Flash CS3 Visual Assets
Display Object Containers
- this object can contain children and grandchildren, etc. objects
- the FLA file is a Display Object Container at the movie root level.
- parent to instances of
DisplayObjects
classes of Display Objects
- shapes - ovals, rectangles, lines, etc., that can also be created at runtime in AS3
- Bitmaps - An AS3 bitmap can be created at runtime using BitmapData class, and a JPEG or GIF file loaded into it
- InterActiveObject - class that displays descendant objects with which the user can interact.
- SimpleButton - can load in graphic button from the library or create one at runtime
- TextField -- class that includes dynamic text (can be updated druing runtime) & input text elements (where user can enter text) controllable with ActionScript
Type of DisplayObjectContainers
- Stage -- at the top of the movie
- Sprite -- a movieclip without a timeline
- Loader -- loads external assets such as bitmaps, and other SWF files
- movieclips -- has a timeline and can contain other movieclips, bitmaps, shapes, etc.
- AVM1Movie - used to interact with movies created with AS1 or AS2 --not used much
- MorphShape -- shape tween, not controllable with AS3, but can be included in another DisplayObject parent class.
- StaticText - text that is not updated during runtime or used for input, but can be included in another DisplayObject parent class.
Flash symbols
- Movieclips - have timeline
- can have filters applied to them
- are like animated GIFs in that they don't stop playing when inserted into a timeline
- Buttons - timeline has 4 keyframes:
- UP - default display
- OVER - displays when rolled over
- DOWN - displays when clicked
- HIT -- defines hotspot
- Graphics
Source:
This information and the SWF movie is drawn from the excellent book Learning ActionScript 3.0: A Beginner's Guide, by Rich Shupe with Zevan Rosser (2007). It is available in Safari books online through the Cal Poly Library. Downloads for this book's examples are available on-line
The SWF movie is displayed from the book site with permission by a Creative Commons License Attribution-Share Alike 2.5
Resources
