What Are the Basic Parts of Macromedia Flash?
Flash is a platform for enriching websites with embedded animations and movies. The most common uses for Flash on the Internet are advertisements and games. Formerly known as "Macromedia Flash," Adobe changed the name to "Adobe Flash" after acquiring Macromedia in 2005. In 2011, designers use "Adobe Flash CS5" to create Flash projects. Older versions of Flash share a similar basic layout to CS5 but the newest version has the most functionality and features. There are four basic parts of the Flash work area.
Other People Are Reading
-
The Stage
-
Designers call the main work area at the center of Flash the "Stage." This is where you would place all visible elements. When you play the Flash file, the program will show everything that is on the Stage. If you place objects outside the boundaries of the Stage, they will be visible while working in the program but not during playback. Scenes on the Stage change when objects or animations move off the Stage to be replaced by new ones.
The Timeline
-
The Timeline appears below the stage in Flash and determines the flow of events. The Timeline consists of frames and keyframes. Keyframes indicate when new symbols appear on the stage. You can use layers to organize the Timeline by grouping items together in order to not clutter up the Timeline. You can also use the Timeline to jump to various parts of the Flash movie or animation without having to replay the entire project.
-
Tools
-
In Flash CS5, the Tools display on the right-hand side of the work area by default, but you can drag them anywhere on the screen. You can use these tools to create the symbols on the Stage. This can be anything from text to shapes and images. If you place symbols on the Stage, you can further manipulate them using tools like cropping or erasing. The options for each selected tool appears at the bottom of the Tool menu. The option you select will determine how the tool will function.
Panels
-
Flash docks panels to the right of the workspace that contain the Property Inspector and Library panel by default. You can use the Property Inspector panel to quickly perform changes to elements on the Stage or Timeline. The program will display a list of all the attributes of the currently selected object in the Property Inspector panel for easy editing. The program stores all symbols or objects that you import to your Flash project in the library panel. You can unlock and move the panels to other areas of the workspace to suit your preferences.
-
