ActionScript is what gives Flash its power, but with that power comes a certain level of complexity, which can be intimidating. This beginner's book covers all of the basics of ActionScript using Flash 8. An ongoing case study means that by the end of the book, readers will have constructed a cutting-edge Flash site to showcase their newly learned skills.

* New edition of the best selling and very well respected beginner's Flash book. Sham Bhangal is very well known in the Flash community as a world class teacher, and beginners have even contacted him about personal tuition, as well as buying his books. * Provides easy-to-follow tutorials ideal for beginner market - it is slimmer and more concise than the competition, and concentrates on the essentials that beginners need to know. * Flash X is going to be a huge market - it is the most widely-anticipated release of Flash since 5, because of exciting new features. It is the release that MX 2004 should have been.

* Practical in its organization- teaches via a real website design. After reading this book , a reader will have a lot of foundational, practical knowledge and a self-created website. * Comprehensive and clear coverage of Flash by an established author team. In the past, Foundation Flash has been the number 1 best-selling friends Of ED; this book has been well received in its previous revisions as a quick and approachable first book for learning Flash. * Covers both Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004.

Learn Programming with Flash MX employs a truly unique class-based approach to learning with the goal of establishing core, generic-programming skills. Each chapter represents a discrete lesson covering a distinct topic of programming with ActionScript. In each 'class' we smoothly blend theory and practice with plentiful practical examples, and a class project that runs through the book to reinforce the learning in an integrated, real-world context, using Flash MX as the illustrative vehicle.This book also addresses the shortfall in solid programming knowledge in significant segments of the web design community - specifically, traditional web designers and Flash users with no exposure to the programming world. It also assumes that the reader is a Flash novice, so if you're coming to Flash completely from scratch, this book will give you a broad and solid introduction enabling you to create aesthetically pleasing, well laid-out content glued together with robust coding techniques. and skills that every programmer needs to master in order to create well-structured and efficient code to a professional standard. Readers will come away from this book with the following: - A rich, solid understanding of the concepts and basic processes of programming that will enable them to explore Flash and other technologies with a degree of confidence that they didn't have before. - Insights into universally applicable programming processes and techniques. - An understanding of how to implement these principles in Flash MX

Diana Johnson (Sorenson Media) One of the best books on video for new users: editing, compression, and Flash MX technologies. Full of great tips. Let's make movies Interactive movies, totally integrated into your Flash interface With Macromedia Flash MX you have the power to import digital video and sound, and manipulate them just like any other media object. That's a whole world of design possibilities. This book takes you through all you need to know about producing such wonderful sites. The first section gives you a thorough grounding in how best to import your video and sound into Flash MX and the many different ways that you can manipulate it once it's in there. Then, in the second section, we go through a complete real-world case study from pre-production on the video to final output to the web and CD-ROM. Finally, we show you how can apply advanced ActionScript to video, and create a fully object-oriented sound and video playing Flash component that you'll be able to use time and time again. Flash MX - viewers who have the tiny Flash Player installed can now see video material that would otherwise require lengthy downloads and the clunky interfaces of other web video plug-ins. This book is the guide you need for this exciting new universe, offering inspiration and technical guidance in equal measure. As with all books from friends of ED our support is fast, friendly and free. Even if our dedicated support team are unable to solve your problem immediately, your queries will be passed onto the editors and authors who put the book together. All foED authors help with the support on their books, and will either directly mail readers with solutions or (more usually) send their response to an editor to pass on. This book assumes no knowledge beyond an ability to work with the Flash MX interface, and is not intended for those with substantial digital video experience. As such, this book does not assume that the reader has access to expensive video-editing software. All you need for this book is access to Flash MX, and some imagination. and Flash MX technologies. Gives you a thorough grounding in how best to import your video and sound into Flash MX and the many different ways you can produce such wonderful sites. Softcover. About the Author Hoss Gifford is one of the founding directors of Flammable Jam, and curator of his personal site. He regularly sponges his way around the world, getting free flights in exchange for talking at new media seminars, including FlashForward and Milia. Hoss reckons we should all take stuff a bit less seriously, and be happy with making 'quite nice things that entertain people for a wee while', as can be seen from his other two sites. Kristian Besley was born in Wales, grew up in the same street as Catherine Zeta Jones, and read Media Arts following interests in film and design. In his little spare time, you'll most likely find him creating random stuff which will eventually appear online at graphci, or laughing at personalised number plates. One day he vows to reform seminal band Ken.

