Flash 8: Setting up animation

Before you can create your Flash masterpiece, you have to adjust the actual movie. Not all movies are created the same, and many movies feature varying background colors, widths, heights, and more. The next few steps will explain how to setup the movie for creating the above animation:

1. Create a new document in Flash 8 by going to File | New. A new, blank Flash 8 movie will be displayed.
2. First we need to modify the movie's properties such as background color, dimensions, speed, and more.
3. Click anywhere in your movie and the Properties panel will display near the bottom of the screen. Press the Size : 550x440 button in the Properties panel near the bottom-center of your Flash window.
4. The Document Properties dialog box will appear. In the width and height text fields, enter the values 300 and 200 respectively.
5. Now, press the Background Color square in the Document Properties dialog box. Pick a light yellow or beige color from the list of colors visible.
6. The final step involves changing the value for the frames per second (fps). In the Frame Rate field, enter a value of 25.
7. Your Document Properties dialog box should look like the following image after completing the above steps:

8. Press OK to accept the changes you made to the Document Properties dialog box. Your Flash movie will now reflect the changes you made

I recommend that you save your file now. Saving often can help save hours of frustration when an unforeseen error causes you to lose all of your work! Now that the movie is set-up, let's add some text, lines, and shapes to the stage.