Adobe After Effects CS3 User manual

USER GUIDE

PROFESSIONAL

ADOBE

®

FLASH

®

CS3

Copyright

Using Adobe® Flash® CS3 Professional for Windows® and Mac OS

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Any references to company names in sample templates are for demonstration purposes only and are not intended to refer to any actual organization.

Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe Premiere, ActionScript, ColdFusion, Director, Fireworks, Flash, Flash Lite, FreeHand, Illustrator, and Photoshop are either registered trademarks

or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Macintosh is a trademark of Apple

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www.apache.org). MPEG Layer-3 audio compression technology licensed by Fraunhofer IIS and

Thomson Multimedia (

http://www.iis.fhg.de/amm/). You cannot use the mp3 compressed audio within the Software for real time or live broadcasts. If you require an mp3

decoder for real time or live broadcasts, you are responsible for obtaining this mp3 technology license. Speech compression and decompression technology licensed from Nelly-

moser, Inc. (

http://www.on2.com. This product includes software developed by the OpenSymphony Group (http://www.opensymphony.com/)

Sorenson Spark™ video compression and decompression technology licensed from Sorenson Media, Inc.

Adobe Systems Incorporated, 345 Park Avenue, San Jose, California 95110, USA.

Notice to U.S. Government End Users: The Software and Documentation are “Commercial Items,” as that term is defined at 48 C.F.R. §2.101, consisting of “Commercial

Computer Software” and “Commercial Computer Software Documentation,” as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202, as applicable. Consistent with

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being licensed to U.S. Government end users (a) only as Commercial Items and (b) with only those rights as are granted to all other end users pursuant to the terms and conditions

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the provisions of Executive Order 11246, as amended, Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (38 USC 4212), and Section 503 of the

Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the regulations at 41 CFR Parts 60-1 through 60-60, 60-250, and 60-741. The affirmative action clause and regulations contained in

the preceding sentence shall be incorporated by reference.

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Contents

Chapter 1: Getting started

Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Using Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

What’s new . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Chapter 2: Workspace

Flash workflow and workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Using the Stage and Tools panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

The Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Using Flash authoring panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Accessibility in the Flash workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Undo, redo, and history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Automating tasks with the Commands menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Chapter 3: Creating and managing documents

Working with Flash documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Creating and previewing mobile content with Adobe Device Central . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Working with projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Adding media to the library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Working with timelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Working with scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Find and Replace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Chapter 4: Adobe Version Cue

Working with Adobe Version Cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Working with the Version Cue Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Working with Version Cue projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Working with files in Version Cue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Version Cue versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Editing and synchronizing offline files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Version Cue Server Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Version Cue PDF reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Chapter 5: Using imported artwork

Placing artwork into Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Working with Illustrator AI files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Working with Photoshop PSD files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Imported bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

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Chapter 6: Drawing

Drawing Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Using Flash drawing and painting tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Drawing with the Pen tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Reshaping lines and shape outlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Snapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Chapter 7: Working with color, strokes, and fills

Working with color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Modifying color palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Strokes, fills, and gradients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Chapter 8: Working with graphic objects

About graphic objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Selecting objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Moving, copying, and deleting objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Arranging objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Transforming objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Chapter 9: Using symbols, instances, and library assets

Working with symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Working with symbol instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Library assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Using shared library assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Working with button symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Scaling and caching symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Symbols and ActionScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Chapter 10: Creating animation

Animation basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Using Timeline effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Tweened animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Chapter 11: Special effects

About filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

About blend modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Chapter 12: Working with text

Text and fonts in Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Creating text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Setting text attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Chapter 13: Creating multilanguage text

Creating multilanguage text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Encoding text formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Authoring multilanguage text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

XML file format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Multilanguage text and ActionScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

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Chapter 14: Working with sound

Using sounds in Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Exporting Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Sound and ActionScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Chapter 15: Working with video

Creating and publishing Flash Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Importing and modifying Flash Video files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

About digital video and Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

Encoding video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Working with Premiere Pro and After Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Using ActionScript to play external Flash Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Chapter 16: Creating e-learning content

Getting started with Flash e-learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Including a Flash learning interaction in a document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Adding, naming, and registering assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Configuring learning interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Changing the appearance of a learning interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Tracking to AICC- or SCORM-compliant learning management systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