by Bruce Herbert and Diana Johnson ofSorenson Media Creative boundaries are being blown apart as Macromedia Flash MX ushers in a new era of moving images on the Internet. At its launch, analysts predicted that the Flash Player would transform itself from being a lightweight animation tool" to "the de facto technology for simple web interactivity5* (Randy Souza, Forrester). Since then though, Flash developers combining vector animation and video have proven that it's capable of much, much more than "simple web interactivity". We're still just beginning to scratch the surface of the possibilities it opens up to us, but already it looks like Flash MX is becoming the key technology for pushing video creativity on the Web to a new whole level. Understandably, many people look at Flash as just another way to deliver video on the Web, one more program for showing movies on your desktop. Well, it can certainly do that - but there's a whole lot more it can do besides! You can use ActionScript to add custom controls, determine a video playback sequence, or mask your video with a custom shape. You can use layering to create special effects, design custom templates for e-learning applications, and use lightweight video streams along with Flash animation in rich media e-mail campaigns.

If you've never used Flash before, this is the book for you. It uses a series of structured exercises to give you the broad, solid foundation knowledge you need to start your exploration of Flash from scratch. Foundation Flash MX uses a proven sequential, detailed, and accessible tutorial style to ensure that you'll retain your learning and be able to draw on it throughout your Flash career. Macromedia Flash MX is an exciting product, providing rich creative opportunities for Flash designers and developers at all levels of ability and experience. No single book can hope to provide adequate coverage of all aspects of Flash MX, which is why this book focuses relentlessly on the core skills that you need to get you started: understanding the interface; familiarizing yourself with the creative tools and their capabilities; grasping the relationships between the different components that make up a Flash movie; getting insight into how to put all the pieces together and hook them up with ActionScript. All these aspects (and much more) are covered in detailed tutorials and exercises, reinforced with a case study that runs throughout the book to apply everything in a real-world context. If you're looking for a book that'll give you a rock-solid grounding in Flash MX, then this is the title for you.

You are not alone. Learn Design with Flash MX employs a unique class-based approach to learning with the goal of establishing core, generic design skills. Each chapter represents a discrete lesson covering a distinct topic of design, and in each 'class' we smoothly blend theory and practice with plentiful practical examples, and a class project that runs through the book to reinforce the learning in an integrated, real-world context, using Flash MX as the illustrative vehicle. Written from the perspective of the design course's tutor, the context is that of a Design 101 course taught in a classroom environment, where the students act as mouthpieces to ask the common questions that beginner designers are sure to ask. You'll get to know the students in the book and follow the development of these characters as your own skill and expertise evolves too. Learn Design with Flash MX covers the fundamental design principles and skills that every designer needs to master in order to create attractive, aesthetically pleasing work to a professional standard. This book addresses the shortfall in solid, traditional design knowledge in significant segments of the web design community ñ specifically, people using Flash. It assumes that the reader is a novice in design terms with no exposure to formal web design principles or training, and little or no Flash experience. If you're coming to Flash completely from scratch, this book will give you a broad and solid introduction enabling you to create aesthetically pleasing, well laid-out sites and content, which will help you learn the trade and get access to the professional web design world. This book should even appeal to those who've read one (or more) entry-level texts on Flash; in fact, it'll complement other tutorials by providing the rich general design context and background that other introductory books lack. This book will teach readers to develop and implement their creative ideas through an understanding of what professional designers in all media see as the prerequisites: composition, color, contrast, light, texture, motion, typography, and many others. If you're interested in learning design skills following a structured path, or if you've been using some of the tools of the trade, like Macromedia Flash, for some time but have never had the opportunity of a solid tutorial, this introductory level book is for you. Learn Design with Flash MX will answer all the essential design questions that other books ignore - the questions you're too frightened to ask. By addressing the core design skills from a beginner's perspective, in the context of Flash MX, readers will gain a rich, solid, and structured understanding of the what, how, and why's of the fundamental principles of good design. From experienced self-taught designers who've ever thought, "I wish I knew how to design things more effectively or more coherently ", to anyone who's looked at a cool design and said, "Jeez, I wish I'd taken a design class in school!", this book will show them the money! Anyone in the web design arena who wants overall design skills, and who needs a solid learning vehicle that will help them acquire and embed those skills; anyone who's felt that their lack of knowledge about formal design processes has got in the way of liberating their creative ideas effectively; anyone who's started a creative project in a rush, doodled around, and lost their way... this book will provide the structure that they might lack. Readers will come away from this book with: A rich, solid understanding of the concepts and basic processes that will enable them to explore further with a degree of confidence that they didn't have before Insights into universally applicable design processes and techniques An understanding of how to implement these principles in Flash MX "Learn Design with Flash MX - the missing link between creativity and technology. This book comes with a CD-ROM.