Chapter List
Design Styles
A refresher course on the fundamentals of designing for animation and introduce a few cool drawing techniques along the way.
Transformation and Distortion
SQUASH, STRETCH, BULGE, warp, distort, rotate, skew, deform - what do all these transformations have in common? Hint: it’s not how you felt after that second baked bean burrito you know you didn’t need to eat.
Answer: it’s the Free Transform tool, the single most efficient and versatile tool Flash offers, and it will prove to be one of the most used tools in your daily animation workflow.
Masking
MASKS ARE POWERFUL. They can be used in myriad ways to achieve limitless results. Masks can make your daily workflow easier, less time-consuming and, in most cases, become your most indispensable tool.
Motion Tips and Tricks
Looks at a few of what I consider to be the most valuable motion effects that you can use in your everyday life as a Flash designer and animator.
Character Animation
When is it advantageous to nest certain animations and why? How can swapping symbols be effective? What exactly does the Sync feature do? What is the most effective way to synchronize a character’s mouth and lips to a voice-over soundtrack?
Flash to Video
This entire chapter is devoted to the topic of getting your Flash project to video format. Sounds simple enough but there’s a lot to know, so let’s boogie.
Animation Examples
This chapter contains some of the most popular "How do I..." animation requests from Flash users as far back as Flash version 4. If this chapter teaches you one thing, I hope that it teaches you how to think differently about how you approach Flash as a tool.
Working with Sound
How you can incorporate sounds into your animations, where to find them, how to record, edit and load them dynamically.
Working with Video
Features two separate client projects that show how video was used with Flash in different ways to achieve two very different goals.
Interactivity
Flash really comes to life when animation is combined with ActionScript for a truly interactive experience.
Going Mobile
From Flash to Adobe Device Central, you already have the necessary tools available for preparing your content for this exciting and fast growing platform.
Extending Flash
Flash JavaScript, or JSFL for short is a scripting language that interfaces directly with the Flash authoring environment. In a nutshell, it allows you to create your own Flash extensions.
Time-saving Tips
If you’re desperate for some rock solid time-saving techniques, then this chapter is for you.