- Industry: Software
- Number of terms: 430
- Number of blossaries: 3
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Adobe offers a line of creative, business, Web, and mobile software and services used by creative professionals, knowledge workers, consumers, original equipment manufacturers, developers, and enterprises.
You can deploy digital video in Flash in several different ways:
*Progressive download from a web server
*Streaming video using Adobe Flash Media Streaming Server
*Embedded video data directly inside a Flash file
When you stream video, each Flash client opens a persistent connexion to Flash Media Server and a controlled relationship exists between the video being delivered and the client interaction. Flash Media Server uses bandwidth detection to deliver video or audio content based on the user's available bandwidth. This enables you to provide different content for users based on their ability to easily access and download content. For example, if a user accesses the video content with a dial-up modem, you can deliver an appropriately encoded file that doesn't require too much bandwidth.
Flash Media Server also provides you with quality of service metrics, detailed tracking and reporting statistics, and a range of interactive features designed to enhance the video experience. As with progressive downloading, the video content (FLV or F4V file) is kept external to the other Flash content and the video playback controls. This lets you easily add or change content without having to republish the SWF file.
Streaming video with Flash Media Server (FMS) or Flash Video Streaming Service (FVSS) provides the following advantages over embedded and progressively downloaded video:
*Video playback starts sooner than it does using other methods of incorporating video
*Streaming uses less of the client's memory and disc space because the clients don't need to download the entire file
*Network resources are used more efficiently because only the parts of the video that are viewed are sent to the client
*Delivery of media is more secure because media is not saved to the client's cache when streamed
*Streaming video provides better tracking, reporting, and logging ability
*Streaming lets you deliver live video and audio presentations, or capture video from a web cam or digital video camera
*Flash Media Server enables multiway and multiuser streaming for video chat, video messaging, and video conferencing applications
*By using server-side scripting to control video and audio streams, you can create server-side playlists, synchronised streams, and more intelligent delivery options based on the client's connexion speed.
Industry:Software
9-slice scaling allows you to specify how scaling is applied to specific areas of a movie clip. With 9-slice scaling, you can ensure that the movie clip does not become distorted when scaled. With normal scaling, Flash scales all parts of a movie clip equally, in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions. For many movie clips, this equal scaling can make the clip's graphics look strange, especially at the corners and edges of rectangular movie clips. This is often true of movie clips used as user interface elements, such as buttons.
The movie clip is visually divided into nine sections with a grid-like overlay, and each of the nine areas is scaled independently. To maintain the visual integrity of the movie clip, corners are not scaled, while the remaining areas of the image are scaled (as opposed to being stretched) larger or smaller, as needed.
When a movie clip symbol has 9-slice scaling applied, it appears in the Library panel preview window with the guides displayed. If Enable Live Preview is turned on (Control > Enable Live Preview) when you scale instances of the movie clip on the Stage, you will see the 9-slice scaling applied on the Stage.
Note: 9-slice scaling cannot be applied to Graphic or Button symbols. Bitmaps inside 9-slice enabled movie clips are scaled normally, without 9-slice distortion, while the other movie clip contents are scaled according to the 9-slice guides.
A 9-slice-enabled movie clip can contain nested objects within it, but only certain types of objects inside the movie clip properly scale in the 9-slice manner. To make a movie clip with internal objects that also adhere to 9-slice scaling when the movie clip is scaled, the nested objects must be shapes, drawing objects, groups, or graphic symbols.
To enable 9-slice scaling for symbols in Flash, select an instance on the Stage and press F8 (or choose Modify > Convert to Symbol). Expand the Advanced settings in the Convert to Symbol dialogue box and click the cheque box next to the Enable for 9-slice Scaling Guides option.
To apply 9-slice guides to a symbol, use Adobe Fireworks or Adobe Illustrator to create a symbol and then follow these steps:
#Double-click the symbol or button to enter symbol-editing mode.
#In the Properties panel, select Enable for 9-slice Scaling Guides.
#Move the guides and place them appropriately on the button or symbol. Make sure that the parts of the symbol that you don't want to be distorted when scaling (such as the corners) are outside the guides.
#(Optional) Lock the guides: In the Properties panel, select the Lock option for 9-slice scaling guides.
#Return to the containing page by clicking the page icon at the top of the document panel.
#Resize the symbol as needed by using the Scale tool as desired.
#Import the symbol into Flash. The 9-slice scaling will still be enabled when you transform the symbol in Flash using the Free Transform tool.
