Creating web designs and site content in Macromedia Flash MX can be a lot of fun, but there are always tasks that you'll want to do again and again. It's always a bit of a hassle to have to keep recreating and tweaking the same old content or functionality in different projects, so why can't you just reuse what you've created? With components, you can do just that

Flash MX Components enable the creation of self-contained design building blocks that can be simply dragged and dropped into any Flash movie. They are flexible enough to be easily customized to take care of many different tasks. No fuss, no botheryou can repurpose the standard elements of your design, application, or game, and use them over and over again.

But wait, it gets better Components can be used by anyone, not just the person who created them. So in this book, we've done all the hard work for you and collected together the Most Wanted components that will make your life easier.

In this book (and on the CD), you'll find a perfect combination of creative and functional components from some of today's leading Flash designers and developers. Just look at the fantastic components yo'llu get: Event Calendar Text Editor News Feed Tool Tip Sketch Pad Video Player Image Scroller Pattern Generators Tab Control Sliding Panel Color Picker Game Player Selector Particle Emitter Layout Manager Data Grid Movie Loader Image Modulators XML-to-ActionScript Converter Virtual 3D Trackball Text Animation Dynamic Text Manager

Each of these components is included on the accompanying CD, ready to be incorporatedinto your designs, along with plenty of example files giving practical demonstrations of their use. On top of that, each chapter in this book presents a comprehensive designer-oriented guide that will help you to get the most out of using all of the featured components.

If youre a Flash designer, of any ability from novice to professional, this book will increase the power of your Flash designs and enhance your project workflowinstantly

Digital 3D is a tricky area &emdash; and until the day someone makes 3D TV commercially viable, its going to remain a tricky area. What is 3D? Can you genuinely render 3D on a flat screen? Do you have to spend a years wages to get a dedicated piece of 3D software? Do you have to conjure up a bunch of complex math techniques to make the grade? Is anyone going to answer these interminable questions? Well, listen: were not out to work ourselves into the ground here. We want 3D and we want it fast, and we want to use Flash to get it. In a series of clear and concise demonstrations, this book shows you exactly what can be achieved in Web 3D. Some of the most cunning designers around have put their heads together to present these: the most wanted 3D cheats in Flash. This book will show you that you can: Lie your way into 3D with simple drawing techniques Cheat a 3D interface with cunning use of light and shadow Fool Flash into thinking it can render genuine 3D, and con the Internet into delivering it for us in double-quick time Hoodwink visitors into thinking theyre witnessing focus and depth of field Improve your depth of deception with an innovative slice engine to create convincing 3D objects Trick users into thinking theyre moving through a 3D space Summary of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction to Flash 3D Chapter 2 Light and Shadow Chapter 3 Scaling for 3D Chapter 4 Isometric 3D Chapter 5 Focus and Depth of Field Chapter 6 Parallax Scrolling Chapter 7 Text Effects in 3D Space Chapter 8 Drawing API and Math for 3D Chapter 9 3D Slice Engine Chapter 10 Departure Lounge: Moving beyond Flash 3D

The Essential Guide to Open Source Flash Development is a practical development guide to creating Flash applications with OS Flash tools and workflows. You will walk away with an understanding of what tools will best suit your current situation, making your development easier and more productive, and with a knowledge of how to install and set them up. Open Source Flash has been a revolution for Flash and has made a major impact on how people build Flash content. The Open Source tools available expand on Flash's existing toolset, enabling you to do such things as easily create full 3D in Flash, or hook up to an Open Source video streaming server. Many of these useful tools are powerful yet lack documentation. This book explains in step-by-step detail how to use the most popular of the Open Source Flash tools. Explore the Open Source tools available and learn how to identify which tool you need, and how to best fit it into your workflow. Step-by-step workthroughs guide you through development with the most popular Open Source Flash tools. Written by the project leads and Open Source Flash aficionados. What you'll learn Learn how to integrate Open Source tools with existing commercial tools, and where they fit into your workflow most effectively. Get effective documentation on installation and usage, where currently very little exists in a lot of cases. Combine Open Source tools together in optimized workflows, with many real world examples and tips and tricks. Create high-speed, fully interactive 3D in Flash with Papervision3D. Stream audio and video over the internet using Red5. Exchange data natively in Flash and Flash Lite using SWX. Who is this book for? This book is for Flashdevelopers and designers with an interest in discovering what sort of Open Source products are available, and how they can be used. If you want to expand your Flash toolset and explore the Open Source Flash community then this book is for you. If you already use some Open Source Flash tools, then you will find this book a useful documentation resource as well as an eye-opener to the other tools that are available.