I'm a graphic designer... What do i need to go about starting to create flash sites?

[scoota901]

I'm a graphic designer using photoshop. I'm getting more into making websites an i want to learn it at a self paced time. I like to know whats best for me to learn on a basic level?

[s7N]

That's quite a funny question.. And.. It's probably posted in the wrong section too..

But.. I shall give some of my ideas..
Firstly, the most easy way would be to google for tutorials. Which is what you should do if you haven't already done..
Secondly, go out and buy some related books. I think alot of books are out there with the intention of teaching someone from the basics up. So that would be a natural path to go down.
Thirdly, which is the way i learned.. The hard way.. Which is to just get dreamweaver/flash or other site making software, and just play ALOT with it.. Won't give you enough basics which i realise.. But it does give you a better learning curve and more understanding of some stuff.. And it's just more fun to learn this way.. Besides, anything you don't get.. You can always F1 for help or google it, or ask in forums~ Isn't the world a wonderful place?

Cheers.
P.S. About pacing.. I think you should just go along with how much you are absorbing and understanding from the things you are learning.. So there isn't really a fixed pace to go from..

[jsfaulds]

look at learnflash.com the title on Building a web site in flash 8. I think this would be the best place to start. tutorials are fine when you have a good idea of what they're talking about. But seeing sombody produce a site in video form is the way to start. ''Beware the flash learning curve is both slippy and steep''

[scoota901]

What could you possilby mean by saying "Slippery & Steep"?

What are a few of the rough advantage?

This thing about it is dat i jus don't know where to start at... I'm very good wit photoshop i just wanna add me some flash to it to better my imagination an income...

[donaldparkerii]

i presonally think learnflash.com isnt that great, but the tutorials that come with flash are nice. gotoandlearn.com is also freekin awsome

[RUSHVision]

What could you possilby mean by saying "Slippery & Steep"?

He means that Flash and all that it can do adds up to a pretty complex package. Some people pick it right up, but if you want to learn everything about what it can do, and exactly how to do it...well, that will take a while.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you didn't seem to understand the reference, so in case you haven't heard that term before, he was referring to a steep learning curve. This in turn refers to the difficulty of climbing/learning a slope/program. The steeper the slope/curve, the more difficult the climb.

What are a few of the rough advantage?

Versatility. You have the freedom to create just about anything that you can envision. Yes, it's just that cool.

This thing about it is dat i jus don't know where to start at... I'm very good wit photoshop i just wanna add me some flash to it to better my imagination an income...

First start broad, then focus in on specific subjects. What I mean by this is that you should first get a general understanding of how the program works and learn your way around the interface. You should acquire a broad overview of the types of things that you can do and the kinds of files that it can output. You've seen all kinds of sites that have been made with Flash and you've had banner ad after banner ad shoved down your metaphorical throat. Hey look, part of your work is done already!

Everyone will approach their learning in a different way. I would recommend though, that you start with specifics and then along the way, pick up related bits of information that you are introduced to as part of the process. For instance let's say you wanted to create an animation. There are a bunch of different ways to animate things, including using pure code, but after looking into this a bit you decide to place it within a movie clip. That simple task is related to all kinds of things such as the Library, finding out the differences between movie clips and graphic symbols, editing symbols in place, and much more. Personally I will take the time to go through the help files, picking up pieces of the puzzle as I go along.

You could also break up your learning into chunks that include various parts of the program. For example, you could take it upon yourself one day to look into all the different panels/palettes that are available. The same could be done with the timeline, learning about frames vs. keyframes and what those handy little buttons beneath it do. If you take the time to do it this way you find the little things like the setting that allows you to display your layers at half the size so you can see more of them without compromising stage real estate.

Once you get the basics though, decide exactly what you want to do then search for a specific tutorial on it or even general information. The internet is absolutely overflowing with Flash how-to info. This very site is positively brimming with it. Check out the past posts by searching for relevant terms. Honestly, I learned Flash without asking very many questions. I could probably count the ones I did ask on one hand. The answers are out there already for the most part.

So that's your mission...decide exactly what you want to learn then get yourself a tall cup of coffee and go find out where that piece of information is hiding.

[dead0eye]

Nothing beats hands on experience. Download the trial of Flash (ignore this if you already have a copy) and play around with it. Since you're a graphics designer, the icons within the application should be extremely familiar to you. Play with the time line, create symbols, animate your boxes or circles to move from point a to b. Etc. Once you're ready to go, drop by at the great tutorial sites provided above.

All the best.

[pointguard]

When I started out (with flash5) I worked my way through some of the tutorials in flash's own help section. My advice is the same as the rest, just play about with flash attempting to create whatever it is you want to create.
Learn the basics first (making MC's, buttons, using tweens, etc), then try creating a very basic site just by linking to different movies or MC's. Even try recreating something you've already seen.
Use the tutorials here as well at flashkit.
Good Luck! Good practice always helps...
One thing, as I'm sure your aware...(H and S bit!) Take regular breaks from the pc as well, (I'm sure you'll get stressed out from time to time when you get stuck!)...