Flash CS3 Complete- top

What you will learn

• The ins and outs of the Flash CS3 interface
  
• How to use all of Flash CS3's essential features, such as text, graphics, and animation
  
• How to use video and sound effectively in Flash
  
• The basics of ActionScript 3.0
  
• Building Flash user interfaces rapidly using components
  
• How to populate a Flash movie with dynamic data such as XML.
  
• The Basics of creating Flash Lite applications (Flash for mobile devices)
  
• Using Cascading Style Sheets with Flash
  
• Optimizing and publishing your Flash movies

• The Start Page and Creating a Flash Document
  
• Managing Workspace
  
• Setting Document Preferences and Properties
  
• Exploring the Panels in the Flash Interface
  
• Using Layers
  
• Creating a basic Flash Movie

• The Tools Panel
  
• Drawing in Flash CS3
  
• Working with Color in Flash
  
• Using Bitmap Graphics in Flash
  
• Practice: Creating a Banner in Flash

Lesson 3: Symbols and Libraries

• Understanding Symbols
  
• 9-Slice Scaling
  
• Sharing Symbols
  
• Filters and Blend Modes
  
• Managing Content on the Stage
  
• Mask and Masking
  
• Practice: Creating a Mask

Lesson 4: ActionScript Basics

• Using the Text tool
  
• What ActionScrip Is
  
• The Actions Panel
  
• Object Oriented Concepts
  
• Syntax
  
• Practice: Using ActionScript
  Lesson 5: Audio in Flash CS3
• Flash and Audio Formats
  
• Adding to Audio in Flash
  
• Using Audio in Flash
  
• Practice: Adding Sound to a Button
  
• Controlling Audio with ActionScript
  
• Practice: Building an MP3 Player

Lesson 6: Text in Flash CS3

• Fonts and Typefaces
  
• Working with Device Fonts in Flash CS3
  
• Types of Text Fields
  
• HTML Formatting
  
• Hyperlinks and Flash Text
  
• Embedding Font Outlines
  
• Check Spelling
  
• Practice: Working with Text

Lesson 7: Animation in Flash CS3

• Shape Tweening
  
• Motion Tweening
  
• Using Animation
  
• Practice: Making an Animated Button

Lesson 8: Video in Flash

• Video on the Web
  
• Encoding a Flash FLV Video
  
• Playing an FLV in Flash CS3

Lesson 9: Using the Flash Components UI Components to Build Interfaces

• The Button Component
  
• Changing How the Button Looks
  
• Checkbox Component
  
• The Color Picker Component
  
• The ComboBox Component
  
• The DataGrid Component
  
• The Label Component
  
• The List Component
  
• The NumericStepper Component
  
• The ProgressBar Component
  
• The RadioButton Component
  
• The ScrollPane Component
  
• The Slider Component
  
• The TextInput Component
  
• The TextArea Component
  
• The TileList Component
  
• The UILoader Component
  
• The UIScroller Component

Lesson 10: CSS and Flash

• Flash CS3 and CSS
  
• Loading External CSS

Lesson 11: Dynamic XML Data and Flash

• What is XML
  
• Loading an XML File
• E4X Standard
  
• Practice: Building a Slide Show with XML

Lesson 12: Going Mobile with Flash CS3

• Flash and Devices
  
• Device Central (Internet connection Required)
  
• Constructing a Mobile Application
  
• Wiring it Up with ActionScript

• Preparing for the Internet
  
• Streaming
  
• The Bandwidth Profiler
  
• Optimizing and Fine-Tuning Flash Movies
  
• Practice: Creating a Preloader

Lesson 14: Publishing a Flash Movie

• Web Formats
  
• Practice: Flash Movies and Linked Files
   

Flash CS3 ActionScript - top

Description

Adobe Flash: ActionScript provides experienced Flash designers with the knowledge and hands-on practice they need to create dynamically generated event-driven animation and interactive games with Flash. The course teaches fundamental programming techniques. It begins by introducing core concepts including instance names, variables, functions, properties, and methods; then proceeds through conditions, loops, event handling, and animating with ActionScript. 

