Course Description

In Part 2 of this 5 week course, we'll begin exploring how to use the concepts learned in Intro and Intermediate to create the animation effects that add spice to your Flash movies. This course will focus on effects that are transferable to your Flash projects, 3D animations, ecards, and Tips & Tricks to make your Flash life easier! Some of the effects include the use of Action Script; these will be explained and documented as necessary to allow you to use them without having to be an "Action Scripter". Below are just a few of the effects you will create in Flash FX Part 2 class: Coloring Book: Drag a color to an area on the beach dude: Click here to see sample assignment movies LVS Online Classes Flash Blog: http://www.lvsonline.com/online-flash-classes This is a self-study course. Access to all lessons will be provided as soon as the registration is processed. LVS is a Corel Training Partner. LVS students may purchase Corel products at a significant savings. Follow this link for details. LVS students are also eligible take advantage of special offers made available by famous software developers such as Andromeda, AV Bros, Extensis, Harry Heim, namesuppressed, Nik Multimedia, and Ulead. Details are provided in the classinfo link found in the confirmation of registration. If you would like to receive more information regarding this course, click on the "Contact Us" link in the Information section and we'll try to answer any of your questions within the day.

Course Requirements

Flash 5 or newer sofware. You may download a trial version of Flash, but be aware that it is only good for 30 days. Up-to-date browser such as Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, Firefox or Safari. Flash will work on both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Lessons are written in PC format, but are compatible for Macintosh users. You must know how your operating system works as instructors use PC. Homework must be reviewed by the instructor in order to earn a certificate. Students have the option of using the Student Upload Area or free web hosting made available for LVS students. Details are provided in the classroom. If you prefer to use your own web space, you must know how to upload your files to a server. Free tutorials are available: Basic HTML page WS_FTP SmartFTP If using your own web space, your web host must be configured (MIME-Type) to handle Shockwave Flash files (.swf) and native Flash files (.fla). Details are provided in the classroom. Students should have working knowledge of their operating system: Free Windows Class Here Directory Structure Tutorial Here Zip files may be necessary to complete the exercises provided each week. WinZip, PKZip, Windows Compression or similar program is required to unzip these files. Winzip Tutorial Here Windows Compression All lessons are available in PDF format. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view/print the lessons. Plan to devote 4 - 6 hours per week on the lesson and assignment.

Course Prerequisites

Class Level - Advanced Flash Intro and Flash Intermediate Basic knowledge of HTML is required. If you are not familiar with HTML, consider taking the Build Your Website Intro class.

Course Syllabus

Lesson 4 - Week 1/2 Snowing Raining Lens Flare Star field Color Feel the Burn Cel-e-brate! Color Your World Caught in the Crosshair Are You Following Me? Cursors! Foiled Again Bonus: Stay Between the Lines (Color) Lesson 5 - Week 3/4 Spinning 2D Text Spinning 2D w/Action Script 3D Glass Button 3D Text Cube Atomic Power Crossing the Lines Around the World Circling the Wagons Not More Squares!?! Bonus: Wheel of Fortune Lesson 6 - Week 5/6 Creating e-Cards Tying Sound to Action or Input Putting It All Together Distribution of e-Cards

Course Excerpt

LESSON 4 :: WORKING WITH SNOW EFFECTS :: EXERCISE 1: Let it snow! This snow effect is created with the use of Movie Clip that contains actionscripting for the snow. :: Preparing the Stage Open a new movie and name it [yourname]-[mx/f5]-wk4-Ex1.fla . Set the stage size to 550 x 400 with a black background. Rename the existing layer to background . Set the FPS to 21. Open the Library for this movie. Use the Open as Library feature to access the wk4-library.fla found in the Week 4 library zip file. Drag the snow Folder in the Shared Library to the library of the new movie. Close the wk4-library.fla library. Drag out a 550 x 215 rectangle filled with the black/white radial gradient. Group the rectangle then align it Horizontal Center and Top Edge to the stage. We'll need 175 frames, so go ahead and insert frames [F5] in frame 175. Insert a new layer and name it snow hills . Drag out an instance of g-snow hills . Align it Horizontal Center and Bottom Edge to the stage. :: Preparing the Elements Insert a new symbol. Name it mc-snow guide . Give it Movie Clip behavior. Rename the existing layer snow ball . Add a Motion Guide layer. In keyframe 1 of the Guide layer, use the Pencil tool to draw out a smooth guideline in the form of a lopsided figure 8. Draw it kind of large....the sample movie's guideline is 426 W x 149 H. Lock the Guide layer. With frame 1 of the snowball layer selected, drag an instance of the g-snow ball to the work area. The g-snow ball instances are very small, so to see them easier, zoom in to 400%. In the snow ball layer, position the g-snow ball instance in keyframe 1 at the beginning of the guideline as shown: Insert a keyframe in frame 30 of snowball layer. Position this g-snowball instance in keyframe 30 at the end of the guideline as shown: Apply Motion Tween to frames 1 through 29. Insert a new symbol. Name it mc-snowman . Give it Movie Clip behavior. Drag an instance of the g-snowman to the work area and center it. Insert a keyframe in frame 5, 10, 15, and 20. Select the instance in keyframe 5 and rotate it a tad to the left. Select the instance in keyframe 15 and rotate it a tad to the right. Apply Motion Tween to frames 1 through 19. Insert a new symbol. Name it mc-snow mound . Give it Movie Clip behavior. Drag an instance of the g-snow mound to the work area and center it. Insert a keyframe in frame 97. Break apart this instance to a shape. Insert a blank keyframe in frame 135. Drag an instance of the g-snow mound2 to the work area. In the Properties panel or Info panel, change the Height to 22.4. Center this instance in the work area, then break it apart. Insert a blank keyframe in frame 175. Continued... Please note: Lessons provide step-by-step instructions with detailed screen captures.

Course Goals

At the end of this course you will be able to create basic 3-D style animations, animated E-Cards, jazz up logos and banners like those done in Swish, and much, much, more!

Course Reviews

Cassandra: “Many of the effects are transferable to current projects so there is a real life benefit to me. I liked having all the lessons available so I could work at my own speed.” More...