tablets Test your apps immediately on devices connected

by USB cables

• The Simulator is a new tool used when you’re debugging mobile apps It gives

you the ability to test mobile features, such as touchscreen gestures, on your desktop computer

• Bundle AIR runtime with apps If you’re publishing apps, now you can include

the AIR runtime with your apps, saving your audience the extra step of loading the runtime

down-• Templates and code snippets for mobile devices Adobe has added to the

library of templates and code snippets, making it easier to develop apps for iPhones, iPads, and Android mobile devices You’ll find snippets that show how

to interact with touchscreen gestures such as swipes and pinches Templates show how to use built-in accelerometers and geo-location features

• Pin IK bones Pinning locks IK bones to a specific position on the stage, making

it much easier to create poses and control your models

• Copying layers Flash preserves structure and other details when copying

lay-ers between files and projects

aNimaTioN aBCs

• Symbol rasterization The cache as bitmap feature converts vector art to

bitmaps, increasing mobile device performance, CPU efficiency, and improving

battery life

• Auto-save and file recovery Like your favorite word processor, Flash now

has a feature that automatically saves your documents Should disaster strike,

you’re less likely to lose your work

• Incremental compilation Flash is smarter when compiling (publishing) your

document for testing As a result, there’s a shorter wait when you repeatedly

make changes and test your work

• Conversion to HTML and JavaScript Some web animation features that were

almost exclusively the domain of Flash are now possible with HTML (hypertext

markup language), JavaScript, and jQuery Flash CS6 has the ability to export

part or all of an animation for use in HTML or JavaScript projects

Animation ABCs

Animators used to draw each and every frame by hand Sure, they developed some

shortcuts, but that’s still hundreds or thousands of images depending on the length

of the animation Major animation houses employed whole armies of graphic

art-ists, each charged with producing hundreds of drawings that represented a mere

fraction of the finished work What we chuckled at for a scant few minutes took

weeks and dozens of tired, cramped hands to produce One mistake, one spilled

drop of coffee, and these patient-as-Job types would have to grab fresh paper and

start all over again When everything was done, the animation would have to be put

together—much like one of those flip books where you flip pages real fast to see a

story play out—while it was being filmed by special cameras

With Flash on your computer, you have the equivalent of a design studio at your

fingertips You provide the inspiration, and Flash can help you generate pro-quality

animations and full-blown interactive applications

An Animation by Any Other Name

You may occasionally hear Flash animations referred to (by

books, websites, and even Flash’s own documentation) as

movies Perhaps that’s technically accurate, but it sure can

be confusing

QuickTime’s mov files are also called movies, and some people

refer to video clips as movies; but to Flash, these are two very

different animals In addition, Flash lets you create and work

with movie clips, which are something else entirely And movie,

with its connotations of quietly sitting in a theater balcony eating popcorn, doesn’t convey one of the most important features Flash offers: interactivity

Here’s the most accurate way to describe what you create using Flash: a website, program, or app with a really cool, animated interface Unfortunately, that description is a bit long and unwieldy, so in this book, what you create using Flash is called

an animation or an app

UP TO SPEED

Flash iN a

NuTshell It’s pretty incredible, when you think about it A few hundred bucks and a few hours spent working with Flash, and you’ve got an animation that, just a few years ago,

you’d have had to pay a swarm of professionals union scale to produce Sweet! Naturally, if you’re new to animation, it will go easier if you learn the basic terms, tricks, and techniques used by Flash animators

Flash in a Nutshell

Say you work for a company that does custom auto refinishing First assignment: Design an intro page for the company’s new website You have the following idea for an animation:

The first thing you want your audience to see is a beat-up jalopy limping along a city street toward the center of the screen, where it stops and morphs into a shiny, like-new car as your company’s jingle plays in the background A voice-over informs your audience that your company has been in business for 20 years and offers the best prices in town

Across the top of the screen, you’d like to display the company logo, as well as a navigation bar with buttons—labeled Location, Services, Prices, and Contact—that your audience can click to get more information about your company But you also want each part of the car to be a clickable hotspot That way, when someone clicks one of the car’s tires, he’s whisked off to a page describing custom wheels and hubcaps; when he clicks the car’s body, he sees prices for dent repair and repaint-ing; and so on

Here’s how you might go about creating this animation in Flash:

• Using Flash’s drawing tools, you draw the artwork for every keyframe of the animation—that is, every important image For example, you’ll need to create

a keyframe showing the beat-up junker and a second keyframe showing the gleaming, expertly refurbished result (Chapter 2 shows you how to draw artwork

in Flash; Chapter 3 tells you everything you need to know about keyframes.)

