Flash help

[sirbleedsalot]

I am working on making a flash presentation and am having some troubles.
*I need to know how to create two buttons, one at the beginning of the time line to start the movie when clicked, and one at the end of the time line to replay the movie. I have multiple scenes and have tried to use actions to do this but it always says that it must be a button to apply actions to it even if it is.

* I want a mask to go over the stage so that objects outside the stage would not be visible if a user hit the maximize button in the upper left hand corner of the window. The problem is when I create the mask some of my text does not show up at all.

*I am using the alpha command to make objects fade in and out, however most of the time I can't get the color selection box to appear in the properties window to change the alpha and it is annoying. So if anyone has some tips on how to make that appear, or how to fade objects easier that would be helpful as well.

[theory6]

I am working on making a flash presentation and am having some troubles.
*I need to know how to create two buttons, one at the beginning of the time line to start the movie when clicked, and one at the end of the time line to replay the movie. I have multiple scenes and have tried to use actions to do this but it always says that it must be a button to apply actions to it even if it is.

To do this, on the first frame on your opening scene on a new layer, draw your button using a rectangle tool or circle tool or whatever shape you want. Then double click the fill of your shape to make sure the stroke as well as the fill is selected. Now press F8 on your keyboard and this bring up the Conver to Symbol box. On here pick the button selection, name it sumthing appropriate like: btnPlay and press okay. Now you have your play button. Double click the button you've created to change options such as colors. You have four states of the button, on,over, down and hit. These should be pretty self explanatory. The hit state doesn't matter at the moment.
Now you can add your action script to your button to make it start, stop, play or goto a certain frame/movie clip.

* I want a mask to go over the stage so that objects outside the stage would not be visible if a user hit the maximize button in the upper left hand corner of the window. The problem is when I create the mask some of my text does not show up at all.

Your objects that are outside the stage do NOT appear in the .swf movie once exported and put into a HTML file even when maximized.

*I am using the alpha command to make objects fade in and out, however most of the time I can't get the color selection box to appear in the properties window to change the alpha and it is annoying. So if anyone has some tips on how to make that appear, or how to fade objects easier that would be helpful as well.

The first step if you want to use alpha,tint,etc on a motion tween is to make the object your trying to fade a SYMBOL. SPECIFICALLY A GRAPHIC. It NEEDS to be a graphic if you want to apply the alpha channel. So always double click your object that you made, press F8 name and select Graphic and press okay. Now you will always get the color modifier guaranteed.

If you have any other questions or need to modify your flash file but don't know how, I'll gladly do it for you if you send it to me. Good luck!

[sirbleedsalot]

Thank you for your help. This movie was not planned to go into a HTML file rather it was meant to play directly from the flash player as it will be put on a CD. However if it would probably look OK in a web browser that would also make it easier to auto run. Also I was wondering how I would create a scroll bar in the movie so that a user can read at their own pace.

[Ian Curtis]

I am not sure how to make a scroll bar... but please let me present the most comprehensive flash site ever:

www.flashkit.com

look under the tutorials section. They should have something on that.

[theory6]

Originally Posted by sirbleedsalot

Thank you for your help. This movie was not planned to go into a HTML file rather it was meant to play directly from the flash player as it will be put on a CD. However if it would probably look OK in a web browser that would also make it easier to auto run. Also I was wondering how I would create a scroll bar in the movie so that a user can read at their own pace.

To add a scroll bar make your text dynamic. To do this, click on the text you have written, on the bottom properties panel there should be a drop down box saying "STATIC TEXT" Click this drop down menu and pick dynamic text. Now open the COMPONENTS window in Flash and drag the scroll bar icon from the components window and drop it onto your dynamic text box. It should snap into place and line up with your text box. If this doesnt work, make sure the scroll bar value is named the same as your dynamic text box value.