Articles Tagged "Tutorial"

Multiple PageFlip Books in a File

June 16th 2008 Posted to Flash

Since a few people have asked me to help them add multiple PageFlip effects to a single Flash file I thought I'd write this tutorial just for them.

As usual, I recommend downloading the latest version of the Free Flash PageFlip File to be sure we're on the same page (so to speak). ...
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Change PageFlip Gradient Flash Tutorial

June 02nd 2008 Posted to Flash

A few people have asked how to modify the free PageFlip's shadow gradients so I thought I'd write a Flash tutorial for anyone else who might like to do the same. This tutorial will focus on Flash's "beginGradientFill" function so keep reading along if you'd like to get acquainted with that function's basic usage.

To get started I recommend you ...
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Hexadecimal Color Fading Array

May 21st 2008 Posted to Flash

A while ago I wrote a Hexadecimal Color Fading Tutorial explaining how to select a single color at any point on a gradient between two specified colors. In that tutorial there was a function which efficiently broke each of the 2 specified colors into their Red, Green and Blue components and then calculated a single new color at a specified point between them.

Here's what the code looks like: ...
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How to Draw a Logarithmic Spiral

May 14th 2008 Posted to Flash

What is a Logarithmic spiral? A logarithmic spiral steps around center at an additive rate while stepping away from center at a multiplicative rate. Increasing the distance from center at a multiplicative rate causes the arm of a logarithmic spiral to increase in size as it gets further from center. To illustrate, take a look at this photo of a spiral staircase:

bottom-up view
Photo by: darijus

As you can see in the above photo, the number of steps ...
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Change PageFlip Page Color

April 24th 2008 Posted to Flash

As with all PageFlip tutorials, I recommend downloading the most recent version of the free PageFlip file and following along.

  1. Open the file.
  2. Drag the Timeline indicator to frame #14.
  3. The small cross in the middle of the stage is the Pages movieclip.
  4. Double-click the Pages movieclip to begin editing it.
  5. In the Timeline, select the first frame of the Actions layer.
  6. Open the Actions panel (Menu>Window>Actions).
  7. Go to line #20 in the Actions panel.
  8. Change the "pageColor" variable as needed. For example:
    • White: var pageColor = 0xFFFFFF;
    • Gray: var pageColor = 0x808080;
    • Black: var pageColor = 0x000000;
  9. Test the movie (ctrl:entr).
  10. Save your changes if you like the new page color.

That should do it. Be sure to check the PageFlip Help section if you have any other questions.

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How to Draw a Spiral

April 08th 2008 Posted to Flash

This tutorial covers the basic concepts needed to draw a simple spiral with ActionScript. A "simple spiral" or an "Archimedean spiral" is created by moving 'away from' and 'around' a central point at a constant additive rate. If that sounds a bit foreign to you, don't worry it's nothing new. If you've coiled a hose or rope on a flat surface, you have experience working with Archimedean spirals.

Archimedean Spiral
(Photo by Paul Needham)

The most notable characteristic of the simple spiral above is that each coil (a full rotation around center) will always increase the spiral's radius by the same amount (the width of the rope).

Now that you understand what a simple spiral is, I'd like to jump ahead a bit and show you the final state of our code: ...
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Change PageFlip Background Color

February 28th 2008 Posted to Flash

Changing the background color of the PageFlip is easy but it's not very intuitive. Here's a quick tutorial explaining how to do it:

  1. Download the PageFlip file if you haven't already.
  2. Open the PageFLip file.
  3. Make sure the TimeLine is visible (Menu»Window»TimeLine).
  4. Find the "Background" layer in the TimeLine
  5. Click the "X" to the right of the Background layer to make it visible.
  6. Click the "lock" to the right of the Background layer to unlock it.
  7. Click the first non-empty frame in the Background layer to select it.
  8. Click the Fill Color swatch in the ToolBar to choose a new color

That should be it. Happy page-flipping.

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© Sean O'Shell 2007-2008