Customer Reviews

Macromedia Flash Professional 8 Beyond the Basics Hands-On Training

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I must have over $1000 of Flash books since Flash 5. This book, by Shane Rebenschied, is by far the best I've experienced. I liked the fact that he includes much discussion about why one is performing a task one way as opposed to doing it another way... Shane shows you the correct, professional way. I also like the fact that the exact directions to follow in the tutorial are clearly numbered, often bold and stand out from the basic discussion. I am now going through for the second time and not reading the discussion but just doing another couple sites to get practice with these new techniques and ideas. They make sense because you change things in one place, not open every button timeline. You load one movie into another, allowing for download and cache ahead of time, for all your graphics and fonts you will use in the site. The user's computer is not constantly downloading the same items over and over as you move from one html page to another... you stay on the same one and load one SWF file after another into a master SWF file on the same html page.
If you already know a good deal about Flash or enough to get you in trouble, this Shane Rebenschied book is for you! I hope he writes the next level soon. The added videos are fantastic and very helpful.

I highly recommend this book if you, like myself, are a professional in the media industry with experience in Flash. While the 'newbie' will benefit from this book, I find that knowing the terms, interface and minimal Actionscript syntax are very useful to understanding and succeeding with the tutorials in this book.

I searched high and low for this type of resource - a book which explains step by step how to do advanced actions in Flash utilizing semi-advanced explanations. In other words, the tutorials are written for both the newbie and intermediate user to understand. You don't have to be a developer to 'get' what the author is saying. Whoo-hoo!

Once I complete the exercises in this book, I am confident that I will be able to further my studies with more advanced Actionscript tutorials.

I bought this book because I was going to a fast paced training course and I needed some "prep work" to insure that I didn't get lost in the class. This book is designed with the very basic principles of training, tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you just told them. So yes, it is going to repeat items such as shortcuts and the like. However it is also going to provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to do use some of the advanced features of Flash while also providing that "hand on" approach that us programmers love. When was the last time you read a programming book that didn't have instructions and then felt you could jump right in and program?

Please note that this book is not a replacement for proper training, especially if you wish to really be a wiz at it; however, it will give you the foundation you need to get over the mechanics of using the application.

If you have an understanding of Flash Design, but need help getting into
actionscript functions and event handlers, this is a good book for you.
I bought the book because I needed help creating a simple email form,
which this book has a lengthy chapter on. The author is very thorough
with explaining how the actionscript works logistically, and obviously not
a fan of Flash Animation. It took me awhile to grasp some of the concepts
because I was so used to designing with a non-actionscript approach.My only complaint is that the book went by to quick, and wanted to see more on
controlling movie clips, and HTML integration.

This is my first purchase of a Lynda.com H.O.T series and it certainly wil not be my last. Author Shane did an excellent job instructing the process of development and implementation of a functional Flash website. The assets are nicely done and Shane is great at balancing thorough explanations of what you are about to build, motivations to the approach, and mechanics of the steps and code involved. I consider myself an advanced Flash user but purchased this book when I noticed that several topics that I had neglected were covered: Shared libraries, external CSS, and MovieClipLoader.

The MovieClipLoader coverage and it's event handling advantages place much greater capabilities in readers hands and at the intermediate rather than advanced level. This is due to the projects, the explanations, and the discussion of the rationale.

ActionScript is strictly typed throughout the book although the functions, curiously, are not. External dynamic data is emphasized and although the solutions are not always the most efficient, comprehension is the focus. I also thought that supplying a few Quicktime movies as additional walkthroughs to a few more advanced topics was an interesting solution.

I recommend the book for those hungry for additional Flash knowledge. The design of the book (all color screen caps) and the author's friendly, enthusiastic writing style was engaging. Good procedure oriented projects.

Beyond the Basics is a good name for this book because the author assumes that you have a basic knowledge of Flash and when you have finished the book, you will have mastered some of the intermediate level Flash features. The author, Shane Rebenschied, takes a modular approach to Flash and ActionScript. In each chapter, you will create a modular component that performs a specific task and then a master Flash file that acts as a controller for these modules. The purpose of this is to keep the file size and download time for your Flash site to a minimum and to make it easier to maintain. Throughout the book, the author uses a working sample website as a teaching aid.

Rebenschied begins by discussing flowcharts, storyboards and the construction process you will use throughout the book and how the master file and shared asset library work. Then you work on components that will run the dynamic parts of the website. You will learn how to use the LoadVars class and to dynamically load external text, in-line animations, Flash SWF and FLV files. You will also learn about the TextField.StyleSheet class, the TextFormat class and how to use HTML and CSS with Flash and web forms. He also discusses how CGI works to process your web form on the server.

Then, you will learn about the MovieClipLoader class and how to use ActionScript to control Flash interface components such as a dynamically loaded slide-show, MP3 player and streaming video player. Finally, you will build a Flash plug-in detector and preloader.

The CD contains exercise files and video tutorials that supplement the book. You also get a 24 hour free pass to the Online Training Library at Lynda.com.

Shane Rebenschied is a freelance illustrator and Flash consultant. He has written Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 and Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Beyond the Basics Hands-on Training. He is also part of the video-based training at Lynda.com.

The Flash Professional 8 Beyond The Basics for Shane Rebenchied is a practice book that includes some useful tutorial for both Flash designers and developers. About 50 step-by-step tutorials cover many needed techniques to create a professional Flash application. Such as, formatting dynamically loaded text using HTML, CSS and nested images, building preloader with the MovieClipLoader class, adding a progressively downloading multi-track MP3 player and using component to create a feed back form.

For the first time I looked at the book index, I felt like the tutorials are not very well organized, but with another deep look, I realized that the tutorials are pinpoint the problems you may face when creating a Flash application in a professional way.

The book also includes a CD-ROM with exercises and training videos.

I can't say enough about the quality of this fine book. EVERYTHING works as it should and equally important, the lessons and explanations are extremely well thought out, concise and even entertaining. This is a very carefully constructed book, clearly written by a very good teacher and thoroughly tested for accuracy AND usability. This is in sharp contrast to the vast majority of Flash, Dreamweaver etc. books on the market.

Bravo to Shane Rebenschied and Lynda.com for publishing an excellent intermediate/advanced book on Flash.

The Flash 8 Hands-On-Training book is written in a way anyone should be able to comprehend, retain and use the lessons learned to do what they wish with Flash. I have purchased several of the HOT books, and have not been disappointed with any. A must buy!

So you have the basics of Macromedia Flash Professional 8 down and want to move to the next level of expertise - but how? Begin with Shane Rebenschied's tutorial, which packs learning exercises and training videos under one cover for maximum results. From learning how to create a video players that allows users to control playback features to creating a Flash plug-in detector and working with Photoshop and other programs for best integration of features, plenty of technical examples and screen shots permeate a hands-on training program which is the next best thing to the classroom itself.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch