Using Onion Skin Tool

Hello,
So today I will be teching you about how to use onion skin tool.Onion Skinning allows you to see a faint ghost image of the previous framee so you can see where you want to place the artwork for the next frame.This feature lets you to edit one keyframe while viewing as many frames before or after the current frame as you want.
Creating an Animation by using Onion Skin
Step 1:Start a New File and set Frame view to large.
Step 2:Turn on Onion Skin.Notice that the Start and End Onion Skin makers.


Step 3: Draw a Stick man which is shown below.
Step 4: In frame 2, Select Insert -->Keyframe,this will copy what was in the previous frame and paste in into the new keyframe.


Step 5: While editing frame 2,drag the end of one leg to move it to a different angle.This time,the position of the leg from frame 1 is visible but we can edit the contents of frame2.
Step 6: In frame 3,insert another keyframe. When you move the leg ,you can judge how much leg to the moved,based on the position of the leg in frame 2.
Step 7:Continue to insert keyframes one at a time. Make change in each new frame , then select Insert --> Keyframe again.
Step 8: When you have several frames, you can experiment with changing the both Start and End Onion Skin markers. By default, the markers are set to Onion 2 , meaning you can see two frames ahead and two behind.
So I hope you got to know how use Onion Skinning in Flash.If you have any problems in onion skinning you can leave a comment or e-mail me at ranibhardwaj31@gmail.com.
Thanks for reading.

Knowing Symbols and Instances

Hello,
One of the great things about Flash is that it allows you to create a graphic once use it over and over again.This allows your Flash animation to download faster.
Now many of you must be thinking that what are symbols.Symbols are reusable elements and can be put in the library.In order to animate something in Flash it must be first changed into a Symbol.So the next question arises what are instances.When we place a symbol on the stage from the library it is called an instance of that symbol.
Creating Symbols.
Aim:Draw a fish.Converting a fish into a symbol and place in the library.
Step1:Select the fish by pressing Ctrl+A.
Step2:Group it by pressing Ctrl+G
Step3:Select Insert -->Convert to Symbols or Press F8
Symbol Properties dialog box will appear:
By default the behavior is on 'Movie Clip'.It is right option because some time we are not sure which behavior is the best.Button behavior is selected when we are creating action buttons.Graphics behavior is used for synchronization applications.
Step4:Name you symbol 'Fish',click that it's a Graphic and pick a registration point.
What is a Registration Point??
This is the point that you would use as the 'center' if you want to rotate the Symbol.
Step5:Click OK
Step6:Press CTRL+L to open the library window and notice one symbol 'FISH' in the library.
Step7:Delete the fish from the stag and drag it from the library for the use.
Try This!!
Draw an airplane in Macromedia Flash and convert it into a symbol.
Hope you will try this and if you are not able to do this excercise you can leave a comment or e mail me at ranibhardwaj31@gmail.com and ask your queries.I will surly repay them.Thanks for reading

Understanding Animations in Flash

Hello,
Today I will be telling you about Animations in Flash.Now many of you must be thinking that what is animation and what does it mean.Animation is made from individual images.It is a collection of still images,but motion is created with the help of animations.When we watching any action of an object,at the time of blinking of our eyes,our brain covers the fact that we have missed part of the action.But actually the black moments are so short makes us think that we are watching the full motion.
Components Of Animation.

Keyframe:Keyframes define the moment in the timeline where actions or animations occur.
Playhead:The playhead shows the current frame that we are viewing in the timeline.
Blank Keyframe:A blank keyframe is an empty location on the timeline which is ready to have the contents placed.
Frame View:The Frame View allows you to change how the timeline is displayed.

Layers:Layers organize your work from back to front on the stage so that one object can move in front of other one.
Current Frame:This displays the current position of the playhead.
Frame Rate:This shows the number of frames per second (fps) our animation will play in the browser.
Elapsed Time:Shows the time elapsed from Frame 1 to our current position at the selected fps.
Flash Movies can refer to three different kinds of files:
Mymovie.fla File type:Project
This always has an extension of .fla and is the master authoring file used to edit contents.
Mymovie.swf File type:Movie
This always has an extension of .swf and is the only kind of file you will upload to the Internet.It is a compiled version of your project.
Mymovie.exe File type:Windows projector A stand alone projector file for viewing on a windows computer.
What to know more about flash??Have a look at my upcoming blogs about flash.Till then take care and thanks for reading.

Drawing and Coloring Tools in Flash

Hello,
So how have you been??Today I will be telling you about how to use the drawing and coloring Tools in Flash.Flash hs its own set of tools.Most of these would be familiar if you've worked on Ms-Paint or any other paint program.Flash produces images that are Vector based,some of the functions will be different.Different types of tools in flash are-:

The Arrow Tool:Helps to select a object easily.
The Line Tool:Creates straight lines.If you hold down the Shift Key you will get lines that are at a 45 degree angle.
The Lasso Tool:Allows us to select an object or a piece of an object by clicking and dragging around it.
The Pen Tool:Creates a straight or a curved line.
The Text Tool:Allows you to add text fields to your movie.
The Oval Tool:Creates circles and ovals.If you hold down the Shift Key then you will get a perfect Circle or Oval.
The Rectangle Tool:Creates squares and Rectangles.If you hold down the shift key you will get a perfect squre or rectangle.
The Pencil Tool:Draws lines in three different modes:straighten,smooth & ink.If we hold down the Shift Key you can create perfect horizontal and verticle lines.
The Brush Tool:Creates shapes with fills only.
The Free Transform Tool:Allows you to modify objects.With the tool you can scale,rotate,flip & skew the object.
The Fill Transform Tool:Allows you to change the size,direction or center of a gradient or bitmap fill.
The Ink Bottle Tool:Can be used to change the colour or width of a line or to add a stroke to a shape.It will not change the fill of a shape.
The Paint Bucket Tool:Adds a fill inside the shape or changes the color of a fill.
The Eyedropper Tool:This tool is used to copy the fill or stroke attributes ofan object and apply it to another object.
The Eraser Tool:This tool is used to remove unwanted areas on the Stage.
Hope this information helps you while you are working on Flash.I shall surly tell you more about Flash and how to use these tools to make animated movies.Till then take care.

Basic Of Flash

Hello,
Today I will be telling you about flash.Flash is one of the important elements for making a website look good.Now you must be thinking that what is flash.Let me tell you that flash is a technology that allows web designers to create animations and interractive movies,which can then be embedded into their web pages.HTML is ideal for creating web sites where text and images are placed at fixed portion.But it doesn't really support dynamic sites,where text,images and animations are moving around the screen.
Advantages of Flash.
* Flash is useful for vector graphics.
* Flash movies can be stored in very small file size,Therefore they can download and start playing rapidly.
Types of files that flash uses.
There are three important file types need to understand in flash:
Source Files (.fla):This is the source Flash movie that we save while working.This file has an extension .fla.It means any file with .fla extension can be opened and edited.
Exported files (.swf):This is a Flash Player file.When we finish with editing of our source file and are ready to distribute,we simply export an .swf file 'Flash Player File'.This file can be viewed on any Internet Browser with Flash Player plug in.The viewer can only watch it but is not allowed to edit it.
HTML files (.htm):HTML files in Flash contains all the details about pictures that are supposed to be seen on the web page as image file name,location address etc.
Today I will be telling you this much only and shall be updating you about the advanced flash in my upcoming blogs so keep waiting.If you have any inqures you can leave a comment or e mail me at ranibhardwaj31@gmail.com.
Thanks for reading