• Within each keyframe, you might choose to separate your artwork into different

layers Like the see-through plastic cels that professional animators used in the old days, layers let you create images separately and then stack them on top of one another to make a single composite image For example, you might choose

to put the car on one layer, your company logo on a second layer, and your city-street background on a third layer That way, you can edit and animate each layer independently, but when the animation plays, all three elements appear

to be on one seamless layer (Chapter 4 shows you how to work with layers.)

• Through a process called tweening, you tell Flash to fill in each and every frame

between the keyframes to create the illusion of the junker turning slowly into

a brand-new car Flash carefully analyzes all the differences between the frames and does its best to build the interim frames, which you can then tweak

key-The Very BasiCs

or—if Flash gets it all wrong—redraw yourself (Chapter 3 introduces tweens,

and Chapter 8 gives you the lowdown on advanced techniques.)

• As you go along, you might decide to save a few of the elements you create

(for example, your company logo) so you can reuse them later There’s no sense

in reinventing the wheel, and in addition to saving you time, reusing elements

actually helps keep your animation files as small and efficient as possible (See

Chapter 7 for details on creating and managing reusable elements.)

• Add the background music and voice-over audio clips, which you’ve created in

other programs (Chapter 11)

• Create the navigation bar buttons, hotspots, and other ways for your audience

to interact with your animation (Chapters 12–18)

• Test your animation (Chapter 19) and tweak it to perfection

• Finally, when your animation is just the way you want it, you’re ready to publish

it Without leaving the comfort of Flash, you can convert the editable fla file

you’ve been working with into a noneditable swf file and either embed it into

an HTML file or create a standalone projector file that your audience can run

without having to use a browser Chapter 20 tells you everything you need to

know about publishing

The scenario described above is pretty simple, but it covers the basic steps you need

to take when creating any Flash animation

The Very Basics

You’ll find very little jargon or nerd terminology in this book You will, however,

en-counter a few terms and concepts that you’ll use frequently in your computing life:

• Clicking This book gives you three kinds of instructions that require you to

use your computer’s mouse or trackpad To click means to point the arrow

cur-sor at something on the screen and then—without moving the curcur-sor at all—to

press and release the left clicker button on the mouse (or laptop trackpad) To

double-click, of course, means to click twice in rapid succession, again without

moving the cursor at all And to drag means to move the cursor while pressing

the left button continuously

• Keyboard shortcuts Every time you take your hand off the keyboard to move

the mouse, you lose time and potentially disrupt your creative flow That’s why

many experienced computer fans use keystroke combinations instead of menu

commands wherever possible Ctrl+B (⌘-B), for example, is a keyboard shortcut

for boldface type in Flash (and most other programs)

When you see a shortcut like Ctrl+S (⌘-S) (which saves changes to the current

document), it’s telling you to hold down the Ctrl or ⌘ key, and, while it’s down,

type the letter S, and then release both keys

aBouT This

Book • Choice is good Flash frequently gives you several ways to trigger a particular

command—by choosing a menu command, or by clicking a toolbar button, or

by pressing a key combination, for example Some people prefer the speed of keyboard shortcuts; others like the satisfaction of a visual command array avail-able in menus or toolbars This book lists all the alternatives, but by no means are you expected to memorize all of them

About This Book

Despite the many improvements in software over the years, one feature has grown consistently worse: documentation With the purchase of most software programs these days, you don’t get a single page of printed instructions To learn about the hundreds of features in a program, you’re expected to use online electronic help.But even if you’re comfortable reading a help screen in one window as you try

to work in another, something is still missing At times, the terse electronic help screens assume you already understand the discussion at hand and hurriedly skip over important topics that require an in-depth presentation In addition, you don’t always get an objective evaluation of the program’s features (Engineers often add technically sophisticated features to a program because they can, not because you need them.) You shouldn’t have to waste your time learning features that don’t help you get your work done

