Flash :: Real Dumb One Here

Real Real Dumb Questions
I have been using Front Page to develope my divisions Intranet page for the past couple of years, and have become fairly proficient with the various versions from 98 to 2002. I am also in the process of designing a page for a friends band. My company (the US Postal Service) has let it be known that we can now use Flash during the development of our sites. My question/questions are: What exactly is Flash and what can it do for me to improve my pages? I have seen several sites that incorporate "movies" that I believe are Flash creations, into various parts of the site, although it appears that most are used on the "Splash" page. Can Flash "projects" be incorporated into a Front Page page, or does it have to exist as a standalone page? I have read through the tutorials but I guess I'm in a fixed mindset because I just can't seem to get a grasp on the whole Flash concept. A friend who has moved on to other products has loaned me her version 4 of Flash to experiment with, and I notice that version 5 can be had pretty cheaply on eBay, so I would not be adverse to purchasing an earlier version (4 or 5) for my personal use and while learning. If I can show a bit of proficieny with the product, HQ will probably supply me with the latest version, and more than likely, the necessary training to go along with it.
Sorry for the long post, but I'm at a loss for answers.
Thanks,
John

HELP Real Dumb Actionscript Problem
Guys i think this is like really dumb but hey i cant figure it out so... here it goes i have all my different pages on the website in my main scene with a framelabel every 6 frames ... now im putting all my buttons in navbar mc but they are not working heres the As i gave to the buttons

1st button:
on (press) {
gotoAndPlay ("Scene 1", "Equipment");
}
2nd button:
on (press) {
gotoAndPlay ("Scene 1", "Services");
}

and so on.... whats happening when i click on my buttons it restart the timline on the navbar mc and its not going to the corresponding mc ...!!! Help now i just wanna klnow if i cant put buttons in a mc and then transfer them to my scene as a mc holding the buttons ... if drag an instance of the button to my scene1 timeline and i put the same code it works... but the mc ones arent working

thanks in advance

Real Dumb Question From Newbie (snowfall)
Hi

I'm hope someone can point me in the right direction for a tutorial on how to generate snowfall in Flash CS3. I'm happy to deleve into actionscript, but the examples I've found on the web, I'm unable to get to work . The best example I found is http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/Ac...-980/more3.php

I was hoping this would be quite simple, and I'm sure that it is, but I need a 'noddy guide' that holds my hand for me

Also if anyone can suggest some good books for a newbie on Flash (CS3) and actionscript, I'd be most grateful.

Thanks in advance.

[F8] Dumb Question Please Dont Give Dumb Answer
Rightio folks,

want to create a thumbnail gallery. the thumnails are buttons, and when you press 'em they load a luvly bigger picture.

i dont want to do things the long way round by making lots of new frames with the 'gotoandStop' command for the bigger pictures but want to make use of the loader component.

Is doing such a task possible? ie pressing the button and it loading a big version in loader

i cant seem to find any tutorials on the web been searching all day!

A Dumb Question From A Dumb Kid
Probably the dumbest question on here:
Can you have two different colored backgrounds in the same movie (without drawing a generic rectangle behind everything)? I would like a brown background for scene 1, but white for scene 2.
Thanks in advance,

J-Money

Am I Being Dumb
I know this is probably a stupid question, but the more layers u have in falsh, does that contribute to the size of the file, should I be basing everything in one layer to svae on file size?
Thanx in advance.

This Is A Dumb Q, But I'm Really New At This
OK. What's the script I type in so that when my movie's done playing in my website's intro, it automatically sends the user to the homepage without them having to click on anything? If anyone can tell me how to do that I'll be greatful. Thanks.

Monica

I Must Be Dumb...
I want a row of buttons, all the buttons will look the same, but have different actions. I'm trying to put a dynamic text box in a layer in the button, so I can change the label for each button.

The test button has an instance name of button 1. The dynamic text box has a variable name of text.

But it's not working. If I change the behavior of the symbol to movie clip it works. If I make it a button, it doesn't.

I thought you could do this in Flash MX. Am I missing something?

I Am Dumb.
I can't get my flash to work with any free hosting service providers anywhere. It's so bizzar. Even if I publish it as html I still can't get it to be hosted on any free hosting services. Anybody esle find better luck at attaining this. Are there any places offering free hosting services that are incredibly good with flash?

Is This A BUG? Or Am I Just Dumb?
Hi i have made a site, which has small images, when you click on them it gives you a full size image in a new window. With the option to print the page.

When you click on the print button, it opens up the printer dialog page. But i cant click on the buttons. If i right click on the printer options page it comes up with the flash player context menu. Then i am able to click on the button.

