Test Your Movie

The movie is now complete. It’s time to check out the final results. To see the finished movie, select Control | Test Movie (ctrl-enter in Windows or cmd-return on the Mac). As you will see, the text gradually appears out of nowhere because we adjusted the transparency setting (Alpha) to change in time. The text also spins, then stops after about five seconds. The following illustration shows a frame from the finished movie. It gives you an idea of the path the spin animation takes as it goes around.

Congratulations! You have just created an animation in Flash. After you create an SWF version of your movie, you can put the movie up on the Web or distribute it on media such as CD or DVD.

Conclusion

There is much more to Flash than the tour you just took. Hopefully you have more questions than answers after having had a look around the workspace. The stage, the Properties Inspector, the timeline, and other windows will begin to look familiar after you make a few Flash movies. In subsequent chapters, you will expand on your knowledge of the techniques learned here. The true journey begins in the next chapter, where some of the tools touched upon in the title exercise are explored in more detail. There you will learn all about the Flash stage, the tools in the Toolbar, the timeline, and the Properties Inspector, as well as other important windows and features in the Flash environment. Gradually you will become more comfortable with the Flash
interface, and you’ll be making movies in no time.