1 day class

Course Description

In the Flash MX: Level 1 course, you learned the introductory skills to create basic animations and simple navigation buttons. In this course, you will work with symbols and instances, create extensive Timelines with independent animations, build more complex navigation controls, work with sound, and optimize your movies for viewing by your intended audience.

Target Student:  This course is intended for students with some experience creating Flash animations, who want to build more efficient, optimized animations that allow for greater user interactivity.

Prerequisites:  To ensure your success, you should have familiarity with the Windows operating system. We also recommend you first take the following course or have equivalent knowledge:

• Flash MX: Level 1

Benefits:  After completing this course, students will know how to incorporate symbols and instances into their Flash projects. They will learn to better organize their larger projects through the use of scenes and frame labels. In addition, students will add interactivity and sound elements to their Flash animations. Finally, they will learn how to test and publish their Flash movies.

What's Next:  Flash MX: Level 2 is the final course in Element K's Flash MX training series. Students wishing to work more with Macromedia's multimedia software may consider taking a course in Director.

Performance-Based Objectives

• Identify the advantages that symbol use has in building a Flash movie, identify and create the three types of symbols, and manage symbols within a movie using the Library palette.
• Use scenes to organize content in large complex Timelines, and create frame labels to mark critical points in your Timeline.
• Add advanced playback controls and interactive elements to a Flash movie (including remote rollovers and expanding menus), and create preloaders to ensure smooth playback of larger movie files over slow connections.
• Import sounds into a project, work with sound properties, and edit sounds.
• Test a movie while simulating a slow connection, identify factors that increase a movie's size and download time, and publish a movie using many of Flash's numerous publishing options.

Course Content

Lesson 1: Symbols and Instances

• Topic 1A: What is a Symbol?
• Topic 1B: Graphic Symbols
• Topic 1C: Movie Clip Symbols
• Topic 1D: Button Symbols
• Topic 1E: Managing Symbols and Instances

Lesson 2: Organizing Large Projects

• Topic 2A: Scenes
• Topic 2B: Frame Labels

Lesson 3: Interactivity in Flash

• Topic 3A: Basic Playback Control
• Topic 3B: Creating Advanced Navigation Controls

Lesson 4: Working with Sound

• Topic 4A: Importing Sounds
• Topic 4B: Event vs. Streaming Sounds

Lesson 5: Testing and Publishing a Flash Movie

• Topic 5A: Evaluating Download Performance
• Topic 5B: Optimization Factors
• Topic 5C: Exporting and Publishing Movies