Many designers and Web artists are excited about using Flash to create dynamic interactive movies but aren't sure how to get started with ActionScript, the Flash scripting language. ActionScript enables you to create interactive movies that play in nonlinear sequence and respond to viewer input from the keyboard or mouse. You can use ActionScript to build interactivity into online games, instructional media, Web navigation structures, e-commerce sites, and other onscreen environments. You can also use ActionScript to control playback of movies without requiring viewer input—for example, to play a preloader, a short movie that displays while the main movie is downloading.

If you're familiar with the Flash drawing and animation features but aren't experienced with scripting languages, this article will introduce you to the ActionScript terminology and procedures involved in creating a simple interactive movie. Once you're familiar with the fundamentals presented here, you'll be equipped to apply these procedures to your own movies.

To make the best use of this article, you should be familiar with these Flash features: the Timeline, including frames, keyframes, frame labels, and layers; symbols and instances; and simple buttons. For information on these, see the Using Flash manual or Flash Help.

Viewing the finished sample movie

About actions

About movie clips

Creating the artwork

Adding the frame actions

Adding the button actions for the expressions

Adding the button actions for the eye positions

Adding the movie clip actions to the Eyes movie clip

Taking the next step

Mary Burger Mary Burger is a Senior Technical Writer at Macromedia. She specializes in Macromedia Flash documentation. 5/22/01 Flash, ActionScript, frame actions, object actions, button actions, movie clip actions, Actions panel, Hit Test method, Stop action, Go To action, event handler 9897