Any ideas as to why this is happening?
Thanks

I have published it at http://www.visual-designs.co.uk its not finished yet though and stills needs to be split up into seperate movies so it preloads quicker.

Ok I Must Be Really Dumb
Ok I found a fla file that i thought might help me.... except i can't view it? its asking me for a patch??? i have no idea what the hell it is? someone pls help!

I'm Not So Dumb After All
[/b]I GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/b]

HELP... Did Something REALLY DUMB
HELP ME

On my other computer wich has no Internet, and where my Flash 5 program is on, I created an animation for something VERY important.
(Plus, the computer is screwy and I can't save, so I have to publish my animations to save them...)So I made an animation for fun the next day (The important one was accidentally published as 'Movie1'),
and then I finished it and I was publishing I was to excited about my dumb accomplishment of a stupid animation I accidentally published it as MOVIE1!!! Wich then published over the important one. Is there anyway to get it back!?>!?!?!?

I Am Dumb
ok is there anyway to preload 1 flash movie out of multiple flash movies that are embedded in a normal HTML page?

see i don't even know how to word this right

http://therandomdesign.com/jivemain.html

basically i need that video clip of the guy breakdancing to preload....the rest of it is cool

any suggestions???

war,
mes.

Help This Dumb Guy Out Will Ya?
Go here, all you flash gurus..

http://www.grandhyatttokyo.com/swf/index.html

Im trying to do that window-blind image transition effect. I tried to do the exact same thing but my image transition doesnt alpha fade in like this website does. I did mine by masking with the mask layer doing the window-blind effect and my photo on the layer below. My mask layer doesnt respond to any alpha input I gave it....so that means I have to alpha the image instead? ...how the hell do I do that? or maybe I'm just plain dumb...I need a drink.

Am I Being Dumb?
I am having real trouble with fonts, I have been to a number of
flash sites where smaller text appears in an html style eg www.cunningwork.com
www.twocreate.co.uk
please somebody put me out of my misery, how do i do this???

Da Da Da Dumb
why isnt this working:

code: on (release) {
tellTarget ("/head_me") {
gotoAndStop(2);
} { tellTarget ("/body_me") {
gotoAndStop(2);
} { tellTarget ("/jeans_me") {
gotoAndStop(2);
}
}
}

}

i am trying tomake 1 button call the second frame of three different mc's

This Is Dumb....
I am wanting to animate to some audio. So i imported a wav file. When i put it in its layer and hit enter, it played. The thing is...when i hit enter again to STOP it, it kept going anyway, all the way to the end. i KNOW it's not supposed to do that. I've tried restarting and i've tried importing a different audio clip to see if it's the wav file, but they BOTH do it. i need to be able to hear it as i scroll through the timeline and i can't. The only way to hear it is from beginning to end. what's the deal???

Maybe I Am A Dumb Ass
I am fairly new to flash, I bought a flash template a couple of weeks ago and set about customising it, everthing was going well until I thought I would try and import a text file into the design. I have followed so many different tutorials but what ever I do my text does not appear! It seems most tutorials were written for earlier versions of mx (I am using 7.2) I must be doing something wrong, most of the tutorials I have read basically say I have to have:
loadVariables ("textfile.txt");
but when i test the movie I get the error message:
**Error** Symbol=content privacy, layer=Layer 1, frame=1:Line 2: Wrong number of parameters; loadVariables requires between 2 and 3.
loadVariables ("textfile.txt");

Total ActionScript Errors: 1 Reported Errors: 1

I hope so one can help me.
thanks

Something So Dumb......
in my main timeline i have

Code:
corpVidsButton.onRelease = function():Void
{
gotoAndStop("corpVids");
//corpVids resigns in frame 6 of the main timeline
}
and it takes me to the frame just before it.....WHY??? i tried switching the code so its an "on (release)", same thing, i've done gotoAndStop(6); which is the frame that it is in, and still it takes me to the frame before. I've checked my instance names, they are unique.

I'm no noob to flash, i've been doing it a while, and have a pretty strong programming background. Though i wouldn't consider myself a guru yet. But this has stumped me more then anything. Any suggests?

[CS3] Ok, I Must Be Dumb...
And i know this issue has been addressed millions of times on this board, but I am having preloader issues! I've tried to use code from existing tutorials on the site but nothing seems to be working.

Here's my deal.....
I have a main .swf basically containing my navigation which loads in the smaller .swf's into level 1....(its about 5 subsequent swf files) In my knowledge, I've built another "Preloader" animation (similar to the Apple start-up star thing that will just spin until the loading is complete) .FLA file that the main Navigation .swf loads by "loadMovieNum("Preloader.swf",1)" to be published that will look for the total bytes of the other subsequent .swf and play on until the file is completely loaded.

