Adobe Flash CS3 Basic Tutorial

The following tutorial will be going over the very basic features that are within Adobe Flash CS3. This program allows you to do many things with graphics and video, so that you can apply them to the web. Flash graphics and movies are a mainstay in the online world today. They provide exceptional functionality within websites that is unmatched. When you have learned a bit about the program you will be able to do amazing things. I have done cool things myself when I first learned the program in college. Making short movies with graphics or films can bring life to your website. I hope that by reading this basic tutorial you will be inspired to learn more about the program and what it is capable of.

The first thing we want to do is open Adobe Flash CS3. From here you will see that nothing has really changed with the start page of the program. Everything just seems to have the new graphics style, but you will see once you have used it that performance levels have raised and things are placed in places that are more appropriate for consumers.

Now you can open up a new document by going to the file menu and selecting “New…”.

Once you have done this a pop-up window will open that will give you a wide assortment of options for a new document. Many of them are explained in the description box to the right of them when you highlight them. I will not explain too many of these options. Rather I will list them with a graphic so you can read along as well. The first of these is the Flash File (ActionScript 3.0).

This document is the Flash File (ActionScript 2.0).

This document is the Flash File (Mobile).

This document is the Flash Slide Presentation

This document is the Flash Form Application.

This document is the ActionScript File.

This document is the ActionScript Communication File.

This document is the Flash JavaScript File.

This document is Flash Project.

The other versions of new documents are in the form of templates. These all do basically what they say. Most are used under a certain situation. For example we have our first template, which is grouped under the category Advertising. Within this you can see all the different types of advertising template sizes that are available to use. There are skyscrapers, rectangles, pop-ups, transitional, and banners. The options from even their can be personalized to meet the specifications of your webpage. It is a great tool to use.

The next up is the BREW Handsets, which are used as templates for Flash Lite 2.1 applications.

The Consumer Devices template is used for creating Flash Lite 2.1 widgets and applications for Chumby devices.

The Global Handsets template is used for creating Flash Lite 2.0 applications and content for Nokia S60 handsets that have a screen resolution of 176x208.

The Japanese Handsets template is used for creating Flash Lite 2.0 Chaku Flash Content for supported KIDDI handsets.

The Photo Slideshows template allows you to make your own photo gallery.

The Quiz template allows you to create an online quiz with a series of customizations. It is great if you want to test people on something they have learned in a training session.

The screenshot below shows you will see once you have opened up a basic Flash file document. From here you can start to do just about any form of Flash file. I believe my first real Flash image that I made was for my college’s cycling team. It was a simple header of around 900x100 in dimensions. You can probably still view it here JMU Cycling Club. If you cannot view this old link then the university has taken it down because the club is not active anymore.

The Selection Tool allows you to select objects on the Flash document screen. It is a simple tool that is used in the whole Adobe CS3 Collection.

Flash Basics Tutorial - Page 2