Audience
The desire to learn how to program Flash content using ActionScript.

Course Outline

Unit 1:  Introducing the Course

• Understanding the course format
• Reviewing the course objectives and prerequisites
• Looking at the course outline

Unit 2: Controlling Visual Objects with ActionScript

• Using the Actions and Help panels
• Declaring variables and their data types
• Using the trace() function
• Using code hinting
• Assigning instance names and using them to assign runtime property values
• Using the with operator
• Introducing core properties of visual built-in classes: MovieClip, Button, and TextField
• Controlling Button and MovieClip position and visual state
• Controlling TextField content
• Introducing core properties of non-visual built-in classes: Math
• Using mathematical operators
• Understanding data type conversion

Unit 3: Using and Writing Functions

• Working with Flash Player global functions
• Converting values returned from functions and assigning them for display
• Writing user defined functions
• Returning, or not returning, data from a function
• Understanding variable scope
• Adding code within a MovieClip symbol's own timeline
• Introducing the this operator
• Understanding object methods
• Introducing core methods of visual built-in classes: MovieClip and TextField
• Controlling the MovieClip playhead within its timeline
• Loading external MovieClip content
• Understanding cross-domain security issues
• Exporting and attaching MovieClip symbol instances at runtime
• Writing and using user defined functions to create visual content
• Understanding depth
• Dynamically referring to instance names and property names at runtime

Unit 4: Using Text, Dates, Math, and Paths

• Controlling TextField formatting through code
• Creating and formatting TextFields at runtime
• Using Date objects
• Working with String concatenation
• Generating random numbers and integers using the Math class
• Understanding relative path names
• Controlling nested MovieClip objects

Unit 5: Understanding and Handling Events

• Understanding event driven programming
• Working with event handler syntax
• Moving from symbol-based to timeline-based event handling
• Introducing core events of visual built-in classes: Button, MovieClip, and TextField
• Controlling the playhead within an event handler
• Understanding the this keyword inside an event handler
• Creating rollover effects
• Responding to TextField focus events
• Calling a single function from multiple event handlers
• Referring to a parent object from within an event handler

Unit 6: Managing Color, Sound, and Data with Built-In Classes

• Understanding complex (aggregate) variables
• Working with Arrays
• Working with generic Objects
• Transforming MovieClip objects using Transform and ColorTransform objects
• Generating random color transformations
• Using Sound objects
• Creating audio feedback with event-driven sounds linked from the Library

Unit 7: Making Decisions and Repeating Yourself

• Understanding looped code
• Using loops and arrays to attach, name, and control MovieClip objects
• Using loops to create, name, and control TextFields to display data object values
• Understanding conditional code execution
• Surveying the comparison and logical operators
• Using if/else comparison to toggle MovieClip visual states

Unit 8: Animating with ActionScript

• Dragging and dropping a MovieClip object
• Testing for collision between MovieClip objects
• Initializing attached MovieClip objects
• Using the onEnterFrame event handler
• Controlling visual change rate
• Testing and responding to position at runtime

Description

Audience

Course Outline

Unit 1: Introducing the Course

• Introducing the course
• Understanding the course format
• Discussing the course objectives
• Reviewing the course prerequisites
• Reviewing the course outline

Unit 2: Architecting a Flash Application

• Architecting with layers
• Architecting with Movie Clips
• Placing code in external ActionScript files
• Introducing object oriented programming concepts
• Working with Flash classes
• Writing methods, functions and event handlers
• Referencing dynamic variables using bracket notation
• Extending the Movie Clip class
• Detecting Movie Clip interactions with hitTest()

Unit 3: Working with Graphics

• Learning about Flash drawing models
• Using filters
• Using blends
• Creating filters and blends with ActionScript
• Introducing bitmap caching

Unit 4: Importing XML Data

• Learning about XML
• Using XML in Flash
• Accessing XML data
• Looping through XML data

