Working with Flash documents



    About Flash files

    In Flash, you can work with a variety of file types, each of which has a separate purpose:

    • FLA files, the primary files you work with in Flash, contain the basic media, timeline, and script information for a Flash document. Media objects are the graphic, text, sound, and video objects that comprise the content of your Flash document. The Timeline is where you tell Flash when specific media objects should appear on the Stage. You can add ActionScript® code to Flash documents to more finely control their behavior and to make them respond to user interactions.

    • SWF files, the compiled versions of FLA files, are the files you display in a web page. When you publish your FLA file, Flash creates a SWF file.

    • AS files are ActionScript files—you can use these to keep some or all of your ActionScript code outside of your FLA files, which is helpful for code organization and for projects that have multiple people working on different parts of the Flash content.

    • SWC files contain the reusable Flash components. Each SWC file contains a compiled movie clip, ActionScript code, and any other assets that the component requires.

    • ASC files are files used to store ActionScript that will be executed on a computer running Flash Media Server. These files provide the ability to implement server-side logic that works in conjunction with ActionScript in a SWF file.

    • JSFL files are JavaScript files that you can use to add new functionality to the Flash authoring tool.

    The following video tutorials demonstrate working with Flash. Some videos may show Flash CS3, but are still applicable to Flash CS4.

    Create a new document

    You can create a new document or open a previously saved document in Flash, and you can open a new window as you work. You can set properties for new or existing documents.

    Create a new document

    1. Select File > New.
    2. On the General tab, select Flash Document.

      On Windows, you can create a new document of the same type as the last document created by clicking the New File button in the main toolbar.

    Create a new document from a template

    1. Select File > New.
    2. Click the Templates tab.
    3. Select a category from the Category list, select a document from the Category Items list, and click OK. You can select standard templates that come with Flash or a template you have already saved.

    Open an existing document

    1. Select File > Open.
    2. In the Open dialog box, navigate to the file or enter the path to the file in the Go To box.
    3. Click Open.

    Open a new window for the current document

     Select Window > Duplicate Window.

    Set properties for a new or existing document

    1. With the document open, select Modify > Document.

      The Document Properties dialog box appears.

    2. For Frame Rate, enter the number of animation frames to appear every second.

      For most computer-displayed animations, especially those playing from a website, 8 frames per second (fps) to 15 fps is sufficient. When you change the frame rate, the new frame rate becomes the default for new documents.

    3. For Dimensions, set the Stage size:

      • To specify the Stage size in pixels, enter values in the Width and Height boxes. The minimum size is 1 x 1 pixels; the maximum is 2880 x 2880 pixels.

      • To set the Stage size so that there is equal space around the content on all sides, click the Contents option to the right of Match. To minimize document size, align all elements to the upper-left corner of the Stage, and then click Contents.

      • To set the Stage size to the maximum available print area, click Printer. This area is determined by the paper size minus the current margin selected in the Margins area of the Page Setup dialog box (Windows) or the Print Margins dialog box (Macintosh).

      • To set the Stage size to the default size, 550 x 400 pixels, click Default.

    4. To set the background color of your document, click the triangle in the Background Color control and select a color from the palette.
    5. To specify the unit of measure for rulers that you can display along the top and side of the application window, select an option from the Ruler Units menu in the lower left. (This setting also determines the units used in the Info panel.)
    6. Do one of the following:

      • To make the new settings the default properties for the current document only, click OK.

      • To make the new settings the default properties for all new documents, click Make Default.

    Change document properties using the Property inspector

    1. Deselect all assets, then select the Selection tool.
    2. In the Property inspector (Window > Properties), click the Edit button next to the Size property to display the Document Properties dialog box.
    3. To select a background color, click the triangle in the Background Color control and select a color from the palette.
    4. For Frame Rate, enter the number of animation frames to play each second.
    5. For publish settings, click the Edit button next to the Profile property. Flash displays the Publish Settings dialog box with the Flash tab selected. Choose appropriate options from the dialog box. For more information, see Publishing Flash documents.

    Add XMP metadata to a document

    You can include Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) data such as title, author, description, copyright, and more in your FLA files. XMP is a metadata format that certain other Adobe® applications can understand. The metadata is viewable in Flash and in Adobe® Bridge. For more information about XMP metadata, see Metadata and Keywords in Bridge Help.

    Embedding metadata improves the ability of web-based search engines to return meaningful search results for Flash content. The search metadata is based on the XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) specifications and is stored in the FLA file in a W3C-compliant format.

    A file’s metadata contains information about the contents, copyright status, origin, and history of the file. In the File Info dialog box, you can view and edit the metadata for the current file.

