Week 13
Monday * April 4
Modular Flash packages: Loading SWFs into SWFs and controlling them.
- LAB Work on Lesson 9 (bring book and CD to class!). ActionScript 3: The Loader object. Also: Fun with moving masks!
- LECTURE 1 Examples of complex Flash journalism packages.
- LECTURE 2 Planning/storyboarding a modular news package.
DUE 9 a.m. Monday (via e-mail): Flash 4 (sliding timeline package)
READ Lesson 9 in Adobe Flash CS5 Professional Classroom in a Book (ACiaB).
EXAMINE The Mekong: A River and a Region Transformed (National Public Radio). See if you can figure out how this package was built. How many SWFs are there?
Notes * * *
One of the best things about loading SWFs into a container, or master SWF, is that people who only want to see one or two of your segments will not have to wait for a long download that includes all the other segments they DON'T want to see. Anything that cuts down the waiting time is good.
Taking a modular approach to Flash packages can also make your job easier, in the long run. It's easier to manage 10 little FLAs instead of one giant Timeline!
Supplemental * * *
- Supplement to Lesson 9: Download this 2-page PDF and use it to ensure that you have understood the key points in the lesson in the book.
- Flash CS4 and Loading External Files (works for CS5 too): Simplified buttons to load and unload not only SWFs but also photos (JPGs).
- Loading Soundslides into a Package - Flash CS4 (AS3). This is also fine for CS5. Do you want to make a Flash package that incorporates Soundslides? It's easy!
- Using the Loader Class in AS3 (tutorial): This supplements what Lesson 9 shows you. It's gets complicated at the end, but don't let that discourage you.
- Storyboarding: Multimedia Storytelling, by Jane Ellen Stevens. This is a good how-to, aimed at journalism students.