and video that appear on the screen. Move elements on and off the Stage to move them in and out of the rectangular area in Flash Player or the web browser window where your Flash movie will play. You can use the grid, guides, and rulers to help you position items on the Stage. Additionally, you can use the Align panel and other tools you'll learn about in the lessons in this book. To see the work area around the Stage, use the Zoom tool ( ) to zoom out, or choose View > Pasteboard. To scale the Stage so that it fits completely in the application window, choose View > Magnification > Fit in Window. You can also choose view options from the pop-up menu just above the Stage. Understanding the Timeline Like films, Flash documents measure time in frames. As the movie plays, the playhead advances through the frames in the Timeline. You can change the content on the Stage for different frames. To display a frame's content on the Stage, move the playhead to that frame in the Timeline. At the bottom of the Timeline, Flash indicates the selected frame number, the current frame rate (how many frames play per second), and the time that has elapsed so far in the movie. [View full size image] The Timeline also contains layers, which help you organize the artwork in your document. Think of layers as multiple film strips stacked on top of each other. Each layer contains a different image that appears on the Stage, and you can draw and edit objects on one layer without affecting objects on another layer. The layers are stacked in the order that they appear in the Timeline, so that objects on the bottom layer in the Timeline are on the bottom of the stack on the Stage. You can hide, show, lock, or unlock layers. Each layer's frames are unique, but you can drag them to a new location on the same layer, or copy or move them to another layer. Adding a Layer A new Flash document contains only one layer, but you can add as many layers as you need. It's a good idea to name each layer to indicate its contents so that you can easily find the layer you need later. You'll add a layer to the Timeline to contain the bottle image that you're going to animate. 1. Select the Mask layer in the Timeline. 2. Choose Insert > Timeline > Layer. A new layer appears between the Labels layer and the Mask layer. 3. Double-click the new layer to rename it, and type Pour. Click outside the name box to apply the new name. 4. Click the lock icon above the layers to lock all layers. Locking a layer prevents you from accidentally making changes to it. [View full size image] 5. Click the lock icon next to the Pour layer to unlock it. [View full size image] Creating a Keyframe A keyframe indicates a change in content on the Stage. You'll insert a keyframe on the Pour layer where you want the bottle to first appear. 1. Select frame 18 on the Pour layer. As you select a frame, Flash displays the frame number beneath the Timeline. [View full size image] 2.