Flash 5 F/X and Design [With CDROM]

by Bill Sanders and William B. Sanders

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1576108163
• ISBN13: 9781576108161
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
• Length: 332 Pages
• Weight: 2.37 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Eye opening to Flash Power - Flash 5 OR MX!!

I bought this book figuring it would teach me a few design tricks, but I did not hold out much hope for more then that. I had bought a couple other FX and Design books and that is about all they were good for. Man, was I surprised!!This book is PACKED full of subtle but incredibly important lessons about the in's and out's of Flash, especially the in's and out's of ActionScripting.I have been trying to learn ActionScripting for a few months. I used to be a bookkeeper but have a disability now that prevents me from sitting so I am pretty much housebound. Every mishap has it's silver lining and advanced ActionScripting is mine. The first time I looked at a script from 'Flash Math Creativity' it made me drool. I had never dreamed there could be such a thing as scripting mixed with web design mixed with math mixed with so many other parts of the brain.I took a Javascript class a few years ago and loved it so I suppose it is not surprising I love ActionScript but I could not get my head around the basics. I am surrounded by books on ActionScripting and Javascript and HTML/DHTML, etc, Some really good ones too. It wasn't until I read the first ten pages of this book that I started understanding. I actually learned how to use databases with Flash using Arrays! In the first ten pages! If there is that much to learn in the first ten pages, can you imagine how much there is in the rest of the book? Well, it is a lot. If you are a beginner, if you are intermediate, if you are an advanced user, if you use Flash 5 or if you use Flash MX, GET THIS BOOK!Phew, I can't believe I got so emotional over a book. Good luck with your future and happy scripting,Leslie

A great book that helps me understand Flash so much clearer

I have read several books on Web design and also read Macromedia's Flash tutorials online. However, I found this book by Bill Sanders to be the most wonderful of all, because it guides me step by step through the essential commands. I found I understand how to do tweening so much better, understand the minute but essential details on creating a motion guide for a layer, and the explanation and project (example) on masking makes me understand the various layers to get special "spot-light" beam effect.I feel I need to write this review because this book has helped me so much. I wish to congratulate Bill Sanders and the editorial team for a great job done! Thank you.

A Book that speaks my language

I like the way this book moves through Flash. The author speaks with a quite authority and spells out what I needed to know to get Flash 5 working for me. I'm a designer; so I don't need an art lesson, and I didn't get one. Instead I learned how to use all the tools in Flash to do my kind of art and design. This is not a baby level book--plenty of those are around. It's not a "guru" talking down to me either. This guy seems to know what designers want to get out of Flash 5, and he gives it to them. I really appreciated the chapters on animation concepts. It nicely ties in traditional animation with Flash and provides several good clear examples but all of the pieces there. I finally(!) found a good clear explanation of how to move an object along a path. Also, as a nice touch for anyone in design, the author provides a color palette for all of the projects giving the RGB values to plug in. This helped me learn how to use both the details of the color tools in Flash 5. (The color section in the middle of the book helps in seeing how to create your own color palette using the Mixer and Swatches panel.)Another area that gave me fits with Flash 4 was masking. It's not that difficult with Flash, but the author walked me through it in a way that I finally got it. It's full of those kinds of "oh now I get it" insights. The sound chapter not only shows how to bring in differnt types of sound, but where to get sound and how to coordinate sound with animated movement. I really liked the sound chapter and the "music video" example and the explanation of how to stop and start sound in Flash.The chapter on movie editing and navigation was ok and a good review of navigation in Flash was there, but it was just a little simple. But the ActionScript chapter is the best I've ever seen. I started to learn ActionScript in Flash 4, but I'm glad I didn't. Flash 5 ActionScript is lot different and IMHO is a lot easier to learn--especially the path system. (I like the dot syntax way better than the slash syntax.) Also, the author shows how to move MCs without using Tell Target. He used the dot syntax.I don't use QuickTime so I more or less skipped that chapter, but the last chapter was the best I've seen on using Generator 2 and external files. I wish the book had more on the different types of Generator 2 objects, but I can create pie charts like a pro (if you want a pie chart). Using external files with loadVariablesNum() and loadVariables() is very interesting, and I learned how to do it, but I need to learn a lot more about it. It gets pretty advanced in the last chapter, but it was clear enough so that I didn't feel lost.It's a nice book to have around. The index is fine and both loadVariables() and loadVariablesNum() are indexed --I think that other reviewer got his books confused-- and so it's great for looking up different techniques. So if you want a book to see how to develop professional quality (or just really good amateur quality) Flash 5 movies, I think yo

Wonderful tips you will carry with you!

Coming from a programer whom went design this book is excellent! This is clearly the book you want to buy if you are a designer who knows how to do the pretty stuff but you want to combine that into Flash, and want to have knowledge of the program that will allow you to carry out your very own ideas. Flash 5 practically malformed itself from Flash 4 to the point that I was totally lost for a while, and this book explains that all, and issues related with designing in the new version. This is great information for anyone that is going to undergo the time consuming effort to produce a good flash movie. The tricks and tips are truly a wonderful addition to this book that some Flash books do lack. This is an excellent choice for any Flash Design beginner!