Newbs Flash Help: Tutorials

[AGH]

Here are some 'general' tutorials that will help you to learn about the various things you can do in flash. They should help you a lot:

1 http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/173891
2 http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/174084
3 http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/174927

All by Hypocritism. Those are personal favourites. You should view them in the order they have been placed, because Hypocritism gets into more advanced aspects in the later two. Here are a few more that might help you:

GENERAL TUTORIAL: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/180407
SPRITES: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/143491
SCRIPT: (how to make a basic game): http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/144223
CLAY: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/150139

All by GAMECUBICLE. These are pretty popular.

These are on PERSPECTIVE:

1PT PERSPECTIVE http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/140001
2PT PERSPECTIVE http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/140062
A COMBINATION OF THE TWO: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/140062

The first two by Shea, the third by zen. Here are a couple on WALKING MOTION:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/67509
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/140036

The first by Stew_Ped, the second by Livecorpse.

The best tuts i can find about ACTION SCRIPT on Newgrounds:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/183194
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/171814

Please feel free to add to the list, there really isn't too much i could find.

A few on tutorials on specific parts of flash you may be having trouble with:

FADING: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/46165
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/127233
SHADING: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/152342
BUTTONS: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/43317
DRAWING: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/175354
GRADIENTS: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/56328
BLURRING AND TRAILS: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/176868
LIP SYNCHING: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/108060
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/177983

By Bucci, capn_g, Sneakers, Bucci, Kortex, asdfsdfg, Mitch_Mac, esspat, s1nt3ch. A lot of these are covered in the GENERAL TUTORIALS.

I haven't tried this one yet, but i thought i should put it in. Tell me how you go:

RPG PLATFORMER (game): http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/146524

This is by Everblayde.

And, finally, here is a tutorial on how to make a PRELOADER:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/39399

* There are also basic tutorials included in the Flash software that a lot of people don't know about. To find them, click on 'Help' at the top of the screen, go down to 'Lessons' and there will be some tutorials for you to do. I have Flash 5 though, so i don't know if it's the same for MX.
* If you have trouble, try checking out the Reviews.
* Try typing 'Tutorials' into the search bar at the top of the page. There are far more great tutorials than i can fit in a single page.

Much credit to the artists who have made these.

It would be great if this thread stayed around for longer than an hour, so please tell me if this has helped you, or if there is anything you would like to add to the list.

[AGH]

Sorry, i should have explained why i was doing this. Tonnes of unnecessary threads get made that could be answered if people just looked through the tutorial search pages. However, it makes life easier if someone can tell you which tutorials are worth looking at, and whether there are any on the subject you are looking for. So i'm hoping that someone will be helped by this. Note: Please feel free to bump this before school ends in America. I live in Australia and your 4pm is my 6am, so sometimes i'm not up, and i know a lot of people come online then. Thanks.

[SickoFlash]

well actualy THIS is unnessecary cause there is stuff like this and thats what search is for anyways.

[5carecrow]

This should be stickified...

But one of the walking tutorials you put there is shit.

[AGH]

At 9/24/04 07:13 AM, SickoFlash wrote: well actualy THIS is unnessecary cause there is stuff like this and thats what search is for anyways.

I didn't really want the emphasis to be on 'unnecessary', i really meant that i hoped i could reduce the number of people vaguely asking for help, for example 'how do you use flash?', and because they are so vague, sometimes they don't get any help. Well, at least i'll have a thread to refer people to if they do ask how to use flash. A lot of people just don't want to use the search, or don't realise it's there. Doing this can cut down their work load.
Also, i typed in a number of word combos, but i couldn't find anything like this. I guess i must have used the wrong words?

As for the walking thing, which one don't you think is good? Personally i don't like the Livecorpse one as much as Stew_Ped's, but some people prefer different things.

Here's a link to a good dress up tutorial: http://www.outwarizdabombdiggity.com/iamafool.grecoromanwrestling.php

[AGH]

Here are two more tutorials. The first is on EXPLOSIONS AND WEAPONS. I just spotted it today, it should help a lot of you.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/192227

That is by TeknoGames. The second one is on SOUND. It's very basic, but if you know of a tutorial that goes into more depth, please tell me.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/188439

Actually, i think some of the general tut's go into more depth. Anyway, that is by Swizard and Ashy-T.

[schorhr]

All of the crappy video tutorials i made for people who did not understand my (or other peoples) answers in the forums.

The most n00bish one:
Download flash tutorial :-)

Tweening/rotating bodyparts

Tween and fade

The 16000 frame play bug work arround

How to trace bitmaps and remove the background

How to use Monkeyjam for stopmotion

How to change the background color in different frames...

