Become fluent in the Flash workspace Create broadcast- quality cartoons Preview your video in Flash The book you need to succeed! Todd Perkins Flash ® Professional CS5 Flash ® Professional CS5 Adobe ® Adobe ® Perkins Feel the full effects of Flash Adobe Flash is getting flashier with each release, and the new Flash Professional CS5 comes with a slew of new enhancements. Find out what’s new, what’s better, and how you can get the most out of everything Flash has to offer with this in-depth guide. Apply cool visual effects, create interfaces with ActionScript ® , add animation, program faster with drop-in code snippets—it’s all here and more from top industry Flash trainer, Todd Perkins. • Understand everything Flash is—vector-based animator, video engine, multimedia authoring program, desktop app developer, and more • Master the Flash interface, tools, symbols, and the Library • Integrate Flash content with Web pages • Use Flash movies with JavaScript ® and DHTML • Create animation, use the Motion Editor, and integrate media files • Create and publish AIR ® applications Shelving Category: COMPUTERS / Web / Page Design Reader Level: Beginning to Advanced $49.99 USA $59.99 Canada www.wiley.com/compbooks CD-ROM Included What’s on the CD-ROM? Find source fi les and examples to ac- company the lessons in the book, as well as templates you can use for your own projects. The CD also includes: • Trial software and shareware • Add-ons and plug-ins System Requirements: Please see Appendix A in the book for details and complete system requirements. Todd Perkins is an Adobe Certifi ed Instructor who spends much of his time teaching people how to use Adobe’s Web development software. He is a member of the dynamic duo at the All Things Adobe podcast, and he has authored a vast array of video training titles and books. CD-ROM Included! • Files from the book and valuable trial software Learn new video features, such as adding ActionScript Add interactivity to your applications Layout Framework www.it-ebooks.info 01_602287-ffirs.indd ii01_602287-ffirs.indd ii 6/4/10 12:28 AM6/4/10 12:28 AM www.it-ebooks.info Flash ® Professional CS5 Bible 01_602287-ffirs.indd i01_602287-ffirs.indd i 6/4/10 12:28 AM6/4/10 12:28 AM www.it-ebooks.info 01_602287-ffirs.indd ii01_602287-ffirs.indd ii 6/4/10 12:28 AM6/4/10 12:28 AM www.it-ebooks.info Flash ® Professional CS5 Bible Todd Perkins 01_602287-ffirs.indd iii01_602287-ffirs.indd iii 6/4/10 12:28 AM6/4/10 12:28 AM www.it-ebooks.info Flash ® Professional CS5 Bible Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River St. Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Library of Congress Control Number: 2010929311 ISBN: 978-0-470-60228-7 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. 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Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Adobe and Flash are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. 01_602287-ffirs.indd iv01_602287-ffirs.indd iv 6/4/10 12:28 AM6/4/10 12:28 AM Disclaimer: This eBook does not include ancillary media that was packaged with the printed version of the book. www.it-ebooks.info About the Author As a lifelong fan of animation, Todd’s childhood dream was to become a cartoonist. In 2000, Todd had an opportunity to create his first Web site, and at the time, Flash was a popular tool for doing so. He quickly fell in love with Flash, and a few years later got a job as a Flash designer at a graphic design company. After gaining real-world experience using Flash to develop Web sites, Todd decided to become a Flash consultant, using his skills to help others master Flash. Since then, Todd has written several books, including Flash CS3 Hands on Training, ActionScript 3.0 in Flash CS3 Hands on Training, Nintendo Wii Flash Game Creator’s Guide, and Search Engine Optimization for Flash. He has also recorded a vast array of video titles about Flash and ActionScript for Lynda.com, including Flash CS5 Essential Training, ActionScript 3.0 in Flash CS4 for Designers, Object Oriented Programming in ActionScript 3.0, and several others. Todd also speaks at conferences, trains in class- rooms, and has taught Flash to employees in several major organizations including Disney, Boeing, and Los Angeles Times. Todd also loves to create Flash applications and games, and has created Web sites and apps for clients, such as Chris Orwig and Douglas Kirkland. When Todd is not teaching Flash or creating Flash applications, he enjoys playing video games, and spending quality time with his wife and son in southern California. 