Learning Flash

Flash software creates animations sometimes called Flash movies. Sound and images can be added to Flash movies, with graphics being used to create these animations. Flash can be an intimidating program as it has a lot of features. A solid free tutorial on Flash, available online at the W3Schools website, can help you learn how to use Flash to create your own animations.

Get Familiar with Flash

The W3Schools website (see Resources) offers 11 free Flash tutorials that include sample files. Start with the "Introduction to Flash" and "Flash How To" tutorials. These tutorials will give you an introduction to Flash and let you know how you can create animations with Flash. You can also read the "Flash in HTML" tutorial. This guide will show you how you can take some Flash animation and insert it in HTML. This is useful as most Flash animations are designed to web distribution.

Learn Flash Animation Basics

Move onto the tweening tutorials to learn how to make things move and change in a Flash animation. Start with "Flash Tweening" and then move onto "Flash Guide Tween," "Flash Tint Tween" and "Flash Shape Tween."

Master Advanced Flash Skills

Obtain some more advanced Flash skills with the remaining tutorials. Learn how to work with buttons in a Flash animation with the "Flash Button 1" and "Flash Button 2" tutorials. View the "Flash Animation" to get some information on making things move and rotate at the same time. Complete your Flash advanced training with the "Flash Sound" tutorial where you can learn how to insert sound into your Flash animations.

References

• Adobe Flash website

Resources

• W3Schools Flash tutorials