In this six-week online course, you'll learn how to use Flash MX 2004 through a series of easy-to-follow, hands-on activities. We'll start at the very beginning and explore the program one small step at a time. First, we'll get familiar with the interface. Then we'll work with the drawing tools and move into animation. We'll examine the different types of animation Flash can produce and the scripting language that can make Flash applications dynamic and interactive.

You'll find out how to add video and audio to your Web projects, and you'll be able to work with vector graphics, timelines, movie clips, and even navigation tools for your Web site. Before you know it, you'll have a solid understanding of Flash and how best to make it work for you.

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Syllabus:

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week One

Wednesday - Lesson 01

Our adventure with Flash begins today as we meet Flash's interface and tools. We'll save a new Flash file and modify its background color and dimensions. Before you know it, you'll be itching to start clicking and creating. So, we'll scratch that itch by importing and manipulating an image. We'll stretch and twist it, discovering why with vector graphics you can do no harm—a trait that makes them perfect for the Web.

Friday - Lesson 02

Now that you know about vector graphics, it's time to make some. In Flash there are many ways to do this and you don't have to be an artist to produce great illustrations. In fact, no matter what you ultimately plan to do with Flash, you need to master its basic illustration tools. So, we'll start this lesson by learning how to trace bitmaps and turn them into Flash friendly vector images. We'll create our own lines and curves with the Pencil and Pen tools. We'll make friends with the Line tool and turn to the Eraser tool when it lets us down. Finally, we'll explore using rulers to create precise lines and curves.

Week Two

Wednesday - Lesson 03

Today, we'll move up from lines to shapes. We'll spend this lesson creating, selecting, editing, transforming, copying, and deleting them. You'll work with the Rectangle, Oval, Selection, Subselection, and Lasso tools. You'll also group shapes and change line styles. In the process, you'll be amazed by how your understanding of Flash begins to grow.

Friday - Lesson 04

We've drawn lines; we've made shapes; today it's time to color! Don't worry; this will be a lot more fun than it was in Kindergarten. With Flash, you don't even have to think about staying within the lines. We'll use the Paint Bucket and Ink Bottle tools to apply fill and stroke colors. With the Eyedropper tool we'll copy an existing color for reuse. And we'll explore how the Color Mixer lets you create custom colors and Linear and Radial gradients.

Week Three

Wednesday - Lesson 05

Have you always thought that text was something you wrote? We'll think again. In this lesson, you'll discover that you can design your text. We'll change the font face, font size, and color of text. We'll create bold and italic text. We'll learn to skew, scale, and align text, and create aliased text. Then we'll adjust the space between characters and the space between adjacent lines of text, and apply margins and indentation. By the end, your words will be so good looking; no one will care what they have to say!

Friday - Lesson 06

Now you know how to make images in Flash. But how do you get them to do something? Well, the first step is master creating them in layers. Layers are like transparent pieces of paper stacked on top of each other. They allow you to edit specific images and shapes without affecting other areas of a graphic. Today, we'll create, rearrange, merge, modify, and delete layers. You'll find out how to name a layer and lock it so it can't be modified. You'll also learn to make guide layers to hold valuable information for you or other developers that you don't want to display for viewers.

Week Four

Wednesday - Lesson 07

Timelines, frames, and keyframes—these are the elements of Flash you need to know if you're going to produce animation. In this lesson, we'll explore all of them and create both a basic text and a frame-by-frame animation. You'll also find out how to play and test a movie as you're working on it.

Friday - Lesson 08

Today, we're going to learn about tweened animation—a special kind of animation in which you only have to manually create or position shapes at the starting and ending frames. Flash automatically creates all the content in between—in other words, all the animation. This not only makes your work much easier, but it also can help keep your file sizes smaller. You're going to love it!

Week Five

Wednesday - Lesson 09

This lesson is all about navigation buttons and movie clips. These two subjects have a couple things in common. First, they both require you to create symbols and work with Flash's library. Second, they both require ActionScript in order to do all the amazing things you want them to. What we cover today will be a springboard for tackling more advanced movie clip effects and beginning ActionScripting.

Friday - Lesson 10

Today we'll master movie clip masks. You'll discover how to combine them with motion guides to produce specific visual effects that can really spice up your work. We'll also explore Timeline effects, which are predefined animation effects included with Flash MX 2004. You'll get to practice applying, editing, and deleting them. You'll be amazed what you can do!

Week Six

Wednesday - Lesson 11

In this lesson, you'll learn about ActionScript—the native scripting language of Flash. You can use it to achieve basic effects such as playback controls, to create complex Web applications, and to add a variety of effects and interactivity to your Flash documents. Although ActionScript is a vast subject and this lesson is only a beginning, you'll come away with a lot more power as a Flash author. This lesson also includes supplementary tutorials that walk you through the process of adding audio and video to your Flash movies.

Friday - Lesson 12

Today, in our final lesson, we'll find out how to test a movie in order to estimate download times for a variety of Internet connection speeds. Then, we'll apply a preloader animation to provide feedback to users while our main movie loads. We'll also try our hand at publishing a movie by using the Publish Settings dialog box. In the process, you'll learn how to provide an alternative document for users who don't have the required Flash player installed. And finally, we'll cover how to embed a Flash movie in an existing Web page.

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Mark Futterman.

Mark Futterman, an editor, writer, and Web designer, is a graduate of Boston University and holds a certificate in Web/Multimedia Authoring. He has worked in an administrative and marketing capacity for a university dedicated to adult learning. He has designed and built Web sites for an assortment of entrepreneurs and small businesses, using Flash to create presentations of greater impact. He has collaborated with educators and professionals to develop effective written content for print and the Web and helped produce a variety of online courses for adults.

Requirements:

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 (software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins), Windows XP or Windows 2000 or better, Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader). This course is also suitable for Macintosh users with the proper version of Flash installed..

Users of Flash 8 will also be supported in the Discussion Areas.

Student Reviews:

Reviews coming soon! Please check back next month.