Flash MX 2004: Graphics, Animation & Interactivity [Paperback]

James L. Mohler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2003 | ISBN-10: 1401835309 | ISBN-13: 978-1401835309 | Edition: 1

Through four releases of Macromedia's industry-standard web graphics software program, James Mohler has become the indispensable resource for those looking to master the power of Flash. Flash MX 2004: Graphics, Animation & Interactivity delivers Mohler's widely praised hands-on approach to learning the newest version of Macromedia Flash. Exercises and examples int he book and on the back-of-book CD, combined with the written material, provide the best of both worlds - not just telling you how Flash works, but showing you as well. For those new to Flash, there are plenty of exercises designed to get users up to speed quickly. Intermediate and advanced Flash users will find new exercises that demonstrate the latest features of MX 2004 as well as a valuable series of examples that illustrate some of the more complex elements of the software. The book features chapters on graphic techniques, bitmap graphic integration, typography and text, symbols, libraries, sound, animation, and interactive techniques - plus an essential introduction to Flash's internal scripting language, ActionScript.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

A new edition of this best-seller by James Mohler, available just three short weeks after the software was released! Flash users love and trust Mohler’s earlier editions, and this edition is designed to help existing Flash users as well as novices to get up to speed quickly with the MX 2004 release.

Do you appreciate hands-on learning? The back-of-book CD with tons of exercises lets you practice while you learn.

Do you come up with questions about one feature of the software while you’re learning about another? This book anticipates those questions and ideas, and provides lots of tips and tricks to help you "see the big picture" while you’re learning the software.

Do you know Flash fairly well but want to make the most of the latest version? Throughout the book, Mohler explains what’s been added in MX 2004. Gain additional skills as you review what’s new!

James Mohler is an educator as well as a Flash expert – and that’s what makes this book a must-have. It’s like having a teacher guide you through the software, but at your own pace.

From the Author

This book is designed for educators, students, and practitioners in the field who really want to get "up close and personal" with Flash. The exercises and examples will educate you, not provide you with a quick fix.

When someone understands how something works, they can use that knowledge to do much more than reemploy some code or some technique laid out before them. They can apply what they have learned to another problem or another context much broader than the original content presented. Beware of books that suggest you can learn a software package in hours. Someone once said there is no substitute for "drive time" when it comes to learning a new technology or a new piece of software...this book provides that drive time!

I hope you enjoy using and learning from my book. Flash is a wonderful tool.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Delmar Cengage Learning; 1 edition (October 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401835309
• ISBN-13: 978-1401835309
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,299,703 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So glad I got this book, November 13, 2003

By 

Beth (Rochester ,NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flash MX 2004: Graphics, Animation & Interactivity (Paperback)

As someone who's pretty new to Flash, I am so happy I picked up James Mohler's book. I have learned more from this book - and I'm only part-way through - than the other books I had for MX, combined. The CD with example files has helped me immensely, and the way the book is written is definitely easy to read and easy to learn from. It seems that every time I have a question about a function or tool, if I just keep reading, the answer is on the next page!

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent book: Missing instructions & errors makes it hard, May 26, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Flash MX 2004: Graphics, Animation & Interactivity (Paperback)

I got this book to learn Flash MX 2004 and while I did find it helpful and informative, I found that missing steps in some exercises forced me to take my mind off learning the techniques involved and left me scratching my head. Some times I could examine the sample files on the CD and figure it out for myself. Other times I just got frustrated and skipped on to the next section -- hoping I'd find another source on how to do whatever it was I skipped should I need it in the future.

The author's lack of naming of symbols and letting Flash label them (Symbol 1, Symbol 2...) made it difficult to take the samples apart to figure them out on my own. In one exercise you are told to create two symbols yet the sample file has 25 symbols. Huh?

A keyDown events exercise has "mouseDown" trace responses? The instructions say to "Select Press from the list." for a mouse event yet the sample code and references are on "release?"

I found the references to the way Director works a bit distracting as I've never used Director. Might be useful to some but why not sidebar it or stick that in an appendix so the rest of us and skip it? Maybe put the 3D chapter there, too, since you really need to use another app to do it

I was hoping to find errata material on the publisher's web site to make up for the book's shortcomings as it really does have potential and I have learned from it. Nope. Sigh.

This might be a good classroom book with an instructor supplying the missing pieces and an copy editor having gone through the text. As a learn on your own book there's a lot of room for improvement.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A few mistakes but overall great, June 9, 2005

By 

R.P. (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flash MX 2004: Graphics, Animation & Interactivity (Paperback)

All in all, this is a great book. I am still going to give it 5 stars despite some errors.

As other reviewers said, some of the instructions for the exercises in the book don't match up exactly with the files on the CD. For instance, one step told me to add a symbol to the stage from the library that wasn't in the library of the file I was supposed to be using. However, most of these mistakes are small and can be easily worked around.

As a whole, the book is well-written, clear, and accessible for the Flash beginner. The layout is nice, and the indented hints are helpful. The training projects teach very useful techniques. The index is complete and makes the book especially easy to navigate. Some of the sections of the book are a little "too" extensive for the intermediate-advanced user, but non-beginners could just skim these sections.

I highly recommend this book to those wanting to get a good grasp on Flash concepts and basic techniques that are useful in many applications. Other books may have more extensive sections on Flash web page development, but as far as "graphics, animation, & interactivity" go, this is an excellent book.