Watch and Learn Illustrator!

01 – Introduction (Running Time: 1:32)

02 – The Actions Panel (Running Time: 11:19)
In this lesson, Craig gives you a quick tour of the Actions Panel and the various options associated with it.

03 – ActionScript Preferences (Running Time: 3:12)
Your ActionScript preferences allow you to customize options such as font, font size, and code coloring for working in ActionScript.

04 – Your First Action (Running Time: 9:35)
Without ActionScript, Flash is no more than a simple illustration and animation tool. In this video, we’ll get our feet wet with ActionScript by adding a stop action to our timeline in order to get our animation to play through only once.

05 – Changing Object Properties (Running Time: 14:19)
In this video, you’ll learn how to change the location and opacity of objects on the stage.

06 – Registration Point (Running Time: 5:21)
The registration point of an object has a significant impact on the way that object transforms when changes are made to it in ActionScript. In this video, Craig illustrates these differences and demonstrates how to change the registration point of an object.

07 – Changing Object Dimensions (Running Time: 14:07)
In this video, you’ll learn how to change the dimensions of an object using ActionScript.

08 – 3D Properties (Running Time: 15:53)
One of the new features that ActionScript 3.0 offers in Flash CS4 is the ability to move and rotate an object in 3-dimensional space.

09 – Accessing Object Methods (Running Time: 9:06)
Movie Clips and Buttons all have inherent methods that allow them to perform certain tasks. In this video, Craig will show you how to access and use some of these methods.

10 – Using Math (Running Time: 9:30)
In this video, Craig will walk you through the basics of using math with ActionScript.

11 – The Trace Statement (Running Time: 2:35)
The “trace(Running Time: )” method allows us to output information when we test our Flash files. The end user will never see this output, but it can be very helpful when debugging your ActionScript.

12 – Variables (Running Time: 15:54)
Variables are nothing more than storage locations for any information you might need to keep track of throughout your code. In this video, Craig will demonstrate the basics of creating, setting, and using variables in ActionScript.

13 – Functions (Running Time: 7:57)   
A function is a block of code that runs only when you ask it to. In this video, Craig will teach you the basics of creating your own functions in ActionScript.

14 – Complex Functions (Running Time: 11:07)
In this video, you’ll learn how to send values to a function as well as how to return a value to a function call.

15 – Events and Listeners (Running Time: 11:39)
You won’t get very far in Flash development before you find the need to set up a listener that will listen for certain events. Buttons, for example, now require you to set up explicit listeners to listen for MOUSE_OVER, MOUSE_OUT, and CLICK events. Watch and learn as Craig shows you how.

16 – Events for Multiple Buttons (Running Time: 11:01)
In this video, Craig will demonstrate how to reuse the functions we created for the last video in order to trigger MOUSE_OVER and MOUSE_OUT events for multiple buttons.

17 – Your Own Properties (Running Time: 12:36)
Sometimes you might find yourself wishing you could make up your own properties for some of your movie clips. Well, stop wishing, because you can. In fact, it’s really easy. In this video, Craig will show you how to assign your property to a movie clip with a single line of code.

18 – Keyboard Events (Running Time: 4:24)
In this video, Craig continues his discussion of events and event listeners by adding an event listener to the stage that listens for users to press a key on their keyboard.

19 – The `if’ Statement (Running Time: 12:05)
A conditional statement is a statement that allows you to perform a block of code only if a certain condition is true. The first conditional we’re going to look at is the `if’ statement in ActionScript.

20 – The `switch’ Statement (Running Time: 12:19)
The second type of conditional is a `switch’ statement, which allows you to examine several possible cases for a condition, performing different code for each case. In this video, you’ll use the switch statement to examine which key the user is pressing and then causing a character to move around on the stage if the arrow keys are being pressed.

21 – Introduction to Arrays (Running Time: 10:31)
An array is basically a variable that stores a list of related values. In this video, Craig will explain the basics of arrays and demonstrate how to create and update them in ActionScript.

22 – Introduction to Vectors (Running Time: 7:16)
No, we’re not talking about vector graphics here. In Flash CS4, we have a new ActionScript 3 data type. This data type—the Vector data type—is very similar to Arrays, except that all elements of a Vector must be of the same data type.

