Flash ActionScript for Designers
Drag, Slide, Fade
Published on 2. November 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
296 pages
978-0-7357-1047-4 (ISBN)
Description
A visual approach to explaining and exploring the power of ActionScript for those who design with it. Organized according to differing creative areas, each basic type of project is deconstructed, with components broken down and ActionScript code explained; variations are then suggested. Four-color, with lots of visuals and annotated code.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Pearson Education (US)
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 255 mm
Width: 204 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
826 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7357-1047-4 (9780735710474)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Brendan Dawes is Creative Director for magneticNorth, an interactive agency based in Manchester in the U.K. Since 1996, he's worked on interactive solutions for clients such as Disney, Coca-Cola, Golden Winder, Fox Kids, Volvic, Kellogg's, Benetton, and McCann Healthcare.
Before 1996, Brendan did a variety of jobs, including working as a freelance photographer for U.K. national newspapers and working in the electronics industry. He also dabbled in the music industry for a short time, landing a record contract with indie dance label "3 Beat Music" in Liverpool.
As well as commercial work, Brendan also has personal projects, including the highly acclaimed Saul Bass web site at saulbass.net, and its quirky offshoot, Psycho Studio, an application built entirely in Flash that allows you to edit your own version of the shower scene from the movie Psycho! Over the years Brendan's work has been featured in many industry publications and books and received various awards, including three Shockwave Sites of the Day, a nomination in the New York Flash Film Festival, and Webby awards. He also writes Dreamweaver extensions and wrote the official QuickTime extension in conjunction with Apple and Macromedia. Brendan is also a regular speaker at industry conferences around the world.
Before 1996, Brendan did a variety of jobs, including working as a freelance photographer for U.K. national newspapers and working in the electronics industry. He also dabbled in the music industry for a short time, landing a record contract with indie dance label "3 Beat Music" in Liverpool.
As well as commercial work, Brendan also has personal projects, including the highly acclaimed Saul Bass web site at saulbass.net, and its quirky offshoot, Psycho Studio, an application built entirely in Flash that allows you to edit your own version of the shower scene from the movie Psycho! Over the years Brendan's work has been featured in many industry publications and books and received various awards, including three Shockwave Sites of the Day, a nomination in the New York Flash Film Festival, and Webby awards. He also writes Dreamweaver extensions and wrote the official QuickTime extension in conjunction with Apple and Macromedia. Brendan is also a regular speaker at industry conferences around the world.
Content
Foreword by Hillman Curtis.
1. Release.
Taking the Mystery Out of Coding. Movie Clips (Objects). Movie Clip Timelines. Variables. Variables Inside Movie Clips. Making Decisions. Conclusion.
2. Drag.
Basic Drag 'n' Drop Setup. Detecting Where the Clip Is Dropped. Getting the Color of a Movie Clip. Streamlining the Code. Draggable Masks. Conclusion.
3. Slide
Creating Sliding Panels for Navigation and Transition Effects. Other Uses of the Slide Algorithm. Multiple Mouse Slide. Coding the Multiple Movement Algorithm. Using Functions to Make Efficient Code. Passing Parameters to Functions. Duplicating the Movie Clip On-the-Fly. Adding Scale to the Effect. The Sliding Mask Transition Effect. Creating the Function for X and Y Movement. Adding to the Transition Effect. Conclusion.
4. Fade.
Using ActionScript to Create Intelligent Reactive Fades. Normal Fade Versus Programmed Fade. Work Smarter. Versatility of Smart Clips. Taking Usability Through the Roof. Conclusion.
5. Listen.
Controlling the Volume. Setting the Slider Start Position. Controlling Individual Sounds. Stopping and Starting All Sounds. Creating a Reverb/Echo Effect. Simple Delay Effect. Conclusion.
6. Capture.
Capturing User Input. Detecting Key Presses. Detecting Other Keys. Detecting Any Key Press. Creating a Keycode-Finding Script. Using an Array. Adding Numbers to the Array. Searching the Array. Capturing Mouse Coordinates. Local Versus Global Coordinates. Calculating the Mouse Distance. Recording and Playing Back Movement. Resetting the Animation. Conclusion.
7. Build.
Techniques for Building Flash Composite Movies. Masking External Flash Movies. Loading External SWFs. Revealing the SWF. Loading In the Clips. Creating the External SWF. Controlling the Slideshow. Controlling the Reveal. Preloading the External SWF. Testing the Slideshow. Color Tweening Across Levels. Creating the Navigation Movie for Level 2. Setting the Color. Conclusion.
