Best app for this project?

Samione · 7 Nov 2007 at 23:05

For the presentation of my coursework at college i've decided I want to present it digitally. I want to create a sort of digital log book of what i've done - with a main menu, buttons that link to certain parts of the project etc. An example of the main page is below;

The four buttons are each chunk of the project, which when clicked on would lead to a new sub menu with each indivual relative part.
I'll be designing it in photoshop first- it's the buttons and stuff linking the pages together etc that I need the app for. I want loads of flexibility with layout, and overall an app that's easy to use. Got any suggestions on what I can use to achieve this?

tres · 7 Nov 2007 at 23:10

Flash? Nice and easy to learn the basics, plus animations for transitions etc

Samione · 7 Nov 2007 at 23:15

trescodrucey said:
Flash? Nice and easy to learn the basics, plus animations for transitions etc

Will I be able to import my .jpeg layouts and work with them easily in it? I probably won't have any fancy rollovers or rollout menus, just page navigation mainly.

Tripnologist · 7 Nov 2007 at 23:23

Samione said:
Will I be able to import my .jpeg layouts and work with them easily in it? I probably won't have any fancy rollovers or rollout menus, just page navigation mainly.

Considering it looks prime for Flash, I would totally go with some nice animations. It'd look sharp.

Samione · 7 Nov 2007 at 23:24

Tripnologist said:
Considering it looks prime for Flash, I would totally go with some nice animations. It'd look sharp.

Hah, i'm a total flash noob, how quickly can I pick this stuff up? Also, will there be much actionscripting involved?

Tripnologist · 8 Nov 2007 at 00:13

Samione said:
Hah, i'm a total flash noob, how quickly can I pick this stuff up? Also, will there be much actionscripting involved?

I'm not sure tbh. I've never done an entire project in flash as I just don't like flash websites.. but it would be perfect for your project. I don't think it should be that difficult if you follow some tutorials.

540media · 8 Nov 2007 at 09:27

Samione said:
For the presentation of my coursework at college i've decided I want to present it digitally. I want to create a sort of digital log book of what i've done - with a main menu, buttons that link to certain parts of the project etc. An example of the main page is below;

The four buttons are each chunk of the project, which when clicked on would lead to a new sub menu with each indivual relative part.
I'll be designing it in photoshop first- it's the buttons and stuff linking the pages together etc that I need the app for. I want loads of flexibility with layout, and overall an app that's easy to use. Got any suggestions on what I can use to achieve this?

how are you going to be presenting this - web or cd?

Samione · 8 Nov 2007 at 12:11

540media said:
how are you going to be presenting this - web or cd?

It's gotta be handed in with my coursework, so CD.

540media · 8 Nov 2007 at 14:23

you have several options really... flash, director or (cant believe I'm going to say this) powerpoint (cant stand the program, but its easy to use if you dont have experience with the other 2)

altho in flash there are already templates for presentations that have actions on the buttons to navigate backwards and forwards.

or you can just place an invisible buttons over the top of your buttons and then just use.

on (press)
gotoAndStop(whatever frame or scene you want);
}

tres · 8 Nov 2007 at 14:33

Flash mate - no action script needed, VERY easy to import jpeg images - use different layers, like the background, then individual buttons, and by following the hour tutorial in the program, you'll get a fantastic looking presentation very quickly

Samione · 8 Nov 2007 at 14:50

Cheers, is the tutorial in version 7?

tres · 8 Nov 2007 at 14:53

All versions i believe

Also, very nice example in the first post

Samione · 8 Nov 2007 at 14:54

Is it the quick tour or flash lesson in the opening screen?

tres · 8 Nov 2007 at 14:57

I don't have it on my work computer, but go to the Help menu at the top, then tutorials

Very easy to create a flash document
THen input the background
THen input the buttons

Then do a tutorial about simple animations, if you wanted to implement it

then it's easy enough to put in a new slide (page 2)

Samione · 8 Nov 2007 at 16:45

Ait cheers for the info- quick Q, if I wanted to create it a regular flash document, each page would effectively be a seperate key frame correct?

allllec · 8 Nov 2007 at 16:50

assuming it dosent have anything happening (ie no music or fancy little moving things) then yep correct

Samione · 8 Nov 2007 at 16:53

It seems to only want to play out as a movie :/, how do I make it, so that it stays on that frame i.e page, and doesn't change until I tell it to go to another frame or whatever.

allllec · 8 Nov 2007 at 16:56

540media said:
on (press)
gotoAndStop(whatever frame or scene you want);
}

should work fine..

i think

Samione · 8 Nov 2007 at 16:58

allllec said:
should work fine..

i think

Err i'm talking about the first front page of the entire thing- like when you open the file this things comes up and it just loops between the two frames(pages) that I have created. Also- I have no idea where to put that text

Edit- sorted it, cheers guys

Samione · 8 Nov 2007 at 17:03

Ok, so i've made my button, except now when I attach the command gotoframe(2) or nextframe(2) , it produces an error when I test the scene! Anyone know what's going on?

Heres the error

**Error** Scene=Scene 1, layer=button, frame=1:Line 1: Wrong number of parameters; nextFrame requires exactly 0.
nextFrame(2);

Total ActionScript Errors: 1 Reported Errors: 1