Datasheet

Part I: A Blast of Flash

keep some text constant throughout the movie but animate a bouncing dot,

you would give the dot its own layer and animate it on that layer. The layer

list has room for more layers, and you can add as many layers as you want.

(Chapter 6 gives you the lowdown on layers.)

You can drag the upper edge of the Timeline to make room for more layers.

Hover the mouse cursor over the top of the Timeline’s gray title bar until you

see the two-headed arrow and then drag upward.

To the right of Layer 1, you see a bunch of rectangles, each representing a

frame. (Actually, before you start using the Timeline, they’re just potential

frames, like unexposed frames on a roll of film.) By default, each frame lasts

⁄24 of a second. Each layer has its own row of frames because you can have

different animations or objects on each layer.

A keyframe is a frame that defines some change in your animation. In some

animations, every frame is a keyframe. Other animations need keyframes for

only the first and last frames.

The playhead indicates the current frame in the animation and consists of a

red rectangle as well as a vertical hairline that crosses a frame on all layers.

Before you create any animation, the playhead is always on Frame 1.

You don’t use the Timeline until you’re ready to animate. While you work,

however, you should organize your objects on separate layers. Don’t worry —

you can always move an object from one layer to another.

Next to the Timeline tab is the Motion Editor tab. We discuss the Motion

Editor in Chapter 9. For now, it’s good to know that the Motion Editor gives

you detailed control over your animations.

Getting Help in a Flash

This book is all that you need to start creating great animations, but we

would be remiss if we didn’t tell you about the Flash Help system. To use

Flash Help, choose Help➪Flash Help.

Help’s multiple manuals

Flash Help contains three sections:

✓ Using Flash CS5 Professional is the main Help manual.

✓ ActionScript 3.0 Language and Components Reference is a manual on

the latest version of ActionScript, Flash’s programming language. (See

Chapter 10 to find out more.)

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