Unit 5: Working with Text

• Implementing advanced anti-alias rendering
• Introducing the TextFormat class
• Formatting text with cascading style sheets
• Resizing text fields

Unit 6: Implementing Advanced Graphic Loading

• Creating reusable instance-based code
• Loading external media with MovieClipLoader
• Creating instances of the Flash Object class
• Introducing listeners and event handlers
• Understanding the MovieClipLoader event handlers
• Using createEmptyMovieClip() and getNextHighestDepth()
• Attaching Movie Clips
• Positioning visual elements dynamically
• Understanding swapping depths

Unit 7: Reviewing Animation Basics with ActionScript

• Creating Timeline-based custom easing
• Animating with ActionScript
• Interacting with the mouse location
• Adding easing via ActionScript
• Creating a mask with ActionScript

Unit 8: Learning Advanced Animation with ActionScript

• Introducing the Tween class
• Handling Tween class events
• Introducing the Transition classes
• Using Delegate to create a component listener

Unit 9: Styling and Skinning Components

• Styling components
• Skinning components with themes
• Skinning components manually

Unit 1: Introducing the Course

• Getting familiar with the course methodology and format
• Understanding the course objectives
• Understanding the course prerequisites
• Viewing the course outline

Unit 2: Introducing Flash Video

• Defining streaming
• Defining digital video
• Understanding key Flash Video concepts
• Looking at the evolution of Flash Video
• Viewing Flash Video market adoption statistics
• Examining the streaming video market
• Identifying key benefits of Flash Video over traditional media
• Introducing the Flash Media Server for streaming video

Unit 3: Building a Component Based Media Player

• Understanding the Flash Video development workflow
• Using the Insert Flash Video command in Flash CS3
• Building a media player with the FLVPlayback component
• Building a media player with FLVPlayback Custom UI components
• Binding playback properties and components
• Building a playlist and video picker
• Skinning FLVPlayback Custom UI components

Unit 4:  Encoding Flash Video

• Understanding Flash Video (FLV)
• Introducing CODECs and video encoding
• Converting to FLV using the Flash CS3 Video Encoder
• Understanding bandwidth and data rate
• Using advanced encoding settings
• Adding cue points, cropping, and trimming
• Using encoding best practices

Unit 5:  Delivering Flash Video

• Understanding video delivery options
• Comparing embedded vs. progressive download
• Streaming Flash Video
• Using Adobe Flash Video Streaming Services
• Using the Flash Media Server
• Tracking FLV Playback

Unit 6:  Reviewing ActionScript

• Reviewing ActionScript basics
• Using Media Component properties
• Using Media Component methods
• Handling Media Component events
• Using ActionScript to control the Media Components

Unit 7:  Building a Custom Media Player

• Understanding the process for building a custom media player
• Learning the ActionScript required for streaming
• Creating a connection to the server
• Controlling and managing streams
• Introducing and using the embedded Video object
• Adding video playback filters
• Using the Sound class to manage audio
• Listening and responding to stream events

Unit 8:  Adding Flash Video Effects

• Understanding filters, blends, and masks
• Masking the FLVPlayback component
• Importing alpha channels with video
• Creating a Flash movie that uses video with alpha channels
• Understanding differences between author-time and run-time effects
• Embedding the FLVPlayback component inside a MovieClip
• Using blend modes
• Using ActionScript to apply filters

Unit 9:  Enhancing the User Experience

• Understanding the importance of the user experience
• Creating auto detection for bandwidth, Flash Player version, and connection speed
• Creating playback controls
• Using full screen playback
• Creating error handling

Unit 10:  Working with Cue Points and User Accessibility

• Introducing embedded cue points
• Understanding accessibility issues for video playback
• Manipulating cue points with ActionScript
• Adding closed captioning
• Controlling video with keyboard commands

Unit 11:  Using Live Video

• Introducing live video
• Using the live video encoder
• Setting the live encoder
• Recording a live stream
• Playing a live stream
• Creating bandwidth strategies