INTRODUCTION TO FLASH CS6- ESSENTIAL POINTS
- Adobe Flash Professional CS6 is a multimedia platform for creating digital animation, rich web applications, websites, movies as well as content for mobile phones and other embedded devices.
- Components of Adobe Flash Professional CS6
- Interface: The interface of Flash CS6 consists of a Stage, Tools panel, Timeline panel, Properties panel, menubar, and application bar
- Workspace: The main screen is called the Application screen. In Flash CS6, there are several workspace profile presets, which allow you to change the layout and arrangement of the panels based on your primary usage.
- Stage: Stage is an area where all activities are performed that the viewers see when a movie is being played. The gray area surrounding the Stage is called Pasteboard. Anything in the Pasteboard is not visible in the final output.
- Tools Panel: The Tools panel is divided into six sections
- The Selection section: The Selection Tool is used to select an object, group of objects, strokes, and fills. It consists of the tools that are used for selecting an object or part of an object.
- The Drawing section: consists of tools that are used to create objects, text, shapes, and decorative patterns.
- The Editing section consists of tools that are used to edit the existing object.
- The View section consists of tools that are used to pan and zoom in/out in the Stage.
- The Color section consists of tools that are used to specify or modify the color of the border and fill of an object.
- The Options section of the Tools panel displays the options and modes of the selected tool.
- Some Important tools
- Snap to Objects: On choosing the Snap to Objects option, the objects that you move in the Stage jump to the edge of the nearest object.
- Smooth: The Smooth option is used to smoothen the edges of the selected object.
- Straighten: The Straighten option is used to sharpen the edges of the selected object.
- Free Transform Tool: It is used to rotate, move, skew, and distort an object. The options displayed in the Options section of the Tools panel on invoking the Free Transform Tool.
- Lasso Tool: It is used to select an object or a part of it by creating outlines. The options displayed on invoking the Lasso Tool.
- Hand Tool: It is used to move the Stage in all the directions without changing the magnification. This tool allows you to pan the Stage along the X and Y axes.
- Stroke Color: It is used to define the color of the stroke. In Flash, the outline of an object is called stroke.
- Swap colors: This tool is used to swap the stroke color to fill color and vice-versa.
- Timeline Panel: The animations and drawings in the Stage or Pasteboard are reflected automatically in the Timeline.
The Timeline panel consists of layers, frames, Playhead, and few other components.
The Timeline Header in the Timeline panel displays the frame numbers and the Playhead indicates the current frame displayed in the Stage. Various options in the Timeline panel are as follows:- New Layer: The New Layer button is used to create a new layer.
- Go to first frame: The Go to first frame button is used to place the Playhead on frame 1 in the Timeline panel.
- Onion Skin In traditional animation method, light desks or light tables were used that let you see through multiple layers of paper due to transparencies and the ink lines standing out clearly laid atop one another.
- The library in Flash stores all the media files such as bitmaps, graphics, sound files, and video clips that you import and symbols that you create in a Flash document.
- Toolkit for CreateJS Panel: The Adobe Flash Professional Toolkit for CreateJS is an extension for Flash Professional CS6. This extension is used to create assets for HTML5 projects using the open source CreateJS JavaScript libraries. The extension supports most of the features of Flash Professional such as vectors, bitmaps, classic tweens, sounds, and JavaScript timeline scripting.
