Understanding the Project Layout
September 13th, 2006 by Posted in Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Products
Understanding the Project Layout
In this version of the template, the content is distributed on layers on the main Timeline. This simplifies things and provides for easy access to all the editable features in a single location. Take a quick look at the main Timeline of the template shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Layers on the main Timeline of the template file
The first thing to notice is that the main Timeline is divided into sections, at least conceptually, by the two layer folders. The Controls folder contains the video controls, video background graphic, and navigation buttons. You will edit these items to change the video and look and feel of the controls. The Background graphics folder contains the logos and background graphics, which make up the general look and feel of the template. You will edit these items to add your own logo and company branding. The Actions layer contains a few lines of ActionScript code, which you don’t necessarily need to edit.
In addition to clearly laying out the pieces of the template, the layer folders enable you to lock or hide easily the sections of the template that you are not currently working on.
Exploring the Symbols in the Library
While you’re browsing through the file, open the Library panel (Window > Library) and take a look at its contents (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. Assets in the template’s document library
The first thing to notice is that there are only two custom-built symbols in the Library. The first is the CueNameButton movie clip in the Controls folder. This is used for the navigation buttons, which sit to the left of the video display. The second is the VideoFrame movie clip, which creates the background for the video display. All of the other symbols are gathered from the Flash Professional 8 Components panel in the new FLV Playback categories.
Note: The FLV Playback Skins folder contains customizable skin graphics for each of the video controls.
Exploring the Flash Professional 8 Components Panel
The last stop on the project overview is the Components panel. One of the major upgrades in Flash Professional 8 is the improved video features. The Components panel has been expanded to contain two new categories: FLV Playback – Player 8 and FLV Playback Custom UI (see Figure 3).
Figure 3. Video controls in the Flash Professional 8 Component panel
Open the Components panel (Window > Components) and take a look at the two new video categories. The Flash team put a lot of effort into making the new FLVPlayback components easy to edit and customize. All of the controls in the template come from the Components panel except for the navigation button, which I designed to complement this set.
When comparing the Components panel to the Library, note that the template does not use every video control available. You will be able to add and remove controls as desired.
