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• Making Video Clips Interactive in Adobe Flash CS5
• by David Smith
• Regardless of the fact Flash isn't supported on iOS devices, it is still the standard video player type on the web today. David Smith shows how to make interactive controls for video in Adobe Flash.

• Editing sounds in Flash CS5
• by David Smith
• You may have heard the saying: Video is two-thirds audio. The same idea can be applied to interactive animations made in Flash, too. David Smith sounds out the audio side in Adobe Flash CS5.

• Approaches to Working with Text in Flash, Part 1
• by Geoff Blake
• Working with text in previous versions of Flash was always somewhat of a challenge. One of the biggest gripes was the sheer lack of typography control in Flash projects.

• Making Your First Animation in the Adobe Flash Motion Editor
• by Geoff Blake
• Flash's Motion Editor makes it super-easy to visualize and edit your animation sequences. With it, we can control things like motion, color, effects, easing, and more.

• Brave New Web: Flash to HTML5 Converter
• by Geoff Blake
• Have you been following the ongoing drama of the "Flash vs HTML5" battle over the past few years? As a software educator, I really try hard to remain agnostic towards technology, but because I love...

• Motion 5 401
• Creating 3D Text Fly Bys!
• Watch and learn how to create a complex 3D text flyby effect in this 26-video series taught by motion graphics expert, Iain Anderson...

• Media Composer 6 104
• Working With Audio
• Learn how Media Composer 6 manages sound in this audio-centric tutorial by expert editor and MPV trainer Jeff Greenberg...

• Photoshop CS5 103
• Adding Text To Images
• One of the most common techniques as a Photoshop user is to add text to an image or graphic. In this tutorial Photoshop Pro Nathan Fullerton shows you all the different ways you can approach Adding Text to Images in Photoshop...

• Cubase 6 105
• Working With Audio
• Want to record audio in Cubase? Let Matt Hepworth show you everything you need to know about Working With Audio in Cubase 6...

• Motion 5 107
• Working in 3D
• Add another dimension to your motion graphics in this exhaustive 24-video exploration of Motion’s complete set of 3D animation tools. Best of all, you don’t even need to wear those goofy 3D glasses! See how the multidimensional Michael Wohl creates 3D magic using virtual cameras, lighting, reflections and shadows...

• Reason 6 105
• Working With Audio
• Reason now records, processes and samples audio! This tutorial by Reason 6 expert Hollin Jones shows you just how seamless working with audio is in Reason 6...

• Reason 6 103
• Working With Midi
• MIDI is the fuel that powers all of Reason's mind-blowing instruments. Join Reason MIDI master, Hollin Jones, and learn how to harness the power of MIDI to accelerate your tunes into Hyper Production...

• Motion 5 103
• Animating Text
• What can Motion do with text? Well, anything you can possible imagine! With its advanced text creation and animation tools your 3D text can fly across the screen, rocket to the horizon and burst into molecular oblivion! Let Motion Master Michael Wohl show you how...

• Motion 5 102
• Working With Objects
• Objects are what Motion sets “in motion!” Join Mr. Motion himself, Michael Wohl, as he shows you how to create Objects and manipulate them using Generators, Replicators, Behaviors and much more...

• Cubase 6 104
• Working With MIDI
• Cubase is one powerful MIDI machine! Harness that power by joining Cubase Master-of-the-Universe, Matt Hepworth, as he explores Cubase 6’s world of killer MIDI tools and awesome MIDI functions...

• Final Cut Pro X 105
• Working With Audio
• With Final Cut Pro X, video editors now have the powerful combination of audio tools and bundled plug-ins that can make your audio sound like it went to a $450/hour Post Production studio. Let Michael Wohl show you how to use them...

• Flash CS5 101
• Core Flash CS5
• Learn Flash CS5 the right way (and the fun way) with the entertaining and knowledgable Flash expert, Geoff Blake.

• Illustrator CS5 102
• Working with Objects & Type
• Illustrator excels when it comes to working with Vector objects, but in order to make great art with vectors, you need to understand how to create objects and type in Illustrator. This tutorial shows you how ...

Preview these Flash Tutorial-Videos

In Part 1 of Approaches to Working with Text in Flash, you learned about Flash's new TLF text engine, and how to set general text formatting. In this installation, I'd like to push things a little further and discuss some of the more advanced functionality; things like multiple columns, threading text frames, and a few other goodies. Let's take a look!

Step 1 - Setting Up Multiple Columns

The new TLF engine allows us to set multiple columns on our text frames in Flash. Here's how to do it. First, grab the Text Tool in the toolbox and drag out a frame. Then, paste in some text to fill the frame.

With the frame selected, head over to the Properties panel and expand the Container And Flow category. In the columns area, set a value for the number of columns that you'd like to have. The value to the right sets the gutter -- that is, the space between the columns.

Step 2 - Formatting Text Frames

Whether you have a single-column text frame, or a frame that contains several columns, you can apply formatting to the frame; formatting like padding, an outline and a background color.

With the frame still selected, set values in the Padding area in the Container And Flow category in the Properties panel. You can set different values for left, right, top, and bottom, or click the link icon to link the four sides together. Below that, use the border and background options to set some color on your frame. Easy!

Step 3 - Threading Text Frames

Much like we can do in traditional desktop publishing applications like InDesign, we can now connect, or thread, text frames together. This means that the text is going to flow from one frame to the next. To get this to work, you'll need to have more text inside your frame than the frame can display. You'll know you have more than enough text when a red icon appears in the bottom-right corner of your text frame (again, just like in InDesign). You can either paste in a lot of text, or resize your text frame a bit smaller.

Next, try clicking on the red icon. Notice that your cursor changes. This is called a loaded cursor. Now try clicking and dragging out a second text frame with the loaded cursor. And just like that, you have two threaded frames. The text flows from the first frame into the second frame. Cool!

So there's a look at working with some of the more advanced text options in Flash. I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you can apply a lot of this to your own work.

Preview these Flash Tutorial-Videos

Geoff Blake

Geoff Blake is a book author, video presenter, designer, and visual artist. As an in demand live-on-stage software educator since 1997, Geoff has taught desktop publishing, web design and graphics courses all over North America and is regarded as an expert in Adobe's Creative Suite applications, as well as in HTML, CSS, WordPress, and related technologies. With his humorous, non-jargonny approach, Geoff produces highly regarded articles, video training and DVDs, and regularly contributes to top industry magazines and websites.

Text flash, Text style, Actionscript, Actionscript flash, Flash actionscript, Flash, Flash tutorials

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