Which buttons are used to nagivate through the entire movie project?
Answers
Explanation:
It’s time to get interactive! Flash can be a rewarding design and animation tool, but you won’t be using the application to its fullest potential unless you include elements of interactivity. In Chapter 3, you wrote your first script, to prevent your animation from looping by default. In this chapter, you’ll give your audience some control through the use of buttons and ActionScript.
The easiest way to add interactivity to Flash is to use a button to run ActionScript. The projects featured in this chapter will all focus on button use. One project, for example, will be to modify the animation you created in Chapter 3, adding one button to replay the animation and another to open a web page.
You may be thinking, “Big deal, I can do those things with HTML.” True, but Flash buttons can be more powerful, and sometimes even easier to create, than their HTML counterparts. With Flash, it’s easier for buttons to contain animations and sound, to be activated or dimmed dynamically, and to be repositioned automatically when, say, the browser window is resized.
Of course, buttons are just the beginning. ActionScript is a powerful scripting language, and it can be implemented in a variety of ways. Fortunately, the Flash development community is one of the most generous collectives on the Web, and there are many resources available to help you learn more about ActionScript when you are ready. Appendix A contains a very brief list of such resources to get you started, but half the fun is exploring.
Buttons as Symbols
In earlier chapters, you learned about graphic symbols and movie clip symbols. Next, you’ll see how to create the third type of symbol, a button. Buttons are similar in many respects to other symbols, but there are two important differences.
The main difference is that, by default, a button doesn’t have a full timeline, like a graphic or a movie clip. Instead, it has four distinct frames in which you can place the various button “states” (the default appearance of the button, as well as the way it looks when the mouse is hovered over and clicked down on the button).
The second difference is that a button will automatically update its appearance upon user interaction. That is, the button will automatically change its state, and switch the system cursor between the default selection arrow and a “pointing finger,” to respond to corresponding mouse movements. Although the button must still be programmed with ActionScript to affect your movie, the button state and cursor feedback are handled for you.
Simple Buttons
Multiple button states are not required, and sometimes you just need a quick “hot spot.” Soon, you’ll see how to create more complex buttons (and even an invisible button), but your first project is to start with a basic button symbol.
To create a button with the word Button on it:
Create a new Flash document to experiment with and save the file as simple_button.fla in the 04 folder.
Draw a rectangle (choose any color you like) and resize it to 100 x 50.
Use the Text tool to create the word Button. Center-justify the text using the Properties panel, and center the text object itself within the rectangle. (Hint: Try using the Align panel.)
Click and drag to select everything on the Stage, and then press F8 to convert the image to a symbol.
In the Convert to Symbol dialog box, name the symbol btn and choose Button as the Behavior type, as shown in Figure 4-1. Click OK to close the dialog box
Answer:
…………buttons are used to navigate through the entire movie project.