Wow, reading the posts here and there on this Web site, I found out that there a many very excellent flashers around.
I am not a total newbie, but then, I am lost every time I must get deep into the Action Scripting language powering this and that.
I was wondering if anybody could let us, newbies and avid learners, download a complete Flash Web site .fla file! An old Web site that is not online anymore.
For exemple, I like the preloader of the site of the week: a thin line that shows the progression, but then goes up and blinds nicely as a desing element. This idea is excellent. http://www.silverado-weblab.com/ How can we make a preloader part of the design? These are the questions I would like to be answered… and numerous other ones as well.
So if this could be possible, Kirupa or all of you pros out there, can you do that please?
If you wanted to try and obtain an old website fla, then your best bet is to attempt to contact the author of that site and see if he/she is willing to give it up. Current websites which are currently online - I doubt youd have much luck with. People are pretty protective of their own intellectual property. Older abandoned websites you may have more luck with though.
Alternatively there are lots and lots of Fla files to download here and at places like flashkit.com. Here at Kirupa we even have a tutorial on how to make a complete website from scratch. You should check it out, it might help
If you are already comfortable with whats exaplained there, then you can search and explore more for interesting and fun effects which would help enhance whatever website or project you may be working on.
here is the special effects tutorials for FMX here on Kirupa
I’ll have to 2nd those comments by senocular. Not many
designers, if any, are going to give up their .fla to you. The best
thing is to try to recreate it yourself using a tutorial from kirupa.com or flashkit.com.
In terms of the preloader, there are TONS of tutorials on them. I
believe there are at least 3 on kirupa.com alone. The rest is just
making it fit your design. That part’s really up to you.
*Originally posted by senocular *
**Current websites which are currently online - I doubt youd have much luck with. People are pretty protective of their own intellectual property. Older abandoned websites you may have more luck with […] **
Yes of course, me being the first one. This is why I mentionned an old Web site. Even an ugly template would do fine. The idea is to understand the concept that powers the structure of the site, including navigation.
Is it 1 and only 1 .fla file?
Is it movies calling movies calling movies?
Is it a flash navigation menu calling common .htm documents (like Kirupa.com)?
Do you guys cut and paste Action Scripts all the time, or are there real coders out there? And if so, how do your organize all your work?
I do everything myself. I am pretty good with .html. I am pretty good with Design. I am not very good with Flash. I really like dynamic design base on PHP and MySQL.
Well I am a big believer in taking another website and seeing if you can replicate the effects that you saw there. And in my experience many of them are done using as simple a thing as tweening. Often when you look at something you think, “JESUS but that guy knows his actionscript” but then find you can do it so easily just using a motion tween.
Take www.pixelranger.com for instance, I read an article by the designer who said it was very tween intensive and not very actionscript intensive. At first I thought “bah, thats very cool… MUST be actionscript” but then I went on to work out how to do it all with tweens, just as he said. And it was easier than you thought.
Now, in regard to your blended preloader question. You know… it would be VERY easy to do that with tweening. Not saying thats how they did it, but look at it this way.
You have a line on the screen with a known length and starting point.
The loader finishes.
The loader moves you to the next frame (what the preloader is programmed to do)
On that frame you have a line with the exact same starting point and exact same length as the final frame of the preloader.
That line tweens up the screen.
There you have it. In just 2 frames you could have your result and its simply tweening. Thats my guess on how he did it. Its not a Preloader that is part of the movie, but a clever tweening effect that makes it LOOK like the preloader blends to the movie.
*Originally posted by Cynegenica *
**Take www.pixelranger.com for instance, I read an article by the designer who said it was very tween intensive and not very actionscript intensive. At first I thought “bah, thats very cool… MUST be actionscript” but then I went on to work out how to do it all with tweens, just as he said. And it was easier than you thought. **
(falling off my chair) Pixelranger! When I see work like that, I think that this designer is a genius, that he must work day in day out, that… (start to cry) This is the Al DeMeola de Flash! I wonder how I could possibly think about learning what this guy can do in my actual life time: I have a family, work, hobbies, I train, eat and… sleep!
Seriously, raise your hand if you can DO that kind of work!
LOL I didn’t say I was as good as that guy, I am just saying that the effects are often easy to do with just tweening. Making it look as good as that guy is an art that I just can’t master.
Not to mention that even if you COULD make it look good. You need to make it unique too. No good just copying someone elses work. To be a great designer you need to understand how something is put together and then you need to be able to replicate that effect in something truely unique.
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