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Explanation of how to develop a Flash movie using Swish rapid application development program. Also refer to characteristics, content, images, text, effects, action, publish, SWF files, Ron Kurtus, School for Champions. Copyright © Restrictions

Developing a Flash Movie with Swish

by Ron Kurtus (revised 26 September 2001)

Swish is a popular--but inexpensive--clone of Adobe Flash. It is somewhat easier to use than Flash and has many of the effects built in. Flash has But Swish is somewhat limited in what it allows you do to. You can use Swish to easily develop a Flash movie. You set the movie characteristics, add content, and add special effects and actions.

Questions you may have are:

• How do you set the movie characteristics?
• How do you add content?
• How do you add effects and actions?

This lesson will answer those questions. There is a mini-quiz near the end of the lesson.

Set characteristics

Upon opening Swish, you can set the size, frame rate and background colors for your movie from the General tab. The user interface is shown below:

Adjust movie characteristics in Swish user interface

Add content

You can add content to your first scene by inserting text, inserting images, or importing sound.

Inserting text

You can insert text by clicking on the text button on the menu bar or choosing Modify > Insert Text from the menu. A text box is placed in the center of your working area or stage. You can move the text box by dragging it to a different location. To modify the text, click the Text tab. You can change the wording, size, color, font and other characteristics.

Inserting image

You can insert an image by clicking on the image button, by choosing Modify > Insert Image or by clicking the Content tab and importing an image. If you import the image, you will need to click the Add to Scene button. The image can be used again in different scenes.

You can do some minor modifications to the image from the Image tab.

Layers

As you add text and/or images, each object is placed in the scene in a layer on top of the previous item. You can change what is on top by changing the order of the items in the

Importing sound

You can import WAV and MP3 files by clicking on Content > Import. Then you will need to click the Add to Scene button. The sound is added to the scene and its location can be seen from the Timeline tab and is designated as an action "a" at a certain frame. You can change the point in the movie when the sound starts by dragging the sound action to a different frame in the movie.

The imported sound can be used again in different scenes.

Add effects and actions

You can add effects such as motion to an object. At certain frames, you can add actions--such as play sound.

Effects

To add animation effects effects to an object, click on the Timeline tab.

If you choose an image object, you can select such effects from the Add Effects menu as Fade In, Slide In (from left), and Slide Out.

If you choose a text object in the Timeline window, you can select the same effects as with an image object or special type effects, such as Squeeze, Explode, and Typewriter.

You can add one effect after another and drag effects to certain frames where they are to start.

Actions

At some given effect, you can add an action to the movie, such as Stop, Go to Web address, and Play Movie. Choose a scene, text object or image object in the Timeline or the outline. Then choose the Action tab.

You can add an action to a scene directly from the timeline window or by choosing the Actions tab. The event occurs at a certain frame.

Test and publish

The final steps are to test the movie you have developed. This is done by simply clicking on the black sideways arrow at the left-center of the menu bar. You can also test the movie throughout its development.

Save the movie in the Swish format. Then you can publish the movie by clicking on the SWF button. You can also choose the Export tab to copy the HTML to the clipboard. Then you can paste it into your Web page to be able to display the Flash animation.

The SWF file your created can also be imported into a complex Flash project, where it will appear in the Flash project library.

Summary

The steps in using Swish to rapidly develop a Flash movie are to set movie characteristics, add text, image, and sound content, add effects and actions, test, and finally publish as an SWF file.

Answers to Readers' Questions

Strive for excellence in everything you do 

Resources

The following are resources on this subject.

Websites

SwishZone - Site to download trial version or to purchase Swish.

Flash Resources

Books

Top-rated books on Flash

Miscellaneous

Mini-quiz to check your understanding

1. Why should you set movie characteristics first?

2. How can you get your text in front of an image?

3. How could you go to another Web page by clicking on an image?

If you got all three correct, you are on your way to becoming a Champion in Flash development. If you had problems, you had better look over the material again.

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Developing a Flash Movie with Swish