Art, Technology & People

Remember when I told everyone that I'd have a little surprise for everyone that would like to advertise on P2L even if you don't have an advertising budget? Well I am very pleased to announce a sweet little upgrade to the P2L Ad System that I think you tutorial writers are going to love. Not only can you run your own Google ads on your published tutorials, but when you create an approved tutorial in the publishing system, you will be automatically awarded 50 click credits that you can use on our Ad System!

So here's the rundown on how this works:

1. Use the P2L Publishing System to create and publish a tutorial
2. The tutorial is reviewed as usual for acceptance to the main P2L Index
3. If your tutorial is approved, your account is credited with 50 Click Credits
4. You can now use your credits to create any PPC/CPM Ads on the site!

It's that simple!

If you have any questions about this new feature or about the P2L Publishing System or P2L Ad System, please drop me a line via PM or contact us.

Enjoy!
Dan

Here's your chance to win the full Total Training for Macromedia Flash Professional 8 package, valued at $299.99! We recently reviewed this AWESOME training product, and you can read the review here. And the best part is, you enter by speaking your mind! From now until next Friday, April 27, simply post your comments on any tutorials and on Friday night (sometime between 8PM and 11PM EST) I will randomly select a comment author as the winner. You can leave as many comments as you like and each comment will be considered an entry. Here's some minor rules and notes on the contest:

1. All entries should be valid comments, not SPAM. Remember that all comments fall under the same critique rules as the feedback areas of the forum. Do not be abusive in your comments, be constructive.
2. You do not HAVE to vote on a rating, although it is encouraged. Just a comment is all you have to do.
3. Your comment can be on any tutorial submitted any time… you have as much of a chance of winning by selecting the oldest submitted tutorial as you do the first.
4. P2L will pay the cost of shipping, however the winner is responsible for paying any duties or taxes.

If you don't know how to leave a comment already, simply click on the comment icon or click on "Comments:" just under the title of the tutorial record.

Also remember you must be a community member to comment! If you're not a community member, you can sign up for free here.

Once a winner has been selected, they will be contacted via PM and email and I will post their name in this post. Once notified, they have 1 week to claim their prize by confirming their shipping address. If they do not confirm their prize, a new winner will be selected the following Friday and so on…

So that's it guys, leave your comments and you can grab the loot! We're warming up for our summer contest series, so get ready for TONS of goodies we're giving out over the coming months!

Special thanks to Total Training for sponsoring our Sound Off Contests!

Good luck!
Dan

I've recently had the pleasure of receiving some of the Total Training tutorial products from the good folks at Total Training, who have been very generous sponsors of P2L for some time, and I would like to share with you my first experience with this professional training format. In this review, I'm going to be discussing the Total Training for Macromedia Professional 8 package, hosted by the very experienced and qualified John Ulliman. In case you've never heard of John, he's been designing advanced multimedia since 1985, so he's no stranger to design or the progression of Flash technology. I've been using Flash since 1996, so I was definitely interested in seeing what kind of lessons would be offered by Total Training and how John would present his teachings.

First off, the package is a large DVD case containing 3 DVDs LOADED with content and a "Getting Started" pamphlet that describes the content and how to install the required software and lesson packages and projects. The installation is a breeze with their interface and you're up and learning in less than a couple of minutes.

Package Breakdown

The package is MASSIVE and covers many areas of Flash, all of which are extremely useful tricks, not principals that you'll never have to use. Check out the breakdown of the DVDs, which includes some free downloads:

Disc 1

Part 1 – Graphics in Flash

Lesson 1: A Quick Flash Demo (48 min)

1. Introducing the Flash Interface
2. Adding Elements to the Stage
3. Duplicating Library Items
4. Introducing Keyframes, the Transform Tool & Tweening
5. Creating Animations
6. Adding Audio, Swapping Symbols & Testing a Movie
7. Using Graphic Symbols
8. Combining Animations into One Project
9. Creating & Arranging Buttons
10. Adding & Labeling Action Keyframes
11. Adding Behaviors to Buttons
12. Using the Publish Preview Command

Lesson 2: Meet Flash: Fundamentals (37 min)

1. Navigating the Stage Area – Download (44.7 MB)
2. Accessing & Organizing Panels – Download (67.4 MB)
3. Saving, Exporting & Testing – Download (45.8 MB)
4. Selecting a Flash Player Version for a New Project – Download (29.6 MB)
5. Introducing Layers – Download (42.7 MB)
6. Creating New Layers & Moving Items Between Layers – Download (38.6 MB)
7. Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts & Locking Layers – Download (41.2 MB)
8. Using Outline Mode, Layer Folders & Properties – Download (37.7 MB)

