Since the release of Flash CS3, a new feature called QuickTime export was introduced.  QuickTime export allows you to export Actionscript driven or timeline animations into a QuickTime movie file.  One key advantage of exporting Flash as a QuickTime movie is the ability to playback your heavy animations as fluid as possible with no skipped frames.  

Lee Brimelow walks you through the process of exporting ActionScript-based animations into a QuickTime movie and then compositing it within After Effects.  In the process of demonstrating this feature, Lee also gives some additional advice with ActionScript-based animations.

What is Flash in a Flash?

“Flash in a flash” is a series of training videos that John Schuman of Adobe designed to get you going with Adobe Flash CS3—in a flash.   This series of training video takes you through the creation of a Flash project as you learn the fundamentals of working with Flash including working with symbols, creating and controlling animations, adding audio, creating buttons, and video.

How can I access these training videos?

John Schuman’s series, Flash in a Flash, can be found at Adobe Tv or as a channel that can be subscribed via the Adobe AIR application, Adobe Media Player.

As you can see these videos are intending for beginners looking to get into Flash CS3 or simply need a rundown of Flash CS3’s capabilities. Take a look at the following training videos below to see if any fit what you are expecting to learn from Flash CS3.

Episode 1: Fundamentals of Flash CS3

John Schuman introduces the fundamentals of Flash CS3 such as creating symbols, drawing tips and tricks and more.  John will also introduce introduce the virtual hero of the series, Victor Vector.

Episode 2: Creating Animations

In this episode you will explore the fundamentals of animation and some of the various animation techniques like keyframing and motion tweening and how to use ease in/ease out control.

Episode 3: Integrating Sound within Animations

Continuing with the Victor Vector project, putting the various animation and graphical components together and introducing sound.  You’ll also learn how to use MovieClip filters, blends, and alter the speed of a motion tween.

Episode 4: Introduction to Flash Video

An introduction to Flash video, in you will learn how to add video to your Flash project, how to create cue points and closed captioning for accessibility, fullscreen viewing, and more.

Episode 5: Basic Interactivity and ActionScript 3.0

An introduction to basic interactivity and ActionScript 3.0.  Learn how to create a simple UI slider, component, invisible buttons, and add basic interactivity in Flash CS3.

Episode 6: Publishing Your Project

This episode will the various publishing options in Flash CS3 including the latest plug-in for Adobe AIR.

Additional Resources:

• Download the sample file to the series
• Check out more of the videos available on Adobe TV

Introduction to AMFPHP 1

Introduction to AMFPHP 1: Part 1 of a 2 Part Series

Lee breaks down how to install AMFPHP and create a simple service that sends email.  This video does a nice job setting you up to learn AMFPHP by giving a run down of what AMFPHP is and what it can do.

Introduction to AMFPHP 2

Introduction to AMFPHP 2: Part 2 of a 2 Part Series

In this tutorial Lee will show you how to directly return database records to Flash using AMFPHP.

This tutorial by Flash Farmer covers how to create a dynamic Flash XML navigation menu using Actionscript 2.0 and XML. Each button has a roll over and roll out animation. Control the clickthroughs, button titles and the total number of buttons with the external XML file. Once the Flash file is created you can update the menu just by editing the XML file.

This file consists of a nice structure and code is well commented.  Also, files to be downloaded comes along with full offline documentation.

Example of final product:

This tutorial is great for beginner Flash animators. It covers everything from how to know what sounds go with what mouth movements to animating the mouth movements to fit with an audio clip.  Lip-syncing is huge for successful Flash animations and the technique used within this tutorial is probably the easiest and most effective way known to handle lip-syncing.

In a matter of 10 simple steps, Flash Farmer will get you on your away to becoming a better Flash animator.  Enjoy!

Check out the tutorial: Create A Realistic Flash Animation Lip-Sync

Example of final product:
]]> http://flashspeaksactionscript.com/create-a-realistic-flash-animation-lip-sync/feed/ http://flashspeaksactionscript.com/create-a-sleek-news-slider-with-as3/ http://flashspeaksactionscript.com/create-a-sleek-news-slider-with-as3/#comments Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:00:35 +0000 Angel http://flashspeaksactionscript.com/?p=589 Flash news slider using AS3 functionality and XML for fetching the data.  The main purpose of this Flash news slider is to show news on the front page with a title, an image, some descriptive text, and a link to the full article.]]>

This is a very sleek Flash news slider using AS3 functionality and XML for fetching the data.

The main purpose of this Flash news slider is to show news on the front page with a title, an image, some descriptive text, and a link to the full article.

Also, the content being loaded is html formatted which allows for flexible customizations. You can find the steps for creating this Flash news slider along with the source files.

Other Available Resources:

Via faustocarrera.com
Demo

Developer and trainer Dan Carr explains and demonstrates the basics of creating the basics of creating an ActionScript 3.0 class.

The idea of this video is meant to get rid of the butterflies a Flash user might have when they hear the word external class.  Though the example is simple, hopefully the concept of an external class will stick.  Enjoy!

Check out the video!