Breaking photos and removing parts with the wand

Making text with outlines

A simple pulsing text / heartbeat

How to make key-movement actionscript

Tweening 16 colors test

Tweening 2 colors test

[AGH]

That's fantastic schorhr, thanks for posting them.

[schorhr]

Expect some high quality ones once "wink 2" is out.

[Rathanos]

Wink1 doesn't cut it?

[schorhr]

Wink 1 has a few bugs, especialy when reducing the palette, but the most anoying is the fact that i cant ad a preloader automaticly without having to use a swf joiner, and other things too.

Also, editing the swf files with flash itself results in a big hassle, since flash imports it well, but on export to swf it will change all immages to jpg, which increases the file size and adds ugly compression artefacts...

[HalfV]

Heres one really basic tutorial I have made. I think it can help real beginners in flash. I really think this can help. It will tell you what it teaches in link!
Basic Tutorial

[Mitch-Mac]

Dont forget my Shooting Tutorial =D

[AGH]

Good tutorials, thanks for posting them. I'm hoping that someone might know of a decent tutorial for a DRESS UP GAME. Lots of people ask for one, but i can't seem to find a good one. Thanks.

[InsaneStewy]

Great post man. This should help me out a lot.

Hopefully :)

[AGH]

A huge thanks to -otacon-, who has given me permission to post this list of tutorials and general information about Flash that he has put together. It's very useful, and includes sites where you are able to download the MACROMEDIA FLASH TRIAL, PRELOADERS, SOUND EFFECTS and SOUND PROGRAMS among other things. I have added a few links from educational software websites to the list. :)

[AGH]

Otacon's links and tutorials for N00bs - V3

First of all you need an animating program based on Flash. The main tool is called Macromedia Flash, however there are a lot of other ones that are based on Flash but are free. Before trying any of those, you should get the free 30 day trial for Macromedia Flash.

Flash MX 2004 30 day trial: http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=flash

The price for it is a little over 500$. However you can buy it for much cheaper at the following links:

http://www.amazon.com - Hehe, these guys have everything on sale. Almost always :P
http://www.ebay.com

If you are student, you can also get a much cheaper copy (around $190 for Studio MX) from educational websites such as:

http://www.campustech.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/index.html?E+scstore
http://www.academicsuperstore....ch=macromedia&qs_platform=
http://www.journeyed.com/department.asp?DID=macromedia&SKW=VPmacromedia

It is understandable that you might not want to pay for it. Then you can get a free flash maker. Check out this thread posted at NG bbs about Free flash makes:

http://newgrounds.com/bbs/topic.php?id=153186

After you get the program(Flash) and install it, get started in this animated example:

http://newgrounds.com/flash/samples/demo.html

For basic game ActionScripts check out step 3 here:

http://newgrounds.com/flash/index.html

Animated tutorials:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/173263 - Movie clips, Motion Tween and Basic Actionscript.
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/175909 - PreLoader
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/143491 - Sprites
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/144223 - Games
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/52586 - Compression
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/80194 - Fading
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/180407 - W00t. This one is one of the best animated tuts i have seen.

Further go to these links for more tutorials and/or flash resources:

http://www.flashkit.com - One of the best Flash resource sites out there. Has everything. SoundFX/tutorials/movies/loops etc.
http://www.kirupa.com - Pretty much like flashkit
http://www.actionscript.org - All kind of actionscript stuff you can ask for
http://www.angelfire.com/in4/star_cleaver/tut.html - A Flash FAQ. Has answers to many questions N00bs have.
http://www.flashadvisor.com/ - Pretty much like flashkit
http://www.echoecho.com/flash.htm - Tutorial site. All kinds of tutorials.
http://www.ultrashock.com/ - A great site. Has tutorials + goodies/book reviews/fla source files.
http://www.sfdt.com/support/ - List of tutorials made in flash. Some examples of tutorials would be how to make special effects or make sticks.
http://www.lionbichstudios.com/flash_tutorials_01.htm - A very good Flash MX tutorial site. Has advanced stuff :)
http://www.gotoAndPlay.it/ - Tons of tutorials, and great stuff.

Free Fla files that can be used in your flash:

http://thealmightychet.250free.com/resource.htm - All kinda weapons.
http://www.ultrashock.com/ > fla sources section.
http://www.coflash.com/

Sounds:

http://www.findsounds.com
http://www.sounddogs.com
http://www.a1freesoundeffects.com
http://www.flashkit.com/soundfx
http://www.google.com << it works :P

Sound loops:

http://www.flashadvisor.com/sound/index.php
http://flashkit.com/loops

Audio-editor:

http://www.audacity.sf.net - Free audio editor. Best out there.

