|
Set up your workspace
Flash Professional 8 offers a new way to create presentations with slide screens. If you can imagine placing media on slide screens, adding nested slides that inherit media from other slides, and using the built-in controls to navigate through the slides at runtime, you've imagined exactly how easy it is to create a presentation with slide screens.
First, you'll open the start file for the lesson and set up your workspace to use an optimal layout for taking lessons.
1. To open your start file, in Flash select File > Open and navigate to the file:
In Windows, browse to boot drive\Program Files\Macromedia\Flash 8\Samples and Tutorials\Tutorial Assets\Basic Tasks\ Presentation with Screens and double-click presentation_start.fla.
On the Macintosh, browse to Macintosh HD/Applications/Macromedia Flash 8/Samples and Tutorials/Tutorial Assets/ Basic Tasks/Presentation with Screens and double-click presentation_start.fla.
Note
The Presentation with Screens folder contains completed versions of the tutorial FLA files for your reference.
The document opens in the Flash authoring environment.
2. Select File > Save As and save the document with a new name, in the same folder, to preserve the original start file.
As you complete this lesson, remember to save your work frequently.
3. Select Window > Workspace Layout > Default to configure your workspace.
View the screen hierarchy and screen Timelines
You add content to screens in much the same way that you add content to the Stage, but screens are nested movie clips, relying on a hierarchy, nested timelines, and inheritance. All screens exist in the first frame of the root timeline, which is hidden, and all screen content loads on the first frame. For more information about screens, see "Working with Screens (Flash Professional Only)" in Flash Help.
1. If the Screen Outline pane is not visible, select Window > Other Panels > Screens.
The Screen Outline pane displays a thumbnail view of each slide in the presentation, and the presentation hierarchy.
When you select a screen in the Screen Outline pane, the screen appears in the Document window. When you select multiple screens, the content of the first screen selected appears in the Document window.
2. In the Screen Outline pane, select the presentation screen.
All slide screen documents contain a presentation screen, which is at the top level of the screen hierarchy. Think of the presentation slide as a master slide: content on the presentation slide can appear in all slides in your document.
Note
You cannot delete or move the presentation screen.
The four slides that appear indented beneath the presentation slide in the pane represent nested, or child, screens, and the presentation slide is the parent.
3. Open the Timeline, if it's not already open (Window > Timeline). Select another slide in the Screen Outline pane to view the Timeline for that screen.
Each screen has its own Timeline. The main Timeline for a document with screens, however, is never visible.
View screen properties
You can view different properties for a slide, depending on where you select the slide.
1. In the Screen Outline pane, select the presentation thumbnail.
The Property inspector allows you to change the instance name, which is also the name of the screen as it appears in the Screen Outline pane.
2. Select the actual presentation slide, not the thumbnail.
The Property inspector now displays the same controls you're probably used to when working with the Stage and document properties.
Add content to a presentation slide
You'll add navigation buttons to the presentation slide so that the buttons appear on each slide in the presentation.
1. In the Screen Outline pane, select the presentation slide thumbnail. In the Timeline, select Frame 1 of the Navigation layer.
2. From the Library panel, drag the NextBtn symbol to the screen, placing it within the black band at the bottom of the screen.
3. In the Property inspector, with the button still selected, enter 280 in the X text box and 165 in the Y text box to place the button.
Note
The coordinates that you enter are in relation to the default center registration point of the slide. For more information about the registration point in screens, see "Specifying the ActionScript class and registration point of a screen (Flash Professional only)" in Flash Help.
4. Enter forwardBtn in the Instance Name text box.
5. Drag PrevBtn to the slide and use the Property inspector to enter 245 in the X text box and 165 in the Y text box.
6. Enter backBtn in the Instance Name text box.
7. In the Screen Outline pane, select each nested slide to verify that the buttons now appear on all slides.
Note
Content on a parent screen appears slightly dimmed when you view it on a nested screen.