    Depending on the selected file, the following types of metadata may appear:

    Description
    Contains author, title, copyright, and other information.

    IPTC
    Displays editable metadata. You can add captions to your files, as well as copyright information. IPTC Core is a specification that was approved by the IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) in October 2004. It differs from the older IPTC (IIM, legacy) in that new properties were added, some property names were changed, and some properties were deleted.

    Camera Data (Exif)
    Displays information assigned by digital cameras, including the camera settings used when the image was taken.

    Video Data
    Displays metadata for video files, including pixel aspect ratio, scene, and shot.

    Audio Data
    Displays metadata for audio files, including artist, album, track number, and genre.

    Mobile SWF
    Lists information about SWF files, including title, author, description, and copyright.

    History
    Keeps a log of changes made to images with Photoshop.
    Note: The History Log preference must be turned on in Photoshop for the log to be saved with the file’s metadata.

    Version Cue
    Lists any Version Cue file-version information.

    DICOM
    Displays information about images saved in the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) format.

    To add metadata:

    1. Choose File > File Info.
    2. In the File Info dialog box that appears, enter the metadata that you want to include. You can add or remove metadata in the FLA file at any time.

    View a document when multiple documents are open

    When you open multiple documents, tabs at the top of the Document window identify the open documents and let you easily navigate among them. Tabs appear only when documents are maximized in the Document window.

     Click the tab of the document you want to view.

    By default, tabs appear in the order in which the documents were created. You can drag the document tabs to change their order.

    Save Flash documents

    You can save a Flash FLA document using its current name and location or using a different name or location.

    When a document contains unsaved changes, an asterisk (*) appears after the document name in the document title bar, the application title bar, and the document tab. When you save the document, the asterisk is removed.

    Save a Flash document

    1. Do one of the following:

      • To overwrite the current version on the disk, select File > Save.

      • To save the document in a different location and/or with a different name, or to compress the document, select File > Save As.

    2. If you selected Save As, or if the document has never been saved before, enter the filename and location.
    3. Click Save.

    Revert to the last saved version of a document

     Select File > Revert.

    Save a document as a template

    1. Select File > Save As Template.
    2. In the Save As Template dialog box, enter a name for the template in the Name box.
    3. Select a category from the Category pop‑up menu, or enter a name to create a new category.
    4. Enter a description of the template in the Description box (up to 255 characters), and click OK.

      The description appears when the template is selected in the New Document dialog box.

    Save a document as a Flash CS3 document

    1. Select File > Save As.
    2. Enter the filename and location.
    3. Select Flash CS3 Document from the Format pop‑up menu, and click Save.
      Important: If an alert message indicates that content will be deleted if you save in Flash CS3 format, click Save As Flash CS3 to continue. This might happen if your document contains features that are available only in Flash CS4. Flash does not preserve these features when you save the document in Flash CS3 format.

    Save documents when quitting Flash

    1. Select File > Exit (Windows) or Flash > Quit Flash (Macintosh).
    2. If you have documents open with unsaved changes, Flash prompts you to save or discard the changes for each document.

      • Click Yes to save the changes and close the document.

      • Click No to close the document without saving the changes.

    Working with other Adobe applications

    Flash is designed to work with other Adobe® applications to enable a broad range of creative workflows. You can import Illustrator® and Photoshop® files directly into Flash. You can also create video from Flash and edit it in Adobe® Premiere® Pro or After Effects®, or import video from either of those applications into Flash. When publishing your SWF files, you can use Dreamweaver® to embed the content in your web pages and launch Flash directly from within Dreamweaver to edit the content.

    Opening XFL files

    An XFL file is a type of Flash file that stores the same information as a FLA file, but in XML format. XFL is a set of XML files and other assets (JPEG, GIF, FLV, MP3, WAV, etc.) saved into a compressed XFL package file.

    Other Adobe® applications, such as InDesign® and After Effects can export files in XFL format. This allows you to work on a project in a separate application first and then continue working with it in Flash.

    You can open and work with XFL files in Flash in the same way you would open an FLA file. When you open an XFL file in Flash, you can then save the file as a FLA file. You cannot save XFL files from within Flash.

    The following video tutorials demonstrate exporting from InDesign and AfterEffects to Flash via XFL:

    To open an XFL file in Flash:

    1. In another Adobe® application, such as InDesign or After Effects, export your work as an XFL file.

      The application preserves all of the layers and objects of the original file in the XFL file.

