Adobe Flash Question

[Popo]

Hi, folks.

I've been playing around in Adobe Flash CS3 Professional for the last few days, and have managed to learn and successfully execute the basic tasks required to make a dress-up doll. (Converting the layers into something that you can drag around and place, essentially.) What I'd like to know is if it's possible to open a .JPEG file (or a similar type file) and convert it into a file type that I can add actions/script to, and if so, what sort of file type would that be. I've been hearing a lot about needing to convert to a .SWF, but after reading up on the process, I'm not getting a straight answer. I see a lot of "Download this program!" and a lot of confusing coding that I don't know what to do with.

For reference, this is the process I'm using. I'm new to Flash and only know the very basics, so I'll just provide as much information as I can...

1. Create new file. (AutoScript 2.0)
2. Draw image. Name “Base” and lock. ((I'd like to use a .JPEG or something similar from Photoshop in this step.))
3. Create new layer. Draw clothing/etc. ((Again, .JPEG.))
4. Right click clothing/etc. Select “Convert to… Movie Clip”.
5. Right click again. Select “Actions”. ((Can't add script to a .JPEG.)) Type in the following:

Code:

1 on (press) {
2 startDrag ("");
3 }
4 on (release) {
5 stopDrag ();
6 }

I realize that you can draw directly in Flash, but truthfully, I find it a bit awkward and prefer the level of control I get from a program like Photoshop, hence the conversion issue. Any help on this subject would be appreciated. Thanks!

[aznswordmaster1]

Hmm Crap not my field, I do have a friend though that knows more about Scripting in Flash, I'll ask him to take a look at this if he can and I'll post what he says here if he feels like it...

[Sardine]

I recall doing something like this with a project of mines, about half a year ago when i had to work with Flash. Unless you're using motion footage, just take the image into Adobe flash as a jpeg, or a Gif. if you need transparencies.

[edit] should have looked at the link. To get the images in will not be the problem, It's the scripting to get the clothes on that will be the issue. What will probably happen is that for each article of clothing, you'll have a seperate key frame for that. Any combination of clothing will have its keyframe, yatta, yatta, yatta. Now how to make the interface work on click is quite another story, and that's beyond my scope, since I don't deal with scripting at all.

[Popo]

Well, the problem with just plopping the files in as-is is that they still can't have actions applied to them. However, I've managed to find a solution to this problem, so everything's cool now. Thanks, guys!

[Yarias]

You should be able to convert anything you put on the stage into a symbol, and you should be able to reference the symbol in scripts.

If you wanted to dynamically load the image files after your swf has started, you'd have to use something like the Bitmap/BitmapData class (for rasterized content).

What did you do that ended up working? (I haven't used CS3 before)

[Popo]

I got as far as converting my pieces to symbols. After that, I wasn't allowed to do any script-related activities. In the end, I saved the pieces I wanted to add in Flash as Bitmap files. Pretty simple solution... I never really save anything like that so it didn't occur to me to try that file type.