01_602287-ffirs.indd v01_602287-ffirs.indd v 6/4/10 12:28 AM6/4/10 12:28 AM www.it-ebooks.info Credits Acquisitions Editor Aaron Black Project Editor Beth Taylor Technical Editor Zachary Szukala Copy Editor Beth Taylor Editorial Director Robyn Siesky Business Manager Amy Knies Senior Marketing Manager Sandy Smith Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Richard Swadley Vice President and Executive Publisher Barry Pruett Project Coordinator Katherine Crocker Graphics and Production Specialists Jennifer Mayberry Ronald G. Terry Quality Control Technicians Laura Albert Rebecca Denoncour Proofreader Christine Sabooni Indexer Potomac Indexing, LLC Media Development Project Manager Laura Moss Media Development Assistant Project Manager Jenny Swisher Media Development Associate Producer Josh Frank 01_602287-ffirs.indd vi01_602287-ffirs.indd vi 6/4/10 12:28 AM6/4/10 12:28 AM www.it-ebooks.info I n 1997, Macromedia acquired a small Web graphics program, FutureSplash, from a company named FutureWave. FutureSplash was a quirky little program with the astounding capability to generate compact, vector-based graphics and animations for delivery over the Web. With Macromedia’s embrace, Flash blossomed. In 2005, Adobe Systems, Inc. acquired Macromedia and, in three short years, has successfully integrated Flash into their family of powerhouse graphics, video, and design software. Not only has the Flash platform obtained ubiquity, but Flash content is now more easily created across a wide range of professional software applications. The Flash Player plug-in ships with most major browsers and operating systems. Flash graphics appear not only all over the Web, but also on television and movie screens, on phones, on kiosks, and even in art galleries. As the Web-surfing public and the development community have continued to demand more of Flash, Adobe has delivered. After Creative Suite 3 was released, Adobe went out into the world and sat with people using its programs to see what they used, what they needed, and how the next gen- eration of Creative Suite tools could support daily workflow and specialize tasks more effectively. The result is a release that promotes expressiveness and enhances efficiency while encouraging best practices in development — a functional and an inspiring combination that has earned rave reviews from visual designers and code-oriented developers at all levels. The Flash CS5 Professional interface is consistent with other Creative Suite 5 (CS5) products; it has tool options and other editing features contained in streamlined panels and lots of important changes to the authoring environment. The Mac interface is nearly 100 percent identical to the Windows interface, with support for docked panels, tabbed panels, and enhancements to the cod- ing environments in Flash CS5 and Dreamweaver CS5. Flash movies can communicate directly with server-side scripts and programs, using standard URL-encoded variables, XML-formatted structures, Web services, or powerhouse data transfers from Flash Remoting–enabled servers. Sounds can be imported and exported as MP3 audio for high-quality music on the Web at the smallest file sizes. Flash Player 10 supports nearly every Web file format you’ll ever come across. Loading of JPEG, PNG, GIF, MP3, FLV, AAC, and H.264 video content streamlines production and maintenance of dynamic high-volume media sites. The updated FLVPlayback component and the addition of custom tools, custom effects, and behaviors offer Flash users of all skill levels some exciting possibilities. Evidence of the dominance of the Flash format can be found in the wide range of third-party developers creating applications that output to the Flash movie format (.swf files). Flash has fulfilled its promise of becoming the central application for generating interactive content for delivery on the Web; the potential only seems to expand as more developers tap into the data-handling power of Flash and its increasingly sophisti- cated graphics capabilities as it continues to grow beyond the computer screen. vii 01_602287-ffirs.indd vii01_602287-ffirs.indd vii 6/4/10 12:28 AM6/4/10 12:28 AM www.it-ebooks.info viii Preface Is there any other Flash book for you? Adobe Flash CS5 Professional Bible is the most comprehensive and exhaustive reference on Flash. It helps you get started on your first day with the program and will still be a valuable resource when you’ve attained mastery of the program. When you’re looking for clues on how to integrate Flash with other programs so that you can deliver unique and compelling content in the Flash for- mat, you’ll know where to turn. We’ve put significant effort into this edition, updating all ActionScript content to use ActionScript 3.0, the most recent version of the ActionScript language available in Flash Player 9 or higher. Flash is not just a single tool. You can think of Flash as a multitasking application. It’s an illustra- tion program, an image/sound/video editor, an animation machine, and a scripting engine, all rolled into one. In this book, we look at each of these uses of Flash and explain how all the features work together. To address advanced scripting topics and more server-side development issues, Roger Braunstein, Mims Wright, Josh Noble, and Joey Lott have written the ActionScript 3 Bible (Wiley, 2007) to fully address advanced use of the ActionScript 3.0 scripting language. If you’re already adept at creating animation and basic interactive interfaces in Flash and you want to expand your knowl- edge of more complex coding techniques, you may want to compare the table of contents in this book with that of ActionScript Bible to determine which book covers the topics you’re most inter- ested in. How to Get the Most Out of This Book Here are some things to know so you can get the most out of this book: First, to indicate that you need to select a command from a menu, the menu and command are separated by an arrow symbol. For example, if we tell you to select the default workspace layout