Foundation Flash 8 Video eBook: Jordan L Chilcott, Tom Green: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Product Description

In this book you'll learn:

    The basics of video editing using Movie Maker 2, iMovie, and more

    How to import your video into Flash

    How to work with Flash Video components

    Several of the new features of Flash 8, including alpha channels, filters, and blends How to master several amazing video effects, such as green screen superimposing, video walls, getting your users into the thick of the action with webcams, and much more!

Do you want to master Flash video work, and work your way toward creating awesome, mind-blowing, interactive web applications? Well, don't go any further--this full color book is all you need to step into the future.

When Flash Professional 8 was released, it seemed as if we'd embarked on a web video revolution almost overnight. Up until then, web video was a morass of competing players, technologies, standards, codecs, and playback quality. The inclusion of the On2 VP6 codec, the FLV Playback component, alpha channel video, and the Flash 8 Video Encoder has ended the infancy of web video, creating an instant benchmark with no stops in between.

And this book is the ultimate guide to Flash 8 video--it offers practical advice, technical guidance, and a full series of creative projects ranging from the dead simple to the complex in a manner that talks to you as an equal and makes only one assumption: basic familiarity with the Flash interface.

We start with the basics--how to edit video in some of the most popular packages available (such as iMovie and Movie Maker 2) and create a Flash video file and import it into Flash.

Next, we move on to the good stuff--creating a custom video player; creating an alpha channel video and using it in some spectacular projects; turning your creativity loose by applying filters and blend effects to video using the Flash interface and ActionScript; creating video walls, menus, and stunning masking effects; and exploring how Adobe After Effects 7 and Flash Professional 8 are poised to become a motion graphics powerhouse. Best of all, you will discover something the authors had discovered by the time they started writing this book...this stuff is fun!

Summary of Contents:

    Creating FLVs using the Video Wizard and the Flash 8 FLV Encoder

    The Basics of Video Creation

    Alternate FLV Creation tools: Sorenson Squeeze 4 and Flix Pro 5

    Creating Flash Video using the FLV Components

    Creating a "Talking head" video using Alpha Channels

    Adding Filters and Blend Effects to Flash Video

    Masking Video

    Creating a Video Wall

    Choosing and Playing Multiple Videos

    Using the Camera Object to Involve the Audience

    Actionscript and Flash Video

    Video Delivery to Cell Phones

Customer Reviews

There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.

5 star

4 star

3 star

2 star

1 star

Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com ^(beta)

Amazon.com: 13 reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

Not quite what I had hoped 6 July 2006

By Peter R. Wiley - Published on Amazon.com

Format:Paperback

I had hoped that this book would bring me up to speed on how to use Flash video in a more sophisticated way than the Flash video components allow. The book fullfilled this hope about 1/2 of the way.

It did show me how to do some basic action script for the control of video in a clear way in the last part of chapter 4. I was frustrated that the authors did not extend the discussion of creating a custom video player past use of a play/pause button -- to, for example, creation of a custom seek bar. Yes, components can be used to provide one, but, as the authors point out "many Flash developers tend to shy away from reliance on components." So how do Flash developers provide bells and wistles beyound simple buttons?

The chapter on action script anf Flash video would have been much more useful if had concertrated on a real-world application instead of the "jordivision" example that is focused on how to control glows and blurs -- sure, these effects might be useful, but if one is seeking a quick way to understand how to impliment action script controls in the context of a more commerical application one might be frustrated with the example, as I was.

What is presented is presented in a clear and easy to follow way, however.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

Decent start in Flash Video 20 Oct 2006

By Matt Przybylski - Published on Amazon.com

As someone who has been working with video in Flash quite heavily recently at work, I was eagerly anticipating this book to be released. At first I wasn't disappointed as the book has a great intro to video. It goes through a relatively thorough explanation of video and how it works on the net, talking about progressive and streaming downloading, and so on. As the title suggests, this book is a Foundation book so it is not code heavy and is perfect for beginners.

There is a chapter in the book about editing video, which if it is out of the scope of the book or not, is a very handy chapter. Not everyone in the world could afford huge software packages like Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere (or After Effects, depends on how you like to do things I suppose). This chapter goes over how to edit video with some of the tools that come shipped with your OS, whether it be iMovie on OSX or Windows Movie Maker on PC.

Getting back to the whole code thing, as an ActionScript developer I sometimes get let down by not seeing a lot of code (although it really depends on how you see things, because not everyone is nerdy like me and would rather not sift through code and just do things a different way). Page 186 clearly warns that this book is about Flash video, not ActionScript programming, but I believe when doing video you HAVE to know how to code around it. I see some video apps on the web today and all they have is the default FLVPlayback component skin on them. That's fine and dandy, but those things are ugly and everyone who knows how they were made just laughs at them.

Chapter 9 and chapter 11 get a bit more code heavy and even into some class programming, but the coding done throughout those chapters is geared more towards applying code to the video that make its stylized, a la blend modes and filters. To me, when I see a book on Flash video, I want to learn the ins and outs of controlling the video and making it do things like play videos in sequence, loading in the background, so on and so forth. I already know how to use blending modes and filters from the other great Friends of ED books (Flash 8 Essentials).

All in all, this really is a beginner book on video and if you're looking for a way to learn to control your videos thoroughly in and out, you won't find it here. If you just want to add some effects to your videos, this is the book for you.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

A Solid Foundation 18 April 2007

By Tim Harris - Published on Amazon.com

This is a well-written and enjoyable immersion into the nuts and bolts of creating and publishing video on the web using Flash 8. Aimed squarely at those beginning to work with Flash Video, the book is quite thorough for that audience. Most importantly, it covers all the essential principles one needs. From data rates for encoding videos to alpha channel effects to using the BitMapData and other classes, this book will set you up to launch that internet tv channel you've been thinking about.

However, if you're looking for the mind-bendingly master kung-fu video tricks that break existing rules of reality, I'm afraid you'll have to look further. Or write it yourself!

I like the clear organization and simple instructions the writers give. The book serves as a handy reference for those just starting to use video and other related objects in Flash. The code is broken down and explained for the reader and one can use these building blocks in combinations to stunning effect. Especially helpful is the section on playing multiple videos.

The writers make the whole thing fun and light. Hell, we're all playing around figuring out what we can do with these toys. I'd like more heavy, serious passages as well, though. Still, worth the cover preice, though.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 13 reviews

Were these reviews helpful? Let us know

Try it free

Foundation Flash 8 Video [Kindle Edition]

Formats

Product Description

Product Description

Product details

Tag this product

Customer Reviews

Customer Discussions

Start a new discussion

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject