Foundation Flash 5 [Paperback]

Sham Bhangal (Author), Amanda Farr (Author), Patrick Rey (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1903450314 | ISBN-13: 978-1903450314 | Publication Date: November 2000 | Edition: 1

Foundation Flash 5 gives you all the skills you'll need to get started in version 5 of Flash. It takes you from your first drawing and animation project in Chapter 1, through to a strong foundation for exploring the sophisticated ActionScripting capabilities now built into Flash 5. It is a thorough and practical tutorial-based book, wherein each chapter helps to build upon a case study project—reinforcing what you've learned in that section and how it can be applied to real design projects. By the end of the book, you'll have built a working, Flash-rich website, and you'll have the skills to develop and modify your own Flash 5 effects. Professional-level design with Flash has taken a quantum step up with Flash 5. Foundation Flash 5 provides you with all the climbing gear you'll need for the steeper learning curve. You'll break a sweat. But when you get there, the view from the top is really worth the effort!

This book guides you through the fundamentals of the Flash 5 interface. It shows you how to create, manipulate and arrange your movie content, and then, how to publish your movie. Along the way, it covers the basics of ActionScripting, and then, in Part 3, moves onto more sophisticated ActionScripting and the principles of good site design.

What you’ll learn

Who this book is for

Foundation Flash 5 assumes no prior knowledge of Flash or web animation. It is not, however, a "make-it-simple" and "leave-out-the-hard-bits" type of computer book. It is for serious aspiring web designers who want to expand their skill sets and learn the latest software design tools in depth. The Foundation series does not talk down; it addresses the urgent fact that the techniques underlying the best web design are becoming ever more sophisticated, and recognizes that you need a solid foundation upon which to build your knowledge.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This new addition to the growing library of Flash instruction books gives readers a solid base in this popular and increasingly necessary Web development application. The book promises a foundation that's both accessible, meaning that you won't be daunted by ActionScript or any of the other topics, and extensible, meaning that you'll find it easy to add to your knowledge after you've finished the book.

Foundation successfully avoids the trap, so common in other instruction books, of an all-encompassing but shallow overview. It successfully performs an in-depth treatment of the more essential aspects of using Flash. At the end, you might not know every menu option, but you'll be able to construct your own Flash Web site. The book uses one case study project: a Web site interface with animated buttons, soundtrack, and Flash-enabled content. Small-scale lessons within chapters and application of these lessons to the larger-scale project help reinforce the material (support files for the case study can be downloaded from www.friendsofed.com).

The writing follows a narrative style (longer paragraphs both before and within the numbered steps), and manages to be just the right amounts of casual and friendly. Personal anecdotes, when they occur, actually enhance the lessons. Although this style makes hopping around the book and troubleshooting specific problems more difficult, the payoff for reading in a linear, cumulative fashion is a better handle on the pros and cons of Flash's core features. Another plus is that readers can follow along, even if they're not sitting at the computer. (Learn Flash on the subway! Why not?) Throughout the book, the authors often point out alternative methods and uses for features, too, which encourages creative thinking on how to apply the lessons to your own projects. First-time users of Flash, as well as experienced users who have put off trying scripting, will find this book a good place to start. --Angelynn Grant

Topics covered:
Step-by-step instruction of Flash 5, using a Web site interface case study. Lessons include:

• The authoring environment
• Toolbox
• Symbols and libraries
• Managing content on the stage with rulers, guides, grids, and so on
• Working with color, bitmap graphics, and typefaces
• Tweening
• Masks
• Actions
• Beginning and intermediate ActionScript
• Sound
• Optimizing and publishing
• Principles of good site design

Review

I receive many questions every week from beginners, and from now on intend to point them towards this book. 9/10 -- www.pixelsurgeon.com

This is by far the best introductory Flash 5 book I've found and gets a solid recommendation from me -- www.teamphotoshop.com

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 625 pages
• Publisher: friendsofED; 1 edition (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1903450314
• ISBN-13: 978-1903450314
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (92 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,089,762 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Foundation Flash 5 heralds new wave of Flash authors, November 22, 2000

By 

Martin L. Devore "mldevore" (Humble, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Foundation Flash 5 (Paperback)

Lately, Macromedia is giving birth to newer versions of its applications at faster rate than the Alien Queen in the Sci-fi classic movie, Aliens. So...it's only natural that a flurry of new books would be released to capitalize on those newer release version. That's to be expected. What's different in this case is that such a high quality book as Foundation Flash 5 is one of the first Flash 5 books out of the gate.

At the time of this review (November 22, 2000), there are only three other Flash 5 books currently out (Flash 5 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide by Katherine Ulrich, New Masters of Flash (WITH CD-ROM) by Yugo Nakamura, et al, and Flash 5 Fast & Easy Web Development by Howie Green)with nearly 30 more books looming on the horizon in the next three months.

However, Foundation Flash 5 has the punch of a book released at the height of an application version's mautrity instead of at its infancy. The trio of authors (Sham Bhangal, Amanda Farr and Patrick Rey) are part of the new wave of dynamic Flashers who can both create Flash works that qualify as pure art while being able to find a way to teach those very same skills and techniques to both Flash beginners and seasoned veterans.