    2. In Flash, choose File > Open and navigate to the XFL file. Click Open.

      The XFL file opens in Flash in the same way as an FLA file. All of the layers of the original file appear in the Timeline and the original objects appear in the Library panel.

      You can now work with the file normally.

    3. To save the file, choose File > Save.

      Flash prompts you to name the new FLA file in the Save As dialog box.

    4. Type a name and save the FLA file.

    Edit a SWF file from Dreamweaver in Flash

    If you have both Flash and Dreamweaver installed, you can select a SWF file in a Dreamweaver document and use Flash to edit it. Flash does not edit the SWF file directly; it edits the source document (FLA file) and re‑exports the SWF file.

    1. In Dreamweaver, open the Property inspector (Window > Properties).
    2. In the Dreamweaver document, do one of the following:

      • Click the SWF file placeholder to select it; then in the Property inspector click Edit.

      • Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the placeholder for the SWF file, and select Edit With Flash from the context menu.

        Dreamweaver switches the focus to Flash, and Flash attempts to locate the Flash authoring file (FLA) for the selected SWF file. If Flash cannot locate the Flash authoring file, you are prompted to locate it.

        Note: If the FLA file or SWF file is locked, check out the file in Dreamweaver.
    3. In Flash, edit the FLA file. The Flash Document window indicates that you are modifying the file from within Dreamweaver.
    4. When you finish making edits, click Done.

      Flash updates the FLA file, re‑exports it as a SWF file, closes, and then returns the focus to the Dreamweaver document.

      Note: To update the SWF file and keep Flash open, in Flash select File > Update for Dreamweaver.
    5. To view the updated file in the document, click Play in the Dreamweaver Property inspector or press F12 to preview your page in a browser window.

    Create mobile content with Adobe Device Central and Flash

    1. Start Flash.
    2. On the main Flash screen, select Create New > Flash File (Mobile).

      Flash opens Adobe® Device Central and displays the New Document tab.

    3. In Device Central, select a Player version and ActionScript version.

      The Available Devices list on the left is updated. Devices that do not support the selected Player version and ActionScript version are dimmed.

    4. Select a content type.

      The Available Devices list on the left is updated and shows the devices that support the content type (as well as the Player version and ActionScript version) selected.

    5. In the Available Devices list, select a single target device or multiple devices (or select a set or individual device in the Device Sets list).

      Device Central lists proposed document sizes based on the device or devices you selected (if the devices have different display sizes). Depending on the design or content you are developing, you can create a separate mobile document for each display size or try to find one size appropriate for all devices. When choosing the second approach, you may want to use the smallest or largest suggested document size as a common denominator. You can even specify a custom size at the bottom of the tab.

    6. Click Create.

      Flash starts up and creates a document with preset publish settings from Device Central, including the correct size for the device (or group of devices) specified.

    7. Add content to the new Flash document.
    8. To test the document, select Control > Test Movie.

      The new document is displayed in the Device Central Emulator tab. If one or more devices were selected in the Available Devices list in step 5, a new device set is created (named according to the FLA file) and listed in the Device Sets panel. The device shown in the Emulator tab is listed in the Device Sets panel with a special icon . To test the new Flash document on another device, double-click the name of a different device in the Device Sets or Available Devices lists.

    About Version Cue

    Version Cue acts as a virtual server that lets designers work collaboratively on a set of common files. Designers can easily track and manipulate multiple versions of files.

    Version Cue consists of two pieces: the Version Cue Server and Adobe Drive. The Version Cue Server can be installed locally or on a dedicated computer, and it hosts Version Cue projects and PDF reviews. Adobe Drive connects to Version Cue CS4 servers. The connected server appears like a hard drive or mapped network drive in Explorer, Finder, and dialog boxes such as Open and Save As.

    Version Cue

    A.
    Version Cue server

    B.
    Users connect to server using Adobe Drive

    C.
    Users check out and save different versions of a file

    Use Version Cue to track versions of a file as you work and to enable workgroup collaboration such as file sharing, version control, backups, online reviews, and the ability to check files in and out. You can organize Version Cue-managed files into private or shared projects.

    Version Cue is integrated with Adobe Bridge: Use Adobe Bridge as a file browser for Version Cue projects. With Adobe Bridge, you can access Version Cue Servers, projects, and files, and view, search for, and compare information about Version Cue-managed assets.

    Use Version Cue Server Administration to create and manage user access, projects, and PDF reviews; administer backups; export content; and specify advanced Version Cue Server information.

    Note: Version Cue is not available in Adobe Bridge with Adobe Photoshop® Elements for Macintosh.

    For a video on setting up Version Cue, see www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4038_vc.