Flash Interface

The Flash Interface

Before you can begin to create interactive animations in Flash you need to become familiar with the working environment.

Step 1:
Open Flash MX

The document window you will see contains six major elements: the Timeline; the Stage; the Work Area; the Information Bar; the Toolbox; and the Panels

The Timeline

The Timeline controls and shows all of the elements of your project over time. It uses Frames and Layers to organize your work.
The Playhead tells you which frame is currently displayed on the Stage
Layer controls allows you to control your layers. You will learn about layers in more detail later in this tutorial
Status Bar gives you information about the current frame, the number of frames per second (fps) and the elapsed time of your movie
The Frame View is a drop down menu that lets you control the appearance of the Timeline.

Layers allow you to organize your work.

Layer name - the default is Layer 1, Layer 2 etc
Insert layer - click to add a new layer
Add motion guide - by clicking this you add a guide layer on top of your current one
Insert Layer Folder - this adds a folder that can store other layers, this is useful in complicated projects to help organize your work
Delete Layer - to remove a layer, drag it to the trash
Show/Hide all layers - can hide a layer while you are working
Lock/unlock all Layers - by clicking this it's impossible to edit a layer
Outline view - displays solid shapes as outlines with no fill

Layer Controls

The Information Bar

The purpose of the Information Bar is to give you quick visual feedback about where you are in your movie.

Current Scene - displays the name of the scene currently open on the Stage
Edit Scene Menu - is a drop down menu that shows all the scenes in your project file
Edit Symbol Menu - again is a drop down menu. This shows all the symbols in your project
Zoom - a drop down menu that allows you to zoom in or out of the contents of your stage

Panels are windows that contain the tools and information you will need to work on your project files. Each of the panels is used to view and change things in your work.

This tutorial will introduce you to some of the basic features of the panels, but detailed information will be presented throughout the semester as you progress through all the tutorials in learning Flash MX basics.

Panels can be arranged in defined Panel Sets. The default set includes: Color Mixer; Color Swatches; Components; and Answers

Color Mixer

The Color Mixer allows you to create new colors in either: RGB; HSB; or HEX

Color Swatches

Color Swatches are the 216 Web safe colors

Components

Components gives you access to the user interface components

Answers
Answers

Answers provides you help in learning Flash MX. It contains links to Macromedia's website for updated information

The Window Menu

Scene Scene displays a list of all the scenes in your movie. You can add, delete, duplicate, name, or rename scenes in this panel	Transform The Transform panel allows you to rotate, scale and skew an object numerically	Align The Align panel allows you to align objects
Info The Info panel gives you numerical information about the size, position and color of the selected object.	Accessibility Accessibility gives you some options to make your movie accessible to the disabled. This is extremely important for professionals having to meet EU guidelines	Library The Library is a location for you to store symbols, imported artwork, sound files and video files.
Common Library Buttons	Common Library Learning Interactions	Common Library Sounds
Common Libaries exist for some basic buttons, interactions, and sounds.

Movie Explorer

Movie Explorer shows the contents of your movie in a hierarchical tree

Output
Output

Output gives you assistance during troubleshooting by giving you feedback

Debugger
Degugger

The Debugger gives you a way to check your movie for errors while it's playing in the Flash Player

Actions	The Actions Panel allows you to add and change actions for a frame, button or movie clip
Reference	The Reference Panel shows you detailed information about ActionScripting use and syntax

Property Inspector

The Property Inspector displays and allows changing of all the commonly used attributes of the currently selection in one panel. This saves you time, in that you don't have to open multiple panels to make a change

All panels can be Expanded, Collapsed, Hidden, Closed or Resized