23 – The ‘while’ Loop (Running Time: 16:54)
A loop is a construct that allows you to run a set of code numerous times. In this video, Craig will show you how to loop code using the ‘while’ and ‘while…do’ loops.

24 – The ‘for’ Loop (Running Time: 9:40)
In this video, Craig walks you through the construction of a much more robust looping construct—the ‘for’ loop.

25 – Animating with ENTER_FRAME (Running Time: 10:42)
There are a few different ways to animate using ActionScript 3.0. The first of these ways is by calling on the ENTER_FRAME event to loop your code at the speed of your Flash file’s frame rate. In this video, we’ll animate a movie across the stage.

26 – Removing Event Listeners (Running Time: 3:18)
Once our movie clip has reached the edge of the stage, we want to stop the animation and remove the event listener that was causing the animation function to run. In this video, you’ll learn how to remove the event listener once you’re done with it.

27 – Animating with Timers (Running Time: 11:11)
An ActionScript Timer allows you to perform a set of actions over and over at a specified interval. In this video, Craig will show you how to use a Timer for animation.

28 – User Controlled Animation (Running Time: 13:48)
In this video, Craig will teach you how to create a user-controlled character that animates around the stage as the user presses the arrow keys.

29 – The Tween Class (Running Time: 10:49)
You’ve created tweens visually before, and now Craig is going to show you how to create Tweens using ActionScript. This method is much more versatile than the previous two methods of animating with code.

30 – The Easing Classes (Running Time: 10:38)
Easing allows you to control the rate of movement within your Tweens. In this video, Craig explores the different easing classes that are available to use with your ActionScript Tweens.

31 – Back-to-Back Tweens (Running Time: 5:53)
Sometimes you may not want one Tween to start until a first tween finishes. In this video, Craig will demonstrate how to do this.

32 – Interactive Animation (Running Time: 7:17)
Now that we can send our movie clip to a specific point, Craig demonstrates how to make an interactive animation where the user clicks anywhere on the stage, causing the ball to animate to the point where the user clicked.

33 – Object Oriented ActionScript (Running Time: 17:40)
Object Oriented Programming (Running Time: OOP) is a method of coding that focuses on objects that communicate with each other. This method makes it easier to create functional, reusable, modular code that’s easy to read and update. In this video, Craig illustrates the basics of OOP.

34 – Class Methods (Running Time: 7:30)
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to create your own public methods for your ActionScript classes.

35 – Two Symbols for One Class (Running Time: 6:06)
One of the beautiful things about object-oriented programming is the ease with which it allows you to create reusable code. In this video, you’ll experience this firsthand as you learn how to create a second library symbol that points to the same class that we created in the last video.

36 – Adding Objects to the Stage (Running Time: 9:12)
In this video, we’ll work with two separate ActionScript files as we learn how to add movie clips to the stage using ActionScript code.

37 – Drag and Drop (Running Time: 12:18)
In this video, we’re going to start creating a Matching Game as we explore the startDrag(Running Time: ) and stopDrag(Running Time: ) methods, which allow us to drag objects around on the stage.

38 – Detecting Collisions (Running Time: 14:24)
A collision occurs when two objects are touching each other on the stage. In this video, you’ll learn how to detect collisions using ActionScript. This will allow us to test to see if the movie clip we’re dragging around is hovering over the right picture.

39 – Responding to a Collision (Running Time: 6:26)
If the collision detection we spoke about in the last video results in a match, then we want to return the object we’re dragging to its original position. In this video, Craig will demonstrate how.

40 – Ending the Game (Running Time: 14:13)
We’re pretty much finished with the drag-drop game now, except that we need to let the user know that he or she has won. In this video, Craig will show you how to keep score so that you can tell when the user has won.

41 – Adding Sound (Running Time: 7:06)
In this video, Craig will demonstrate how to add a “blip” sound to your drag-drop game that will play whenever the user makes a match.

42 – Adding Video (Running Time: 8:31)
In this video, Craig will explain how to control your video playback using ActionScript.

43 – Conclusion (Running Time: 1:10)