Customer Reviews

The Flash Anthology: Cool Effects and Practical ActionScript

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

 

 

I was rather excited about this book because I too like the O'Reilly Cookbooks and such titles, and this seems in that vein. Also, O'Reilly doesn't seem interested in updating the Cookbook any time soon, sadly, with AS2 examples and so forth, so I picked this one up.

Many of the tricks in the book are neat, especially for the beginner-to-intermediate target audience. However, I found the examples not very useful because they are (generally) written in ActionScript 1.0 rather than 2.0, even though the book's cover claims that it's intended for MX 2004. All the code reflects this short-sightedness.

All of the tweening is hand-coded, rather than using the classes that now come with Flash (and are very nice). Thing is, if I were to learn to write tweening code, I would learn from Robert Penner's book, and learn it right! If I'm just making neat menu interfaces, for instance, I would prefer to learn to use Macromedia's own code, and spend more time writing code that was more object oriented. The examples in this book are good, is what I'm saying, but the way you are taught is very limiting. It seems like more of a compendium of examples.

It just bothers me, at this point, to pick up new books that still use older coding styles. The problem is, when the student moves on to write object-oriented code, they have to rewrite all their old code which uses MovieClip prototypes and the like. It's like building a house on already-crumbling foundation. It would have been a great book, two years ago.

With so many Flash books on the market, its hard to find one that will fit your needs. There are beginner books, books that teach ActionScript basics, and books that focus on animation. But there are very few if at all that show the what you can really do with it after you know the basics.

This book gives the reader a true understanding of what can be really done with Macromedia Flash. Not just animation or text effects, but the whole gambit. There really is not another book out there now that goes over this much "real-world" examples in Flash. Believe me, I have purchased over 10+ books on Macromedia Flash in the past 2 years.

It assumes the reader has a general knowledge of the basics of Flash and that's it. It starts with an explanation of ActionScript (Flash's programming language): syntax basics, naming conventions, basic commands.

Then it continues with understanding the timeline in creating navigation effects for movies. Knowing how to use the timeline is one thing, but really understanding how the timeline can be used with creating Movieclips and ActionScript takes a slightly non-linear thinking that some people have trouble getting. The author really explains in great detail how the process is done with well-written examples to help the user "get it".

The book then goes into some intermediate to advanced topics with ActionScript like creating simple script libraries that can be re-used in many of your movies you create. After that it has some great and fun examples of how ActionScript is used to create those cool animations you see on other "professional" websites. I have long wondered how the h*ll that is done. But his book tells you exactly how it is done!

Towards the end of the book it focuses on using components, getting exernal data, incorporating video and sound and creating small applications with Flash.

I love the how the book flows because it makes it easy to follow if you are reading it in order or if you want to look for a particular topic to learn.

Many people just think of Flash as just an animation or drawing tool, but Flash is much more and with this book you will know too!

This is a great book for the Flash users who knows the basics and wants to know what Flash can really do and it can be for the advanced suer who wants to know something very specific and is tired of spending hours looking on internet forums (flashkit.com) to find an example.

A great Flash book that should be part of your library no matter what your skill level.

The value in a book of tips and tricks is not the tricks themselves, it's what you can learn from how they are executed. That's what I like so much about this book. It doesn't just show you the code so that you can copy and paste it to make that exact effect. It explains each step of the code so that you learn more about the Flash platform in general. You can then use that knowledge and apply it to completely different effects.

The book starts with a variety of different effects and then ends with some information on Flash forms, which seems somewhat out of place. The text is clear and well written, and although there are lots of illustrations, that comes with the territory.

Anyone making a living out of Flash will want to have a look at this to see what they can learn from it.

More to the point is this book relevant in the world of flash 8 here on 2006? Yes. Why? Because THere are not many books around useful to intermediate flashers, although you an be a complete actionscript beginner, use & understand this book..this is one of those helpful for intrmediate users as well to help you learn how it is that actionscript works.

Assumes basic knowlege of way around flash, the tools and workspace & stage.
OK for comlplete novice actionscripters but intermediate users have more advanced stuff like server side scripting with forms and loading external data work with here, though you better have MX@K4 pro to best utilize that chapter.
IF you want to learn actionscript this book can be a handy tool for you as you work the examples and learn how the code for each executes you can begin to let your mind open up to how you can extrapolate to use the what you learn here for other projects. What you learn in this book will help you to solidify your AS understanding and is a great help to get you on your way to actionscripting.

