Navigation menu help

programming flash
1

I need some assistance in making a flash menu. I looked thru the tutorials and didnt see one and also searched the posts here but I had no luck. If there is one for it I appologize for waisting your time.

The type of menu I want to create will be the main navigation for a web site. Here is a link to a site that has something similar to what I want to do, just the links running down the left side. http://www.wrecking-crew.org/home.html
I understand his entire site is Flash but all I want to create is the navigation menu.

2

First off let me welcome you to the forums and what you’re trying to do is actually very simple. You create your buttons and on the OVER state of the button you place a Movie Clip with the text fading. See file.

3

That is what Im after exactly Wizard. The major issue I have is Im a total noob!! I can open this file and see its properties but I honestly have only a small idea how you did it. Can you recomend some reading on how to create this or similar items? The help file in MX is horrible and most tutorials I have seen cover more advanced things.

4

There’s a tutorial here on Kirupa: Click here
It’s for Flash5 but it should make sense anyway. It’s very similar to what I did, the only difference is that on my example the text doesn’t fade back in. :wink:

5

Thanks again for the help Wizard, apparently Im not proficient enough in Flash just yet to be doing something seemingly this complex.

6

It really isn’t that complex. Now, I don’t know how much you actually know, so I’ll try and explain it as best I can.

> First, with the text tool selected: type something on the stage and turn that into a Button Symbol (F8).

> Now double-click on your newly created button so you can edit it.

> In the Timeline you should see three different states - Up, Over, Down, and Hit.

> Hit F6 three times so that every state has a keyframe in it.

> In the Hit state, draw a rectangle that spands the size of your text.

> Select your text in the Over state and turn that into a Movie Clip Symbol (F8). Now double click your new Movie Clip Symbol to edit that.

> You should now see a normal Timeline: Create a new layer, select the text in the first/bottom layer and copy it (Ctrl+C).

> Now on the new/top layer paste in place your text (Ctrl+Shift+V). Change the color of the text in this layer to [COLOR=DarkRed]red[/COLOR].

> With the text selected (red text), go up to Insert > Create Motion Tween.

> Still on top layer: click on frame 15 and hit F6 to insert a new Keyframe.

> Select your text (in frame 15) and in the Properties Panel you should see a color: drop menu currently at None. Select that and change it to Alpha, then change the slider to the right of that to 0% to make your text invisible.

> Next, open the Transform Panel and increase your the text size to 175%.

> Now click on the frame 15 and open the Actions Panel (F9), type this in: [AS]stop();[/AS]This script does just that, stops the animation.

> Now go back to the first/bottom layer, and click on frame 15 and push F5 to insert frames so that it matches up to the top layer.

You’re done… yeah I know, it was a lot. Test your movie out and it should work the way it’s supposed to. I also recommend increasing the frame rate (fps) to 16 so that your Motion Tweens move smoothly.

Any questions?

7

You sir, are fantastic. This explination I understand and yes it did work.

8

Great!

I’m glad I was able to help… you’re welcome. :thumb: