Introduction

1. Background Information
   
   Introducing the New Flash MX 2004 Product Line
   Why Use Flash MX 2004? 4 What's New in Flash MX 2004?
   Flash MX Professional 2004
   Project, Player, or Projector?
   File Types Associated with Flash MX 2004
   Caution: Player Required!
   Beyond Flash MX 2004
2. Interface
   
   The Document Window
   The Timeline
   Docking and Undocking the Timeline
   The Layer Controls
   The Edit Bar
   The Toolbar
   The Panels
   Undocking and Docking Panels
   Resizing Panels
   Expanding, Collapsing, Hiding, and Closing Panels
   Using the Panel Options Menu
   Creating and Saving Panel Sets
   Switching to Another Panel Set
   The Panels Defined
   Shortcut Keys
   Custom Keyboard Shortcuts
   Creating a New Shortcut Set
3. Using the Drawing and Color Tools
   
   Drawing Tools Explained
   Lines, Strokes, and Fills Explained
   Exercise 1: Drawing with the Pencil
   Exercise 2: Modifying Lines
   Exercise 3: Using the Oval and Rectangle Tools
   Exercise 4: Using the Brush Tool
   Exercise 5: Modifying Strokes and Fills
   Exercise 6: Working with Multiple Objects
   Exercise 7: Grouping Objects
   What Is the Color Mixer Panel?
   Exercise 8: Creating Gradients
   Exercise 9: Drawing with the Pen Tool
   Exercise 10: Modifying Paths
4. Animation Basics
   
   The Timeline
   Projects and Movies
   Exercise 1: Document Properties
   What Is a Keyframe?
   Keyframes in Flash MX 2004
   Exercise 2: Frame-by-Frame Animation with Keyframes
   Exercise 3: Understanding Frame Rate
   What Is the Frame Rate?
   Recommended Frame Rates
   Exercise 4: Inserting and Deleting Frames
   Exercise 5: Copying and Reversing Frames
   Exercise 6: Onion Skinning
   Exercise 7: Testing Movies
5. Shape Tweening
   
   What Is Shape Tweening?
   Exercise 1: Shape Tweening Text
   Exercise 2: Shape Hinting
   Exercise 3: Multiple Shape Tweening
   Layer Properties Defined
   Exercise 4: Animating Gradients
6. Symbols and Instances
   
   The Symbol and Instance Structure
   Symbol Naming Conventions
   Important Timeline Vocabulary Terms
   Exercise 1: Creating Graphic Symbols
   Exercise 2: Creating Symbol Instances
   Exercise 3: Editing Symbols
   Exercise 4: Editing Symbol Instances
   Color Styles
   Exercise 5: Animating Graphic Symbols
   Exercise 6: Animating Instances by Modifying the Registration Point
7. Motion Tweening and Timeline Effects
   
   Shape Tweening Versus Motion Tweening
   Exercise 1: Basic Motion Tweening
   Exercise 2: Tweening Effects
   Exercise 3: Editing Multiple Frames
   Exercise 4: Using a Motion Guide
   Exercise 5: Exploding Text
   Motion Tweening Options and Limitations
   Exercise 6: Timeline Effect Assistants
   Exercise 7: Transition and Blur Timeline Effects
8. Bitmaps
   
   Benefits of Bitmaps
   Compression in Flash MX 2004
   Exercise 1: Importing and Compressing Bitmaps
   Exercise 2: Importing Bitmap Sequences
   Exercise 3: Converting Bitmaps to Vectors
   Exercise 4: Basic Masking
   Exercise 5: Animated Masks
   Exercise 6: Breaking Apart Bitmaps
   Exercise 7: Stroking a Bitmap
   Exercise 8: Combining Bitmaps and Vectors
9. Buttons
   
   Button States
   Button Types
   Exercise 1: Rollover Buttons
   Exercise 2: Rollover Buttons with Text
   Exercise 3: Duplicating and Aligning Buttons
   Exercise 4: Adding Sound to Buttons
   Exercise 5: Invisible Buttons
10. Movie Clips
    What Is a Movie Clip?
    Exercise 1: Creating a Movie Clip
    Exercise 2: Animated Graphic Symbols Versus Movie Clip Symbols
    Exercise 3: Creating an Animated Rollover Button
    Exercise 4: Animated Rollover Button in Action
11. ActionScript Basics and Behaviors
    
