Flash 5 Studio (Designer to Designer) Book

Flash 5 Studio is the latest entry in the Studio series and is aimed squarely at intermediate Flash creators--those who are out there already "doing it"--promising to perfect their techniques and hone their skills. Kudos to the publishers, Friends of Ed, for figuring out exactly what a beginning, intermediate or advanced user of Flash needs and writing books that deliver the appropriate material to each level. Calling upon a talented group of over 20 cutting-edge "Flashers" (working Flash professionals) to helm individual chapters, Flash 5 Studio covers advanced site management, content creation (like smart clips, cartooning, video, sound), dynamic content (interactive movies that feed content dynamically from separate data sources, news headlines, for example), ActionScripting and issues crucial to partial or full Flash Web sites (such as preloaders or optimising Flash for search engines). The motto of the book could be: "deeper, more serious, more fully explained". Each chapter teaches a specific technique or concept through examples which capitalise on the particular talents of that chapter's author. For example, Nikhil Adnani is a talented and humorous cartoonist/animator from Canada (groovechamber.com), and his chapter walks you through practical steps for creating charming animations (want to make a cow strut?), while dispensing good advice on character design, making convincing movement, and optimisation. Richard Mapes from Moonfruit.com provides an introduction to ActionScript principles. If coding seems beyond you, this might just clear the fog. From there, readers can explore the scripting used in 3-D effects or object-oriented games (this chapter, along with a table of contents, can be found at friendsofed.com if you'd like to check it out first). The CD-ROM contains project FLAs and SWFs, in addition to colour images from selected chapters and trial versions of software. The advantage of learning from a book which many designers and coders have had a hand in writing is that you're guaranteed a discussion that includes real-life goals and pitfalls. Also, if the style of one chapter's author doesn't quite appeal to you, perhaps the next one's will. You're sure to come away with a deeper understanding of Flash and ActionScript, and a whole mess of new ideas to try. --Angelynn Grant Read More