MACROMEDIA FLASH 8-FLASH, Use Manual

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About creating motion and interactivity 29
About adding media content
You can add media content to a Flash document in the Flash authoring environment. You can
create vector artwork or text directly in Flash; import vector artwork, bitmaps, video, and
sound; and create
symbols , reusable media content such as buttons.
You can also use ActionScript to add media content to a document dynamically. For more
information on ActionScript, see
Learning ActionScript 2.0 in Flash .
Media content that you add in the authoring environment includes the following:
Vector artwork
You can create vector artwork with the Flash drawing and painting tools or
import artwork from another application. See Chapter 5, “Drawing,” on page 129 and
Chapter 7, “Using Imported Artwork,” on page 191 .
Text
You can create static text, text whose contents and appearance you determine when
you author the document. You can also create dynamic text fields, which display text that
updates dynamically during runtime, and input text fields, which let users enter text for forms
or other purposes. See Chapter 6, “Working with Text,” on page 157 .
Bitmaps
You can import bitmaps from other applications, use a bitmap as a file, convert
the bitmap to vector artwork, and modify it in other ways. See Chapter 7, “Using Imported
Artwork,” on page 191 .
Video
You can import video clips from other applications as embedded or linked files, and
select compression and editing options. See Chapter 11, “Working with Video,” on page 271 .
Sound You can import sound files from other applications and use them as event sounds or
streaming sounds in a document. See Chapter 12, “Working with Sound,” on page 311 .
Symbols You can use symbols, objects that you create once and reuse multiple times.
Symbols can be movie clips, buttons, or graphics. Each symbol has its own Timeline. See
Chapter 3, “Using Symbols, Instances, and Library Assets,” on page 77 .
About creating motion and interactivity
Flash provides several ways for you to easily add motion and interactivity to your documents,
which creates a compelling user experience. For example, you can make visual elements, such
as text, graphics, buttons, or movie clips, move or disappear; you can link to another URL;
and you can load another document or movie clip into the current document. The following
features let you add motion and interactivity:
Timeline effects are prebuilt animations that you can apply to text, graphics, bitmaps, and
buttons, to add motion to visual elements with little effort. See “Using Timeline effects”
on page 244 .