Extending learning interaction scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Chapter 17: Creating accessible content

About accessible content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Using Flash to enter accessibility information for screen readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Specifying advanced accessibility options for screen readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Creating accessibility with ActionScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Chapter 18: Working with screens

Screen-based documents and the screen authoring environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Working with screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

Adding content to screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Chapter 19: ActionScript

Working with ActionScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Script Assist mode and behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Writing and managing scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

Debugging ActionScript 1.0 and 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Debugging ActionScript 3.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

ActionScript publish settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

Chapter 20: Publishing Flash content

Publishing Flash documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Using Flash Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Developing applications for mobile devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Configuring a web server for Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Flash security features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Using publish profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

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HTML publishing templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

Editing Flash HTML settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440

Chapter 21: Exporting from Flash

About exporting from Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Exporting Flash content, images, and video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Chapter 22: Printing with Flash

Printing from the Flash authoring tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456

Chapter 23: Best practices

Structuring FLA files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Organizing ActionScript in an application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467

Behaviors conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468

Video conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Projects and version control guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Flash application authoring guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474

Accessibility guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

Advertising with Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

Optimizing FLA files for SWF output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

Tips for creating content for mobile devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502

1

Chapter 1: Getting started

If you haven’t installed your new software, begin by reading some information on installation and other prelimi-

naries. Before you begin working with your software, take a few moments to read an overview of Adobe® Help and

of the many resources available to users. You have access to instructional videos, plug-ins, templates, user commu-

nities, seminars, tutorials, RSS feeds, and much more.

Installation

Requirements

❖ To review complete system requirements and recommendations for your Adobe® software, see the Read Me file

on the installation disc.

Install the software

1 Close any other Adobe applications open on your computer.

2 Insert the installation disc into the disc drive, and follow the on-screen instructions.

Note: For more information, see the Read Me file on the installation disc.

Activate the software

If you have a single-user retail license for your Adobe software, you will be asked to activate your software; this is a

simple, anonymous process that you must complete within 30 days of starting the software.

For more information on product activation, see the Read Me file on your installation disc, or visit the Adobe website

at www.adobe.com/go/activation.

1 If the Activation dialog box isn’t already open, choose Help > Activate.

2 Follow the on-screen instructions.

Note: If you want to install the software on a different computer, you must first deactivate it on your computer. Choose

Help > Deactivate.

Register

Register your product to receive complimentary installation support, notifications of updates, and other services.

❖ To register, follow the on-screen instructions in the Registration dialog box, which appears after you install and

activate the software.

If you postpone registration, you can register at any time by choosing Help > Registration.

Change or reinstall Flash Player

1 Close your browser.

2 Remove any currently installed version of the player.

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User Guide

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For instructions, see TechNote 14157 on the Adobe® Flash® Support Center at www.adobe.com/go/tn_14157.

3 To begin installation, run one of the following in your Players folder:

• For the ActiveX control for Windows® (Internet Explorer or AOL), run the Install Flash Player 9 AX.exe file.

• For the plug-in for Windows (CompuServe, Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape, or Opera), run the Install Flash Player

9.exe file.

• For the plug-in for Macintosh® (AOL, CompuServe, Firefox, Internet Explorer for Macintosh, Netscape, Opera, or

Safari), run Install Flash Player 9 (Mac OS 9.x) or Install Flash Player 9 OS X (Mac OS X.x).

Note: To verify installation in Netscape, select Help > About Plug-ins from within the browser.

Using Help

About Flash Help

The Flash Help panel (Help > Flash Help) contains the full set of user-assistance information provided with Flash.

To view a Help topic, click its title in the table of contents. Above the topic, you can see its relative location in the

hierarchy of topics.

You can hide the table of contents. To display it again, click the Table of Contents button . When you search Help,

the returned topics take the place of the table of contents. To redisplay the table of contents, click Clear.

The Help panel also displays context-sensitive reference information that you access from the Actions panel.

Adobe Help resources

Documentation for your Adobe software is available in a variety of formats.

In-product and LiveDocs Help

In-product Help provides access to all documentation and instructional content available at the time the software

ships. It is available through the Help menu in your Adobe software.

