Customer Reviews

Flash to the Core: An Interactive Sketchbook

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love any book that makes me rethink my methods and views on a particular subject and in this case, it's Flash. In this book you get a glimpse of how Flash wizard Joshua Davis approaches Flash design and also his views on Art on the Internet in general. This is the key to enjoying the book. If you want his thoughts on Art and Flash, then you'll enjoy it. If you're looking for an indepth instruction manual to create the next Praystation, look elsewhere.

While this book doesn't contain any super-advanced code, it is important for anyone who wants to know some of the building blocks on how to start making sites like Praystation. The sections on the "perfect fade" and other actionscript widgets, really made me rethink how I approach coding such simple flash objects. He places emphasis on "elegant" code that is, to quote the book "simple and yet robust". Also equally important is how Davis prepares his workplace. He has a well thoughout system for organizing creative assests in Flash that I've tried to adopt.

For me the best parts were reading on how he finds inspiration for his artwork, namely from Nature. It's made me realize to look for inspiration not just on the web, but everywhere -- outside my window, while walking to the post office. etc.

While not perfect, I would have like to seen more case studies to get a deeper insight into he's methods. Not just necessarily his actual code, but just more of his approaches and problem solving methods. If you're looking for tons of code, look elsewhere, this is "sketchbook" about Davis and Flash, with some design theory, funny anecdotes and bit of code thrown in. If you are designer someone who wants to rethink a bit about how to make Flash art, check it out. Here's to hoping he writes a sequel.

If you're a beginner, I'd recommend the Friends of Ed "Foundation Flash MX Actionscript" book in addition to this. Do the schoolbook learning through the Foundation book and then read the Davis' book before bedtime to ground yourself and to find inspiration.

I spent quite a bit of time researching which books to buy when I decided to wanted to learn Actionscripting. For many graphic designers/web designers it is pretty intimidating to learn Actionscripting. If you know anything about Javascript, then you'll feel right at home.

So I bought Joshua Davis' book alongside Phillip Kerman's "Actionscripting in Flash MX." Joshua's book is indespensable. It is very easy to read and I guarantee you will have that moment of clarity where things just start to make sense and the intimidation eases up. Kerman's book is also great because it is very technical and is a very complete resource. However, Davis' tutorials allow you to achieve results in the best and most efficient manner. Just imagine someone using the app for so many years and divulging all his little secrets. That's kind of what it's like.

I highly recommend this book for the beginner Actionscripter, but I also recommend a more complete resource to really accomodate it.

This book is a great read. Is it for the advanced..probably not...but for those that are starting out...or somewhat ankle deep into actionscript it helps clear up a lot of issues. The projects aren't complex...and each chapter introduces unique ideas. It's only at the end of the book where you realize that your knowledge base has grown considerably. The book gives you the basics...but what's more important you get an understanding of where all this knowledge could lead. The isn't a how-to-be-Joshua-Davis-in-3-days step-by-step instructional book. It gives you a great foundation in a surprising conversational narrative.

You really don't even need a computer to enjoy the book.

I was anxiously waiting for this book the moment I saw the companion site.

Being a designer and not a developer, this book covers exactly the kind of actionscript tricks I need to make great looking flash sites.

But more than that because Josh Davis pushes you to try more than just what he shows. You are given the power to take the basics and run with it.

It's also a good book for all the kinds of advice you normally have to find out on your own. Things like how to structure movies, when to use actionscript or tweens. And lots more tips to create smooth animations and interactions.

Thanks Josh, for writing such a great book.

If you are a beginner, this is definitly one of the best books for you. If you are at an intermediate level, you will still get something out of it, and even if you are at an advanced level you will walk away with some thoughts and ideas that might be of value to you. It is well written, and takes a less technical approach to explaining actionscript. If I would have had this book a long time ago I woudl have been able to get started in no time. The book not only teaches actionscript, but more importantly teaches how to approach and use , which in my eyes is more important than anything. I have never seen a book, make actionscript so simple, YET on the other hand my biggest issue, and reason why I gave it a lower rating, is that fact that I am paying top dollar to read about partially outdated material. The action script is not new nor innovative, which is something I would expect from Joshua. The book reads very fast, but only because it doesn't have as much content as it should. You'd think with all the things Joshua has to say, the book should contain much more content.

After a great deal of searching and online research I found a great article on a British website that mentioned two of the best flash actionscript books available today; Flash to The Core, and Actionscripting in Flash MX by Kermann.

My recommendation is - get them both.

If youre like me and have been using flash for lame animations without ever even glancing at the actionscript window then Flash to The Core is the place to start. The language is laid back and easy to follow, the examples are excellent, and the website has all the open source examples to tear apart if you get completely lost.

My only complaint which kept this book from the coveted 5 star rating was the price to content ratio. The book is only about 3/4" thick and for the [$$$] I paid an inch or two of material would be nice.

But beyond that this book opened my eyes to everything that Ive been missing out on and I am now on the road to being an actionscript junkie. Once you get through this book I suggest moving onto Actionscripting in Flash MX by Kermann. It is cheaper! and thicker! and goes into more technical detail while still giving the user projects and examples to follow.

Once youve gotten through these you can move onto something like one of the actionscripting books from O'Reilly Publishing. But starting with one of those phone books of code will leave beginners totally confused so wait till you read the first two.

I also recommend getting and reading The Elements of User Experience by Jesse James Garrett. This will teach you have to follow some simple rules to making sure that people can actually USE your site once you make it.

Thats my 2 cents.

If you want the style book where it feels like someone is sitting down in front of you explaining the reasoning behind something while using great analogies this is the book to get. Joshua has a way of explaining things that really causes you to think "aaahhh! I got it". He does not give you a bunch of techno garbage, it's pure design how and why's. I have asked numerous top name Flash Designers on the web, how they do certain things and there response is always some stupid Socrates quote or some cosmic reason why there designs are the way they are. Just the facts please! Joshua gives it to you. Great Book!!

an interesting insight into a man the industry regards a genius.

he knows his maths and has an interesting technique. the book's an easy read and useful for beginners/intermediates.

howdy, I'm lurking on this page now and then to read customer reviews and feedback - it is obviously very valuable for me to listen to feedback in order to build better projects in the future.

Target Audience is everything, and I truly wanted to write a beginner/intermediate ActionScript book for both artists and designers whom want to bring an added level of depth to their work. I did not want to write a book that skimmed over all the foundation ideas and concepts, merely to jump into my way more advanced experimental composition generating systems, which would take me the whole book to just work through a few of these engines.

Instead I wanted to try to present as many foundation ideas as I could and also talk about some of the conceptual, and analogous ideas about how I structure work and inspiration. The tutorials in the book may not be any of my more innovative work but it does map out how these lessons built a foundation, style, and method to be able to execute more complex systems in the future.

And believe me, it is much easier to read a book than it is to write one. I think in the future, my next book projects will include no text - just images - and a cdrom at the back of the book. :)

This book is foundational. You can build many types of houses with the same foundation. I appreciate the thought processes entertained in this unique work. I am studying Flash and this book brings a unique perspective to the field. What can you build with this foundation?