PreLoaders:

http://www.geocities.com/mercloaders/
http://newgrounds.com/flash/NewgroundsPreLoader.fla
http://newgrounds.com/bbs/topic.php?id=157846

Optimizing:

http://www.stillstationed.com/...al_optimizing/optimizing0.html - Optimizing audio, video, jpg, vector, etc.
http://newgrounds.com/bbs/topic.php?id=153125 - Compressing SWF

Sprites:

http://www.eternalrpg.net/sprites.php
http://www.gsarchives.net/index2.php - One of the greatest ones out there :)
http://www.captainn.net/main.html
http://sfghq.emulationzone.org
http://www.sonichq.org
http://www.skytowergames.net/
http://deekman.cjb.net
http://www.panelmonkey.org
http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic.php?id=149949 - Sprite resource at NG bbs
http://www.gifsyndicate.com/ - For the below links, thanks to _Nexxus_
http://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/
http://www.deekman.cjb.net/
http://www.rpgmaker2000.4players.de:1027/d_chipsets.html
http://www.psyguy.com/
http://www.powow.com/snessprites/
http://www.elizar.com/
http://www.cherryroms.com/news.php
http://www.vlatitude.com/
http://www.gamesfirst.com/
http://www.angelfire.com/mn2/ryuujin/viewalls.html
http://bd.turbocomix.com/
http://www.flashstand.com

Flash 3d. Flash has absolutely no support for 3d. Yet you can mimic 3d or use a 3d program and export 3d into swf format. Here are few programs and resources you can start from:

http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic.php?id=163163 - 3d out-of-the-box, n00b proof
http://www.swift3d.com - The best 3d flash editing program.

Screensaver/desktop:

http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic.php?id=163163 - Programs that can be used to export swf files as screensavers.

Stopmotion & Free animation tools

http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic.php?id=114332 - Thanks go to Schorhr on NG bbs :)

Actionscript:

http://www.gotoandplay.it/_articles/2003/12/scrolling_upd.php - A fully working Optimized art-based scrolling Game Engine Free to use and learn from it :P
http://newgrounds.com/bbs/topic.php?id=66585 - Teh Leet NG bbs actionscript thread. Has over 150 pages. Full of all kinds of codes.

Now, guys you have your movie ready? Full of sounds, sprites, a preloader, good animation, drawing, maybe a game(?), some stopmotion. Of course not :P Your first movie will be crappy. We understand that. Don't submit your first movie. You might wanna upload it at NG to show it to your friends. All you need for that is a free web host. Check out the link below:

http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic.php?id=160204

Finally, don't forget to check out these:

http://www.sparkstudios.org
http://www.nottoxic.com

And lastly don't forget to use GOOGLE ( http://newgrounds.com/bbs/topic.php?id=158208 ) and also search NG bbs for basic stuff ( http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs ) :)

[s1nt3ch]

sweet resource guys !
and thx 4 the link to my lipsync tut, argh
here ya go, a particles tutorial by me

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view.php?id=156983

[s1nt3ch]

i meant agh sry :P

[AGH]

At 10/3/04 01:38 AM, s1nt3ch wrote: i meant agh sry :P

Lol, it's funny, when i picked that name i didn't even think of it that way. The letters stand for Angry Gift Horse, a dodgy mspaint character i made last year. I sent some people random presents with a picture of the Angry Gift Horse taped to the front. He had a speech bubble written in wingdings and strange pictures that represented what the presents were for. Very confused people, they were.

[AGH]

Well, that first sentence made little sense... IGNORE o_O

[leaded]

sweet just started with flash and these tutorials have been a great help!

[AGH]

I completely forgot about this, until NOgood recently submitted The Takamori Legend. It's a behind the scenes of Legend Of A Samurai. The style is part trailer, part tutorial (although he insists it isn't a tutorial, it is quite informative) and it's one of the most entertaining trailers i've seen on Newgrounds. I won't explain any more ;)

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/177838

[AGH]

This tutorial came through the portal yesterday:

FLASH INKING TUTORIAL: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/196228

I think it's pretty good for learning how to draw characters in Flash. It's similar to the drawing tutorial i put in the first post, but the presentation is a bit rougher.

[a22]

Thanks for having all the trouble to help noobs like this! I'm not too noob, but I found some of this stuff pretty useful. (Hey this is my first post here :) )

[Homophobe]

Fucking awesome.
Maike my tutorial pale in significance

[butters-666]

yay

[AGH]

At 10/18/04 02:17 PM, Captain_Hack wrote: Fucking awesome.
Maike my tutorial pale in significance

Hey, i liked your tutorial, i'm going to put it in the new GIGANTIC POST when i update the list in the next week or so.

[AGH]

A couple of other things:

I forgot to say this earlier, but thank you to everyone for their feeback. It's good to know that this has helped. :)

My apologies to mercy_killer who was the author of the PRELOADER tutorial from the first post, i didn't realise that i had left his/her name out when i was typing it up.

That's all.