Industry:Software
Flash Player detection (also known as SWF detection) is available only for publish settings set to Adobe Flash Player 4 or later, and for SWF files embedded in the Flash Only or Flash HTTPS templates.
To detect the presence of Flash Player before allowing a browser to view SWF files that use the following templates, create a separate HTML page with its own SWF file to detect Flash Player before redirecting browsers to the HTML page that contains the SWF content.
When you publish your SWF file, Flash creates a single HTML page in which to embed the SWF file and the Flash Player detection code. If an end user does not have the version of Flash you've specified to view the SWF file, an HTML page appears with a link prompting the user to download the latest version of Flash Player.
To export Flash detection with your project, follow these steps:
#Select File > Publish Settings and click HTML.
#Select either the Flash Only or Flash HTTPS template from the Template pop‑up menu. These templates support the single-page HTML detection kit. Either of these templates enables the Detect Flash Version cheque box and the version number text fields.
#Select the Detect Flash Version cheque box. Your SWF file is embedded in a web page that includes Flash Player detection code. If the detection code finds an acceptable version of Flash Player installed on the end user's computer, the SWF file plays as expected in their browser.
#(Optional) To specify precise revisions of Flash Player, use the Major Revision and Minor Revision text fields. For example, specify Flash Player version 7,0,2 if it provides a feature that is necessary to play your SWF file.
Industry:Software
When animating, you can use the Motion Editor to control the shape of each property curve of a tween, except for the x, y, and z axes. By working with property curves directly, you can add complex curves to create specific tween effects.
Control points of property curves can be either smooth points or corner points. When a property curve passes through a corner point, it forms an angle. When a property curve passes through a smooth point, it forms a smooth curve.
Select a property keyframe and then press Alt-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac) on the control point to toggle a control point between a corner point and a smooth point.
When a control point is in smooth-point mode, Bézier handles are exposed and the property curve passes through the point as a smooth curve. When a control point is a corner point, the property curve forms an angle when it passes through the control point. Bézier handles are not exposed for corner points.
To set the point to a specific point mode, right-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac) on the control point and choose Corner Point, Smooth Point, Smooth Right, or Smooth Left from the context menu that appears.
Industry:Software
ActionScript is the scripting language used to control playback of SWFs at runtime in Flash Player. Use ActionScript to make your applications play dynamically in a nonlinear way, and to add interesting or complicated functionality that cannot be added using the Timeline.
Using ActionScript, you can add complex interactivity, playback control, and data display to your application. You can add ActionScript in the authoring environment by typing code into the Script pane of the Actions panel. ActionScript follows its own rules of syntax, uses reserved keywords, and supports variables (used to store and retrieve information). ActionScript includes a large library of built‑in classes that you can use to create objects that perform many useful tasks, such as generating random numbers.
When you create a new FLA document, you must choose which version of ActionScript to use. You can change this setting if you decide later to write your scripts using a different version of ActionScript by updating the publish settings.
Flash supports several versions of ActionScript to meet the needs of different kinds of developers and playback hardware:
*ActionScript 3 (the most recent version) executes extremely fast and is fully compliant with the ECMAScript specification. It offers better XML processing, an improved event model, and an improved architecture for working with onscreen elements. FLA files that use ActionScript 3 cannot include earlier versions of ActionScript.
*ActionScript 2 is older and simpler to learn than ActionScript 3. Although Flash Player runs compiled ActionScript 2 code slower than compiled ActionScript 3 code, ActionScript 2 is still useful for many kinds of projects that are not computationally intensive—such as design-oriented content.
*ActionScript 1 is the simplest form of ActionScript, and is still used by some versions of the Flash Lite player. ActionScript 1 and 2 can coexist in the same FLA file.
*Flash Lite 2 and Flash Lite 1 are subsets of the corresponding version of ActionScript that are supported on mobile phones and devices.
Different features and file formats may require setting the corresponding version of ActionScript in the publish profile in order to function and render properly.
Industry:Software
Motion tweens are applied to symbol instances and text fields. Only symbol instances and text fields can be tweened; all other object types are automatically wrapped in a symbol when a tween is applied to them. The symbol instance can contain nested symbols, which can themselves be tweened on their own timelines.
The minimal building block in a tween layer is a tween span. A tween span in a tween layer can contain only one symbol instance. The symbol instance is called the target instance of the tween span.