Lesson 3: Drawing with Vectors (28 min)

1. Comparing Vectors & Bitmaps
2. Working with the Pen Tool
3. Drawing a Heart Shape with the Pen Tool
4. Where to Put Points & How Far to Drag Handles
5. Practicing Your Vector Drawing Skills

Lesson 4: Flash Natural Drawing Tools (45 min)

1. Setting Up the Drawing Preferences
2. Exploring the Pencil Tool Options
3. Using the Line & Paint Bucket Tools
4. Distinguishing Between Strokes & Fills
5. Modifying Vectors Using the Selection Tool
6. Snapping & Modifying Curves with the Selection Tool
7. Altering Drawings with the Selection Options
8. Using the Brush & Paint Bucket Tools to Fill
9. Painting Using the Various Brush Modes
10. Working with a Stylus & a Tablet
11. Drawing with the Rectangle Tool
12. Drawing with the Oval Tool
13. Drawing with the PolyStar Tool
14. Working with the Eye Dropper Tool
15. Working with the Ink Bottle Tool
16. Working with the Eraser Tool

Lesson 5: Advanced Vector Drawing (54 min)

1. Intersecting Shapes within a Single Layer
2. Using the Selection Tool
3. Creating Complex Shapes with Intersecting Lines
4. Combining Tools to Create Detailed Curves
5. Vector Drawing Techniques
6. Grouping Vector Shapes
7. Editing the Contents of a Group
8. Creating & Arranging Groups
9. Object-Based Drawing

Lesson 6: Setting Colors in Flash (44 min)

1. Introducing Advanced Color Selection – Download (40.9 MB)
2. Working with the Color Mixer – Download (30.4 MB)
3. Creating Transparency & Sampling Colors – Download (29.3 MB)
4. Using the Color Swatches Palette – Download (43.3 MB)
5. Applying & Stylizing Strokes
6. Adjusting Cap, Join & Other Stroke Properties
7. Applying & Transforming Gradients
8. Saving & Locking Gradients
9. Choosing a Gradient Overflow
10. Adding Transparency to a Gradient

Lesson 7: Bitmaps in Flash (51 min)

1. Importing Files to the Stage & Library
2. File Compression Settings, Size Report & Use Count
3. Compressing Individual Files
4. Importing an Image with a Transparent Background
5. Using Trace Bitmap to Change a Background to Vectors
6. Changing a Foreground Item to Vectors
7. Using the Optimize Curves Command
8. Grouping an Image & Using the Transform Tools
9. Performing Transformations Numerically
10. Working with the Free Transform Options
11. Working with Bitmap Fills inside a Vector Shape
12. Using the Break Apart Command & the Magic Wand Tool

Lesson 8: Using Text in Flash (55 min)

1. Auto-Sizing, Auto-Wrapping & Selecting Text
2. Changing a Font, Picking a Color & Checking Spelling
3. Using Rulers, Guides, Grids & Snapping
4. Aligning, Distributing & Spacing Text
5. Working with Device Fonts
6. Editing Files with Missing Fonts
7. Anti-Aliasing Text for Better Quality & Readability
8. Paragraph & Character Formatting
9. Using Text as a Design Element
10. Text on a Path, Guide Layers & the Transform Panel

Lesson 9: Symbols (41 min)

1. Introducing Symbols
2. Creating & Reusing a Symbol
3. Editing a Symbol in Place
4. Editing a Symbol in the Library
5. Modifying an Instance of a Symbol
6. Nesting Elements inside a Symbol
7. Adjusting the Color & Opacity of a Symbol
8. Deconstructing & Reordering Symbol Parts
9. Taking Advantage of Logically Ordered Layers
10. Organizing the Library
11. Looking at Symbols as a Movie inside of a Movie

Lesson 10: Symbol Effects: Filters & Blends (65 min)

1. Applying Fader Gradients
2. Adding Text & Graphics to a Background
3. Converting Text to Symbols
4. Using Drop Shadows with Text
5. Using Drop Shadows with Symbols
6. Applying the Blur Filter to Text & Symbols
7. Customizing Glow & Bevel
8. Disabling Filters & Using the Gradient Bevel Filter
9. Stacking Order & Other Filters & Settings
10. Saving & Using Filter Presets
11. Understanding Blend Modes
12. Using the Normal, Darken & Multiply Blend Modes
13. Using the Lighten & Screen Blend Modes
14. Using the Overlay & Hard Light Blend Modes
15. Using the Add, Subtract, Difference & Invert Blends
16. Building a Mask without Blend Modes
17. Building a Mask Using Alpha, Blend & Layer Modes