The purpose of this book, then, is to serve as the manual that should have been in the box In this book’s pages, you’ll find step-by-step instructions for using every Flash feature, including those you may not have quite understood, let alone mastered, such as working with video or drawing objects with ActionScript In addition, you’ll find clear evaluations of each feature that help you determine which ones are useful

to you, as well as how and when to use them

 NOTE  This book periodically recommends other books, covering topics that might interest Flash designers

and developers Careful readers may notice that not every one of these titles is published by Missing Manual parent company O’Reilly Media While we’re happy to mention other Missing Manuals and books in the O’Reilly family, if there’s a great book out there that doesn’t happen to be published by O’Reilly, we’ll still let you know about it

Flash CS6: The Missing Manual is designed for readers of every skill level, except the super-advanced programmer If Flash is the first image creation or animation program you’ve ever used, you’ll be able to dive right in using the explanations and examples

in this book If you come from an animation or multimedia background, you’ll find this book a useful reference for unique Flash topics such as the motion tweens and the Motion Editor The primary discussions are written for advanced-beginner

or intermediate computer users But if you’re a first-timer, special sidebar articles called Up to Speed provide the introductory information you need to understand the topic at hand If you’re an advanced user, on the other hand, keep your eye out for similar shaded boxes called Power Users’ Clinic They offer more technical tips,

aBouT This Book

tricks, and shortcuts for the experienced Flash fan The Design Time boxes explain

the art of effective multimedia design

The ActionScript programming language is a broad, complex subject This book isn’t

an exhaustive reference manual, but it gives you a great introduction to ActionScript

programming, providing working examples and clear explanations of ActionScript

principles

Macintosh and Windows

Flash Professional CS6 works almost precisely the same in its Macintosh and Windows

versions You’ll find the same buttons in almost every dialog box Occasionally, they’ll

be dressed up differently In this book, the illustrations have been given even-handed

treatment, rotating between Windows 7 and Mac OS x

Shortcut keys are probably the area where the Mac and Windows versions differ the

most Often where Windows uses the Ctrl key, Macs use the ⌘ key You’ll find some

other relatively minor differences, too

Whenever this book refers to a key combination, you’ll see the Windows keystroke

listed first (with + symbols, as is customary in Windows documentation); the

Macintosh keystroke follows in parentheses (with - symbols, in time-honored Mac

fashion) In other words, you might read, “The keyboard shortcut for saving a file

is Ctrl+S (⌘-S).”

About the Outline

Flash CS6: The Missing Manual is divided into five parts, each containing several

chapters:

• Part 1, Creating a Flash Animation guides you through the creation of your

very first Flash animation, from the first glimmer of an idea to drawing images,

animating those images, and testing your work

• Part 2, Advanced Drawing and Animation is the designer’s feast Here you’ll

see how to manipulate your drawings by rotating, skewing, stacking, and

align-ing them; how to add color, special effects, and multimedia files like audio and

video clips; how to slash file size by turning bits and pieces of your drawings

into special elements called symbols; and how to create composite drawings

using layers Text is an increasingly important part of Flash animations and

applications, so this section introduces important text topics In Part 3, you’ll

learn how ActionScript works with text In this section, you’ll learn about the

Motion Editor and how to use the IK Bones feature (Chapter 9)

• Part 3, Adding Interactivity shows you how to add ActionScript 3.0 actions to

your animations, creating on-the-fly special effects and giving your audience the

power to control your animations An entire chapter is devoted to predesigned

components, like buttons, checkboxes, sliders, and scrolling lists Powerful but

easy to use, these components give your animation professional functions and

style This section includes lots of examples and ActionScript code You can

aBouT The

oNliNe

resourCes copy and modify some of the practical examples for your own projects You’ll see how to loop frames and how to let your audience choose which section of

an animation to play, and how to customize the prebuilt interactive components that come with Flash You’ll find specific chapters on using ActionScript with text and using ActionScript to draw

