As soon as I was first exposed to Flash, I knew two things: 1) This would be the future, and 2) I wanted to make websites in Flash.
Flash did turn out to be the future and I still like making things in Flash, but there has been a considerable amount of criticism about the overuse of flash on the web. To Macromedia's credit, they have addressed each new round of issues at break-neck speed with each new revision of the title.
I use flash almost as much as HTML for everything from animated logos to full CD based presentations. I have developed a high skill level with basic operations such as transitions, tweening, and movie clip handling and have augmented that with a basic understanding of highly skilled operations like mouse tracking, dynamic symbol generation, and collision detection.
The examples I provide in this section are of the basic animation kind, or otherwise focused on design over function. To see the examples of more advanced Flash files go to the ActionScript page.
BSU interactive tutorial
To be fair, I am listing this twice on this site, but hey, it is a large project and it is flash based. The tutorial was meant to be the basis of an interactive CD demonstrating how to make and use plaster for moulding and sculpture. You can look into some of the ActionScripting that drives the interactivity in the ActionScript section of this website.
For the purposes of this section though, I want to point out that much of the animation was designed and created by hand in flash as was much of the illustration.
_Xmouse
The term _Xmouse itself is a familiar one to any Flash designer. It is one half of the mouse tracking actionScript command that allows you to, for example, "pick up" and "move" flash elements around the screen. In this instance, _Xmouse is the name of my former web design company. Being a clever clogs I gave the nod to the actionScript in the name of my company in the hopes that someone familiar with the phrase would hire me and give me the dream brief I had been waiting for. Of course the flaw in my plan was that anyone savvy enough to know what _Xmouse refers to would undoubtedly be capable of doing their own design and wouldn't need me to do it for them.
Anyway, here is a great, and deceptively simple example of not only my flash work for my company _Xmouse, but the function _Xmouse as well. Done with a simple mask element, dragging the bar around the screen reveals the x-ray image behind, along with the text.
real IT
The website intro has been such a mainstay of the Flash designer that it is now almost passe to use an intro at all on your site. In fact it can infuriate some people to have to perform the extra click needed to bypass one. Other than this it is particularly tricky to develop a flash intro that doesn't effectively remove access to your site from people who might find you by means of a search engine, or have to use a text reader or other accessibility device.
There are of course work arounds, however I didn't use any for this site.
Drop Down menu
In the early days of Flash there were very few advanced functions to create dynamic content. In some ways it wasn't even as functional as DHTML is today. Things like drop down menus were limited and basic, but with some creative programming and hacks you could push some good stuff out of it. This is an expanding menu I developed in Flash 2 using little more than a complex network of transitions, frame labels, and goto instructions.
Flash Portfolio
Quite some time ago I began putting together an interactive portfolio of all my work that could be put on a mini CD and handed out as a business card. The idea was a good one, and the design I came up with was quite neat. Unfortunately, as life has a habit of doing in my case, I was interrupted and never finished the project. Had I finished it, it would have been a fully functioning, auto running, standalone, full screen, interactive Flash portfolio with media samples, video, music, pictures, and a contact feature to allow people to get in touch.
As it stands it is an overly large yet interesting example of a flash navigation system that happens to display a good chunk of my artwork.