Add screen navigation behaviors to buttons
When you open a new Flash Slide Presentation, the document already includes functionality that lets users navigate between slide screens using the keyboard arrow keys. You'll also add navigation behaviors to the buttons, offering users an additional option to navigate between slides.
Note
By default, keyboard arrow keys let you navigate between screens on the same level, not between nested screens.
1. On the presentation slide, select the forwardBtn instance. In the Behaviors panel (Window > Behaviors) click Add (+), and then select Screen > Go to Next Slide from the menu.
2. On the presentation slide, select the backBtn instance. In the Behaviors panel (Window > Behaviors) click Add (+), and then select Screen > Go to Previous Slide from the menu.
3. Select Control > Test Movie, and click the buttons in the SWF file window that appears. You want to make sure your buttons function as expected. When you finish testing your document, close the SWF file window.
Add and name a slide
You can easily add slides to your presentation using the context menu in the Screen Outline pane.
1. In the Screen Outline pane, select the title thumbnail. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) and select Insert Screen from the context menu.
A new screen appears in the Screen Outline pane, at the same level as the title slide. The new slide automatically inherits media from the presentation slide.
2. Double-click the new slide's name in the Screen Outline pane, and name the slide features.
Select and move slides
You can copy, cut, paste, and drag screens in the Screen Outline pane to change their order in the presentation. You'll select three screens, cut them, and paste them so that they're nested as children of the features slide.
1. In the Screen Outline pane, select the performance slide. Shift-click the safety and handling slides to add them to the selection.
2. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the selected slides and select Cut from the context menu.
3. In the Screen Outline pane, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the features slide and select Paste Nested Screen from the context menu.
The three slides now appear as children of the features slide.
Add content to a new slide
The features slide, as a child of the presentation slide, inherits properties from that slide. Additionally, because the features slide is a parent to the three slides that you copied and pasted, content that you add to that slide appears on the three children slides.
1. In the Screen Outline pane, select the features thumbnail. From the Library panel, drag the Features Content symbol to anywhere in the Document window.
2. In the Property inspector, give the instance of Features Content an instance name of features_mc.
3. In the Property inspector, enter -275 in the X text box and -130 in the Y text box to place the instance.
Add transition behaviors
Although your presentation is fairly complete, you'll add transition behaviors to make the presentation more interesting. Specifically, you'll add behaviors that make content fade and appear to fly off the Document window.
1. In the Screen Outline pane, select the features slide. In the Behaviors panel, click Add (+) and select Screen > Transition from the menu.
2. In the Transitions dialog box, select Fade from the list of transitions and view the preview in the lower-left side of the dialog box. Verify that 2 seconds is selected as the duration and that In is selected as the direction, and then click OK.
3. In the Behaviors panel, click Reveal in the Event column to open the pop-up menu and select revealChild. The revealChild option specifies that the behavior will reveal the next child screen.
4. To add the Fly behavior, verify that the features slide is still selected. In the Behaviors panel, click Add (+) and select Screen > Transition from the menu.
5. In the Transitions dialog box, select Fly from the list of transitions, and select Out as the direction.
6. In the Duration text box, enter .5 as the length of time to complete the transition.
7. In the Start Location pop-up menu, select Left Center and watch the transition preview, and then click OK.
In the Behaviors panel, revealChild now appears twice. With the Fly behavior, however, you want to hide the child screen.
8. In the Behaviors panel, click the second event in the list, which is the one you just added. In the pop-up menu, select hideChild.
Test your presentation
Your presentation is now complete and ready to test.
1. Select Control > Test Movie.
2. Use the Forward and Backward navigation buttons to move through the presentation and view the transitions.
Summary
Congratulations on learning how to create a slide presentation with screens. In a few minutes, you learned how to accomplish the following tasks:
Add content to a presentation slide.
Add screen navigation to buttons.
Add and name a slide.
Select and move slides.
Add content to a new slide.
Add transition behaviors to a slide.
To learn more about using screens, see "Working with Screens (Flash Professional Only)" in Flash Help.
|