• Part 4, Debugging and Delivering Your Animation focuses on testing,

de-bugging, and optimizing your animation You’ll also find out how to publish your animation so that your audience can see and enjoy it, and how to export

an editable version of your animation so that you can rework it using another graphics, video editing, or web development program The last three chapters focus on Adobe AIR, a system for creating standalone apps using Flash You’ll learn how to deliver these apps to Windows, Mac, and Linux desktops, as well

as iPhones, iPads, and Android mobile devices

• Part 5 has two Appendixes: Appendix A: Installation and Help, explains how

to install Flash and where to turn for help Appendix B: Flash Professional CS6, Menu by Menu, provides a menu-by-menu description of the commands you’ll find in Flash CS6

About→These→Arrows

Throughout this book, you’ll find instructions like, “Open your Program Files→Adobe→ Adobe Flash CS6 folder.” That’s Missing Manual shorthand for much longer sentences like “Double-click your Program Files folder to open it Inside, you’ll find a folder called Adobe; double-click to open it Inside that folder is a folder called Adobe Flash CS6; open it, too.” This arrow shorthand also simplifies the business of choosing menu commands, as you can see in Figure I-3

Figure i-3

When you see instructions like “Choose Text→Style→Italic,” think, “Click to pull down the Text menu, and then move your mouse down

to the Style command When its submenu opens, choose the Italic option.”

About the Online Resources

As the owner of a Missing Manual, you’ve got more than just a book to read line, you’ll find example files so you can get some hands-on experience, as well as tips, articles, and maybe even a video or two You can also communicate with the

On-saFari®Books oNliNe

Missing Manual team and tell us what you love (or hate) about the book Head over

to www.missingmanuals.com, or go directly to one of the following sections

Missing CD

This book doesn’t have a CD pasted inside the back cover, but you’re not missing

out on anything Go to www.missingmanuals.com/cds/flashcs6tmm to download

And so you don’t wear down your fingers typing long web addresses, the Missing

CD page also offers a list of clickable links to the websites mentioned in this book

Registration

If you register this book at www.oreilly.com, you’ll be eligible for special offers—like

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Got questions? Need more information? Fancy yourself a book reviewer? On our

Feedback page, you can get expert answers to questions that come to you while

read-ing, share your thoughts on this Missing Manual, and find groups for folks who share

your interest in Flash To have your say, go to www.missingmanuals.com/feedback

Errata

To keep this book as up to date and accurate as possible, each time we print more

copies, we’ll make any confirmed corrections you suggest in both the print book and

the ebook We note such changes on the book’s website so you can mark important

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1

As mentioned in this book’s introduction, Flash performs several feats of

audio-visual magic You use it to create animations, to display video on a website,

to create handheld apps, or to build a complete web-based application So it’s not surprising that the Flash workspace is crammed full of tools, panels, and

windows (Figure 1-1) But don’t be intimidated—you don’t have to conquer these

tools all at once This chapter introduces you to Flash’s main work areas and

often-used toolbars and panels, so you can start creating Flash projects right away You’ll

experiment with Flash’s stage and timeline, and see how Flash lets you animate

graphics so that they move along a path and change shape

 TIP  To get further acquainted with Flash, you can check out the built-in help screens by selecting Help→Flash

Help Once the help panel opens, click Using Flash Professional It’s on the left side of the somewhat busy window

You can read more about Flash’s help system in Appendix A

Starting Flash

You start Flash just as you would any other program—which means you can do it in

a few different ways, depending on whether you have a PC or a Mac Installing the

program puts Flash CS6 and its related files in the folder with your other programs,

and you can start it by double-clicking its icon Here’s where it’s usually installed:

• Windows Go to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS6\Flash.exe You can

create a shortcut or drag the file to the taskbar for quicker starting

Getting Around Flash

sTarTiNG

can make an alias or drag the file to the Dock for quicker starting

Figure 1-1

The Flash Professional workspace is divided into three main areas: the stage, the timeline, and the Panels dock This entire window, to-gether with the timeline, toolbars, and panels, is sometimes called the Flash desktop, the Flash interface, or the Flash authoring environment

Here are some other Windows ways to start the program:

• From the Vista or Windows 7 Start menu, choose All Programs→Adobe Flash Professional CS6

