Flash - ActionScript - automatic help from flash tools

@ color codes:
+ words that have specific meanings in ActionScript, such as keywords and statements, appear in blue as you type them in the Actions panel.
+words that are not reserved in ActionScript, such as variable names, are in black.
+Strings appear in green.
+Comments (which are ignored by ActionScript), appear in gray.

@click the "check syntax icon" to make the tool check the syntax of your script

@click the "auto format icon" to format the script according to conventions, so that your script will be easier to read

**reference: "flash cs5 classroom in a book"

Flash - ActionScript - Syntax

scripting syntax

* the dot operator (.) provides a way to access the properties and methods of an object. Type the instance name, followed by a dot, and then the name of the property or method. Think of the dot as a way to separate objects, methods and properties.

* whenever you are entering a string or the name of a file, use quotation marks

--reference: "adobe cs5 flash classroom in a book"

Flash - ActionScript

Adobe Flash CS5 uses Action Script 3.0, which is a robust scripting language, that can be used to extend the functionality of Flash.

ActionScript, which is similar to JavaScript, allows you to add more interactivity to Flash animations.

You can use ActionScript to attach behaviors to buttons.

You can also use ActionScript to perform simple tasks like stopping an animation..


**reference: "Adobe Flash CS5 Classroom in a Book"

Flash - Naming Instances

Naming instances is a critical step in creating interactive Flash projects.

Naming Rules:
1. Do not use spaces or special punctuation. Underscores are OK.
2. Do not begin a name with a number.
3. Do not use any word that is reserved for a flash actionScript command.

reference: "Classroom in a Book".

Flash - four states of a button English/中文

  Up       Over      Down          Hit

一般      滑入       按下       感应区

Flash - Notes - Chap.6 Classroom in a book

In Flash, you use ActionScript to achieve most interactivity.

ActionScript provides the instructions that tell each button what to do when a user click on one of them.

In chapter6, you will learn to create a "non-linear navigation", where a movie does not neccessarily have to directly play from beginning to end.--> Action script can tell the Flash playhead to jump around and go to different frames of the Timeline based on which button the user clicks. Different frames on the timeline contain different content. The user doesnt actually know that the playhead is jumping around the tmeline: the user just sees (or hears) different content appear as the buttons are clicked on the Stage.

.....excerpted from "Classroom in a Book", Chapter6

Photoshop - 2010 Oct 23

1. Task #1 - Pasting a copied background behind a frontal picture

open a jpeg landscape picture (to be used for the background)

go to 'select' -> 'all'

then go to the file with the frontal picture

'Edit' -> 'paste special' -> 'paste into'

This way the background will be pasted behind the family. If you just did a regular 'paste', the family and everything else would be blocked.


2. Task #2 - Make text display according to an arbitrarily defined path

'file' -> 'new'

'Freeform Pen Tool' -> go the the canvas and draw the path you want

'Horizontal type (text) tool' -> click somewhere on the path -> type the text you want

*I ran into a problem doing the above initially, some people can click on the left end of the path and be able to type throughout the entire path; when I did that, photoshop would restrict my text to a certain length, I had to click at the center of my path to be allowed to enter text into the entire length of the path.

3. Task #3 - Reflections - Today's Handout Details Steps and Concepts on This

'Edit' -> 'Transform' -> 'Flip Vertical' -> then drag to the correct reflection location

for the reflections: 'Opacity = 50%'

first do the reflection for the clouds

then do the reflection for the woman

then do the reflection for the frame

*in the case of the frame, since it has a sense of depth, just doing a vertical flip will not be enough, you will need to do:  'Edit' -> 'Transform' -> 'Skew" on the frame reflection, and then drag one edge of the reflection closer to the edge of the original frame

4. Task #4 - Layer Mask - Make the Woman Look Like She is Walking Out from the Frame

Click on the Layer the Woman is on -> click the 'add layer mask' button at the bottom of the layer panel (looks exactly like the 'quick mask' tool button in the tool panel, except here it has a different functionality)

Then click on the extra mask icon thumbnail that appears in the original layer thumbnail in the layer panel -> then use black to mask out (white to remove mask) , and mask out the portion of the womans leg that should be blocked by the frame when she is walking through it.