Help put flash in my site design? Please:)

[Ella]

Howdy~
I posted questions at another forum, and haven't had a response at all, so I may be asking questions incorrectly or just such a newbie that they decided not to answer. I'm hoping someone here can help.
I'm brand new to flash, (have Flash MX ), and have been stuffing my head with tutorials, but am still unsure about how it works...I have a site that I'm designing in Photoshop, and I would like to use flash in the portfolio page in this manner: when you click on the text button (for instance "Logo design"), the generic graphic to the right of the button (Let's say it's a big fat buddha or something, that loads with the page) will then fade out and be replaced by a slide show of logo examples, and then fade back into the buddha upon finishing. I have absolutely no idea how to do this though. I feel like I have bits and pieces of understanding, but not even close enough to grasp how to do this...can anyone help me understand the steps I'd take? I usually learn by trial, and then can pick up more as my understanding grows, but I just don't understand how to create, then insert the flash concept into my website and then KEEP it there while I slice it and upload.. I use photoshop, and usually create JPGS of the pages, slice them in fireworks or something similiar, place them in Dreamweaver and add behaviors... where and how does flash come into this? Sorry for the rambling

[timmytots]

what you create in flash, you then 'publish' from its file menu. That turns it into a .swf file. Then in Dreamweaver you go insert > Flash and it embeds the movie into your page.

[Ella]

that actually answers several questions that I've had, thank you so much! I still don't understand the steps needed to create the "movie?". I know the fade out/fade in, has something to do with (i'm not sure what it's called in Flash, but I found a tutorial) opacity, but the whole idea of " on click (text button") this item fades, and then these items run as a slideshow, and then upon stop, this first item fades back in...errr...I don't understand how to set it up. Is there a tutorial for this particular idea that I have? I haven't found one, but I would appreciate that. If I can follow it step by step, then it will click in my head, but right now I feel sort of clumsy using Flash.

[timmytots]

Check out my Image Fader I made at bottom of this page: www.crewsfx.com/design.html

If that's what you want happening then I'll give it to you at a discount price. It's got all the code in it that can be altered depending on number of images and the speed at which u want them fading.

It's done with Actionscript, saving a lot of time and file size.

[Ella]

That's evahh so generous of you, but I really want to learn. I have to grasp Flash so that I can be comfortable with it. I'll look up some more of the "fade" tutorials and see what I come up with.

[Legacy_Staff]

I haven't used Flash for ages but when I did I went through all the tutorials like you've been doing, then I bought a book, "Flash MX most wanted", published by 'Friends of Ed'.
This book will tell you how to do what you're trying to do (there's a follow up as well), or you might want to look up some of the Flash communities* around the web.
They'll help but also, once you've seen what they're all doing, you may completely change your mind about what you want to use it for.

*There was one in particular I used but I can't find a link for it now. Hope they're still going.

[Ella]

Thanks! I haven't found it yet here in town, at least the one published by "Friends of Ed",but I found it online, so I'm going to order it that way. I found a tutorial about how to create an image fader, with a slide show, and I've used it, but the problem is that it's continual (XML), and I need it to begin with the click of a button (not sure how to do this, can I use FIreworks, to hot spot the text button and have it open the flash movie?) and then end at the end of the pics I have. I'm confused about how to integrate it into my site. Timmytots explained the Dreamweaver, and that makes sense, but how do I get this movie that seems seperate to me, to now be used on my page? I only know what I want, but not how to get it to happen! I'm assuming it's like some kind of disjointed rollover, but don't I have to do that in Fireworks? aacckkk, soooo frustrating

[JacobHaug]

If I were you I would buy a tutorial from these guys.

http://www.cartoonsmart.com/

or this guy,

http://www.learnflash.com/

both of these guys are great experts in macromedia and other website design products. They will have you up and going in no time. If anything download the free tutorials they offer. Look at the tutorials they have I know of one on cartoonsmart.com that would teach you how to make a loader. Which if I understand you correctly this is what you want. You want a loader a custom loader that fades into a photo gallery type object. I would highly recommend them looking at those websites. Let us know if you have any other questions.

[Ella]

thanks, I'll check them out

[JacobHaug]

Here are some more great sites if your are interested.

http://www.webforumz.com/flash-forum...ning-flash.htm