Thank you for your efforts this semester. It has been my pleasure working with you and getting to know you all.

If your final projects are not yet posted to the blog because you used external assets, or your file is too large, don’t despair! though do not expect anything to be visible for at least several days, until the files are uploaded.Files have been uploaded as of May 26.

This blog will continue to function for a good long time. The blog gets lonely when no-one visits! So, feel free to leave a comment, show your friends your work, or just check in from time to time.

Weekly blogging #10 was your last weekly blog homework – there is no blogging assignment this week.

I am looking forward to seeing your final projects on Friday. The final presentation period runs from 1pm-3pm. Arrive on time and prepared to show your work. In addition to presenting your work to the class, you will need to turn in your final project as both FLA and SWF files.

Post your final projects to the blog under the “Project 4 – Final Project” category. (If you are using external files then you will not be able to post your own work successfully; be sure to bring your files and all external assets with you to the final).

This final textbook homework contains a lot of very useful information on making your movies work on the web as well as exporting them into other formats such as animated GIF and Quicktime.

 If you’re using the CS3 textbook, read chapters 13 and 14 and complete the following exercises: Bandwidth Profiler p. 512-515 (there is no exercise to turn in for this one but complete the tutorial anyway), Optimizing for Video p. 527-531, Showtime p. 543-553.

If you’re using the CS4 textbook, complete chapter 15 and the following exercises: Bandwidth Profiler p. 644-648 (there is no exercise to turn in for this one but complete the tutorial anyway), Optimizing for Video p. 657-661, Showtime p. 668-679.

0. Note your movie’s dimensions (width x height, in pixels)

1. Save your movie with a name that is both unique to you and follows web conventions (NO SPACES, NO FUNNY CHARACTERS IN THE FILE NAME) – for example, [movieZss.fla] or [movie-zss.fla] are OK, but [movie Zss.fla] or [movie.Zss.fla] or [movieZ$$.fla] are not valid file names

Continue reading →

The textbook homework due May 1 will be from the CS4 textbook, Chapter 14, “Building Stuff”. Those of you working in the CS3 textbook need to send me an email requesting the chapter and I will send you a PDF. 

This chapter contains some very rich exercises that will be time-consuming but very valuable. You are warned to PLAN AHEAD, especially given that Project 3 is also due on May 1.

Complete the chapter and turn in the following five exercises:

• Beach Trip exercise, pp. 583-588;
• Movie preloader, pp. 588-590;
• XML-based slide show, pp. 591-598 [CS3 textbookers will find this exercise very familiar];
• MP3 player, pp. 598-622 (NOTE… if the song titles aren’t appearing after you complete the soundID3Handler at the top of p. 620, replace the mp3 files in the “example” folder with those from the “Complete” folder… the files in the “Example” folder do not have ID3 tags assigned to them);
• Video controller, pp. 622-632.

The sample files, which weigh in at a whopping 200MB, are available at http://www.foundationflashcs4.com/sample-files.html

For those working from the CS3 textbook, the homework is from Chapters 10 and 11. Complete the chapters and turn in the following five exercises:

• From Chapter 10, four exercises: p. 428 and p. 432, The Power of CSS; p. 442, Embedded Fonts; and p. 445, Loading External CSS
• From Chapter 11, one exercise: p. 463, Your Turn.

For those working from the CS4 textbook, the homework is from Chapters 12 and 13. Complete the chapters and turn in the following five exercises:

• From Chapter 12, four exercises: p. 534 and p. 537, Styling with CSS; p. 547, Embedded Fonts; and p. 551, Loading External CSS.
• From Chapter 13, one exercise: p. 572, Your Turn.

NOTE: The CS4 textbook contains some errors; Continue reading →

The UI Components chapter is Chapter 9 in the CS3 textbook but Chapter 10 in the CS4 textbook. The individual exercises are pretty straightforward though there is some coding involved.

Complete the chapter and turn in the following exercises:

• CS3 (7 exercises): p. 395, Using the Button component; p. 404, ComboBox component; p. 411, NumericStepper component; p. 412, ProgressBar component; p. 415, ScrollPane component; p. 416, Slider component; p. 417; TextArea component (though, p. 420, UILoader component, is a nicer example than TextArea component, truth be told).
• CS4 (7 exercises): p. 497, Adding Button events; p. 509, ComboBox component; p. 515, NumericStepper component; p. 516, ProgressBar component; p. 520, ScrollPane component; p. 521, Slider component; p. 522; TextArea component (though, p. 525, UILoader component, is a nicer example than TextArea component, truth be told).

Also, please review Chapter 4, “ActionScript Basics”.

We will be working to create the interactive slide shows during the April 2 class.

For March 27 complete the “Video” chapter in the textbook. Turn in the following exercises:

CS3 (6 exercises): p. 351, Using the Import video wizard; p. 357, Using the FLVPlayback component; p. 361, Playing video using ActionScript; p. 364, Using the FLVPlayback control components; p. 378, Your turn: XML captions; p. 383, Playing with alpha channel video.

CS4 (6 exercises): p. 455, Using the wizard; p. 460, Using the FLVPlayback component; p. 463, Playing video using ActionScript; p. 467, Using the FLVPlayback control components; p. 484, Your turn: XML captions; p. 488, Playing with alpha channel video.

If you’re trying to do the final exercise in Chapter 6 of the CS4 textbook, where you make a scrollable text box using ActionScript, there are some adjustments required on the sample file and on the code so that your exercise will work. (Thanks to Valeriya for bringing this to my attention!) Continue reading →

From either textbook, complete Chapter 6 (Text), and the following five exercises:  

• CS4 book, Your Turn p. 265-272 (3 exercises) and Your Turn p. 295-298 (2 exercises)
• CS3 book, Your Turn p. 248-255 (3 exercises) and Your Turn p. 275-280 (2 exercises); see this post for required fixes to the last exercise.

Everyone must also complete Chapter 8 (Animation 2) from the CS4 textbook, and the following five exercises:

• Built-in eases p. 373, Multiple eases p. 378, Property keyframes p. 378, Manipulating motion paths p. 382, Your turn p. 409
• NOTE that in Chapter 8 p. 402 step 13 the script is incorrect. The text says, “ik.limitByIteration = false;” when it should read, “ik.limitByIteration = true;” 
• AND, if you do not have the CS4 textbook, you need to send me an email to get this chapter.

CS4 book (twelve total): Shape hints p. 310, Easing p. 319-327 (4 exercises), Tween effects p. 340-342 (2 exercises), Motion guides p. 344, Animated button p. 348-350 (2 exercises), Copy Motion as ActionScript p. 351-353, Animated scene p. 356-361.

CS3 book (eleven total): Shape hints p. 293, Easing p. 301-310 (4 exercises), Tween effects p. 323, Motion guides p. 325, Animated button p. 328-331 (2 exercises), Copy Motion as ActionScript p. 331-333, Animated scene (photocopy). For you CS3’ers, the files you’ll need to complete that final exercise are available for download here.

I encourage you to get a head start on on Chapter 5 Chapter 6 (Text) or on CS4 Chapter 8 (Animation 2) as both will be due the following week, March 20.

For anyone who wants to consult the code used in the class demonstration, I placed copies of the files on the class public folder so you can access them on your own. If you do use them, please copy them to your own computer before opening them, so that you do not accidentally change the files on the public folder.

For March 6 complete chapters 4 and 5 in the textbook. Turn in the following exercises… Continue reading →