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LiveDocs Help includes all the content from in-product Help, plus updates and links to additional instructional

content available on the web. For some products, you can also add comments to the topics in LiveDocs Help. Find

LiveDocs Help for your product in the Adobe Help Resource Center, at www.adobe.com/go/documentation.

Most versions of in-product and LiveDocs Help let you search across the Help systems of multiple products. Topics

may also contain links to relevant content on the web or to topics in the Help of another product.

Think of Help, both in the product and on the web, as a hub for accessing additional content and communities of

users. The most complete and up-to-date version of Help is always on the web.

Adobe PDF documentation

The in-product Help is also available as a PDF that is optimized for printing. Other documents, such as installation

guides and white papers, may also be provided as PDFs.

All PDF documentation is available through the Adobe Help Resource Center, at www.adobe.com/go/documen-

tation. To see the PDF documentation included with your software, look in the Documents folder on the installation

or content DVD.

Printed documentation

Printed editions of the in-product Help are available for purchase in the Adobe Store, at www.adobe.com/go/store.

You can also find books published by Adobe publishing partners in the Adobe Store.

A printed workflow guide is included with all Adobe Creative Suite® 3 products, and stand-alone Adobe products

may include a printed getting started guide.

Searching Flash Help

Flash can search all Flash Help systems or a single Help system (such as Using Flash).

You can also search the text of a single topic: Click in the topic to give it focus and press Ctrl+F (Windows) or

Command+F (Macintosh).

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You can search Flash Help for a combination of words and phrases:

Single-word searches Return a list of help pages that contain the specified word. For example, if you type timeline

in the search text field, Flash returns a list of help pages that contain the word timeline or Timeline.

Multiple-word searches Return a list of help pages that each contain all of the search terms you enter. In this case,

the word and is implicit in the search. For example, if you type

movie clip in the search text field, Flash returns a

list of pages that contain both movie and clip—that is, clip movie, movie clip,movie...clip, and so on.

Explicit AND/OR searches Use the words AND or OR to refine the search results. For example, if you type timeline

AND keyframe in the search text field, Flash returns a list of help pages that contain both timeline and keyframe. If

you type

timeline OR tween in the search text field, Flash returns a list of help pages that contain timeline and

pages that contain tween. The words AND and OR must be all capital letters and must be in English, even if you are

searching a non-English version of Flash Help.

Exact phrase searches Use quotation marks to return only pages that contain the specific phrase you enter. For

example, if you type

“motion tween” in the search text field, Flash returns a list of help pages that contain the phrase

motion tween, but not pages that contain separate instances of motion and tween.

Exact phrase with explicit AND/OR searches Use a combination of quotation marks and the words AND or OR to

further refine your searches. For example, if you type

“motion tween” AND “ActionScript” in the search field,

Flash returns a list of pages that contain both the phrase motion tween and the word ActionScript.

Access context-sensitive Help from the Actions panel

1 To select an item for reference, do any of the following:

• Select an item in the Actions panel toolbox pane (on the left side of the Actions panel).

• Select an ActionScript term in the Actions panel in the Script pane.

• Place the insertion point before an ActionScript term in the Actions panel in the Script pane.

2 To open the Help panel reference page for the selected item, do one of the following:

• Press F1.

• Right-click the item and select View Help.

• Click Help above the Script pane.

Choosing the right Help documents

Flash Help contains many documents. The following list describes each document’s purpose and contents:

• Using Flash contains an introduction to what Flash is, what you can do with it, and how the Flash user interface

works. It also contains detailed information about using all of the tools and features in the Flash authoring tool.

• Programming ActionScript 3.0 provides a detailed description of the ActionScript 3.0 language, intended for

beginning and experienced scripters. Programming ActionScript 3.0 explains the basic concepts of writing code,

including how to use logic to write code that makes decisions, how to make your Flash projects respond to user

actions, and how to write code to perform the most common tasks in Flash. ActionScript 3.0 is faster and more

appropriate for computationally intensive applications than ActionScript 2.0, and is somewhat more complex than

ActionScript 2.0.

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• The ActionScript 3.0 Language and Components Reference includes dictionary-style entries for all of the actions,

methods, and properties in the ActionScript 3.0 application programming interface (API), as well as the APIs for

the ActionScript 3.0 components included with Flash. This reference is a fast way to find specific ActionScript

terms to accomplish specific tasks. Each entry includes details of the term’s syntax and functionality, and code

examples.

