Customer Reviews

Foundation Flash 5

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

If you want to learn Flash 5 from scratch this is a great book, depending on what you expect. I have a multitude of Flash 4 & 5 books, and the biggest problem with most of them is that they fall into 2 categories:

1) The "Reference" book style; - All the features of the program are explained without much guidance towards how to actually start and finish a project. These books are good once you know the program to refer back to. Examples: "The Flash 5 Bible", "Flash 5 Visual Quickstart", "Flash 5 Creative Web Animation".

2)The "Project" book style; - The book attempts to teach you how the program works by having you start & finish a project or projects. Unfortunately most of these books don't thoroughly explain "why" you are doing what you are doing. Also, you must blindly follow along, hoping that the skills you are learning can apply to your own individual needs. Many times the "project" is something you will never use. Examples: "Flash Web Design, V5 Remix"- Hillman Curtis, "Flash 5 Magic".

"Foundation Flash 5" is good because it is a "project" based book, and assumes you know nothing about the program, and teaches you by example, holding your hand throughout a handful of little projects and one big one. The author Sham Bhangal does a very respectable job of explaining "why" you are doing what you are doing. Beware, as some readers have pointed out, as there are quite a few errors and typos marring this otherwise excellent book. Most of them are explained on their website. I had to contact them via email twice and both times they got back to me within a week. Not great, but at least you can contact the authors and they do get back to you. Also, there are two main chapters on ActionScript, and one of them teaches you by having you design a "card game". Personally, I have no desire to design games, so I wish they would have chosen a more "universal" example to illustrate the same or other ActionScript features. ActionScript is vast enough to have included some more "mainstream" uses. I don't feel that my knowledge of ActionScript is at the level that they would have you believe it will be at. But that is what "Foundation ActionScript" is for, which I am reading now. But overall, this is book was well worth the time spent, and I haven't seen a better intro to intermediate Flash 5 book so far. Recommended.

Foundation Flash 5 is the absolutely the best Flash book on the market. Even though it is for the beginner to intermediate user, there is not a flash designer/devoloper who could not benefit from this exception book. The authors did a remarkable job in their unique way. I own hundreds of computer books and never have a ran across one to this caliber. No, there is not a CD with this book but I must tell you I did enjoy going to the site and checking the codes from there. I really feel I am a friend of ed. I had gotten to chapter 4 and ran right out, before the bookstore closed, to purchase Foundation Actionscript.
What a wonderful book, I just wish there were a lot more out there with this style!
If you know Flash, or you want to learn Flash, or even if you just think you are interested in Flash this is the book for you! When you finish this book, you will understand and know exactly what you are doing.
I give this book a 10! Truly awesome!!!

Wow!! What a find! Foundation Flash is a wonderful book which was the ideal match for my stage of development in my flash career.

Before this book, I was a flash advanced-beginner...meaning I have produced a few commercial flash demos as the graphic designer in the UI team for my company. I have an understanding of the drawing tools (I teach photoshop), but have minimal skills in action scripting and am basically programming-illiterate!

I opened the book at my computer and went through every exercise step by step in a few nights. I agree with the reviewer who emphasized that this book is not a basic flash resource but truly a tutorial from start to finish to be studied in a linear structure. You can't miss one paragraph or your final result may be incorrect - prohibiting you from continuing on to the next chapter. But I found that to be a challenge as it taught me to analyze my code and I felt elated when I discovered my mistake - despite several instances of thinking it must be the author's mistake - ha!.

I have read many Flash4 books, attended the Flash Forward Conference 2000 in SF, downloaded numerous .fla tutorials from the web, but was still daunted by action scripting. This book approaches action scripting in a methodical, informal, and happenstance way - relating it to everyday activities such as making a cup of coffee or tea. My success with Foundation Flash prompted me to open the next logical book in the series:Foundation ActionScript (the author co-authored Foundation Flash). I started into the land of dot syntax last night and can say that I'm 1/3 the way - up to the variables chapter and so far, understand much of the tutorial. This, from a mind that up until no was not able to understand logic in any format!!!

Thank you Foundation Friends of Ed for creating such superb books. I would not recommend them as the *only* book for the absolute beginner, but they are suitable as a classroom textbook with a teacher proficient in the exercises and understanding of concepts. Foundation Flash compliments those books that teach basic flash drawing and animation skills such as the Macromedia Flash5 Manual, Visual Quick Start books, and many others...Don't let these books pass by your studio.

Now I'm waiting for the Foundation Director 8.5 book.

Thanks Friends of Ed, I'm a fan! mganeles

The authors of this book have done an excellent job teaching Flash 5 to beginers. As a Flash developer who learned the basics on Farr's web site Vitual-fx.net, I was happy to see that her easy-to-digest writing style has taken to print as easily as it did to the web. With co-authors Rey and Bhangal they have covered all that you need to know to get up and going with Flash 5.

Foundation Flash 5 is one fo the first books to cover Flash 5, and I am sure that it will stand the test of time to become one of the best books about Flash.

As further testomional, Foundation Flash 5 is the number 1 best selling Flash book in Flazoom.com's bookstore.

The second book from Friends of Ed sure didn't disappoint me, it truely delivers ease of understanding and nicely paced exercise to follow. Don't take this book as one of those filled with same old information, this one even get into some real actionscript techniques. It doesn't just tell you the codes, it also explaind the concept behind them and how you can tweak or experiment with them. I reviewed the New Masters of Flash, which was great for inpiration and visual ideas but was rushed out with Flash 4 codes, this one really redeemed my respect for this new publisher. Look out for more good Flash book coming your way.

My bookcase already holds approximately 6 Flash "how-to" book titles. None of them can even begin to compare with Foundation Flash 5. I could go on for pages explaining why every Flash beginner should have this book, but I will suffice it to say, if you are truly interested in learning Flash, and applying it to real, working Web sites... THIS is the book you should start with. In my experience, no other book on the market will give you the info and hands-on skills you're seeking.

I got this book for xmas and I must say that compared to all the Visual... and Dummies... and Essential.... books on Flash 5 this one tops them all. It gives you a basic start on the interface and the tools. And in no time you're masking, doing fades and even actionscripting. It leads you though a logical progression of steps in each exercise and is never to dry or technical. At the end of each chapter there is a case study where you reinforce and refine your skill by creating a fully functioning corporate website. Other books in the series include Foundation Actionscript. For the next level up there is the studio series, also by the same people: Flash 5 studio and Dynamic Studio. After that you can move onto advanced topics such as 3d in Flash and interface design with New Masters of Flash. All in all a great book and set for any aspiring Flash Guru to own.