Shockwave movies are one of the easier and fun movies to make. Virtually anything can be made with them, and the limits are only as high as your imagination. Shockwave movies can include anything from real video clips to stick figures. In fact, once you have the basics down, making a shockwave video can be quite simple and quick to make. After making several movies, your graphics base will be higher so that you will not have to create new graphics for every movie, which will be a big help towards speed.
Instructions
1. Open your shockwave making software. There are several basic elements to each project that once learned, will make subsequent movies flow much easier. These sections are: timeline, tools, the stage and modifiers. These basic elements will be the main tools used for any project.
2. Open the movie properties section. Here you will adjust the basic structure of your move such as: background color, ruler units, frame rates and dimension. These factors will be different for every movie that you make.
3. Make graphics to use in your movie though it can be challenging. You can use pre-made graphics found somewhere, or make your own. Each piece of the drawings that you make is considered their own graphic. To put some together, the modify group button must be hit to make the separate graphics seen as one.
4. Know that the layering tool bar is one of the most important aspects to your shockwave movie. Placing the right layers over each other is important for the final appearance of the movie. Layering is not hard once you get the hang of it.
5. Be aware that movement is necessary to any shockwave movie. To program this, each object must be assigned a movement path. Place the graphic to be moved off to the side of the stage. Assign the “motion” function to the graphic. Click the frame that will be the object’s stopping point. Use that frame as a keyframe. Tapping the arrow keys will move the object across the stage.
6. Test your movie for bugs several times before publishing. Test the movie by playing a trial run. If there are sounds in your movie, be sure they synch up with the graphics.