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a timer in Adobe Flash that will count down the time to a given date in days, hours, minutes, and seconds. If you were looking for a great Flash tool for counting down holidays, birthdays, etc, this is the tutorial for you.
Also, this Flash countdown timer tutorial allows you to preset any day of your choice with in AS2 and AS3. Have fun!

Create the Flash Countdown Timer in AS3

This tutorial will cover the basics of using the Date() class and the Timer() class in ActionScript 3.0.

Step 1: Create a dynamic text field

Step 2: Embed the font characters in your Flash file that are needed so your users don’t end up viewing your font all weird. In this case, you simply might only need to embed numbers and symbols.

Step 3: Create a new layer named “actions” and insert the following code in the first keyframe.

Source file: countdown.fla
Source: Craig Campbell’s Tutorial:Creating a Timer in ActionScript 3

//Create your Date() object
var endDate:Date = new Date(2008,7,20);
//Create your Timer object
//The time being set with milliseconds(1000 milliseconds = 1 second)
var countdownTimer:Timer = new Timer(1000);
//Adding an event listener to the timer object
countdownTimer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, updateTime);
//Initializing timer object
countdownTimer.start();
//Calculate the time remaining as it is being updated
function updateTime(e:TimerEvent):void
{
	//Current time
	var now:Date = new Date();
	var timeLeft:Number = endDate.getTime() - now.getTime();
	//Converting the remaining time into seconds, minutes, hours, and days
	var seconds:Number = Math.floor(timeLeft / 1000);
	var minutes:Number = Math.floor(seconds / 60);
	var hours:Number = Math.floor(minutes / 60);
	var days:Number = Math.floor(hours / 24);
 
	//Storing the remainder of this division problem
	seconds %= 60;
	minutes %= 60;
	hours %= 24;
 
	//Converting numerical values into strings so that
	//we string all of these numbers together for the display
	var sec:String = seconds.toString();
	var min:String = minutes.toString();
	var hrs:String = hours.toString();
	var d:String = days.toString();
 
	//Setting up a few restrictions for when the current time reaches a single digit
	if (sec.length < 2) {
		sec = "0" + sec;
	}
 
	if (min.length < 2) {
		min = "0" + min;
	}
 
	if (hrs.length < 2) {
		hrs = "0" + hrs;
	}
 
	//Stringing all of the numbers together for the display
	var time:String = d + ":" + hrs + ":" + min + ":" + sec;
	//Setting the string to the display
	time_txt.text = time;
}

Create the Flash Countdown Timer in AS2

This video tutorial will go over the basics on constructing a Flash countdown timer within Actionscript 2.0.

Step 1: Create a dynamic text field with the string value of “00:00:00:00″. Note:this is simply to get the text field to the size needed for the dynamic content.

Step 2: Delete the string value of text field and name the text field “time_txt”.

Step 3: Create a new layer named “actions” and insert the following code in the first keyframe:

Source File: countDownTimer.fla

//onEnterFrame allows for a function to be called every tickthis.onEnterFrame = function(){
 
//Stores the current date
 
var today:Date = new Date();
 
//Stores the Current Year
 
var currentYear = today.getFullYear();
 
//Stores the Current Time
 
var currentTime = today.getTime();
 
//Creates and stores the target date
 
var targetDate:Date = new Date(currentYear,11,25);
 
var targetTime = targetDate.getTime();
 
//Determines how much time is left.  Note: Leaves time in milliseconds
 
var timeLeft = targetTime - currentTime;
 
var sec = Math.floor(timeLeft/1000);
 
var min = Math.floor(sec/60);
 
var hours = Math.floor(min/60);
 
var days = Math.floor(hours/24);
 
//Takes results of var remaining value.Also converts "sec" into a string
 
sec = String(sec % 60);
 
/*
 
Once a string, you can check the values length
 
and see whether it has been reduced below 2.
 
If so, add a "0" for visual purposes.
 
*/
 
if(sec.length < 2){
 
sec = "0" + sec;
 
}
 
min = String(min % 60);
 
if(min.length < 2){
 
min = "0" + min;
 
}
 
hours = String(hours % 24);
 
if(hours.length < 2){
 
hours = "0" + hours;
 
}
 
days = String(days);
 
//Joins all values into one string value
 
var counter:String = days + ":" + hours + ":" + min + ":" + sec;
 
time_txt.text = counter;
 
}

If you wanted to create a link to another website in Actionscript 2.0, here’s what it would have looked like:

The command getURL used to a be very easy way to create an outbound link within Flash. This one line of code code easily fitted perfectly within a button onRelease event. Not so easy anymore.

Along with many other easy Actionscript 2.0 calls, getUrl has changed. It uses a couple more lines of code and has changed to navigateToURL. You might be asking why would the amount of lines increase for such a simple task. Craig Campbell just recently posted an in depth example and explanation to creating outbound links within Actionscript 3.0.

Source: School of Flash

Drag and drop is a functionality that many Flash users, beginners and advanced, will learn to appreciate. Greg Lunn has created a perfect tutorial on how to take what you know already with drag and drop and apply it within Actionscript 3.0. See it for yourself.

Example .swf of Greg Lunn’s Tutorial