I've built it this way because I've read that having the preloader in the same .swf file that is attempting to be load is not good. Someone please help before my boss has my head! Thanks in advance..

I Must Be Doing Something Dumb
I have code that reads from a text file :

&totalVotes=10
&value1=5
&value2=4
&value3=1
&value4=0

and actionscript:

trace ("value1 = " + value1);
trace ("totalVotes = " + totalVotes);
percent = (value1/totalVotes) * 100;
trace ("percent = " + percent);

When I run the program my trace window shows:

value1 = 5

totalVotes = 10

percent = NaN

Why is percent so messed up?

Please Help

This Is Dumb
This website is stupid all i wanted was a working demo version of flash MX not about 5 extra links and an error message why can't i just get a demo file...

I appreciate flash MX is very good i would have like to try it out but why only restrict it to one god damn mirror.

Regards

Paddy

Dumb But I Must Ask
does anyone know how to keep an image in the background of your flash like this
with the sizing properties and such?
i can do it normally but then when i add to page
it's just a jemmed up piece of junk??

http://www.clubguyandroni.nl/

Being Dumb...
Hey All!
can I control movieclips like this...

_root.themosclip.gotoAndPlay(1);

I have been using TellTarget and all that gaff?!

I'm Doing Something Dumb...
...but can't quite figure out what it is.

Best Practices seems to recommend putting all my ActionScript code in an Actions layer, but when I do that and then test the movie, there is invariably a brief moment where I get:

"Current selection cannot have actions supplied to it"

Then the movie loads and, of course, doesn't work.

This happens even when I'm doing tutorials - though sometimes they work, after a bit. very odd, that.

Any qucik guesses on what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks,

I Am Really That Dumb?
Hello All,

Why can't I simply change the source path to a remote server where my flash files are and have them load?

Code:
embed name="movie" src="http://www.remoteserver.com/movie.swf"
Isn't this all i would have to change? the URL in the source path??

Thanks in advance for the help.

Arlene

RE Im Dumb
Rev

ok..it makes no diferance... here is a snapshot of my prob with screen res at 1280 by 1024... can ya see my problem now.. thnx

Being Dumb...
Hey All!
can I control movieclips like this...

_root.themosclip.gotoAndPlay(1);

I have been using TellTarget and all that gaff?!

I'm Sorry For Being Dumb...
hi guys, I'm a total newbie in using flash and i'm trying to insert amovie clip in a flash movie but i can't figure out how... been readin you meassages but they're more advance so i figured to make a thread... please help... i'm using flash mx... thanks a lot....

Dumb As A Box Of Rocks
I am using a Flash plug-in for text effects (Mix-FX). Upon completion, they are saved as a *.swf

My question: How can I import each individual *.swf into one flash file? This is not for web creation. I'm trying to do an animated short.

Spell it out for me, please--I'm a major novice.

Ok Either Im Dumb Or Im Haveing A Bad Day?
Huh... i finally finished my movie and uploaded it, but guess what it doesent work properly. Some effects load, some not. I`ve tryied everything i can think of but still nuffing.Most of effects in my movie are seperate movies and i use different levels for them all, but it just wont work.
The most strange thing is that when i play the movie on my pc evertthing works ok, but when i upload it than only few of my effects work.
I use same commands for all effects.
For example:
on (release, releaseOutside) {
_root.gotoAndPlay ("tegijad");
gotoAndStop ("hide");
}
on (rollOver) {
loadMovieNum ("Rollover tegijad.swf", 17);
loadMovieNum ("vasak taht.swf", 18);
}
on (rollOut) {
unloadMovieNum (17);
unloadMovieNum (18);
}
on (press) {
unloadMovieNum (11);
unloadMovieNum (12);
}

If someone has an idea whats wrong help me out&I`ll take you out for a drink sometime.

Really Dumb Question Here..
okay, i am just trying to teach myself all this website stuff and i have been working on a flash intro for my website. it has pics and music and all that jazz and seems perfect when i play it in swish. but when i do a web preview, all the timeing is different (ie.. i have pictures floating around and it stops with just "enter" at the end of the 20 second song) and then it wont stop playing.. i dont have it looping, so what do i need to do to get it all to end at the same time?

thanks.

sorry for the dumb question though!

