Customer Reviews

Graphics, Animation & Interactivity with Flash 4.0

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you are wanting a book that covers most aspects of developing Flash applications, this is it! It not only provides information specific to Flash, but covers topics relevant to multimedia development in general. Jamie's book is one of the few Flash references on the market that address the use of FS (FlashScript) commands. Don't expect to learn all of the material in the book without viewing and experimenting with the accompanying programs on the supplimental CD. The only thing that might be nice to include in the next edition, is a chapter on integrating Flash into Director Movies.

When I got this book, I was disappointed to see a graphic on the back of the book that would have steered me clear of buying it. The graphic displays the USER LEVEL this book targets and it hovers over the words Introductory and Intermediate. If I were a beginner, then this book was OK. Peachpit Press: FLASH 4! Creative Web Animation is a better book to start with and stay with.

The reviews that were posted on Amazon by other readers were very misleading. Don't get me wrong, Amazon posts what we say and that is good, but readers, make sure to have your facts in line. This book is definitely for Beginners and Level 1 Intermediates. It regurgitates almost everything you see in the other books for this level: VECTOR, VECTOR, VECTOR.

For Advanced developers, you should skip this book and find another, although we know the pickings are about nill right now. A real Advanced book is going to skip vector images and start right in with scripting, integrating FS Commands with animations, and hint at the capabilities our firm is using: database integration with other programs like Cold Fusion (to name a few examples). ()

The growing popularity of Flash 4 faces a scarcity of good books. Not only is there no advanced book available, but the beginner level ones seem to look like the manual at best. There are two intermediate level books: "Flash Web Design" and "Flash 4 Magic". These two books are very good, but they mostly present design concepts and step-by-step examples and not a so much needed conceptual explanation of a tool which is not intuitive at all. Here is where this book by James Mohler comes in. It is repetitive in the beginning, some sections suffer from verbose, and its historical perspective on multimedia is poor. Its first chapters will make any intermediate level user feel bored. But then this is where its weaknesses stop. Conceptual explanations, beautifully insights in the way Flash works (so much needed in such a non intuitive tool), and intermediate and advanced features make this book shine and stand alone. Its explanation of the interaction of Flash with JavaScript is unique. Its treatment of ActionScripts and FS command can not be found in any other book (in spite of being the major strenght of Flash 4 -- which leaves the new Adobe competiting product well behind!). By all means you will not be disappointed with this book, especially if you are serious about Flash. It will give you a level of understanding which will distinguish you from your peers. As a reader here commented, "a real advanced book is going to.. [deal with] database integration with other programs like Cold Fusion". I am planning to write such an advanced Flash 4 book using my senior expertise in ColdFusion, Java, and databases. Yet I will need to tell everyone that there is a book which deals with the all basic concepts and the way one should work with this tool, that there is a book which lays out the groundwork for more advanced treatments. And, no doubt, I will be very happy that this unique and clear book exists.

I have been using flash for quite sometime now and I find this as the best book of all books on the subject. As an advanced Flash developer, I read through the first 100 pages without doing any of the tutorials. I was pleased that the author gave tips on development approach on a project as well as pointing out things in Flash I never knew before.

The later chapters explained in detail about Sound and optimization, which are critical for a successful project. And finally, the discussion on the Action scripts were extremely welcomed by this reader. The examples were clear, and the tutorials were easy and not so time consuming.

This is not a book just on Flash, but about development in general.

I will be teaching Flash one day, and this will be a required book.

Come out of reading this book and you will seriously know what you're doing with Flash. I don't reccomend a straight-out beginner start with this book. I reccomend, if you want to become really good at Flash, you follow the path I took, which is: a) Read the flash help files (the whole thing) b) Buy this book, read it. c) Buy Flash 4 Magic, read it.

After that, you will be fully versed in the ways of Flash!

If you are an absolute beginner to flash, I cannot at all recommend this book to you. It, like many other books on the market says it's cross-platform. It is not. The bulk of the exercises will not work. The sound files are ALL wav format. There was no email or companion website to perhaps download corrected files.

The book itself is well written and informative so if you are already familiar with flash, the book WILL be useful. But be prepared to create your own files and then follow the tutorial. I can only guess but apparently something went haywire in the cd conversion from pc to mac format. You will also have to download a sound recorder, various of which you can find at download.com...and yes, pay the shareware and convert all the sounds to aiff or mp3 and substitute those in the library.

My highest recommendation would be to buy the book knowing full well, it will serve as a reference book only... forget the tutorials...read it for information because there is some very good information.

pam

you would think an educator would be a little more quality conscience. i pray that hillman curtis uses a mac.

I rate James Mohler's book as excellent. It is easy to read and the examples are clear, very supportive of the text and points being made. It provides a lucid perspective of how Flash fits into the entire Web page development scenario. The book is concise and to-the-point; for a book of only approximately 300 pages, it does an outstanding job of introducing and explaining not only Flash 4 but key concepts related to the use of Flash on the Web. The book is worth your time. After reading this book, a reader will have achieved an inclusive understanding of how everything fits together, supporting the effective application of this interesting and useful technology. This is not another "tutorial" on drawing; Mohler touches on all the key aspects related to the incorporation of Flash and its application. He does it with an aplomb that appeals to both the novice and the more sophisticated or experienced reader.

I am amazed how much I benefitted from this book. It's like having a teacher for myself. This is the first time that I enjoyed a book from the start to the end. My sincere felicitation to the author, you have done a good job.

If you need a book on Flash, this is the one.

Mohler packs into 300+ pages practically everything you'll need to know about Flash. He does this by skipping all the fluff you find in so many technical books and sticking to explaining the how and why of making Flash do what it is capable of. The CD is packed with example movies in FLA and SWF format so you can often find something like what you want to do and then load the source in Flash to see how it was accomplished. But the best recommendation I can make is at the Virtual Tour of Purdue the author created.END

I just purchased the book, having read several positive reviews at amazon.com. My rating is based upon the fact that I've only gotten through the first 3 chapters and have to select a rating in order to post a review.

Although I am a Macintosh based web designer, I purchased the book in spite of a negative review from a Mac user regarding the accompanying CD. As it turns out, their noted problems with the CD were valid. In Chapter 2, I discovered a serious and extremely diappointing problem with the CD. All the text in ch02-02.fla totally disappeared when I tried to test the movie, since BankGothic was not installed on my computer. I had to break apart the text and substitute another font in order to view the movie. I novice to Flash might not have understood the problem and could have gotten quite frustrated.

I e-mailed the author, Mr. Mohler, who quickly responded and offered to break apart all text elements and provide online files for download at a revision site. (see http://www.tech.purdue.edu/textbooks/gaif/ ). Files are available in Bin and HQX format. I haven't had a chance to check all the revised files, but those text-based issues pertaining to the first 3 chapters have been corrected. He also offered to revise the sound files so that they were AIFF, and also is including a list of Errata to alert reader to typo's and other issues which may confuse readers of the book. Both Mac and PC users should take advantage of this list.

I appreciate Mr. Mohler's prompt response to my e-mail and his sincere interest in correcting problems to make the book and CD a good learning tool. I look forward to working my way through the rest of the book knowing that he will make every effort to address any other errors or problems which may be encountered by readers purchasing this book.