Customer Reviews

Animating with Flash MX: Professional Creative Animation Techniques

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am so disappointed with this book. From Chapter 1, it refers in its exercises to files which do not exist and the files which do exist are already completed when the exercises refer to it being the starting point. I echo the other reviewer's comments, "what's the point of it if it's already completed?" Alex Michael should take a page from the Lynda Weinman's series, and writer Rosanna Yeung's detailed yet, easy to follow and well-illustrated book, "Flash MX 2004 Hands-on Training". What a waste of money for "Animating with Flash MX". I'm better off creating my own exercises for my students instead of using this book as my text.

I guess the title pretty much says it all. Oh, expect that over half of the example files I opened had already been completed. What's the point? To start from the end of the example and work backwards to undo what you're going to turn around and redo? I only got thru the first two or three chapters of this book before I returned it and bought "Macromedia FLash MX HOT Hands-On Training".

The techniques in this book are extremely basic as well as superficial. There is very little "how or why" a technique (or script) is being used, which prevents you from customizing the examples for your own use beyond replacing the graphics with your own. There are many spelling and other grammatical errors. For instance, the error "optimisation" (should be "optimization") is found throughout the book. I was disappointed with this purchase quite a bit.

This book is a complete and utter disappointment. Nothing is explained well, you are just told to "do this" and then "do that".

Typos everywhere as well, and in the places where you really don't want to have typos- the instructions. Many of the things you are told to do are just flat out wrong- leading to extreme confusion and frustration in the various project steps. I had to give up on this book because the examples don't even work when you follow the directions. That and I absolutely hate those Ellen and Zak kids, the examples in every chapter.

BUT I did find a great book that I recommend 100% for people new to Flash. I was comfortable with Flash animation after working through the first couple of chapters in "Macromedia Flash MX 2004: Hands on Training" by Yeung and Weinman. I recommend that book extremely highly, and I recommend you search it out and buy it immediately. Forget about this other crummy book.

Hi, I do not have time to sit and go through code line by line. I want to plug the functionality straight into my current project. The commenting and standalone nature of the examples means this is ideal for the professional.

The first real computer book that looks at animation. It is well written, and delivers information in a very straight-forward way. But most of the front part of the book is very basic stuff. You have to read on to get into the guts of the world of professional animation. If using Flash MX for professional development, this is a must have. If you are just beginning, this is also a great book.

The tutorials were easy and results were rewarding.
I have already, within a week tested my animation on a PDA (PocketPC), video, web, the only one I have still to do is interactive TV. I give this book top marks.