• Using ActionScript 3.0 Components contains information on using and configuring ActionScript 3.0 components

in a Flash document. Components are reusable user interface elements such as buttons, menus, and so on, that you

can use in your own projects without having to create and script them yourself. Some components do not have a

visual presence, but instead help you store and manage data for your application. This document also contains

information about creating your own reusable components with ActionScript 3.0.

• Learning ActionScript 2.0 in Adobe Flash provides a detailed description of the ActionScript 2.0 language, intended

for both new and more experienced scripters. Learning ActionScript 2.0 in Adobe Flash describes the basic

concepts of writing code, including which scripts you can use in Flash, when to use each type, how to use logic to

write code that makes decisions, how to make your Flash projects respond to user actions, and how to write

specific code to perform the most common tasks in Flash.

• The ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference includes dictionary-style entries for all of the actions, methods, and

properties in the ActionScript 2.0 application programming interface (API). This reference is a fast way to find

specific ActionScript terms to accomplish specific tasks. Each entry includes details of the term’s syntax and

functionality, as well as code examples.

• Using ActionScript 2.0 Components contains information on using and configuring components in a Flash

document. Components are reusable user interface elements such as buttons, menus, and so on, that you can use

in your own projects without having to create and script them yourself. Some components do not have a visual

presence, but instead help you store and manage data for your application. These documents also contain infor-

mation about creating your own reusable components with ActionScript.

• ActionScript 2.0 Components Language Reference includes dictionary-style entries for all of the methods and

properties that are available to each component included with Flash. You control the behavior of components with

these APIs. After you understand the basics of how to use components, this reference is a fast way to find specific

APIs that can help you accomplish specific tasks.

• Extending Flash describes how to add functionality and automation to the Flash authoring tool with custom

JavaScript APIs created for that purpose.

• Getting Started with Flash Lite 2.x provides an introduction to the process of developing content with Adobe®

Flash® Lite™ 2.x for delivery on mobile phones and devices. Flash Lite 2.x supports a subset of ActionScript 2.0.

• Developing Flash Lite 2.x Applications provides techniques and guidelines for creating content and applications for

Flash Lite 2.x, the most current version of Adobe® Flash® Player designed for mobile phones and other devices.

Because Flash Lite 2.x supports different features than the desktop version of Flash Player, techniques for creating

content for Flash Lite are different from techniques for creating Flash desktop content.

• Introduction to Flash Lite 2.x ActionScript describes in detail the ActionScript features available in Flash Lite 2.x

and explains how to accomplish common scripting tasks when using Flash Lite 2.x.

• Flash Lite 2.x ActionScript Language Reference provides dictionary-style entries for all of the actions, methods, and

properties available in Flash Lite 2.x. Each entry includes the details of the term’s syntax and functionality, as well

as sample code.

• Getting Started with Flash Lite 1.x provides an introduction to the process of developing content with Flash Lite

1.x for delivery on mobile phones and devices. Flash Lite 1.x supports a subset of ActionScript 1.0.

FLASH CS3

User Guide

6

• Developing Flash Lite 1.x Applications provides techniques and guidelines for creating content and applications for

Flash Lite 1.x, the first version of Flash Player designed for mobile phones and other devices. Because Flash Lite

1.x supports different features than the desktop version of Flash Player, techniques for creating content for Flash

Lite 1.x are different from techniques for creating Flash desktop content.

• Learning Flash Lite 1.x ActionScript describes in detail the ActionScript features available in Flash Lite 1.0 and 1.1

and explains how to perform common scripting tasks when using Flash Lite 1.x.

• Flash Lite 1.x ActionScript Language Reference provides dictionary-style entries for all of the actions, methods, and

properties available in Flash Lite 1.0 and 1.1. Each entry includes the details of the term’s syntax and functionality,

as well as sample code.

Resources

Adobe Video Workshop

The Adobe Creative Suite 3 Video Workshop offers over 200 training videos covering a wide range of subjects for

print, web, and video professionals.

You can use the Adobe Video Workshop to learn about any Creative Suite 3 product. Many videos show you how to

use Adobe applications together.

