Amazon.co.uk Review
It is a challenge to write a book that will be helpful for a wide audience without weakening its effectiveness for any one group.
Flash 4 Bible rises to the challenge, providing a clear and thorough introduction to Flash 4 for beginners as well as a comprehensive guide to the application's more complex features, like ActionScripting, for intermediate and advanced users. No one gets short-changed here.
Although readers can reference the book in any order (the index makes troubleshooting very easy), each chapter can successfully serve as a tutorial. The first third of the book maps the user interface and introduces the tools for creating animations and working with sounds. The chapter on ActionScripts is straightforward; as in the rest of the book, topics are subdivided into logical and easily comprehended chunks. Charts help organise operators and properties.
Since, for most Web developers, Flash is just one application within the workflow, the authors spend considerable time on "real life" situations where it is used with Photoshop, QuickTime 4 or Director. The last chapters cover distributing the Flash movie, either within a Web page, as a QuickTime movie, or as a standalone.
Along the way, sample files on the CD-ROM illustrate numerous tools and procedures while expert tutorials feature more detailed projects by leading Flash experts, such as "Sending a Form to an E-mail CGI Script". The uncluttered writing style of the book pairs well with the equally clear and well-captioned screen shots.
As Flash is a complicated application, the book's simple layout and non-jokey text tend to quickly diminish reader confusion. The book even anticipates common questions in sidebar Notes and Tips. By focusing on step-by-step teaching of Flash 4, this manual may succeed where others have failed. And over 600 pages of small steps can take you pretty far. --Angelynn Grant, amazon.com
Topics covered: A comprehensive manual to using Flash 4, including an introduction to the interface and tools, how to create graphics within Flash and how to import them, using sound, creating animations, using ActionScripts, working in tandem with other applications and distributing finished movies. CD-ROM includes sample files to illustrate points and accompany tutorials, as well as demo versions of Flash and other related applications.
Product Description
If Flash 4 can do it, you can do it too… Whether you're a Flash beginner or an old hand, this is the one guide you need to unleash the full potential of this state–of–the–art Web animation software. Packed with examples and illustrations — including eight pages in full color — as well as expert tutorials from animations pros, the Flash 4 Bible covers everything from creating graphics and building interactive effects to using Flash with other applications and deploying Flash animations on the Web. It's all you need to discover the secrets of great Flash animation — and take any Web site to the next level! Inside, you'll find complete coverage of Flash 4
- Create streaming animation and moving logos for any Web site
- Build pop–up menus and rollover buttons with ease
- Explore Flash drawing tools, animation controls, and file format support
- Use Flash with Dreamweaver, Photoshop, FreeHand, Illustrator, Premiere, and other design software
- Discover useful techniques such as in–betweening and onion–skinning
- Take advantage of JavaScript interactivity to make Flash movies
- Create standalone Flash projectors for floppy–disk distribution
Add–one, plug–ins, and more on CD–ROM
- Trial software, including Director 7, Dreamweaver 2, Fireworks 2, Flash 4, and Freehand 8
- Time–saving templates
- Examples from the book
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