Customer Reviews

Official SWiSHmax Bible

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've been using SWiSHmax for at leat a year as a very serviceable alternative to the much more expensive Macromedia Flash. However, I often had to invest a lot of trial-and-error in trying to be more creative and efficient because there was no good reference source for it. The SWiSH forums were helpful, but also fairly time consuming. This long-awaited book solves all of my issues! It's really a great reference -- very well designed, complete, and full of useful step-by-step guidance on doing almost anything with the product. And...it's peppered with tips and techniques (in the form of full chapters!)from some of the top experts in the SWiSH community. It also has a companion site with even more info. I really can't think of any citicism, other that I wish it was even longer than its 700 pages. Nice job, folks!

The other reviews in here about this book are mostly accurate - this "bible" is the best printed reference on SwishMax, but also the ONLY one. Regardless, you will at least get close to finding what you need with this book, sometimes adequately, sometimes only enough to point you in the right direction (like to someone else's web site).

The startling discovery you make with this book is that SWISHmax is far beyond the simple tool it is often portrayed as. It's scripting, though not adequately covered in this book, allows you to virtually never set foot in Flash again except for the most complex of projects (which might represent 0.001% of all Flash content on the web).

The book is a little too mechanical in how it explains how to do things. It's a lot of step-by-step with little explanation. Also, if you're a visual person (like most of us), you'll find the book to be extremely frustrating in how it's mostly text with few screenshots. The screen shots that exist are usually very limited, most always small portions of something, like portions of the outline or layout panels - and you virtually never get to see complete pictures of anything at all. Just individual panels at most. This does make you have to pay attention cosely to the reading the text, and it also cuts down on the size of the book, which I can accept. But sometimes you just need to see things in full screen context, and this book is VERY weak on that as well as visuals in general.

I specifically purchased this book for the included chapters on preloading, scripting and creating an image gallery that had built-in external loading. The descriptions of putting them all together were tolerable, and the projects do work. But the frustrating part is that the action script text you're typing in (advanced mode) from the book's examples often don't work - I found myself having to actually download the projects from the web site and open it up to copy and paste the code into the project. Then it seems to accept it. You also have to read between the lines a lot in these tutorials, lessons and explanations to grasp the concepts of the steps because scripting concepts are largely left unexplained. To be acurate, this book reads exactly like an automotive repair manual.

Scripting: This book is a good reference for scripting elements, but not in syntax. It describes all the elements of the language, but not the proper use of it. You will find no syntax examples other than what you find in the mechanically described "just type this here" project tutorials. It wil be up to you to figure out proper syntax by studying the examples. On a positive note, however, for each script sample, each line of script is broken down to at least a simple explanation as to what the line does, so you're not left completely in the dark.

Preloaders: These chapters make this book worth its weight in gold. Not only are multiple types of preloaders covered in terms of simplistic to complex, but a loading concept that SWISHmax users will find extremely useful if they want to hang with the big Flash dogs - external loading. That is, dynamically loading external movies into your own movie at runtime. Very slick. It is covered briefly and inadequately, but regardless, there it is in print for the brave-hearted to experiment with and really give professional Flash developers a run for their money (which SWISHmax does a lot better than Flash-snobs are willing to admit).

The one thing I learned from this book is that SWISHmax is far more incredible and powerful in terms of scripting and doing virtually everything I see done in Flash than what is commonly known. The problem is that the documentation (even in this book at times) always seems to be one step above abysmal - a real disservice to this otherwise amazing product that, in my opinion, is usually more desirable to develop in than Flash, which I have also used for years.

I read a well-written review in here that states that SWISHmax is capable of creating "FLASH-LIKE" content. Correction: SWISHmax creates 100% Flash Player-compliant SWF content. SWF is SWF, regardless of the tool you used to create it. SWISHmax scripting, right along with ActionScript 2.0, is ECMA-compliant.

"SWISHmax Is Not Flash": On page 385, the author attempts to point out that "SWISHmax Is Not Flash" with a poorly thought out comparison. The surprising discovery you make is that the areas that the author states are differences between SWISHmax and Flash actually prove to be similarities - even direct equals with just different descriptive names. The end result is that the comparison inadvertently proves that SWISHmax is so similar to Flash that the differences are virtually of little to no significance (other than how much easier SWISHmax is to use comapred to Flash - that one comes across loud and clear). Allow me to elaborate with just a few examples:

1. The author points out that Flash allows you to edit sound files compared to SWISHmax simply using LAME to compress WAV to MP3. Reality check - who uses Flash to edit sound files when much better editors are available anyway? 90% of the time, professionals will have their sound files edited to the nth degree long before they even get them anywhere near either Flash or SWISHmax.

2. The author also states that Flash tweens and SWISHmax doesn't - but in the same sentence the author then goes on to say that SwishMax automatically tweens for you, producing the same result.

3. The author also states that Flash can produce web applications and SWISHmax really doesn't - but in this very same book she includes web application programming examples, such as how to program an online shopping cart.