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When you start the Adobe Video Workshop, you choose the products you want to learn and the subjects you want

to view. You can see details about each video to focus and direct your learning.

Community of presenters

With this release, Adobe Systems invited the community of its users to share their expertise and insights. Adobe and

lynda.com present tutorials, tips, and tricks from leading designers and developers such as Joseph Lowery, Katrin

Eismann, and Chris Georgenes. You can see and hear Adobe experts such as Lynn Grillo, Greg Rewis, and Russell

Brown. In all, over 30 product experts share their knowledge.

Tutorials and source files

The Adobe Video Workshop includes training for novices and experienced users. You’ll also find videos on new

features and key techniques. Each video covers a single subject and typically runs about 3-5 minutes. Most videos

come with an illustrated tutorial and source files, so you can print detailed steps and try the tutorial on your own.

Using Adobe Video Workshop

You can access Adobe Video Workshop using the DVD included with your Creative Suite 3 product. It’s also available

online at www.adobe.com/go/learn_videotutorials. Adobe will regularly add new videos to the online Video

Workshop, so check in to see what’s new.

Flash CS3 Professional videos

Adobe Video Workshop covers a wide range of subjects for Adobe Flash® CS3 Professional, including these:

• Drawing with the Pen tool

• Creating animations using motion tweens

• Creating and animating masks

• Getting started with ActionScript 3.0

FLASH CS3

User Guide

8

• Using the Flash Video Encoder

Videos also show you how to use Flash CS3 with other Adobe components:

• Using symbols effectively between Illustrator® and Flash

• Understanding the Fireworks® and Flash workflow

• Designing websites with Flash and Photoshop

• Creating mobile content in Flash

To access Adobe Creative Suite 3 video tutorials, visit Adobe Video Workshop at

www.adobe.com/go/learn_videotutorials.

Extras

You have access to a wide variety of resources that will help you make the most of your Adobe software. Some of

these resources are installed on your computer during the setup process; additional helpful samples and documents

are included on the installation or content disc. Unique extras are also offered online by the Adobe Exchange

community, at www.adobe.com/go/exchange.

Installed resources

During software installation, a number of resources are placed in your application folder. To view those files, navigate

to the application folder on your computer.

• Windows®: [startup drive]\Program Files\Adobe\[Adobe application]

• Mac OS®: [startup drive]/Applications/[Adobe application]

The application folder may contain the following resources:

Plug-ins Plug-in modules are small software programs that extend or add features to your software. Once installed,

plug-in modules appear as options in the Import or Export menu; as file formats in the Open, Save As, and Export

Original dialog boxes; or as filters in the Filter submenus. For example, a number of special effects plug-ins are

automatically installed in the Plug-ins folder inside the Photoshop CS3 folder.

Presets Presets include a wide variety of useful tools, preferences, effects, and images. Product presets include

brushes, swatches, color groups, symbols, custom shapes, graphic and layer styles, patterns, textures, actions,

workspaces, and more. Preset content can be found throughout the user interface. Some presets (for example,

Photoshop Brush libraries) become available only when you select the corresponding tool. If you don’t want to create

an effect or image from scratch, go to the preset libraries for inspiration.

Templates Template files can be opened and viewed from Adobe Bridge CS3, opened from the Welcome Screen, or

opened directly from the File menu. Depending on the product, template files range from letterheads, newsletters,

FLASH CS3

User Guide

9

and websites to DVD menus and video buttons. Each template file is professionally constructed and represents a

best-use example of product features. Templates can be a valuable resource when you need to jump-start a project.

Samples Sample files include more complicated designs and are a great way to see new features in action. These files

demonstrate the range of creative possibilities available to you.

Fonts Several OpenType® fonts and font families are included with your Creative Suite product. Fonts are copied to

your computer during installation:

• Windows: [startup drive]\Windows\Fonts

• Mac OS X: [startup drive]/Library/Fonts

For information about installing fonts, see the Read Me file on the installation DVD.

DVD content

The installation or content DVD included with your product contains additional resources for use with your

software. The Goodies folder contains product-specific files such as templates, images, presets, actions, plug-ins, and

effects, along with subfolders for Fonts and Stock Photography. The Documentation folder contains a PDF version

of the Help, technical information, and other documents such as specimen sheets, reference guides, and specialized

feature information.

