Excerpt from Dynamic Learning - Flash CS3 Professional

What you’ll learn in this lesson: Exploring the improved drawing tools Using Copy and Paste Motion Examining improved video import and export Using ActionScript 3.0 and Flash Player 9 Previewing movies with Adobe Device Central Improved video import and export options

What’s New in Adobe Flash CS3?

Adobe Flash is the premier program for designing rich, interactive content for the Web. It is also a leader in the creation of games, CD-ROMs, educational materials, and mobile phone content. Flash CS3 Professional contains many exciting new features and improvements to its existing capabilities, which you’ll further explore in this lesson.

Starting up

This lesson does not require any lesson files from the included DVD. You can start Flash CS3 Professional and explore each new feature as it is discussed. If you haven’t done so already, install Flash CS3 Professional and the Flash Video Encoder. Instructions for installation, system requirements, and using lesson files from the included DVD are in the Starting up section on page 1 of this book.

If you are new to Flash, or simply want to jump right into a lesson, move ahead to Lesson 2, “Flash CS3 Jumpstart.” Like all the lessons in this book, the Jumpstart lesson is a hands-on approach to learning Flash CS3 Professional.

Testing the waters

Flash CS3 Professional includes dynamic additions and updates that appeal to all types of Flash users, designers and developers alike. These include enhanced drawing capabilities, a new version of ActionScript, and a variety of improvements that make working with Flash easier and more enjoyable. Here’s an overview of some of the updates you will find in Flash CS3:

Improved drawing tools

Flash CS3 Professional expands on its existing drawing tools with the redesigned Pen tool and new Smart Shapes tools. The Pen tool now works like the Pen tool found in Adobe Illustrator CS3. It provides improved handling and flexibility needed by professional illustrators, and also includes Add, Delete, and Convert Anchor Point tools, making it easier to create all types of drawings.

New to Flash CS3 Professional are the Smart Shapes tools, which offer a new level of flexibility for creating complex shapes. Without Smart Shapes tools, it can be cumbersome to create even simple shapes, like pie charts and bulls-eyes. These new tools make it easy to round corners, adjust angles, and define an inner radius for circles or ovals, allowing you to get exactly what you need with much less effort.

Learn more about the new drawing tools in Lesson 3, “Getting Started with the Drawing Tools.”

Copy and Paste Motion

There are many occasions when you need to have two or more objects on the Timeline animated in exactly the same way. In earlier versions of Flash, you had to repeat all of the hard work you put into one animation so a second animation would behave exactly the same as the first. Now, you can use the new Copy Motion feature to copy animation behavior from one object and apply it to another. With this feature, you can apply the same animation behavior to two or more completely different objects with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Copying and pasting motion is covered in Lesson 7, “Diving Deeper into Animation.”

Copy Motion as ActionScript 3.0

Bridging the long-standing gap between Flash designers and developers, Flash CS3 Professional adds the ability to capture timeline-based animation as ActionScript 3.0. While most designers prefer to create animation using the Timeline, many developers want the control and flexibility provided by programmed animation, using ActionScript. Any timeline-based animation can now be copied and pasted to the Actions panel for use with ActionScript 3.0’s new Animator class. You can create intricate animation sequences in the Timeline, and then enhance them with ActionScript’s dynamic elements and interactivity.

You’ll discover more about converting motion to ActionScript in Lesson 10, “Introducing ActionScript.”

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