Foundation Flash 5 covers it all: Essentials, Tools, Motion and Shape Tweening, ActionScripts, Actions & Interactions, Sound, Optimizing, Publishing, Design, Content and much more.

At more than 600 pages, this book definitely has space for plenty of examples. Screenshots are used very effectively with code samples and text that can help any Flasher of any level understand the concepts being presented. Foundation Flash 5 is easy to navigate with informative appendices on Sound Sampling and the melding of HTML and Flash. A glossary is also provided to help newbies familiarize themselves with Flash terminology.

If you want to learn to use Macromedia Flash 5, and to use it well, this is the book to get for your library. If you are already versed in Flash and want to enhance your skills, this is also the book for you. With a very reasonable price for a book this size and with so much useful content, Foundation Flash 5 is a true bargain.

I just hope that Farr, Rey and Bhangal are called upon again to author the Flash 6 version of this book whenever Macromedia releases that incarnation of Flash.

I recommend Foundation Flash 5 highly.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolute Must Buy !!!!!!!!!!!!, March 19, 2001

By 

Brian (Atco, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Foundation Flash 5 (Paperback)

My name is Brian. I am certified in MCP, A+, I-Net+, M CIW D (Master Certified Internet Webmaster Designer) and a CTT(Certified Technical Trainer). I do web site design, consultation and I do corporate training for a living.

All I can say is YES!!!!! Buy this book and do it now!!! I have recommended other books on here but this one is really a cut above! I just finished it and it really helped put the polish on my skills! Do you really want to learn Flash 5? Are you lost in a sea of confusion, trying to decide which direction to go? Do you want me to recommend step by step what books to buy? Ok, buckle up Spanky.... here we go..... BOOK 1)- As far as what is published right now I would tell you to start with this book! It gives you an excellent foundation of the tools, interface and abilities of Flash 5. It gives you smart ideas, suggestions and best practices for using Flash 5 alone and with a website, on top of teaching it. They go into sound and tweaking, layers, scenes, events and everything else!!! It even goes into modest depth on ActionScript!!! It gives you real world examples. The book takes you through Flash 5 step by step but at the same time has you building your own "Flash 5 website"! Cool huh?! You will actually put your skills to work! You do not need to complete the website to learn it though. It has plenty of pics to guide you. They are just black and white..nothing fancy! The book has a companion website that provides the file samples to practice with, a forum to post questions, a Developer's corner where you can really learn the ropes and other info. This book takes you from learning the interface to showing you how to publish your "movie" via FTP to a website. At the end of the book they have recommendations on how to get jobs in the Flash 5 arena, do's and don'ts for production, and where to look for inspiration.

BOOK 2)- After you are finished this book ((and believe me it will go by quickly)) buy the next book in this series - "Foundation ActionScript". If you really enjoyed and devoured Foundation Flash 5 like I did then this book will give you more of what you are seeking! Foundation ActionScript gives you heavy duty introduction into programming theory, Flash best practices and gets you up to the intermediate to advanced user level in ActionScript fast! BOOK 3)- After all that the choice is up to you where you go and how far you develop your Flash 5 skills but I would recommend

"Flash 5 Bible"...not as a learning tool but more as an excellent reference. It offers in depth instruction on each Flash ability and even goes so far as to instruct you in how to use Flash 5 with other software like Quicktime, Poser, and many other 3rd party programs. This was extremely valuable for me! I actually had to borrow a friends copy at work to save my rear!

I hope I have helped you through the murky waters today. My last recommendation...go and review the book first person at a local bookstore and read the first chapter or two just to see if the book and its style are for you.

Best wishes.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A different and nice Flash basic book, December 3, 2000

By 

Paulo C. Rios Jr. (Europe) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Foundation Flash 5 (Paperback)

There are many books on Flash and a whole lot more coming up on Flash 5. Nearly all of them covers only the basic stuff. When things start to get interesting, you will find out that "this is beyond the scope of this book". In some books you will get the impression Flash is a sort of Freehand with some animation tool built-in. Other "artists tell their Flash techniques" sort of books will make you inspired with so many nice ideas. But then too often you will soon find out that you are just about to learn an adhoc Flash solution. There is a huge gap between the power of Flash 5 and all the existing and coming generation of books. This is all very compeling to me, because it may finally get me down to use my skills and experience in object-oriented technology and databases to show what Flash 5 can do to professional, mission-critical web sites and everybody, who knows or at least may know it, wants to keep to themselves. Yet this one book fits very nice in the picture. It is one of the very few and successful attempts to cover basic Flash in a smart and proper way. It does not stop at the "Freehand with animation" border nor at the "this is your first animation" one. It has a nice balance and explores areas other basic Flash books did not dare to touch. The web site kept by two of the authors shows the breadth of their understanding and it is by itself a reference to the quality of this book. You will have a fine book in your hands that will help you to get ahead in ways other basic Flash books just don't do.