Flash MX Magic (3rd Edition) (Magic (New Riders)) [Paperback]

Matthew David (Author), Mark Baltzegar (Author), Veronique Brossier (Author), Jim Caldwell (Author), John Dalziel (Author), Aria Danika (Author), Robert M. Hall (Author), Andreas Heim (Author), Jason Krogh (Author), 2Advanced Studios (Author), Jessica Speigel (Author), Glenn Thomas (Author), Helen Triolo (Author), Joe Tripician (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0735711607 | ISBN-13: 978-0735711600 | Publication Date: April 11, 2002 | Edition: 3

Flash MX Magic follows a proud tradition of offering cutting-edge inspirational and customizable Macromedia Flash projects written by leading Flash designers and developers. Each of the 15 projects focuses on a project such as game programming, creating a poll with a dynamic database, movie-making, and e-Card creation. By giving you clear instructions, full 4-color graphical display of steps, all the code and components and an explanation of modifications, you have all the tools necessary to complete the projects and use them as a launching pad for your own sophisticated work.

New Riders is absolutely honored that so many bright stars in the Flash community collaborated to share their valuable insight on how to this all-new, third entry in the Flash Magic series. The Magic series is perfect for a multi-author book. Its non-linear design allows each chapter to stand on its own as an independent project. And with the leading Flash designers and developers authoring this book, you get the best tips and tricks from those who have proven themselves in the field.

Matthew David, Mark Baltzegar, Jim Caldwell, John Dalziel, Aria Danika, Robert Hall, Andreas Heim, Jason Krogh, Stephanie Novak and Eric Jordan, Jessica Speigel, Helen Triolo, Glenn Thomas, and Joe Tripician give you their latest insights and from-the-trenches experience with Flash MX. And the framework for the book is provided by the one and only David Emberton (of Flash 4- and Flash 5 Magic). And the artwork is designed by the best new talent in graphic design. As always, the project files are on the CD, so you can try these yourself and learn from some of the best and creatively varied minds in motion graphics.

QUICK NOTE: Flash Magic books aren't for most absolute beginners. If you're brand new to Flash, you may want to start with an entry-level book that gets you familiar with the basics of motion graphics and Flash's tools, before jumping into a Magic book. When you're ready, we promise, it'll be worth it...

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Flash MX offers the interactive Web designer a suite of powerful features, and Flash MX Magic describes how to use them in a solid, tutorial-based approach. Fourteen topnotch designers penned this compilation, covering a variety of intermediate and advanced features.

To make the most of this inspiring book, the reader should have Flash MX installed. The opening chapter covers Components, an important new feature in Flash MX that allows a designer to create modules that can be dropped onto the Flash stage. Components is an important new feature that changes how Flash movies are designed, making it much easier to build, integrate, and reuse parts, and the fact that they are featured in chapter 1 signifies this. Components are used in almost every subsequent chapter, covering such subjects as preloading movies, building interactivity using ActionScript, and adding database interactivity.

All the data and project files needed for each chapter are included on the CD-ROM, along with finished versions of each project. Also included are demo versions of Flash MX, Director, Dreamweaver, and FreeHand. Like other books in New Riders' Magic series, Flash MX Magic is rich with color screen shots, concise language, and clear explanations. These are not books for the casual Web coder, but for the serious Flash designer who intends to make the most of the medium. --Mike Caputo

From Library Journal

Older patrons are attracted to audiovisual material on the web, but this video unfortunately misses the mark. It only covers usage of AOL which the narrator consistently conflates with the Internet. Shots of computer screens are blurry, nearly unreadable, and often cut off at the edges. Explanations are incomplete and, in some cases, incorrect (a modem, for example, is defined as "a piece of software"). Not recommended.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Press; 3 edition (April 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735711607
• ISBN-13: 978-0735711600
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 9.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,555,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joe Tripician is an award-winning Producer/Writer/Director and Playwright. His work has been broadcast on Network and Cable television across America, Europe and Japan, and has shown at the Cannes Film Festival.

Joe received his first EMMY award for the documentary "Metaphoria" broadcast in the US on PBS in 1991.

