By mixing Flash functionality and screen grabs you can create some amazing Websites
and site effects. For this tutorial we grabbed an image from a scene in Half Life and
then added buttons and text effects to create a page.
Part 1: The scene
To get a screen grab you simply find the scene you want, press 'Print Screen' and
then enter a graphics package such as PaintShop Pro and save the image, to make it
part of your Website:
Open Flash
Go to the 'File' menu and select 'Import'
In the dialogue box select the image and then press 'Open'
The image will open in the 'Scene' of Flash, right mouse click on it
Select 'Scale' from the menu
Drag the image to the size you want
With the image selected the next stage is to create a button in the Library.
Go to the 'Window' menu
Select 'Library' from the menu
In the dialogue box click on the 'New Symbol' button
Name the symbol and tick 'button'
Click on 'OK'
A button in Flash has four stages, up, over, down and hit, our button will do
different things at all of the four stages.
Click in the 'Up' stage in the timeline at the top of Flash
Select the 'Circle' tool
Select a colour from the palette
Hold down the 'Shift' button and draw out the circle
Toppers' tip: Create a new button in the Library
Part 2: Text
The next stage is to give the button some action, to do this you will need to
place it over the crosshair in the scene.
Press 'Control' and 'C' to copy the button
Go into the timeline and click into one of the states such as over
Right mouse click and select 'Insert Keyframe' from the menu
You will need to follow the above process for the other states of the button, apart
from the last one, for this delete the button and draw a large blank box instead.
To make the site more active, change the colour of the button at different stages,
click in a stage
Select the 'Fill Tool'
Choose a colour in the palette and click in the button
Follow the same process for the other states
The idea behind using the screen grab of the screens from Half Life was that when
someone pushes a button some text comes up on the screens.
Select the 'Text' tool
In the dialogue box select the font and size
The next step is to bring the button onto the scene, as it was created in the Library.
Click on the button in the Library and drag it onto the Scene
To make the button the right size, right mouse click on it
Select 'Resize
To check it works go to the 'Control' menu
Select 'Test Movie'
Toppers' tip: Add text to the Over button state
Part 3: Different states
Once you have added an action to the button in one state, you can add further actions
to the other states. To go back into the button, double click on it in the Library,
as this is where it lives.
Click in the time line which state you want to alter
Select the 'Text' tool
Format and alter the text
The text will automatically update, once done, test the movie. If everything is OK,
you will need to save it ready for publishing.
Go to the 'File' menu
Select 'Publishing Settings'
Ensure that 'SWF' and 'HTML' are ticked
Click 'OK'