4. And I'll add my own comparison item the author could have included but (wisely) didnt: LAYERS. Huge issue. It's often claimed that Flash does layers (providing unique timelines to any object) and SWISHmax can't. Not true - all objects on the screen in SWISHmax are automatically layered in accordence with their stacking order in the outline panel. It's automatic but fully alterable according to taste and need. If that isn't enough, you can take this layering further by grouping objects into sprites (and embedded sprites inside those) to the nth level to seperate timelines. In SWISHmax, layering is so automatic that it's not even a concern and usually proves to be far easier to deal with than in Flash. Flash, on the other hand, has documentation that warns you not to get lost in your own layers.

In general, this book tries (and for the most part accomplishes) to solve a big problem with SWISHmax, which is authoritative, comprehensive documentation - NOT capability. In my line of work, I see million dollar web sites done by professional Flash developers that I can easily duplicate in SWISHmax down to the last detail - provided I'm willing to navigate my way through "SWISHmax documentation hell" first. And with this product, documentation hell it truly is (got that, David Michie? You've got a Flash-killer here. The only thig holding it back is lousy documentation, so spend the money!).

This book, however, greatly improves that trip through hell.

Finally a real Swishmax book has arrived. And, a very good and comprehensive one as well.
Starting off easy, step by step, and further on the advanced features are explained in a very chronological way.
An excellent resource. If you ever need help with Swishmax, this bible is the first step to take.
Recommended!

I like this book - it's the only book on this product and I bought this as a reference for my design studio. It's comprehensive and covers everything including the basics. I wish they included a CD with the book though - that would have made a better learning experience.

Geetesh Bajaj/Indezine.com

The SwishMax program is, for those readers unfamiliar with it, a remarkable software tool that allows one to create FLASH-LIKE animations and even complete websites. SwishMax has been around for a couple of years, though it started out as plain "Swish", and has progressively increased in features and in the actual interface one works with. However, SwishMax is not a substitute for what is now Adobe's FLASH (FLASH continues to be the premier web tool). For example, SwishMax has no "built-in" objects as FLASH does. But SwishMax's great attraction is it's relatively simple interface, easier learning curve, and of course it's price. In the hands of a designer with good SwishMax skills (especially someone already familiar with FLASH) some rather spectacular results are possible rivaling FLASH. Having said that however, SwishMax, while easier to work with than FLASH, still can perform some rather complex feats - limited only by one's ability to understand how SwishMax works. And SwishMax can also get somewhat complex. And it is this subtle point that the Swishmax Bible, in my opinion, clearly misses the mark: The book seems to be a rewrite of the SwishMax HELP (which is itself lacking in many ways). If you're looking for a decent introduction and review of SwishMax in terms of what the various interface elements are and what they do, and find the program's HELP lacking, then this book will probably help you. What this book will not help you with are topics such as when and when not to use a Sprite, and how to create a scrolling text list, for example (the examples show you how to create these but as with the entire book, there's no detailed explanations). Many users of SwishMax already have an understanding of the SwishMax interface and want to know how to "put things together" in a way that produces meaningful results. For example, although the book shows how to build a rather interesting website with SwishMax, all it does is step you through the mechanics - it tells you nothing about how the various components work together to produce the results. If there was a presumption that the previous material was a foundation that should have provided the insight, that presumption is squarely off-the-mark. It's not enough to go through the mechanics of how to do something, especially with this kind of stuff. It's vitally important that the reasons why something is done the way it is are clearly explained - that's the purpose of instruction and should have been the guiding principal with this book. Unfortunately, this is the only book on SwishMax around. So if you're a complete novice or new to SwishMax this book will help. But the online HELP and introduction do a decent job of this, too. Just don't expect to find any information here that will take you to truly being a SwishMax expert able to create true FLASH-like websites (if that's your goal). For that, you'll have to know someone with the insight and skills that can show you, or find some other sources of on-line tutorials with specific instructions.

A "must read" for anyone even slightly serious about mastering the fundamentals of "Swish, Side One" - which we'll consider to be every toolbar MINUS the scripting one.

As for scripting, there are chapters at the end devoted to covering some basics that serve as a nice introduction. That said, someone STILL needs to write the authoritative book on SwishScript. (Hurry, please!)

Kudos, Donna. :-)

The book advertises that project files are available on their web site. I took the time to download everything and set to work. I got into trouble at Chapter 3. According to the web site files, I should be creating an advertisement for chairs. The problem is that there are NO STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO DO SO. I figured it out on my own and kept on going.

The Chapter 4 project is supposed to be a picture gallery with thumbnail images that display larger images when moving the cursor over them. There is also an email link and a "back" button. Once again, there are NO STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO DO SO. This time I'm stuck unless I want to examine the downloaded movie file.

I thought that I had an early version of the book (I just purchased SwishMax). After checking the ISDN number on Amazon, I found out that I have the correct book.

This may be the last chapter I look at in the book. I looked at another section that discussed breaking objects into pieces. Nothing but error messages and SwishMax shuts down.

Someone should have field-tested the instructions before releasing the book!!

This book and program is amazing. However, I cannot get the scrolling thumbnails to appear in the box that enlarges them. Other than that, I absolutely love the book. I have accomplished many thing while using this book for the website I am presently building. If you have the SWiSHmax program, this book is a must.

This book is a excellent resource to learn SWISHMax. It's a great book!

I bought this book a few months ago, and I think its great for somebody who doesn't know anything about the software, its very easy to understand even for the novice and the web material helps a lot.