Joe's humor book, "The Official Alien Abductee's Handbook", was published by Andrews and McMeel in 1997. Author and Futurist Robert Anton Wilson called it: "The funniest book I've read since the Warren Report." Famed scientist John C. Lilly said: "Joe Tripician has achieved the impossible: a truly funny book on alien abductions."

In 1996 Joe wrote, recorded and performed an alien song ("Ozark Melody") with the legendary Jeff Buckley along with musical partner Frederick Reed.

In May of 2002, Joe performed in his one-man play, "Balkanized at Sunrise", based on his 1997 trip to the Balkans. His Balkan journey began when the Croatian government hired him to write an official biography of their president. Much hilarity ensured.

Joe spends his time between New York and Brazil with his wife and two daughters, who do most of the translating for him.

Connect with Joe Tripician:

Website: http://joetripician.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/joetrip

Get "Balkanized at Sunrise" on Amazon Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003VWCCU0

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars You're better off muddling through by yourself..., May 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Flash MX Magic (3rd Edition) (Magic (New Riders)) (Paperback)

There are only two thing that a training manual has to accomplish: 1) Give step by step instructions on how to reach a goal and 2) Make sure those instructions are correct. This book fails miserably on both counts.

I only recommend this book if you're the sort of person who buys cool-looking books and sets them on the shelf, hoping your friends will see them, think you actually read it, and be impressed. However, since I like my books to actually be useful -- and in the very least FULLY FUNCTIONAL -- you can imagine my disappointment with "Flash MX Magic."

Time to give some concrete examples. I thought I'd try working through chapter 3 - Preloading. After typing in several lines of ActionScript, I noticed that some code listed in later steps were supposed to be placed inside the brackets of a previously defined function. You aren't instructed to do this in the text, but by loading up the example file I realized the error. Even still, when it came time to test my code, it didn't work.

Realizing that this could just be my mistake, I decided to move on to Chapter 5 - Immersive Panorama. I thought I'd look at the completed project on the CD first to see what I could expect to accomplish. Supposedly this project will teach you how to create a movie in which parallax is simulated in a landscape scrolling to the right. Several different layers move at different speeds, giving an illusion of depth. So what happens when you view their pre-prepared finished product? The absolute background moves, and everything else stays perfectly still. Who releases a book with malfunctioning examples!?!

I went to the NewRiders website to see if these issues had been addressed. What did I find? A ZIP file to download all the missing files necessary to complete the lesson -- not in Chapter 5 -- but in chapter 14, without which the entire chapter is WORTHLESS.

New Riders brags, "Isn't this just about the first Flash MX book released?" Maybe so, but that's no accomplishment. Since the book doesn't appear to have even been error-checked, I guess attempting to release it first was the only goal in publishing it. Here's a tip: Books aren't software. You can't release a patch. That's why you find at least ONE PERSON and have them actually WORK THROUGH THE BOOK to make sure it functions before publishing it. Try it sometime.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Flash Magic?, April 30, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Flash MX Magic (3rd Edition) (Magic (New Riders)) (Paperback)

This book is decent...but leaves a lot to be desired. The cd that comes with the book includes source files to work on the different chapter projects...but it does not contain final versions of them....so you'd reason that they would be on the flashmxmagic website for download....that seems to have "magically" disappeared as well. Instead of rushing to publish this book so it would come out close to the release of Flash MX, the publishers should have made sure the website was up and that the cd contained final source files rather than demos of other macromedia software. This book is alright, but if you really want something intuitive, I'd recommend waiting until Phillip Kerman's Actionscripting in Flash comes out in July...or buying his book on Flash 5 actionscripting.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Another waste of time and money, February 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Flash MX Magic (3rd Edition) (Magic (New Riders)) (Paperback)

I've been developing sites for over 5 years now. I don't know if that makes me an expert, as there is always something to learn, but I know a good book when I see and use one, and this is not it.

When I am given a project to follow along with, I need clear instructions that make sense. This book doesn't have them.

When I am given code to dissect, I need to make sure it works before hand. This book doesn't have it.

When I am given "final" examples, they should work. Heck, the example animations even play backwards in this book.

Don't waste your money. New Riders should be ashamed of putting this garbage on the market.