Flash Tutorial

1. The toolbar

2. Open flash

3. Choose FILE NEW ActionScript 2.0 (To create a new movie)

4. Locate the tool bar on the right hand side(can be placed anywhere)

Experiment with the many different drawing tools there.

Have a go at making all different shapes. Use different colors. Try things.

Have a go at drawing a yellow goldfish in blue water. (Something like this great picture I have drawn below.)

5. Save the file as movie1.fla

FILE SAVE AS movie1_ur_initials.fla

Have a go at drawing a red button with a blue STOP in the middle.

2. Drawing using the Grid and snap to grid



• Select Show grid • Select Snap to grid 3. movie2_ur_initials.fla

3. Using Layers

1.Create a new document and save it as movie2.fla

FILE NEW ActionScript 3.0 OK FILE SAVE AS movie2.fla

2. Draw a large blue circle

3.Now insert another layer INSERT TIMELINE LAYER

4.Draw a slightly smaller red circle inside the blue circle. (Notice the change in the timeline) LAYER1 LAYER2 5.Insert another layer INSERT LAYER

6. Now use the text tool to write GO (in black writing inside the circle) Your flash document and the timeline should look something like below.

The layers are like a stack of overheads with drawings on them. The order in which the layers are stacked are important. You can see in the timeline that Layer3 (GO) is on the top while Layer2 (red circle) is 2nd and Layer 3 (blue circle) is on the bottom.

You can change the order of the layers by clicking on and dragging them in the timeline. Have a go at changing their order. It makes a big difference.

The pencil in the timeline indicates the layer that you are working on.(ie: in this flash document we are currently working on Layer 3.

To the right of the pencil, the eye is used to show/hide layers. For example, if we just want to work with layer 3, we can select Layers 2 and 1 for hiding (i.e. select them in this column). See diagram below. A cross appears for Layers 2 & 3 under the eye. Experiment with the use of this.

Change the name of the layers. Double click on the layer in the timeline and change the name. Change Layer 1 to blue circle, Layer 2 to red circle and Layer 3 to go. This makes it much easier to follow the layers.

7. Save movie3_ur_initials.fla

4. To create a movie

1.FILE NEW -draw a big red circle

2. Click on the 2nd frame in the timeline. Make it a keyframe. INSERT TIMELINE KEYFRAME

3. While in the 2nd frame drag the circle a bit to the right (You may need to click on the selection tool first)

4. Click on the 3rd frame. Make it a keyframe and drag it a bit more to the right.

5.Continue this process for another 3 frames.

Now you are ready to run the movie


Your red ball should move around the screen in the path you have selected.

This method of making movies is very slow as you have to create every frame in the movie. There is another way that is much faster.

7. Save movie4_ur_initials.fla

5. Motion Tweening


2. Draw a blue egg on the left hand side of the screen

3. Select the egg (click selection tool then click on blue egg)

4.MODIFY CONVERT TO SYMBOL Name: Symbol 1 Type:Movie Clip OK

6. Right click on object (i.e. blue egg) (Control click on Mac)


8. Select the egg and drag it to the right hand lower side of the screen


10. Save as movie5_ur_initials.fla In the MOTION EDITOR try a few things e.g. Rotation Z 180o

8. Shape Tweening

1. FILE NEW ActionScript 2.0 OK

2. Draw a big ball

3. Click on frame 40 and select INSERT TIMELINE KEYFRAME

4. Click on frame 20 and select INSERT TIMELINE KEYFRAME

5. At frame 20 use the free transform tool to squash the ball

6. Right click (Control click on Mac) in between frames 1 and 20 (e.g. Frame 10) Select CREATE SHAPE TWEEN

7. Right click (Control click on Mac) in between frames 21 and 40 (e.g. Frame 30) Select CREATE SHAPE TWEEN


9. Save movie8_ur_initials.fla

9. Publish a Movie

1.Click FILE Publish Settings

2. Verify that Flash (.swf) and HTML (.html) are selected

3. OK


If you now look at what is saved on your hard drive you will see three files. Assuming you save the initial file as movie1_ur_initials.fla you will have

movie1_ur_initials.fla movie1_ur_initials.swf movie1_ur_initials.html