Disc 2

Part 2 – Animation in Flash

Lesson 1: Introduction to the Timeline (55 min)

1. Introducing Frame-Based Animation
2. The Timeline Window
3. Understanding Keyframes
4. Animating Your Elements Using Keyframes
5. Practicing Your Animation Techniques
6. Using Onion Skin View
7. Facial Animation
8. Replacement Animation
9. Rotoscoping

Lesson 2: Shape Tweening (70 min)

1. Doing a Simple Shape Tween
2. Getting Your Tween to Behave Properly
3. Distributive & Angular Blending
4. Working with Shape Hints
5. Modifying a Graphic for a Better Tween
6. Choosing Shape Hint Location for a Complex Graphic
7. Segmenting a Graphic for Smoother Tweening
8. Tweening Facial Expressions
9. Using Shape Hints for Sophisticated Tweening
10. Fine-Tuning Facial Animation
11. Setting Up a Tween with Text
12. Adjusting a Text Tween & Making it Loop

Lesson 3: Motion Tweening (64 min)

1. Differences in Structure of Shape & Motion Tweens
2. Converting an Object to Symbol & Motion Tweening
3. Scaling & Rotating Motion Tweening
4. Adding a Background Color & Making a Cloud Layer
5. The Problems with Motion Tweening a Shape
6. Problems with Using the Create Motion Tween Option
7. Setting Up the Traveling Cloud Animation
8. Simulating the Camera Flying Down to the Ground
9. Animating the Airship Landing
10. Creating an Elastic Landing Effect
11. Replacing Grouped Ship with Ship & Canopy
12. Animating the Alien Hopping out of the Ship
13. Motion Tweening Individual Text Characters
14. Adding Randomness to Text Animations

Lesson 4: Advanced Animation Techniques (59 min)

1. Fading In a Background
2. Animating a Banner with Filters & Text
3. Animating a Title with a Blur Effect
4. Animating Navigation Buttons into View
5. Fading In a Block of Text
6. Tweaking the Timing of Animations
7. Setting Up a Motion Guide Path
8. Orienting an Object to a Motion Guide Path
9. Controlling Speed, Snapping & Registration Point
10. Reconfiguring Your Workspace
11. Adding & Swapping Facial Expression Symbols
12. Modifying Elements to React with One Another
13. Creating a Stretch & Squash Effect
14. Tweening & Shifting Keyframes to Exaggerate Motion

Lesson 5: Simulating Speed in your Animations (62 min)

1. Understanding Speed in Flash
2. Introducing Ease
3. Easing In & Out of Motion Tweens
4. Improving Animations with Subtle Ease
5. Using the Custom Ease In / Ease Out Dialog Box
6. Easing within a Motion Guide Layer
7. Customizing Ease for Position
8. Customizing Ease for Rotation & Color
9. Using a Gradient to Simulate Speed
10. Applying a Motion Blur to Simulate Speed

Lesson 6: Nesting Symbols for Complex Animation (61 min)

1. Introducing Timeline Effects
2. Reviewing & Preparing for Animation
3. Working with Groups & Symbols
4. Symbols, Nesting & Motion Tweening
5. Creating Nested Animations
6. Building Multi-Layered Animations
7. Creating Motion along a Path
8. Packaging Symbols
9. Understanding Graphic & Movie Clip Symbols
10. Creating Character Animations
11. Managing Character Animations with Nesting & Symbols

Lesson 7: Animated Masks & Filters (54 min)

1. Using Open External Library to Copy Assets
2. Animating a Mask Using a Shape Tween
3. Creating a Magnifying Glass Effect
4. Animating a Signature Using Stage Reveal
5. Working with Complex, Layered Vector Artwork
6. Reproducing an Adobe® Illustrator® Gradient
7. Animating a Gradient to Create a Shimmer Effect
8. Combining Filters, Blends & Motion Tweening
9. Creating a Kaleidoscope Effect
10. Creating a Realistic Drop Shadow
11. Using Blend Options to Create a Soft Mask

Lesson 8: Sound & Video (85 min)

