Flash - Introduction

Adobeflash

Flash has begun to mature as a product, and ActionScript has begun to mature as a language. That represents both opportunity and challenge to you. As a mature language, ActionScript provides a broad spectrum of features and functionality. The possibilities are limitless: There is great opportunity to build new, innovative, useful, and interesting applications using Flash and ActionScript. However, with that opportunity comes the challenge of learning how to use ActionScript effectively. If you want to express your thoughts and feelings well, you need the right language for communicating them. Likewise, with ActionScript the challenge is to learn the language so that there is a natural flow of expression that is seamless from its conception to its manifestation in code.

The Macromedia Flash authoring tool was originally an animation tool, but it is so much more than that today. From the early days when it was known as FutureSplash to the Flash 8 version today, Flash has always excelled as a vector-drawing and animation tool. Even though animation is still a large part of what Flash does, now it is only a fraction of the Flash toolset. Here are the broad categories available in Flash 8:

 Vector graphics—Vector drawings are made up of many lines
and curves and fills, each defined by a set of coordinates and
the paths along them. These paths—vectors—are described
via mathematical functions. Because mathematical formulas
are used to store and create the image, they are resolutionindependent
and can be resized arbitrarily smaller or larger
with no loss of quality. Also, images based on calculations are
generally smaller in file size than bitmap images, which is an
advantage for bandwidth-limited Web delivery.

 Bitmap graphics—Bitmap (a.k.a. raster) images are made up
of a grid of pixels. Every pixel’s color and location in the grid
must be stored individually, which usually (but not always)
means larger file sizes than images made of vector calculations.
Although Flash handles bitmap graphics, the program is not
built for direct image manipulation on a pixel level; rather, Flash
is primarily an image handler. Flash can retain JPEG compression
of imported JPEG files, as well as apply lossless or custom
lossy compression to imported bitmap images.