I'm trying to learn actionscript, and I want to create a flash header for my website, but i have no idea how to begin.
I read some books with actionscript 3 in the last few months, and i can do everything whats led by a tutorieal or an article about something, but just dont know how to start with an own one.
Could you suggest me something, how to start programming some unique stuff?
thanks
Hi,
if you know OOP programming, at least for me the best resource is the as3 language reference, where all the flash classes and functions are described (have examples to use each of them)
if you don;t know, just look for any basic as3 tutorial, will work for you.
anyway if you are looking to do a animation i will consider a flash tutorial, so you can know how to use the flash UI and make any animation that you want.
as3 is basically used to make more than banners, to make logics, apps, to manage events, importing resources dynamically etc,.
I highly suggest this forum to get started: http://www.actionscript.org/forums/index.php3 They not only have tons of tutorials but also tons of questions have been answered on weird issues that may come up in your travels with as3.
To create a scripted-animated header quickly it's a good idea to make use of a library like tweenLite (http://www.greensock.com/tweenlite/) which takes care of a lot of things (mathematics, timing, ...). Almost all professionals don't script their own tweens but make use of such a library to speed up development.
If you want to know what goes on behind the scene a good read would be Foundation Actionscript 3.0 Animation: Making Things Move! By Keith Peters which focusses on movement but you could easily apply the same principles on any other property (like colour, dimension, ...).
If AS3 is still too complicated you could also revert to manually tweened animation, the Flash help is a good starting point for this; there's a topic covering tweened animation but I guess you've been over this already.
If all you are looking to do is make a (non-dynamic) animation, you may want to do that in regular Flash Professional, because that gives you a nice visual editor to make your tweens and everything. That program was specifically designed for animations (and even if you need a little script here or there, you can add that to the timeline).
However, if you are really interested in using code (AS 3.0), then that's great! I would definitely not recommend Flash Professional as an actual coding IDE. Check out some of the tweening libraries others have pointed out here (gTween, tweenLite, etc). Also, you can make some really cool-looking dynamic effects using code with things like particles. Experiment and see what looks best for your needs!
Hi there,
I had same issues couples of back and after lots of research I was albe to create some dynamic animations. Here are few tips.
a) First thing to do is create a mockup of sample in visual editor program(I use illustrator).This will save you lots of time and hassel. b) I don't know how intensive you actionscript knowledge is but look into Tween and TransactionManager classes. Republic of Code site gives indepth view of TransactionManager and Tween classes. My site is basically all tween event animations. (couldn't show you all the links due to restriction set by this site) c) Another great resource is Lynda.com. They have good tutorial by Ted Perkins..
or just email me the mockups and I can give you basic guide line one how to do those animations or where to start..
Thanks, Rexon
I can recommend 2 things
1 go to www.gotoAndLearn.com. He have great tuts on "Twiner".
2 .Cs5 has pre maid animation code. I used to use bit and then look at the code that flash made.
Good luck Shani
Hi.. If u really want to learn Flash den goto http://www.cartoonsmart.com/ there r some awesome video tutors.. and for actionscript refer to the book Actionscript 3.0 Game programming by Gary Rozenweig. But if u want some unique tool to just create some attractive flash content for ur website or good animations for ur site, den go on with Swish Max.. Its a very Easy and effective 2D flash animation tool with lots of inbuilt effects and animation feautures..
i strarted programm graphics trying to create a videorealistic smoke and lightening in as2 without using even a single picture. it was fun and expirience