Flash 4! Creative Web Animation (3rd Edition) [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

~ (Author), Brooks Patton (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Flash 4 is Macromedia's extremely complicated but powerful Web animation application. "For us, the Flash learning process was extremely painful," write authors Patton and Franklin. And since they observed many others expressing pain similar to theirs in the Flash newsgroup, they are now sharing all their hard-earned secrets in Flash 4! Creative Web Animation. Most important in learning Flash, the book suggests, is that there be a certain order: "solid comprehension ... gained in a sequential manner."

The book works best if read from front to back; it's too wordy to work as a reference guide or manual (except for the appendix on keyboard shortcuts). The book's best feature is its numerous QuickTime video tutorials on the accompanying CD-ROM, which cover key concepts of Flash 4 usage. The videos demonstrate the construction of Flash movies from scratch. And, since the source file discussed in each movie is also included, readers can go back and forth between QuickTime and Flash, rebuilding or adapting the file for themselves. This comes as close as possible to replicating the indelible learning process one usually gets only in "on-the-job training."

Flash 4! also takes the reader on a thorough tour of the application, beginning with chapters explaining Flash's popularity and why the plug-in is now a standard accessory in browsers. The authoring environment is outlined in full detail and includes the major aspects of creating animations, from making artwork with drawing, text, and sound tools to the underlying logic behind Flash's extensive interactive capabilities.

The book's slow pacing becomes a great advantage in later chapters when the animations and the interactivity get more complex. The sample projects show some of the most popular tricks used on Web sites today, and there's even a source file for a Whack-a-Mole game.

Other highlights of Flash 4! include discussions on testing for download speed, choosing the right format for publishing a file, and preplanning and preparing a job.

There's an amazing wealth of information and experience in Flash 4! Beginners and intermediate users of Flash may soon find themselves as comfortable with it as they are with their layout applications. --Angelynn Grant

Topics covered: All features and tools of Flash 4 covered in great detail, including an introduction to the authoring environment, drawing tools, working with text and sound, using bitmap images, working with symbols and instances, using and managing the libraries, working with layers, animation and interactivity, testing and publishing movies, and project planning and preparation; appendices with keyboard shortcuts and a list of online resources and discussion groups. CD-ROM includes detailed QuickTime video tutorials and source files, a 30-day trial of Flash 4, and tryout versions of other Macromedia applications.

From Library Journal

The authors very carefully explain what Flash is, how Flash works in general, and all the individual aspects of Flash such as drawing, text, sound, graphics, symbols, libraries, layers, animation, interactivity, testing, and planning. The CD-ROM includes source files and QuickTime video tutorials that show how to create Flash movies. Excellent for beginners.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Pr; 1st edition (November 9, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201354705
• ISBN-13: 978-0201354706
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (95 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,603,739 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I feel this book is not for beginners...., November 28, 1999

By	Jean Galgano "darin galgano" (NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a great book I can tell, but...as a newbee to Flash 4, I felt that their approach meant well but turned into confusion as I progressed through the book. A lot of times I found them trying to teach me about a certain aspect of Flash before I even learned the basics of how to get to that certain point. Like trying to teach me how to change a movie clip into an animation before I even learned how to really create a movie clip or the basics of animation. I felt that the order of the chapters should have been reversed..How the timeline works and animation isn't even covered until Chapter 10....and being very anxious to learn this program, I found myself getting aggravated wanting to get to the more meaty parts of the program.

Give me a good understanding about the timeline and frames, keyframes, scenes and animation first to give me the basic knowledge of how Flash works, then teach me drawing techniques and gradients and creating and tracing bitmaps and so forth which all comes first in the book. The CD-ROM is a terrific idea, but each tutorial should have been more from the ground up...they show you how to do something but again don't show you how to get to that point on your own....most of the tutorials start off with set-up work already done and you just adding on to what they already created. If you have a descent handle on Flash basics already this is definetly a book for you to enhance your learning...if you're completely new to Flash I have a feeling you may end up frustrated and confused like I am...I'm going to give the Flash 4 Visual Quickstart a try, then come back to this book once I have a descent knowledge of the basics.......

69 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All you need to know, November 22, 1999

By	SZEWC (IL USA) - See all my reviews

Flash 4, Creative Web Animation is the most easy to understand and most comprehensive text on the flash 4 program to date. It is referenced by subject content making it easy to learn from or to use as a desktop reference. I strongly recommend this manual. It comes with a cd that really offers a supberb jump start to flash. If you have been having problems understanding tell target and getting the hang of scripting, this book is sure to enlighten you indepth without adding to your confusion. It has a lot of hints for super use. You would have to be extremely advanced in flash 4 not to find something new in the text.

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A particularly weak book, January 7, 2000

By A Customer

While this version of Flash # Creative Web Animation is definately an improvement over the last version, it's still extremely weak compared to several of the new Flash 4 titles. If you're a beginner who's lost the manual, this'll be helpful. Otherwise, look elsewhere for real information on Flash. For example, the coverage of ActionScript is brutally perfunctory. There's precious little here I didn't already know. Flash, the technology, is improving, so why shouldn't the books improve along with it?