Getting
Started
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Quick
Tips and Tricks in Firestarter: |
Click
Here to check out examples and
download the Fire files to see how they work.
Use Blank Space to show & hide things when you want in your
Movie.
Use the Magic Hat to add special effects to text, sounds,
images, and shapes. (it's unbelievable)
Make Links with Images or Text. (create active navigation)
Move the colored film on the timeline to play effects,
sounds, and blankspace where you want. |
Grab & Stretch film to lengthen your special effects
and blankspace. |
Opacity is awesome when you combine it with effects.
Move the slider to play with opacity settings. |
- Convert
Wav sounds automatically to MP3's and use them in your Movie.
(use effects too)
- Place
Text on top of Text and apply different Effects (wow)
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Use .bmp images for your movies, it makes your Flash
files up to 40% smaller!
- The
preview window is not an exact preview. You will be able
to see opacity, and your text will be smooth (anti-aliased)
when you test your movie.
-
Movie Looping - Be sure that you have the Flash Player
5 Browser Plug-In installed or your movies may not show
up properly. You can download the latest version here. Download
Flash Player 5
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Adding
Text, Images, Sounds, Links, and Shapes. |
It's easy to add Text, Images, Sounds, Links, and Shapes to your
movie.
.
You can click the toolbar button for what you want to add.

You can also add objects using the Movie menu.

or by right-clicking on the Project Preview area.
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Adding
Effects: |
Adding effects to your objects is very simple. You can add effects
to any object. However, some objects have different effects available
than others, so play around a bit to see what you can do with
each type of object.
Just
look for the Magic Hat to add Effects to your Objects.
You can add
Motion Effects, Action Effects, and Advanced Effects. For more
info about Effects, Click Here.
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Adding
Images: |
Use
this button to add images.
When adding Images to your Movie, try to use the smallest images
(in filesize) that you can. Remember, everything you add to your
Movie will make it bigger. We found that using GIF's gives the
best results. Your movie will be smaller and look better if you
optimize your images in a Photo Editor before you import them
into Firestarter.
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Adding GIF's: |
Use
this button to convert animated GIFs into .swf files.
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Adding
Sounds: |
Use
this button to add Sounds.
When adding sounds to your project, there are a few important
things you should know.
1. Sounds will make your finished project much larger. The
bigger the sound, the bigger your .swf file will be.
2. Because of the way Firestarter handles sounds, you have
to position them one frame ahead of where you want them to play
in your timeline.
3. Sound Clips can play multiple times while Sound
Tracks can only play once. Sound Clips are meant to
accent an action or motion, Sound Tracks are meant to play
like background music.
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Test
your Flash: |
After you have added a few things to your project, you probably
want to see how it is going to look on your Web Page. You can
play the project at any time by clicking the Test Button on the
main toolbar.
This
will open a browser window and play your project.
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