Adobe Flash is the industry-standard application for building animations and other interactive content, two core functions that make multimedia such a popular element of modern electronic communication. Multimedia development typically involves a combination of both visual creativity and logical programming skills. As you complete the projects in this book, you explore basic drawing techniques, and then move on to more advanced techniques such as adding animation and interactivity. Throughout the book, you will learn how to add the necessary ActionScript code that will move your designs from static to dynamic.

• Define document settings, create vector graphics with the Flash drawing tools, and import images from external files, all within file dimensions appropriate for commercial printing.
• Import existing artwork from vector-drawing and image-editing applications, and organize it using layers and libraries to achieve the best animation effects.
• Add static and dynamic text areas into movie clips.
• Use a variety of techniques for building animations, including frame-by-frame, tweening, and motion paths.
• Incorporate sounds into your movies by importing sound clips, adjusting envelopes, synchronizing with animation, and defining appropriate compression settings.
• Define appropriate formats and playback settings to incorporate video files into Flash movies.
• Use symbols to minimize file weight without compromising the visual quality of Flash movies.
• Add buttons, behaviors, and functions to control animation playback.
• Access built-in coding aids to develop proper ActionScript associated with variables, arrays, loops, and other scripting needs.