Flash and ActionScript Tutorials

Smooth Scrollbar Flash Tutorial

May 10, in Flash Tutorial, by Craig

So much content and so little space in which to display it. In this tutorial, I want to discuss the basics of creating scrollable content in ActionScript 3. In our examples, scrollable content will include much more than simple scrollable text fields. For our purposes here, we want to learn how to create scrollable content [...]

My Girls

May 7, in General Blather, by Craig

Took my girls in the backyard for a photo shoot this morning. This is one of my favorites. Get away from your computer for a few minutes and enjoy life.

Flash Tutorial – Fake 3D Extrusion

May 6, in Flash Tutorial, by Craig

A couple years ago, I accidentally discovered method for giving Flash text an extruded, 3D look, and it’s insanely easy to do. Step 1 – Create Some Text – Easy enough, right? In this case, I want to put a gradient on the text, so to keep things simple, I’m just going to break the [...]

ActionScript 3 Tutorial – Tweener Transitions

Apr 26, in Flash Tutorial, by Craig

I recently posted a couple of ActionScript button tutorials that made use of the Tweener class instead of the traditional Tween class, so I thought it would be appropriate to talk a little more about the Tweener class and discuss why and how to use it. Tween vs Tweener It doesn’t take a Flash developer [...]

Video Blog 1 – Call for Feedback

Apr 23, in Site News, by Craig

What would you like to see on School of Flash? Let me know in the comments!

Tutorial – Object-Oriented Buttons in ActionScript 3

Apr 22, in Flash Tutorial, by Craig

For some people, creating a separate class for a simple button is overkill. However, if you find yourself reusing the same kind of button over and over, it may behoove you to apply some simple object-oriented ActionScript. In the last tutorial, I demonstrated how to create an ActionScript 3 Button that didn’t rely on the [...]

Tutorial – ActionScript 3 Buttons

Apr 19, in Flash Tutorial, by Craig

In a previous tutorial, I demonstrated how to create a Movie Clip button in Flash. Movie Clips are much more flexible than Button Symbols, so it often makes more sense to use a Movie Clip and treat it as a Button. However, even the previous tutorial was a little limited in its possibilities in that [...]

Keeping Flash Alive

Mar 22, in Flash Blather, HTML5, by Craig

I believe 2011 has started as one of the most impressive years for Flash in a long time. ~Rob Ford If you have any doubts about the future of Flash, maybe Rob Ford’s article will put some of your fears to rest. Flash is still going strong, and those who believe in Flash are still [...]

Flash vs HTML5 – Don’t Be Stubborn

Mar 1, in Flash Blather, HTML5, by Craig

The New Kid on the Block – HTML5 As a designer who has spent the better part of the last decade learning, working with, and teaching Flash, it has been very difficult for me to swallow the idea that there might be a new kid on the block. HTML5 is taking the web design world [...]

Section Seven – You Can’t Do That in jQuery

Oct 19, in Flash Samples, Flash Showcase, by Craig

Section Seven is one of my favorite Flash portfolio sites, and it’s a great example of functionality that (as far as I know) can’t be done using HTML5 and jQuery. I love the way each portfolio piece unfolds when clicked. One of my biggest frustrations with Apple’s decision to leave Flash off of its mobile [...]