from the Flash application menu, the instructions will say to choose Window ➪ Workspace ➪ Essentials. Parts I and II of the book are entirely dedicated to project planning and getting familiar with the Flash interface. Parts III and IV explain how to generate animation and integrate other media files into your Flash movies. Parts V through VIIgradually introduce you to the power of ActionScript and show you how to take advantage of Flash components to quickly create dynamic applications that support live data. Although this book was written to take a beginner by the hand, starting from page one, you can also use it as a reference. Use the index and the table of contents to find what you’re looking for, and just go there, or jump in anywhere. If you already know Flash and want to get some details on sound, for example, just go to any of the chapters in Part IV, “Integrating Media Files with Flash.” This is a real-world production book: We’ve worked hard to ensure that our lessons, examples, and explanations are based on professional conventions. The CD-ROM that accompanies this book 01_602287-ffirs.indd viii01_602287-ffirs.indd viii 6/4/10 12:28 AM6/4/10 12:28 AM www.it-ebooks.info [...]... creation — for the Web and beyond After Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005, Adobe has expanded Flash capabilities in several Creative Suite products, as well as development tools such as Adobe Flex Builder The Adobe user interface is consistent across powerhouse applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Illustrator In this chapter, I introduce Flash CS5 and explore the many possibilities...  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  xiii Part I: An Introduction to Flash Web Production 1 Chapter 1: Understanding the Adobe Flash CS5 Blueprint  . . . . . . . . . . . .3 The Key Is Integration 4 The topography of Flash CS5 6 File types in Flash CS5 7 The Many Worlds of Flash CS5 12 Bitmap handler 12 Vector-based drawing program... Flash Web Production I f you’re new to Flash or to multimedia production, this section gets you started on the right foot If you are a veteran Flash user, this section gives you some perspective on the evolution of Flash and the workflow options available in Adobe Flash CS5 Chapter 1 provides a comprehensive overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the Flash format and some background on where Flash. .. .641 xiv www.it-ebooks.info Part VI: Distributing Flash Movies 671 Chapter 18: Publishing Flash Movies 673 Chapter 19: Integrating Flash Content with Web Pages 707 Chapter 20: Using the Flash Player and Projector .739 Chapter 21: Creating Adobe AIR Applications Using Flash CS5 753 Chapter 22: Using Flash to Create iPhone Applications 769 Part... Get oriented in the Flash CS5 Actions panel and fundamental ActionScript in your movies (Chapter 15) Use ActionScript in Flash movies to control internal elements on multiple timelines, such as nested Movie Clips (Chapter 16) Finally, use Flash CS5 to create your first full application (Chapter 17) Part VI: Distributing Flash Movies You need to learn how to export (or publish) your Flash presentations... .558 Loading a Flash Video file at runtime 558 Real-time streaming a Flash Video file at runtime 558 Embedding video into a Flash movie .559 Importing the Video 559 An overview of codec options 560 Compressing video with Adobe Media Encoder CS5 .562 Using the Video Import wizard .569 Deploying video files with Flash CS5 573 Working... Chapter 19: Integrating Flash Content with Web Pages  . . . . . . . . . . . .  707 Writing Markup for Flash Movies .707 Using the tag 708 Using the tag 715 Detecting the Flash Player 717 Plug-in versus ActiveX: Forcing content without a check 718 Detecting the Flash Player with Flash CS5 .719 Detecting the Flash Player with SWFObject... xiii Part I: An Introduction to Flash Web Production 1 Chapter 1: Understanding the Adobe Flash CS5 Blueprint 3 Chapter 2: Exploring Web Technologies .17 Chapter 3: Planning Flash Projects .33 Part II: Mastering the Flash Environment 61 Chapter 4: Interface Fundamentals .63 Chapter 5: Drawing in Flash .113 Chapter 6: Symbols,... image quality while optimizing your Flash movies Chapter 14 introduces the exciting video features of Flash CS5 and the new Adobe Media Encoder CS5 application, including the use of the high-quality AVC/H.264 video codec and adding ActionScript cue points without writing ActionScript code Part V: Adding Basic Interactivity to Flash Movies Learn how to start using Flash actions to create interactive... of Flash movies on CD-ROMs, floppy disks, or other offline media formats With Adobe AIR, Flash content can be installed into computers as native desktop applications Finally, with Flash CS5, content made in Flash can be published as iPhone and iPod touch applications, and released in Apple’s App Store Cross-Reference You can learn more about projectors and stand-alones in Chapter 22, “Using the Flash . CS5 Flash ® Professional CS5 Adobe ® Adobe ® Perkins Feel the full effects of Flash Adobe Flash is getting flashier with each release, and the new Flash. AM www.it-ebooks.info viii Preface Is there any other Flash book for you? Adobe Flash CS5 Professional Bible is the most comprehensive and exhaustive reference on Flash. It helps you