Behold–the picture moves as if by magic!

in which I learn to use Flash MX (sort of).

I’ve just discovered the wonders of Flash animation–pretty cool stuff!

As a result, the picture of Paula and I on the top right of the page now contains a playable video. Just click on the green arrow in the picture so I can greet you and explain our vision for ministry!

I’m still trying to get this Flash thing figured out. In particular, I’d like to have a message pop up when your mouse moves across the photo, so if anyone out there is a Flash guru, I’d love to learn from your wisdom!

In case you’re curious about Flash yourself, the three most helpful sites I’ve found are the official Macromedia Flash site, Flash Kit, and Flash Components.

For the record, I was shocked at how simple it was to do.

1) I set up my handy Logitech Webcam.
2) I downloaded the free beta copy of Windows Movie Maker 2 (which really rocks, it’s a legitimate competitor with iMovie).
3) I winged it and then edited it.
4) I imported it into Macromedia Flash MX.
5) I used the Satay Method to embed it in my page.

I was done! Now I just need to learn a little bit more about Flash (like how to animate text) and reshoot my video to make it a little tighter (like I said, I winged the script–and I think it shows in one or two spots).

Overall, though, I’m pretty happy.

UPDATE: I tweaked the video (and was able to trim its size by 33%), so now I just need to decide how much more I want to do before I leave well enough alone…

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