How to Design a Portfolio in Flash
You can use Adobe Flash to display your best artwork or photographs in an online presentation of your portfolio. Flash includes many different tools for doing this, but if you are relatively new to Flash, a basic slideshow presentation may be the best way to start. You can design your presentation to scroll through the images automatically or add navigation buttons to allow visitors to go forward or backward at their convenience. Make a note of the background color on your Web pages if you want the background of the Flash presentation to match it.
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Instructions
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Setting the Stage
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Launch Adobe Flash and create a new file by pressing "Ctrl-N" simultaneously on the keyboard.
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2
Decide on a size for your Flash portfolio and type the size in pixels in the "Height" and "Width" fields in the "Properties" panel. (If you can't see a panel, you can locate any panel by selecting it from the Windows menu.)
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3
Click the "Tools" tab at the top of the screen and click the "Rectangle Tool." Click the "Fill Color" swatch and select a color from the palette that will go well with your website color scheme. Drag the "Rectangle Tool" over the stage to fill the stage with color.
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4
Click the "Text Tool." The Character panel becomes visible. Select a "Size" and "Font" from the Character panel, then select a "Text Color" that will be visible over the background color. Drag the tool across the top or bottom of canvas to make a text box. Enter any text you desire for your Flash portfolio.
Inserting Images
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5
Click the "File" menu, select "Import," then "Import to Stage." Navigate to an image for the first frame of your portfolio and click "Import." Drag the image to the center of the stage, leaving room for the text.
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6
Click the "Timeline" tab to make the timeline visible. Note that there is only one keyframe. Click the "Insert" menu, select "Timeline," then click "Keyframe," to add a second keyframe. Repeat Step One to add a new image to the stage for the second keyframe.
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7
Continue adding additional keyframes and place images in the stage for each keyframe until you have all of your images placed.
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8
Create a looping presentation by clicking the number beside "FPS" at the bottom of the Timeline. Type "0.33" in this text field to have each image displayed for three seconds. Skip this step if you want the viewer to navigate manually through the images and proceed to the Navigation Buttons Section.
Navigation Buttons
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9
Select the first keyframe in the Timeline. Select "Common Libraries" from the Window menu, then click "Buttons." Decide on two buttons in the library.
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10
Drag one button into the bottom of the stage. Type "button1" in the "<Instance Name>" text field of the Properties panel. Drag the second button into the bottom of the stage and name it "button2" in the Properties panel.
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Click any blank area on the stage, then click the "Actions-Frame" tab at the top of the screen.
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12
Copy and paste the following code in the Actions-Frame text field to make the Flash movie go to the next picture when the first button is clicked and to the previous picture when the second button is clicked.
stop();
button1.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, mouseDownHandler1);
function mouseDownHandler1(event:MouseEvent):void
{
prevFrame();
}
button2.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, mouseDownHandler2);
function mouseDownHandler2(event:MouseEvent):void
{
nextFrame();
}
Publishing your Flash Portfolio
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13
Save your portfolio as an FLA file so you can add to it later by clicking "Save" from the "File" menu.
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14
Click the "File" menu, select "Publish Preview," then click "Default" to view a preview of your portfolio presentation. Make any changes as desired, then preview your portfolio again before publishing it.
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15
Select "Publish" from the "File" menu when you have finished the portfolio presentation. This creates an SWF file, which is the Flash presentation file, as well as an HTML file that includes the code required to play the file in a Web browser. You can then add additional code, like headers, navigation links, text or images to this HTML file. Upload both the HTML and SWF files to your Web server using any FTP client as directed by your Web hosting company.
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