How to Edit a Flash Movie

Editing Flash Files

When you download a Flash movie, usually with an .flv or an .fla extension, you can decide to edit it and add functionality to it before publishing it on your website or online. Cleaning your Flash movie is one way to edit and improve the Flash movie. In addition, adding links and button features can help add functionality to the movie, making it more dynamic. Another way to edit is grouping items located in the Library and renaming associated objects to make the movie more manageable.

Instructions

The Library

1. Fire up your Flash application and locate your .fla or .flv file to open it in the Flash application.

2. Click on the "Use Default" font option when the pop-up appears.

3. Go to the Library panel located on the right side of the stage.

4. Create folders and place associated objects in them. Sound objects, for example, can be grouped together into a folder called "Sounds."

5. Name objects in the library appropriately. This makes editing easy in the future.

The Timeline

1. Lock all the layers, if they're not locked, to avoid editing inappropriate layers.

2. Unlock one layer at a time and see the highlighted items onstage.

3. Rename the layers according to what they contain onstage. Avoid giving them vague names.

4. Put all the layers with ActionScript code together and name the layer "Actions."

Videos

1. Fire up the flash 8 Video Encoder located in the same folder as the Flash application.

2. Add the video using the "Add..." button located on the right side of the Encoder.

3. Double-click on the appropriate video and select the "Settings" button.

4. Click on the "Show Advanced Settings" button.

5. Move the progress bar to about one-third of the movie.

6. Click the "Add" button again and the "Show Advanced Settings" button again.

7. Move the progress bar from where the last tab in the previous movie stopped and move it another third.

8. Encode the last third of the video as the above two to make the last video.

9. Click on "Start Queue" to start the encoding process.

10. Close the encoder and jump into Flash.

11. Locate the .flv files in your hard disk and rename them appropriately.

12. Drag the videos into the Flash application Library to use them as Flash videos.

13. Save and Publish by going to "File" and "Publish."

Tips & Warnings

• Grouping items into folders does not mess anything onstage. The Library arrangement simply allows for easy location of objects during editing onstage.

• Use the "Control + Click" to select multiple non-adjacent items and dragging them to the appropriate folder.

References

• LearnFlash.com: Top video tutorials for Building Websites

Resources

• LearnWebDevelopemnt: Web Developement Videos