• For Windows xP, go to Start→All Programs→Adobe→Adobe Flash Professional CS6

• If you’re a keyboard enthusiast, press the Windows key and begin to type flash

As you type, Windows searches for a match and displays a list with programs

at the top Most likely, the Flash program is at the top of the list and already selected, so just press Enter Otherwise, use your mouse or arrow keys to select and start the program

Here are some Mac launching options:

• Even if you haven’t added the Flash icon to the Dock, you can still find it in the Dock’s Applications folder Click and hold the Applications folder icon and choose Adobe Flash CS6→Adobe Flash CS6

• Want to hunt down Flash in the Finder? Most of the time, it’s installed in Macintosh HD→Applications→Adobe Flash CS6→Adobe Flash CS6

sTarTiNG Flash

• If you’d rather type than hunt, use Spotlight Press ⌘-space and then begin to

type flash As you type, Spotlight displays a list of programs and files that match

Most likely, the Flash program is at the top of the list and already selected, so

just press Return Otherwise, use the mouse or arrow keys to select and start

the program

When you first start Flash, up pops the Welcome screen, shown in Figure 1-2 This

screen puts all your options—like starting a new document or returning to a work

in progress—in one handy place For good measure, Adobe includes some links to

help references and resources on its website

Figure 1-2

This Welcome screen appears the first time you launch Flash—and every subsequent time, too, unless you turn on the “Don’t show again” checkbox (pull down the bottom of the window if you don’t see it) If you ever miss the convenience

of seeing all your recent Flash documents, built-in templates, and other options in one place, then you can turn

it back on by choosing Edit→Preferences (Windows) or Flash→Preferences (Mac)

On the General panel, choose Welcome Screen from the On Launch pop-up menu

 NOTE  If Flash seems to take forever to open—or if the Flash desktop ignores your mouse clicks or responds

sluggishly—you may not have enough memory installed on your computer See page 767 for more advice

sTarTiNG

Flash When you choose one of the options, the Welcome screen disappears and your document takes its place Here are your choices:

• Create from Template Clicking one of the little icons under this option lets

you create a Flash document using a predesigned form called a template A template helps you create an animation more quickly, since a Flash developer has already done part of the work for you You can find out more about tem-plates in Chapter 7

• Open a Recent Item As you create new documents, Flash adds them to this list

Clicking one of the filenames listed here tells Flash to open that file Clicking the folder icon lets you browse for and open any other Flash file on your computer

 TIP  The options for creating new Flash documents and opening recent documents also appear on the File

menu, as shown in Figure 1-3

Figure 1-3

Several of the options

on each menu include keystroke shortcuts that let you perform an action without having to mouse all the way up to the menu For example, instead of selecting File→Save As, you can press Ctrl+Shift+S to tell Flash to save your Flash document On the Mac, the keystroke is Shift-⌘-S

• Create New Clicking one of the options listed here lets you create a brand-new

Flash file Most of the time, you want to choose the first option, ActionScript 3.0,

sTarTiNG Flash

which is a garden-variety animation file ActionScript is the underlying

pro-gramming language for Flash animations The current version of ActionScript

is 3.0, and it’s the version used for the projects in this book You can use the

ActionScript 2.0 option if you need to work with a Flash project that was created

several years ago For details on the file formats for different Flash projects,

see the box below

 NOTE  Old programming pros—you know who you are—may have reasons to prefer ActionScript 2.0 For

example, you might choose this option if you’re continuing work on a project created using ActionScript 2.0, or

if you’re working with a team using ActionScript 2.0

Understanding Flash File Formats

Why are there so many different options under Create New on

the Welcome screen? What are they all for?

