Design projects created in Adobe Flash® and output in the SWF file format are a new and emerging medium for stock distribution. iStockphoto needs more Flash content, and creating artwork in the SWF format offers another (far-less-crowded and competitive) outlet in which to sell and distribute your creative wares. Anyone who is engaged in creating digital media – be it photography, vector art, animation, motion graphics, video, or sound – should familiarize themselves with Flash creation and output.

Unlike Photoshop or Illustrator, Flash is an umbrella technology that allows the user to include whatever elements they can think of, such as photographic images, vector artwork, movies, sounds, and interactive scripting. I see a few different types of Flash content on iStockphoto that fall into distinct categories: image slide shows, vector animation, menu systems, and customizable content that can be data driven by XML.

This is the first in a series of articles on Flash, and I’d like to begin with the simplest technique to learn: making a slide show with photographic images. The following examples are modified for iStockphoto from lynda.com’s Flash 8 Hands-On Training book (ISBN: 0321293886), written by James Gonzales.


One way to create a “mock” video effect in Flash 8 is to use a sequence of photographs in which each image is just slightly different from the previous image. When these images are placed in keyframes, one right after another, and you test the movie, it will appear as if the camera is rolling! The following exercise demonstrates how to create frame-by-frame animations (or mock video) by importing a series of bitmap graphics all at once.

Before you start, it’s very important that you first create a sequence of images. All images should be the same dimensions and saved at 72 dpi. Supported image formats include GIF, JPEG, PICT, PNG, Photoshop, and TIFF.


Open Flash and save your file to an empty directory. Name the directory and remember where it is saved on your hard drive. You’ll learn why it’s important to remember where the file is located towards the end of this exercise. Once you have a sequence of images saved to a directory, choose File > Import > Import to Stage, or press Ctrl+R (Windows) or Cmd+R (Mac).


Select the first image file in the sequence and click Open. Flash 8 automatically detects the image you are trying to import as part of a sequence of images. In the warning message that appears, click Yes to import the whole series of images.

If you ever want to import a sequence of images as successive frames and have Flash recognize it as a sequence, be sure to number the images in the order you want them to to appear in the sequence, such as image01, image02, and so on. Whenever Flash 8 sees sequentially numbered images in the same folder, it will ask you whether the images should all be imported as a sequence.

When you clicked Yes in the last step, Flash 8 imported all 14 files in the sequence, placed them on the Stage, and created a new keyframe for each one on the Timeline. Notice the imported images are not centered on the Stage. Why? By default, Flash 8 places the imported sequence in the upper-left corner of the Stage. You’ll change this in the next steps.




In the status bar on the Timeline, click the Edit Multiple Frames button. Make sure the Edit Multiple Frames markers span all the populated frames. If they don’t, drag the handles so they are all selected. Hint: click the layer name to select all the frames on the layer. Click and drag the bitmap image into the center of the Stage. When finished, turn off Edit Multiple Frames by clicking the button again.

Although it may seem complicated, using the Edit Multiple Frames feature lets you reposition all the frames at once.