1. Importing & Adding Sound to the Timeline
2. Working with Audio File Sizes
3. Adding Effects to Sound & Customizing Settings
4. Syncing Up the Sound with the Action
5. Working with Speech Compression
6. Streaming Audio
7. Working with Frame Labels
8. Adjusting the Animation to the Voice Over Track
9. Setting Up Audio for Lip Sync
10. Adding a Looping Mouth Movie
11. Fine-Tuning Specific Mouth Movements
12. Changing Facial Expressions to Match Words
13. Importing Video
14. Editing Video Prior to Bringing it into the Timeline
15. Selecting Video Compression Settings
16. Adding Effects & Motion Tweens to Video
17. Using Progressive Download & Selecting the Skin
18. Using the Flash 8 Video Encoder

Disc 3

Part 3 – Making Interactive Movies with Flash

Lesson 1: Flash Buttons (54 min)

1. Making a Simple Button
2. Using a Hit State
3. Making Animated Buttons
4. Adding Sounds to Buttons
5. Applying a Drop Shadow
6. Making Buttons Using Bitmaps
7. Using Blend Effects to Spice Up Your Buttons
8. Adding a Message with the Status Bar Feature
9. Using Buttons from the Common Libraries
10. Using Rollovers to Display Images & Text

Lesson 2: Scripting Basics (51 min)

1. Setting Up to Use Action Script – Download (34.9 MB)
2. Introducing the Actions Window & Script Assist – Download (64.1 MB)
3. Creating Buttons to Activate Action Script – Download (34.5 MB)
4. Labeling Buttons in the Properties Window – Download (19.9 MB)
5. Assigning Play & Stop Actions to Buttons – Download (44.2 MB)
6. Organizing & Arranging Buttons – Download (19.3 MB)
7. Using the Behaviors Window to Stop All Sounds
8. Using the Goto and Play Behavior
9. Modifying a Behavior & Adding an Action Layer
10. Duplicating & Modifying Sequences in the Timeline
11. Using Advanced Goto Behavior Options
12. Linking a Button to a Website

Lesson 3: Basic Navigation Systems (64 min)

1. Dividing Movies into Scenes
2. Arranging & Adding Scenes in the Scene Panel
3. Creating a New Scene from a Copy
4. Adding Stop Action Scripts to Flash Scenes
5. Setting Up a Basic Navigation System
6. Using a Generic Action Script for More Flexible Navigation
7. Creating a Non-Linear Navigation System
8. Navigating with Keyframe Labels
9. Navigating with Separate Flash Files
10. Loading an External Movie inside of a Symbol
11. Loading External Images inside of a Symbol

Lesson 4: Flash Screens (61 min)

1. Setting Up a Slide Presentation
2. Adding Content & Creating New Slides
3. Nesting, Navigating, Arranging & Naming Slides
4. Adding Filters & Text to Slides
5. Adding & Resizing Navigation Buttons from the Library
6. Assigning Behaviors to Screen Buttons
7. Exploring & Editing Button Layers
8. Using Transitions with Screens
9. Screens vs. Forms
10. Setting Form Parameters & Navigation
11. Introducing Templates
12. Using the Quiz Style Template

Lesson 5: Advanced Navigation Systems (69 min)

1. Adding Slides & a Reference Guide Layer
2. Rebuilding the Home Page & Adding Placeholders
3. Setting Up a Movie Clip to Act Like a Button
4. Adding Rollover States
5. Using an Invisible Button
6. Duplicating & Modifying Button Properties
7. Adding Text & Navigation to Buttons
8. Creating a Sub-Navigation System
9. Looping, Adding Content & Using Scripts
10. Nesting a Sub-Navigation System
11. Setting Sub-Navigation System Links
12. Pasting Frames, Swapping Content & Transitioning

Lesson 6: Data Entry Forms & Components (74 min)

1. Creating Input Text Fields
2. Creating Check Boxes
3. Introducing Components & Dynamic Text
4. Building a Form with Components
5. Adjusting the Parameters of Components
6. Adding Radio Buttons
7. Setting Alignment & Adding a Text Area
8. Adding Component Buttons & Themes
9. Changing Component Themes Using the Library Panel
10. Using Action Scripts to Send Information
11. Setting Up Trace Actions
12. Referencing Action Scripts
13. Setting Up & Reviewing a Completed Action Script
14. Using the Flash Exchange & Extension Manager

Lesson 7: Publishing your Movies (46 min)

1. Looking at the Generate Size Report Option
2. Exploring Test Movie Options
3. Adding a Preloader
4. Adding Animated Graphics to a Preloader
5. Looking at the Publish Settings Options
6. Viewing Published Files
7. Exploring HTML Settings
8. Centering an HTML Page Horizontally in Dreamweaver®
9. Centering an HTML Page Vertically in Dreamweaver
10. Copying the Correct Files to a Server