Adobe Exchange

For more free content, visit www.adobe.com/go/exchange, an online community where users download and share

thousands of free actions, extensions, plug-ins, and other content for use with Adobe products.

Bridge Home

Bridge Home, a new destination in Adobe Bridge CS3, provides up-to-date information on all your Adobe Creative

Suite 3 software in one convenient location. Start Adobe Bridge, then click the Bridge Home icon at the top of the

Favorites panel to access the latest tips, news, and resources for your Creative Suite tools.

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FLASH CS3

User Guide

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Note: Bridge Home may not be available in all languages.

Adobe Design Center

Adobe Design Center offers articles, inspiration, and instruction from industry experts, top designers and Adobe

publishing partners. New content is added monthly.

You can find hundreds of tutorials for design products and learn tips and techniques through videos, HTML

tutorials, and sample book chapters.

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New ideas are the heart of Think Tank, Dialog Box, and Gallery:

• Think Tank articles consider how today’s designers engage with technology and what their experiences mean for

design, design tools, and society.

• In Dialog Box, experts share new ideas in motion graphics and digital design.

• The Gallery showcases how artists communicate design in motion.

Visit Adobe Design Center at www.adobe.com/designcenter.

Adobe Developer Center

Adobe Developer Center provides samples, tutorials, articles, and community resources for developers who build

rich Internet applications, websites, mobile content, and other projects using Adobe products. The Developer Center

also contains resources for developers who develop plug-ins for Adobe products.

In addition to sample code and tutorials, you'll find RSS feeds, online seminars, SDKs, scripting guides, and other

technical resources.

Visit Adobe Developer Center at www.adobe.com/go/developer.

Customer support

Visit the Adobe Support website, at www.adobe.com/support, to find troubleshooting information for your product

and to learn about free and paid technical support options. Follow the Training link for access to Adobe Press books,

a variety of training resources, Adobe software certification programs, and more.

Downloads

Visit www.adobe.com/go/downloads to find free updates, tryouts, and other useful software. In addition, the Adobe

Store (at www.adobe.com/go/store) provides access to thousands of plug-ins from third-party developers, helping

you to automate tasks, customize workflows, create specialized professional effects, and more.

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Adobe Labs

Adobe Labs gives you the opportunity to experience and evaluate new and emerging technologies and products from

Adobe.

At Adobe Labs, you have access to resources such as these:

• Prerelease software and technologies

• Code samples and best practices to accelerate your learning

• Early versions of product and technical documentation

• Forums, wiki-based content, and other collaborative resources to help you interact with like-minded developers

Adobe Labs fosters a collaborative software development process. In this environment, customers quickly become

productive with new products and technologies. Adobe Labs is also a forum for early feedback, which the Adobe

development teams use to create software that meets the needs and expectations of the community.

Visit Adobe Labs at www.adobe.com/go/labs.

User communities

User communities feature forums, blogs, and other avenues for users to share technologies, tools, and information.

Users can ask questions and find out how others are getting the most out of their software. User-to-user forums are

available in English, French, German, and Japanese; blogs are posted in a wide range of languages.

To participate in forums or blogs, visit www.adobe.com/communities.

What’s new

New features

The following features are new to Adobe® Flash® CS3 Professional.

CS3 Interface

The Flash user interface is updated to share a common interface with other Adobe Creative Suite CS3 components.

A consistent appearance across all Adobe software helps users work more easily with multiple applications. See

“Workspace” on page 15.

Adobe Bridge and Version Cue

Organize and browse Flash and other creative assets using Adobe Bridge, an independent file-management system

that you can launch from within Flash. Through Adobe Bridge, you can automate workflows across Adobe Creative

Suite components, apply consistent color settings across Adobe software, and access version control features and

online stock photo purchase services. A Welcome screen provides centralized control of settings, as well as ongoing

access to tips and tutorials in Adobe Design Center. See “Adobe Version Cue” on page 83.

Bitmap Symbol Library Item dialog box

The Bitmap Symbol Library Item dialog box has been enlarged to provide a larger preview of the bitmap. See “Using

symbols, instances, and library assets” on page 208.

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Multicolored bounding boxes

You can change the selection color of specific types of elements to identify each element easily. See “Get information

about instances on the Stage” on page 216.