    Where Do I Place ActionScript?
    The Actions Panel Defined
    The Behaviors Panel
    Exercise 1: Controlling the Timeline
    Interactivity and Actions: Events and Event Handlers
    Mouse Events
    Keyboard Events
    Movie Clip Events
    Timeline Events
    Exercise 2: Controlling Movie Clips
    What Is Dot Syntax?
    Exercise 3: The goto Action to Create a Slideshow
    Exercise 4: Go to Web Page Behavior
    What Are Scenes?
    Exercise 5: Targeting Scenes
    Exercise 6: Creating a Drop-Down Menu Using Frame Labels
    What Is loadMovieNum?
    Exercise 7: Loading Movies
12. Working with Text
    
    Text Field Types
    Text Field Boxes
    Creating, Modifying, and Formatting Text
    Text Options in the Properties Inspector
    Exercise 1: Working with Static Text and Device Fonts
    Exercise 2: Small Type and Alias Text
    Exercise 3: Loading a Text File into a Dynamic Text Field
    Exercise 4: Working with Dynamic Text and HTML
    Exercise 5: Scrollable Dynamic Text Fields
    Exercise 6: Dynamic Text and CSS
    Exercise 7: Working with Input Text
13. Sound
    
    
    Exercise 1: Importing Sounds
    Exercise 2: Compressing Sound
    Exercise 3: Creating Background Sound with Sound Effects
    Modifying Sound Settings
    Exercise 4: Controlling Sound with On/Off Buttons
    Exercise 5: Compression Settings for Narration
    Exercise 6: Synchronizing Sound to Narration Cues
    Exercise 7: Controlling Animation and Sound with Stop and Play Buttons
    Exercise 8: Creating a Simple Music Selector
14. Components and Forms
    
    What Are Components?
    Working with Components
    Exercise 1: Creating a Form
    Exercise 2: Configuring Components
    Exercise 3: Modifying Component Themes
    The Macromedia Flash Exchange
    Exercise 4: Downloading from Macromedia Exchange
15. Video
    
    Importing Video into Flash MX 2004
    Sorenson Spark Video Compression
    Flash MX Professional 2004 Video Features
    Exercise 1: Importing Video
    Compression Settings
    Exercise 2: Controlling Video with stop and go Actions
    Exercise 3: Controlling Video by Targeting Frame Labels
    Exercise 4: Linking to QuickTime Video
    The QuickTime Dialog Box
    Exercise 5: Editing Video
    The Customize Editing Screen in the Video Import Wizard
    What Is Sorenson Squeeze?
16. Publishing and Exporting
    
    
    What Types of Content Can Flash MX 2004 Publish?
    Exercise 1: Flash MX 2004 and HTML
    Exercise 2: Creating Projectors
    Exercise 3: Modifying Projectors with FSCommands
    To Publish or to Export?
    Exercise 4: Exporting Image Files
    More About the Publish Settings
    Flash Settings
    HTML Settings
    GIF Settings
    JPEG Settings
    PNG Settings
    Projector File Settings
    QuickTime Settings
    Saving Publishing Profiles
    Top Tips for Optimizing Movies
17. Putting It All Together
    
    Exercise 1: The Big Picture
    Exercise 2: Examining the Scenes
    Layer Management
    Exercise 3: Examining the Layers
    Library Organization
    Exercise 4: Investigating the Library
    Exercise 5: Using the Movie Explorer
    What Is a Preloader?
    Exercise 6: Building a Preloader
    Exercise 7: Printing from the Project File
    Layout Settings
    Exercise 8: Printing from the Macromedia Flash Player
    Exercise 9: Exporting the Scenes
    Exercise 10: Creating Draggable Movies
18. Integration
    
    Importing Vector Files
    Exercise 1: Bringing Editable Fireworks Content into Flash
    Exercise 2: Bringing Fireworks Flattened Content into Flash
    Exercise 3: Importing FreeHand Content as Keyframes
    Exercise 4: Importing FreeHand Content as Scenes
    Exercise 5: Dreamweaver and Flash MX 2004
    Exercise 6: Importing Illustrator Content as Keyframes
    Exercise 7: Importing Illustrator Content as Layers
    Exercise 8: Creating Accessible Content

1. Troubleshooting FAQ and Technical Support
   
2. Troubleshooting
   
3. Frequently Asked Questions
   
4. Technical Support
   
5. Flash MX 2004 Resources
   
   Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Application Development Center
   Macromedia Online Forums
   Macromedia Exchange for Flash
   Macromedia TechNotes
   Third-Party Web Sites
   Flashforward
   CD-ROMs from Lynda.com
   Online Training Movie Library from Lynda.com
   Books for Further Learning about Flash MX 2004

Index