Lesson 8: Developing for Mobile & PDA (25 min)

1. Exploring Publish & Device Settings
2. Creating a Slideshow Document
3. Setting Up Action Scripts
4. Previewing with a Test Movie
5. Animating a Movie Clip
6. Creating a Navigation System with Action Scripts
7. Tips & Resources for Developing Mobile Content

Interface

So once the CD install process is done, you're ready to launch the lessons, so pop in a DVD and away we go! I went through all the DVDs, so I started with Disc 1 and up popped John for a personal introduction and an explanation of what we're going to be learning. John is a great presenter with a good voice that keeps you interested rather than puts you to sleep. He's articulate and well spoken, so listening to him for hours on end isn't bothersome in the slightest.

One of the biggest issues I have with video based tutorials is the absolute HORRENDOUS compression or the resolution of the video is so small that you can barely make out what the presenter is clicking on. Definitely a non-issue here, as you can clearly see everything on the Flash workspace and the overall interface for the video is fantastic. Here's a shot of a video lesson in progress:

Here you can see how you can jump around within the Lesson areas on the fly… very easy drop-downs let you zip around between lessons and the sections of each lesson area. I love how you can jump around from anywhere in the lesson area rather than having to exit to a main menu.

Final Word

As someone that has been using Flash products for over 10 years, I can honestly say that these lessons are absolutely fantastic and I would recommend them to anyone looking to start learning to use Flash, or to a seasoned user looking to improve their animation skills. I personally REALLY enjoyed the Advanced Navigation Systems area on disc 3 (hey you know me… I'm a sucker for interface design) and the vector drawing and rotoscoping lessons were brilliant. Any of you "Scanner Darkly" fanatics should check that lesson out if you dug that movie's rotoscoping vector film effect.

The Total Training products are absolutely top notch learning tools, and I highly recommend them based on the hands-on use I've been able to experience with their product. If you're even mildly curious about Total Training lessons, you have GOT to check out their site at www.totaltraining.com and just browse through their free samples and you'll see this is nop-notch material. If you would like to pick up the Flash 8 series I just reviewed in this article, visit this page for more info!

A huge thanks to Total Training for sending me this awesome package and I look forward to sharing another review of some additional product I was able to pick out and we'll be looking at giving away some Total Training goodies in the very near future!

Thanks again and if you have any questions about this review, just drop me a note!

Dan

Jaime is closing up the final bits and pieces of an exciting new product for our advertisers that are looking for extremely high converting ads in a PPC or CPM format, and I've got some exciting news for community members in general!

First off, we've added a new PPC and CPM credit system, where you can purchase Click or CPM Impressions Credits that you can use to create ads on our site. When you visit the Ad System area of the site, you will now see your available credits on the left side menu. From there you can purchase additional credits from the Credit Purchasing page. Once you have purchased either Click or CPM Credits, you can then purchase as many PPC/CPM based ads as you like by assigning credits to them from your account.

So as an example, if you purchase 1000 Click Credits, you can create 1 PPC ad campaign and assign 1000 clicks to it, or 10 ads with 100 clicks each, or 1000 ads with 1 click each, the choice is yours! The same principal for CPM based ads.. the system is very flexible and you can run either PPC or CPM, depending on your preferences.

You can read about the available PPC/CPM ads HERE or if you're not sure what PPC/CPM ads are or have other questions about the ad system, you can check out the ad system FAQ HERE!

For the moment we are introducing the new PPC/CPM formats with a new ad campaign style called Integrated Ads, and they are high converting ads that you will find blended in among listed tutorials. These are extremely effective ads with great click thru and you will find our pricing to be very competitive with other ad networks. We will also be introducing several other ad areas in the near future, so stay tuned for updates on that. The general plan is to offer direct PPC/CPM inventory anywhere you currently see a network ad, such as Google Adsense.

Now, for those of you that don't have an advertising budget, here's a heads up! Keep a close eye on the news in the coming weeks, because we are going to show you how you can earn advertising credits without spending a dime! I'm not going to say anything further for now, but we think you guys are going to love this new feature, so stay tuned.

LESS ADS ON CATEGORY PAGES!

Not sure if you guys have noticed, but the tutorials on the category pages, such as Photoshop, are now much higher to the top fold now thanks to the removal of the Category Ad boxes. We used to have the Adsense box with the category overview, then the box with the category ad, then the tutorial list. We'll also be tweaking that Adsense box in the coming weeks so it uses up a bit less real estate.

I have quite a few updates coming up this week, so keep an eye on the news and my blog for news and reviews and all the junk in between.

Dan