Things I particularly like: discussion of good flash/ bad flash, rainstorm animation,
interactive sticky notes, forms including pswd protected logins

I would recommend ths book For beginning to intermediate FLashers only and say it is NOT for those in the advanced intermediate/ advanced levels...
I'm giving it only 3 stars since it is outdated but its really still quite good if you are in that niche group

I was recently given the opportunity to preview some chapters in this book, and I'm quite impressed.

The common theme in the book is what Flash does best - Visual Effects. Fortunately the book doesn't stop there, it adds extra 'meat' by including a chapter each on Navigation, Sound, Video, Forms, External Data & Debugging.

There's a good explanation of the differences between Timeline and ActionScript effects, with advantages and disadvantages of each.

The author has done a wonderful job of creating a book that can be used to create solutions, and repeatedly stresses what it takes to make good use of Flash, without spoiling the user experience.

By the time you finish this book you should have a good library of code and ideas, the knowledge needed to customise them when needed, and the hints and tips required to make useful Flash solutions that have just the right level of 'wow' factor in them.

Once I have a chance to read the full book I'll be posting a full review here and on my weblog.

Some of the coolest things about Flash are its power and flexibility. You can do almost anything with it, and there are many ways to accomplish any one particular task. Unfortunately, this can also be a drawback to those just starting Flash and trying to recreate some cool effect they saw. There is no ?Create Cool Text Effect? button or even menu command. You have to do it all yourself, and there is no included instruction manual which tells you how to do it.

The Flash Anthology helps the newcomer, or even intermediate Flasher fill that gap. Half of the chapters end with the word ?Effects? ? Animation Effects, Text Effects, Sound Effects, Video Effects, Miscellaneous Effects ? which gives you a pretty good idea of what this book aims to teach you. There are also sections on creating navigation, forms, dealing with external data and debugging. Each chapter contains numerous, well-illustrated examples, which I found to be clear and easy to follow. As the reader moves through the examples, they are taught various techniques which can be applied to any project. They are also encouraged to experiment and customize the examples, so they are not just doing a copy-and-paste job.

The book doesn?t shy away from code, either. It even has you making some basic Flash components pretty early on. The advanced coder might be annoyed by some of the departures from best practices, but the target audience for the book will not be concerned with this as much as with the question of how to add some animation and sound to his web site, or perhaps make a Flash menu. And at answering questions like that, this book does a good job.

I've long been a fan of the O'Reilly Cookbook series of titles, which feature dozens of quick solutions to common problems and work arounds - I've always found them very useful and more than worth the money.

When given I was given a chance to preview "The Flash Anthology" I jumped at the chance, knowing that this book followed a similiar format. Being a Flash developer, I've been surprised that a book like this hasn't come out sooner. Flash lends itself perfectly to this type of book -- lots of short, quick recipies to common effects.

What I particularly liked about this book is that the author goes into detail into explaining how to customize each particular effect rather than just giving a single out-of-the-box solution. The other thing I enjoyed is the discussion as to when its appropriate and inappropriate to use certain effects -- something that's very fitting for a book like this, which might just inspire people to go overboard.

Bottom line -- whether you've just recently started Flash or you've been using it for some time, get this book. It's a great inspiration, but also a handy reference. Enough said.

Steven Grosvenors book is an insightful and comprehensive Flash manual. Each chapter is dedicated to a new project, and with it, he covers not just the functionality of the code, but the entire process from developing an idea, into a practical, fully functional application.

The examples are step by step procedures, with full commentary along the way. A key feature of the comments, is that the functions and processes are explained in such a way that they can be used outside of the scope of that particular application - re-useable ideas, practices and code for you to implement in other projects.

The beauty of the book is in its clarity, and the fact that once you have read and carried out the work, you have something useful, for your own website, or a client website, at the end of it!

(For the Flash fanatics amongst you, its well worth checking out his personal site http://www.phireworx.com - there's a number of excellent free extensions)

Basically a bunch of examples you can find on the internet for free. It doesn't systematically teaches you the programming fundamentals.

It's ok for a few quick solutions, but not the book you need to really learn actionscript.

This is a great book for simple flash animations. It explains clearly what to do and is great for a beginner.