Learn how to create exciting interactive animations from a working Flash designer and author with more than a decade of experience in Flash development. Discover how to create animations, build online applications, manage photos, integrate video, and upload your very own Flash presentations to a Web site.

You’ll pick up many tricks used by top Flash designers, and you'll walk away with a solid working knowledge of the Flash workspace and tools. You’ll learn about Flash’s Timeline and how it helps you create exciting animations, even if you have no prior experience. By the time you finish this course, you’ll be able to integrate your work into a Web page and share it with friends, family, or your business associates.

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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

In December 1996, Macromedia released Flash 1.0, a simple program designed to help Web designers create lightweight animations for their Web sites. Since that time, Flash has evolved into a powerful animation and development environment for some of the most exciting things you’ve ever seen on the Internet. In our first lesson, we'll take a look back through Flash's history and then we'll start exploring Flash 8. By the time you finish this lesson, you’ll have a solid understanding of the Flash tools and players, and you’ll be familiar with the environment you’ll be working in.

Friday - Lesson 02

The core purpose of Flash has always been to help people create artwork directly on their computers. Flash offers some powerful tools, allowing you to bring your imagination to life. In Lesson 2, you’ll get familiar with the drawing tools available in Flash, and you'll practice using them to create some basic drawings of your own.

Week Two

Wednesday - Lesson 03

Making drawings is always fun, but at some point, you’ll get the urge to make changes to what you’ve created. Flash offers you numerous panels that do everything from scaling and transforming an item, to altering colors and making gradients. You'll find out all about them in this lesson. And you’ll even learn how to create your own custom colors using a popular panel called the Color Mixer.

Friday - Lesson 04

Flash doesn’t just let you draw still pictures. The real fun is taking what you’ve created and making it move. This is where the Flash Timeline comes into play, and that's what we'll be exploring in this lesson. If you’ve never worked in an animation program before, you're in for a treat as we begin to get comfortable with frames, keyframes, and the other fun features that make your animations possible.

Week Three

Wednesday - Lesson 05

It may feel like we’re getting off-track in this lesson as we jump from the Timeline to groups and symbols, but true animation in Flash relies on these concepts. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to group your work and organize it into containers called symbols. This is the last thing you need to learn before real animation begins.

Friday - Lesson 06

Today's lesson is a favorite among students! It’s time to take all that you’ve learned and start making animations. We’ll begin by going over the two different types of animations you can create in Flash: frame-by-frame animations and tweened animations. Then we'll practice creating both animation types. When you’re done today, you’ll be as excited for what’s to come as you are for what you just learned!

Week Four

Wednesday - Lesson 07

Animations are obviously fun, but they can be annoying if they just loop over and over again without stopping. You certainly wouldn’t want to put something like that on your Web site very often. So in this lesson, you’ll learn the basics of Flash’s scripting language (ActionScript), and find out how to use it to control what your Timeline is doing.

Friday - Lesson 08

ActionScript is a huge topic in any Flash course, and even the most basic effects you find online probably rely heavily on it. In today's lesson, you’ll spend some more time learning how to use buttons and movie clips, along with your ActionScript, to add true interactivity to your work. Want to give the user the control over your animations? You'll find out how in this lesson.

Week Five

Wednesday - Lesson 09

Flash offers some great tools for creating things with the program itself, but you'll often have an image or some music that you’d like to import into your work. Flash is perfect for integrating all kinds of media into a single file that’s easy to put on a Web site. In today's lesson, you’ll learn the ins and outs of importing images and audio into your documents.

Friday - Lesson 10

In today's lesson, you'll learn about two special kinds of layers that Flash has to offer: Guide and mask layers. These are powerful tools that you can use to create and control some really amazing effects. I know you'll find that guide and mask layers are wonderful additions to your Flash repertoire!

Week Six

Wednesday - Lesson 11

Video is something that’s new in Flash, and introductory courses rarely talk about it. But Flash handles importing video very well, and since video is everywhere now, I don’t want to let you down. In today's lesson, you’ll learn the basics of importing your video clips into Flash, as well as how to add controls and overlays to them. Your friends will be very impressed when you show them the fruits of your labor from this lesson!

Friday - Lesson 12

When it’s all said and done, most of you will want to publish your Flash work to a Web site. In this, our final lesson, we'll go over how to export and publish your final .swf file and prepare your work for an HTML page. It’s time to take all you’ve learned and share it with the world!

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 Shane Elliott.

Having worked on Flash projects for several high-profile clients, such as Energizer, Infiniti, Nissan, and Saatchi & Saatchi, Shane Elliott was recognized with an American Design Award. A seasoned designer and programmer, he began studying Flash when version 4 was released in 1999. Since then, he has taught online courses as well as university classes on the subjects of Flash and new media design. After being a contributing author to several books in the Flash Bible series, he authored his own collection of Flash tips for beginners: Flash MX 2004 Killer Tips. Elliott continues to consult on corporate and independent Flash projects while teaching.

Requirements:

You'll need a basic knowledge of computers, Macromedia Flash Pro 8 or Macromedia Flash Basic 8 (software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins), Windows XP or Macintosh OS X, 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).

Note: Students using Adobe Flash CS3 will be supported in the discussion areas.

Student Reviews:

Reviews coming soon! Please check back next month.