8. Type.
Dynamic Typography. Basic Technique. Text Fields-Gotta Love 'Em! Creating the Movie Clip. Attaching the Movie Clip. Pick, Build, Reveal Effect. The String Construction Function. Building the Text Movie Clip. Creating the Trigger Loop. Altering the Effect. The Dynamic Typographic Engine. Kerning. Creating the Type Template. Creating the Main Function. What It Means-Line By Line. Distressing the Text. Removing Old Movie Clips. Sorting the Kerning. Conclusion.
9. Choose.
Dynamic Buttons and Menus. saulbass.net. Using XML Files. Loading an XML document. Setting the X and Y Positions. Initializing Variables. Testing the Movie. Dynamically Creating Pages. Truly Versatile Scripting. Conclusion.
10. Calculate.
Designing with Some Sums. Pseudo Perspective. Adjusting the Scaling. Adding Alpha Changes. Accounting for the Z Index. Dynamic Lines. The SpringBox Rollover. Calculating a Line. Improving the Effect. Adding a Bounce! Conclusion.
Appendix: About the Web Site.
Source Files. Resources. Additional Downloads. Feedback.
Index.
1. Release.
Taking the Mystery Out of Coding. Movie Clips (Objects). Movie Clip Timelines. Variables. Variables Inside Movie Clips. Making Decisions. Conclusion.
2. Drag.
Basic Drag 'n' Drop Setup. Detecting Where the Clip Is Dropped. Getting the Color of a Movie Clip. Streamlining the Code. Draggable Masks. Conclusion.
3. Slide
Creating Sliding Panels for Navigation and Transition Effects. Other Uses of the Slide Algorithm. Multiple Mouse Slide. Coding the Multiple Movement Algorithm. Using Functions to Make Efficient Code. Passing Parameters to Functions. Duplicating the Movie Clip On-the-Fly. Adding Scale to the Effect. The Sliding Mask Transition Effect. Creating the Function for X and Y Movement. Adding to the Transition Effect. Conclusion.
4. Fade.
Using ActionScript to Create Intelligent Reactive Fades. Normal Fade Versus Programmed Fade. Work Smarter. Versatility of Smart Clips. Taking Usability Through the Roof. Conclusion.
5. Listen.
Controlling the Volume. Setting the Slider Start Position. Controlling Individual Sounds. Stopping and Starting All Sounds. Creating a Reverb/Echo Effect. Simple Delay Effect. Conclusion.
6. Capture.
Capturing User Input. Detecting Key Presses. Detecting Other Keys. Detecting Any Key Press. Creating a Keycode-Finding Script. Using an Array. Adding Numbers to the Array. Searching the Array. Capturing Mouse Coordinates. Local Versus Global Coordinates. Calculating the Mouse Distance. Recording and Playing Back Movement. Resetting the Animation. Conclusion.
7. Build.
Techniques for Building Flash Composite Movies. Masking External Flash Movies. Loading External SWFs. Revealing the SWF. Loading In the Clips. Creating the External SWF. Controlling the Slideshow. Controlling the Reveal. Preloading the External SWF. Testing the Slideshow. Color Tweening Across Levels. Creating the Navigation Movie for Level 2. Setting the Color. Conclusion.
8. Type.
Dynamic Typography. Basic Technique. Text Fields-Gotta Love 'Em! Creating the Movie Clip. Attaching the Movie Clip. Pick, Build, Reveal Effect. The String Construction Function. Building the Text Movie Clip. Creating the Trigger Loop. Altering the Effect. The Dynamic Typographic Engine. Kerning. Creating the Type Template. Creating the Main Function. What It Means-Line By Line. Distressing the Text. Removing Old Movie Clips. Sorting the Kerning. Conclusion.
9. Choose.
Dynamic Buttons and Menus. saulbass.net. Using XML Files. Loading an XML document. Setting the X and Y Positions. Initializing Variables. Testing the Movie. Dynamically Creating Pages. Truly Versatile Scripting. Conclusion.
10. Calculate.
Designing with Some Sums. Pseudo Perspective. Adjusting the Scaling. Adding Alpha Changes. Accounting for the Z Index. Dynamic Lines. The SpringBox Rollover. Calculating a Line. Improving the Effect. Adding a Bounce! Conclusion.
Appendix: About the Web Site.
Source Files. Resources. Additional Downloads. Feedback.
Index.