There seem to be a bewildering number of options when you

create a new Flash document As explained above, if you’re

just learning Flash, you probably want to use the first option:

ActionScript 3.0 The other options are for special Flash projects

targeted to specific devices, like iPhones, iPads, or Android

devices Some options are for specific programming needs, like

creating an ActionScript class The details are in the appropriate

sections of this book, but here’s a quick rundown:

• Use AIR to create desktop applications using the Adobe

Integrated Runtime tools (page 705) Instead of using

Flash Player, these applications use AIR

• Use AIR for Android if you’re creating apps for Android

handhelds like the Droid Razr or Samsung Galaxy

• Creating an iPhone or iPad app? Use the Air for iOS option

Flash creates a document that’s just the right size and

has the programming options and support for making iOS apps

• Flash Lite 4 is similar to the iPhone format but works for several other handheld devices

• You can also create an ActionScript File (a file containing nothing but ActionScript, for use with a Flash animation);

a Flash JavaScript File (used to create custom tools, panels, commands, and other features that extend Flash); or

a Flash Project (useful if you’re planning a complex, multifile, multideveloper Flash production and need version control)

• The last two options, ActionScript 3.0 Class and ActionScript 3.0 Interface, help programmers create reusable objects that can be used in multiple Flash projects

FREqUENTLY ASKED qUESTION

• Extend Clicking the Flash Exchange link under this option tells Flash to open

your web browser and load the Flash Exchange website There,you can

down-load Flash components, sound files, and other goodies that you can add to

your Flash animations Some are free, some are fee-based, and all of them are

created by Flashionados just like you

• Learn As you might guess, these links lead to materials Adobe designed to

help you get up and running Click an option, and your web browser opens to a

page on the Adobe website The first few topics introduce basic Flash concepts

like symbols, instances, and timelines Farther down the list, you find specific

topics for building applications for mobile devices or websites (AIR) At the

a Tour oF

The Flash

WorksPaCe bottom of the Welcome screen, “Getting Started” covers the very, very basics “New Features” explains (and celebrates) some of Flash CS6’s new bells and

whistles “Developers” leads to an online magazine with articles and videos with

an ActionScript programming slant “Designers” leads to a similar resource for the Flash graphics and design community

A Tour of the Flash Workspace

The best way to master the Flash CS6 Professional workspace is to divide and conquer First, focus on the three main work areas: the stage, the timeline, and the Panels dock Then you can gradually learn how to use all the tools in those areas.One big source of confusion for Flash newbies is that the workspace is so easy to customize You can open bunches of panels, windows, and toolbars You can move the timeline above the stage, or you can have it floating in a window all its own Once you’re a seasoned Flash veteran, you’ll have strong opinions about how you want to set up your workspace so the tools you use most are at hand If you’re just learning Flash with the help of this book, though, it’s probably best if you set up your workspace so that it matches the pictures in these pages

Fortunately, there’s an easy way to do that Adobe, in its wisdom, created the space Switcher—a tool that lets you rearrange the entire workspace with the click of

Work-a menu The thinking is thWork-at Work-an ideWork-al workspWork-ace for Work-a cWork-artoon Work-animWork-ator is different from the ideal workspace for, say, a rich internet application (RIA) developer The Workspace Switcher is a menu in the upper-right corner of the Flash window, next

to the search box The menu displays the name of the currently selected workspace; when you first start Flash, it probably says Essentials That’s a great workspace that displays some of the most frequently used tools In fact, it’s the workspace used throughout most of this book

Here’s a quick little exercise that shows you how to switch among the different workspaces and how to reset a workspace after you’ve mangled it by dragging panels out of place and opening new windows

3 Choose the Essentials workspace again.

a Tour oF The Flash WorksPaCe

Back where you began, the Essentials workspace shows the timeline at the

bottom The stage takes up most of the main window On the right, the Panels

dock holds toolbars and panels Now’s the time to cause a little havoc

Figure 1-4

Top: The Essentials space is the one used throughout this book

work-Bottom: The Classic workspace shows the timeline above the stage,

a look familiar to Flash Pro veterans

5 Drag the Color and Swatches toolbars to new locations.

The Color toolbar has an icon that looks like an artist’s palette at the top Like the larger panels, toolbars can either dock or float You can drag them anywhere

on your monitor, and you can expand and collapse them by clicking the triangle button in their top-right corners

double-6 Go to Window→Other Panels→History.