A Know Am Dumb But I Gotta Ask
this maybe a dumb question but i gotta to ask iam designing my flash site i have the main site and separte swf for the menu system i have loaded the menu system into the main site using the load movie command but what i want to know is how do i get the menu system to load another swf into the main site on a button press been trying for ages all i can say is heeeeellllppppp

Dumb ? Of The Month
How do you remove the background from each frame in an imported animated gif? (It took me all day just to figure out how to separate them ...)
Thanks!

Dumb Question?
hey every1
i just wanted to know can u have a picture in the background and a small animation playing somewhere in the screen?like i want a real pic of a tree and a animation of a little girl swinging on a tree??
thanks

Dumb With Music
OK

I looked at the music loops at flashkit.com The file sizes are like 3000k - how do I make them much smaller to be used on my pages. The preview quality is good enough but I have no idea how to get them down in size.

Come on - be a gem and help

Dumb With() Question
This is probably a very dumb question, but it's something I haven't been able to figure out.

I am trying to use "with()" to replace my "telltarget()'s" and things are not working. My code is ultra simple...

on (release) {
with (mc) {
gotoAndPlay (2);
}
}

I'm just trying to move the playhead in a movie clip to the 2nd frame after pushing a button. Using telltarget() this works just fine. When using with() as shown in the above code, only the main timeline moves to frame 2 - it appears to not be targeting the movie clip.

I've looked through the forum, Flash help and my "Flash Visual QuickStart Guide" - according to all of them, my code is correct. So what's up? Can anyone point me to a simple mistake I'm making?

Can you tell I'm not an actionscripter? (though I wish I was!)

Thanks for any help.

Aj

Not As Dumb As My Last ?....well I Hope
I am trying to move on past the point in my flash learning to were I don't use tweens as much. Is there some tutorials out there some one can send me to to help out my learning disablity LOL. for example: I have a box that is W:=1.0 H:=1.0 and
X:=-0.5 and Y:=-0.5 and in about 3 sec it should go to
W:=643.3 H:=503.9 and X:=-321.6 Y:=-252.0, My hopes are that if I start doing this in AS then it will reduce my file size from what I get from tweening.

Dumb Question
This is a really stupid question and I am extremley new to flash. But how do I put a preloder on my flash movie?

A Dumb Question But Useful For Me ;)
Hi,
In my movie i load another movie that is the same size. I have two problems : The buttons in the first movie are still active whereas we can't see them, and i don't know how to unload the second movie from himself... Thx,
hacook

Dumb Question...
i just want to reassure myself that this is right. lets say i have movie1. in movie1s root i have function clearall(). now i import movie2 into movie1. movie2 can call that function using _root.clearall() right? this seems so simple but it doesnt work. maybe i just need a break... could someone just assure me that i should be able to do this?

Another Dumb Question. . .
Hey, i have a 2 minutes presentation, and i have done it in sepparate movies because it has a lot of vids. so in order to make it load faster i did it in different movies. ok.
Now here`s the prob: i also have a 2 minutes sound wich has been produced specifically for this movie (not by me) how can i make it sound from start to end while all the movies play?
It`s prob a eay one. .
Any help appreciated. thanx.

Another Dumb Question
i have this on a button:
on (release) {
myframevar = 11;
_root.xvariable.gotoAndPlay(47);
_root.yvariable.gotoAndPlay(50);
}
and then i have
_root.gotoAndStop(myframevar)
on the last frame of the longest movie clip. for some reason this does not take me to frame 11. can someone please explain what i did wrong and how to fix it.

Lil Dumb Question
if i do

var trut = "gotoAndPlay(5)"

and on a button

on (release) {
trut;
}

why wouldnt that work ?

Dumb Question
what is the use of easing in flash 5?

Dumb Question?
Do i need a scrip with flash MX to detect if a visitor has flashplayer 6 or is it standard bult in in flash MX ?????
And does it automaticly download the player when it is neccesary??

respect
-envoy-

Another Somewhat Dumb Question
hey all,
i know how to use the "scrollpane" feature in mx, but i don't know how to change the "theme". i don't really want to make different buttons and such, just really to change the colors to suit my site. i have no clue how to make my own, so this is like my only hope. if it is complicated, nice directions would be appreciated. thanks

Real Dumb One Here

I use to use the var i=i+1 in flash 5 but now in MX it returns a NAN value. what am I doing wrong, im using this var to duplicate MC. "i" is the new name and depth. Ive been searching the MX board and cant find a solution.thanksdave

I use to use the var i=i+1 in flash 5 but now in MX it returns a NAN value. what am I doing wrong, im using this var to duplicate MC. "i" is the new name and depth. Ive been searching the MX board and cant find a solution.

thanks
dave