Only one symbol can be used at a time in a motion tween. If you add a second symbol to a tween span, Flash replaces the original symbol in the tween. You can change the target object of a tween by dragging a different symbol from the Library onto the tween span in the Timeline. You can delete the symbol from a tween layer without removing or breaking the tween. This allows you to add a different symbol instance to the tween at a later time. You can also change the type of the target symbol (button, graphic, or movie clip) of a tween span.
You can edit individual property keyframes on Stage, in the Property inspector, or in the Motion Editor.
A tween layer can contain tween spans as well as static frames and ActionScript. However, frames of a tween layer in a tween span cannot contain objects other than the tweened object. To add additional objects in the same frame, place them on separate layers.
When a tween contains motion, a motion path appears on the Stage. The motion path shows the position of the tweened object in each frame.
Apply easing to motion tweens to vary the rate in which the animation moves; if no ease setting is applied, the animation moves at a consistent rate on each frame throughout the tween.
Industry:Software
Behaviours are predefined scripts that you can attach to objects in your FLA file. behaviours provide functionality such as frame navigation, loading external SWF and JPEG files, controlling the stacking order of movie clips, and movie clip dragging. behaviours also enable you to add features to a Flash project without writing ActionScript; dissecting behaviour code can help you learn how ActionScript works.
Behaviors are available only for ActionScript 2 and earlier. They are only available when you work in the Actions panel, not in an external script file. Typically, you select a triggering object in your document (such as a movie clip or button), select Add in the behaviours panel, and then select a behavior.
Industry:Software
The Stage is the rectangular area where you place graphic content when creating Flash documents. The Stage in the authoring environment represents the rectangular space in Flash Player or in a web browser window where your Flash content is displayed during playback. To change the view of the Stage as you work, zoom in and out. To help you position items on the Stage, you can use the grid, guides, and rulers.
To view the entire Stage on the screen, or to view a particular area of your drawing at high magnification, change the magnification level. The maximum magnification depends on the resolution of your monitor and the document size. The minimum value for zooming out on the Stage is 8%; the maximum value for zooming in on the Stage is 2000%.
When the Stage is magnified, you may not be able to see all of it. To change the view without having to change the magnification, use the Hand tool to move the Stage:
*In the Tools panel, select the Hand tool and drag the Stage. To temporarily switch between another tool and the Hand tool, hold down the Spacebar and click the tool in the Tools panel.
*Double-clicking the Hand tool in the Tools panel scales the Stage so that it fits completely within the application window.
*Double-clicking the Zoom tool in the Tools panel sets the magnification of the Stage to 100%.
*To place objects on the Stage, drag instances of symbols out of the Library.
Industry:Software
Inverse kinematics (IK) is a method for animating an object or set of objects in relation to each other using an articulated structure of bones. Bones allow symbol instances and shape objects to move in complex and naturalistic ways with a minimum of design effort. For example, inverse kinematics enables you to create character animation—such as arms, legs, and facial expressions—much more easily.
To access the Bone tool, select it in the Tools panel. It is grouped with the Bind tool.
You can add bones to separate symbol instances or to the interior of a single shape. When one bone moves, the other connected bones move in relation to the bone that initiated the movement. When animating using inverse kinematics, you need to specify only the start and end positions of objects; Flash interpolates the position of instances between the start and end points.
Industry:Software
You can assign frame labels to specific frames in your project. This strategy enables you to assign a descriptive name to an individual frame, making it easier to visually distinguish the different sections in the Timeline and easier to jump to specific frames with ActionScript. A frame must have a keyframe in it to assign a frame label.
Frame labels are helpful because you can reference a specific frame in the Timeline by referring to it by name instead of using frame numbers in your ActionScript code.
It is beneficial to use frame labels because it makes your code more readable. Additionally, if you add or remove frames when you edit the Timeline, the numbers may change later. Using frame labels ensures that the labels you apply will remain the same, eliminating the need to change any hard-coded frame number references in your code.
It is a best practise to place the layers that include ActionScript and a layer for frame labels at the top of the layer stack in the Timeline. For example, rename the layer that contains your ActionScript to actions and rename the layer that contains frame labels to labels and drag them to the top of the layer stack, above the other layers in your project.
To add a frame label, select any keyframe in the Timeline. In the Property inspector, enter the desired text in the Name field of the Label section. If more frames extend to the right past the frame label, the name of the frame label will appear in the frame area of the Timeline.
Industry:Software