Flash has dozens of windows Only a few are available now, because you haven’t even created a document yet

 TIP  As you work on a project, the History panel keeps track of all your commands, operations, and changes

It’s a great tool for undoing mistakes For more details, see page 34

7 From the Workspace menu, choose Reset Essentials.

The workspace changes back to the original Essentials layout, even though you did your best to mess it up

Anytime you want your workspace to match the one used throughout most of this book, do the “Essentials two-step”: Choose Essentials from the Workspace Switcher (if you’re not already there), and then choose Reset Essentials As shown

in Figure 1-4, when you use the Essentials workspace, the Flash window is divvied

up into three main work areas: the stage (upper left), the timeline (lower left), and the panels dock (right) Before exploring each of these areas in detail, here are a few words about Flash’s menu bar

Menu Bar

Like most computer programs, Flash gives you menus to interact with your ments In traditional fashion, Windows menus appear at the top of the program window, while Mac menus are always at the very top of the screen The commands

docu-on these menus list every way you can interact with your Flash file, from creating a new file—as shown on page 18—to editing it, saving it, and controlling how it appears

on your screen

Some of the menu names—File, Edit, View, Window, and Help—are familiar to anyone who’s used a PC or a Mac Using these menu choices, you can perform basic tasks like opening, saving, and printing your Flash files; cutting and pasting artwork or text; viewing your project in different ways; choosing which toolbars to view; get-ting help; and more

a Tour oF The Flash WorksPaCe

To view a menu, simply click the menu’s name to open it, and then click a menu

option If you prefer, you can also drag down to the option you want Let go of the

mouse button to activate the option Figure 1-3 shows you what the File menu looks

like Most of the time, you see the same menus at the top of the screen, but

oc-casionally they change For example, when you use the Debugger to troubleshoot

ActionScript programs, Flash hides some of the menus not related to debugging

 TIP  You’ll learn about specific commands and menu options in their related chapters For a quick reference

to all the menu options, see Appendix B

The Stage

As the name implies, the stage is usually the center of attention It’s your virtual

canvas Here’s where you draw the pictures, display text, and make objects move

across the screen The stage is also your playback arena; when you run a

com-pleted animation—to see if it needs tweaking—the animation appears on the stage

Figure 1-5 shows a project with an animation under construction

Figure 1-5

The stage is where you draw the pictures that will eventually become your animation The work area (light gray) gives you a handy place to put graphic elements while you figure out how you want to arrange them on the stage Here a text box

is being dragged from the work area back to center stage

Stage Work area (backstage)

The work area is the technical name for the gray area surrounding the stage,

al-though many Flashionados call it the backstage This work area serves as a prep

zone where you can place graphic elements before you move them to the stage,

and as a temporary holding pen for elements you want to move off the stage briefly

as you reposition things For example, let’s say you draw three circles and one box

containing text on your stage If you decide you need to rearrange these elements,

you can temporarily drag one of the circles off the stage

 NOTE  The stage always starts out with a white background, which becomes the background color for your

animation Changing it to any color imaginable is easy, as you’ll learn in the next chapter

a Tour oF

The Flash

WorksPaCe You’ll almost always change the starting size and shape of the stage depending on where people will see your finished animation—in other words, your target platform

If your target platform is a smartphone, for example, you’re going to want a smaller stage If, on the other hand, you’re creating an animation for a ballpark’s JumboTron, you’re going to want a giant stage You’ll get to try your hand at modifying the size and background color of the stage later in this chapter

The Timeline

When you go to the theater, the stage changes over time—actors come and go, songs are sung, scenery changes, and the lights shine and fade In Flash, you’re the director, and you get to control what appears on the stage at any given moment The timeline is the tool used to specify what’s seen or heard at a particular moment The concept is pretty simple, and if you’ve ever used video editing software, it will

be familiar Flash animations (or movies) are organized into chunks of time called

frames Each little box in the timeline represents a frame or a point in time You use the playhead, shown in Figure 1-6, to select a specific frame So when the playhead is positioned at Frame 10, the stage shows what the audience sees at that point in time

Playhead

Keyframes

The timeline is laid out from left to right, starting with Frame 1 Simply put, you build Flash animations by choosing a frame with the playhead and then arranging the objects on the stage the way you want them The timeline uses a special tool called

a keyframe (see Figure 1-6) to remember exactly what’s on stage at that moment You’ll learn more about the keyframes and other timeline tools in Chapter 3 Most simple animations play from Frame 1 through to the end of the movie, but Flash gives you ways to start and stop the animation and control how fast it runs—that is, how many frames per second (fps) are displayed Using some ActionScript magic, you can control the order in which the frames are displayed You’ll learn how to do that on page 522

