Learning Flash 3

Download the Flash file below and open it in Flash. It shows several pages from an animated book, one page per timeline frame. Shrink the stage (using ctrl-minus/plus) then follow the instructions in blue writing on the 'help' layer. Use the < and > keys to move left or right along the timeline, frame by frame.

• Flash file - the Flash file, to edit the movie
• Shockwave file - a sample of the unfinished movie

Using actions & buttons to control the timeline

This movie does not 'play' in the usual sense, because there is a 'stop' instruction on frame 1 in the 'action' layer.

The 'arrows' layer contains two large forwards/backwards arrows. Double-click these buttons to see their button-timeline. Notice there are just four named frames:

• up (normal)
• over (when the mouse is hovering over the symbol)
• down (when the mouse button is held down)
• hit (the 'clickable' area of the button)

Let Maisy play!

Maisy starts at home, then goes to the playground where there are four pieces of equipment to play on. Drag a Maisy symbol onto each piece of equipment, starting with frame 'The slide'. You may need to use the Transform tool to rotate Maisy (click & drag just outside the transformation box)

Paint your playground

Finally, double-click the equipment symbols and use the ink bottle tool to 'paint' the equipment (check the line width is 5px).

Category: ICT

Author: Mr Kershaw