Adobe Device Central

A new way to test content created with Adobe products on emulated mobile devices, Device Central lets you select

a target device from the beginning of the development process, and gives you a clear idea of what a device’s limita-

tions are. See “Developing applications for mobile devices” on page 432.

Active content detections

To eliminate the need to first activate Flash Player so that users can interact with Flash content, Flash publishes

HTML templates that you can use to embed Flash SWF files. Using these templates, embedded SWF files are

activated seamlessly without the need for an additional mouse click or other user activation. See “Publishing Flash

documents” on page 419.

9-slice onstage preview

Because 9-slice scaling now provides onstage preview, you can see changes and adjustments to 9-slice scaled movie

clips on stage. See “About 9-slice scaling and movie clip symbols” on page 223.

Filter copy and paste

You can now copy and paste graphic filter settings from one instance to another. See “Apply filters” on page 251.

Copy and paste motion

Copy and paste motion lets you copy a motion tween and paste (or apply) the frames, tween, and symbol information

to another object. When pasting the motion tween to another object, you can choose to paste all properties

associated with the motion tween, or choose specific properties to apply to the other object. See “Copy and paste a

motion tween” on page 233.

Copy motion as ActionScript 3.0

In addition to copying the properties of one motion tween and applying those properties to another object, you can

copy the properties that define a motion tween in the Timeline as ActionScript 3.0 and apply that motion to another

symbol, either in the Actions panel or in the source files (such as class files) for a Flash document that uses Action-

Script 3.0. See “Copy motion as ActionScript” on page 234.

Pen tool enhancements

The Pen tool has been improved.

• The Pen tool now behaves similarly to the Illustrator Pen tool to provide a more consistent user experience across

Adobe software

• The cubic-to-quadratic conversion is now more efficient, resulting in better accuracy and fewer points.

See “Drawing with the Pen tool” on page 173.

Adobe Photoshop import

You can now import Adobe Photoshop PSD files directly into Flash documents. Most Photoshop data types are

supported, and several import options are provided so that you can find the best balance of image fidelity and

editability within Flash. See “Import Photoshop PSD files” on page 150.

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Adobe Illustrator import

You can now import Adobe Illustrator AI files directly into Flash documents. Most Illustrator data types are

supported, and several import options are provided so that you can find the best balance of image fidelity and

editability within Flash. See “Import Adobe Illustrator files” on page 141.

Primitive Rectangle and Oval drawing tools

New Rectangle and Oval drawing tools let you create rectangles and ovals whose properties (such as stroke or corner

radius) you can edit at any time in the Property inspector. See “Draw rectangles and ovals” on page 167.

Enhanced Quicktime video support

QuickTime export is intended for users who want to distribute Flash content, such as animation, in the QuickTime

video format. This release improves the quality of the exported QuickTime video file, which you can distribute as

streaming video or on a DVD, or import into a video-editing application such as Adobe® Premiere Pro®. See

“Exporting QuickTime” on page 454.

Save and load cue points for Flash video

Save and load functionality has been added to the Cue Points tab to allow you to save the cue points added to one

file and apply them to another. You can generate a cue points XML file based on known time codes and import it

into the encoder before encoding, eliminating the need to manually add each cue point through the Flash Video

Encoder user interface. See Flash Video Encoder Help.

Script Assist mode for ActionScript 3.0

Script Assist mode has been updated to include support for ActionScript 3.0. See “Script Assist mode and behaviors”

on page 387.

Improvements in ActionScript

Flash has a new, improved version of ActionScript. ActionScript 3.0 offers a robust programming model familiar to

developers with a basic knowledge of object-oriented programming. ActionScript 3.0 facilitates the creation of

highly complex applications with large data sets and object-oriented, reusable code bases. While ActionScript 3.0 is

not required for content that runs in Adobe Flash Player 9, it allows performance improvements that are available

only with the new ActionScript Virtual Machine (AVM2). ActionScript 3.0 code can execute up to ten times faster

than legacy ActionScript code.

The older version of ActionScript Virtual Machine, AVM1, executes ActionScript 1.0 and ActionScript 2.0 code.

Flash Player 9 supports AVM1 for backward compatibility with existing and legacy content.

To learn about ActionScript 3.0, see Programming ActionScript 3.0.

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