PaNels aNd ToolBars

 TIP  The first time you run Flash, the timeline appears automatically, but occasionally you want to hide the

timeline—perhaps to reduce screen clutter while you concentrate on your artwork You can show and hide the

timeline by selecting Window→Timeline or pressing Ctrl+Alt+T (or for the Mac, Option-⌘-T)

Panels and Toolbars

If you followed the little exercise on page 20, you know you can put panels and

toolbars almost anywhere onscreen However, if you use the Essentials workspace,

you start off with a few frequently used panels and toolbars docked neatly on the

right side of the program window

It’s easy to get confused by the Flash nomenclature Flash has toolbars, panels,

palettes, and windows Sometimes collapsed panels look like toolbars and open up

when clicked—like the frequently used Tools panel Toolbars and panels pack the

most commonly used options together in a nice compact space, so you don’t have to

do a hunt-and-peck through the main menu every time you want to do something

Panels are great, but they take up precious real estate As you work, you can hide

certain tools to get a better view of your artwork (You can always get them back

by choosing their names from the Window menu.)

Toolbars and panels are such an integral part of working with Flash that it’s helpful

to learn some of their tricks early on:

• Move a panel Just click and drag the tab or top of the panel to a new location

Panels can float anywhere on your monitor, or dock on an edge of the Flash

program window (as in the Essentials workspace) For more details on docking

and floating, see the box on page 26

• Expand or collapse a panel Click the double-triangle button at the top of a

panel to expand or collapse it Collapsed panels look like toolbars, showing a

few icons that hint at the tools’ purposes Expanded panels take up more real

estate, but they also give you more details and often have word labels for the

tools and settings

• Show or hide a panel Use the Window menu to show and hide individual

panels Checkmarks appear next to the panels that are shown

• Close a floating panel In Windows, click the small x in the panel’s upper-right

corner On the Mac, click the x in the upper-left corner

• Show or hide all panels The F4 key works like a toggle, hiding or showing all

the panels and toolbars Use it when you want to quickly reduce screen clutter

and focus on your artwork

• Separate or combine tabbed panels Click and drag the name on a tab to

separate it from a group of tabbed panels To add a tab to a group, just drag

it into place

PaNels aNd

Work-space Switcher Instead of <workWork-space name>, you see the name of the current workspace—something like Essentials or Classic You can also do a reset using the menus; choose Window→Workspace→Reset <workspace name>

Docked vs Floating

A docked toolbar or panel appears attached to some part of

the workspace window, while a floating toolbar or panel is one

you can reposition by dragging

Whether you want to display toolbars and panels as docked or

floating is a matter of personal choice If you constantly need

to click something on a toolbar—which means it needs to be

in full view at all times—docked works best But if you usually

just need a toolbar or a panel for a brief time and want to be

able to move it around on the screen (so it doesn’t cover up

something else), then floating is the ticket

To turn a docked panel into a floating panel:

1 Click any blank spot on the panel’s top bar and hold

down the mouse button You may notice a color change

(Figure 1-7), especially as you begin to move the panel The actual visual effect is different on Mac and Windows computers, but the mechanics work the same

2 Drag the panel away from the edge of the workspace window and release the mouse button Flash displays the panel where you dropped it You can reposition it anywhere you like simply by dragging it again

To dock a floating panel, simply reverse the procedure: Drag the floating panel to the edge of the workspace window and let go of the mouse button You see a line or a shadow when the panel is ready to dock When you let go, Flash docks the panel automatically

UP TO SPEED

Figure 1-7

Top: To conserve space

on Flash’s jam-packed desktop, only one toolbar—the Edit bar— appears automatically It’s positioned directly above the stage To dis-play the other two, select Window→Toolbars→Main (to display the Main tool-bar, Windows only) and Window→Toolbars→ Controller (to display the Controller window) Bottom: The checkmarks

on the menu show when

a toolbar is turned on Choose the toolbar’s name again to remove the checkmark and hide the toolbar