Do I need to buy an Authoring tool or know how to use Flash?

No. When you download a Prebuilt Application from the Influxis Wizard, it will set everything up that is necessary and give you an already compiled and fully useable application to upload to your web server. This makes it easy and convenient to deploy Flash Media Server applications on your website. However, you can customize your applications using the Flash Authoring tool, as most of our Prebuilt Applications come with the source .fla files, but customization is not required.