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Flash
5 Bible
"Combines
All the Information and Elements of Flash into One Book!"
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Title:
Flash
5 Bible
Author: Robert
Reinhardt and Jon Warren Lentz
Publisher:
Hungry Minds, Inc. http://www.hungryminds.com
Book Web Site:
http://www.flash5bible.com
Publication Date: 2001
Pages: 1299
with CD
ISBN: 0-7645-3515-3
Price:
$49.99
Flash
5 Bible, by Robert Reinhardt and Jon Warren Lentz,
is an essential all-purpose reference guide for Macromedia Flash, providing
insights and tips for mastering the creation of all types of Flash content.
It should help you get started on your first day with the program but
will still be a valuable resource when you've attained mastery of the
program. It also offers information on how to integrate Flash with other
programs so that you can deliver unique and compelling content in the
Flash format. Flash is not just one tool. It's a multitasking application:
an illustration program; an image and sound editor; an animation machine;
and a scripting engine. The Flash 5 Bible takes this fact into consideration
and dissects Flash into each of these components and explains how each
works with the other parts. Also the book is a real-world book with lessons,
examples, and explanations that are based in reality. There are expert
tutorials to bring you tips and techniques from some of the top names
in the Flash industry, so that you can benefit from their years of expertise.
The CD-ROM that accompanies the book includes many of the source .FLA
files and original artwork for the examples and lessons in the book, as
well as trial versions of Flash 5 and other Macromedia products. Appropriate
for PC and Macintosh users.
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Beginning to advanced computer users.
The book is great for everyone. Although the book was written to take a
beginner by the hand, starting from page one, you can also use it as a reference.
Beginners will learn from the tutorials and example .FLA files on the CD
and experts will appreciate the advanced information on using Flash with
Generator and ActionScript. See image to the right for a screenshot of a
masking animation file from the CD. |
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Inside
you'll find information on the following:
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Get up to speed fast using the "Flash in a Flash" quick-start
tutorial;
- Discover
the secrets of effective animated graphics, pop-ups, and rollovers;
- Make
the most of Flash drawing tools and animation controls;
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Master useful techniques like tweening and onion skinning;
- Harness
the power of Action Script programming for dynamic effects;
- Leverage
Flash by using it with Fireworks and other software;
- Distribute
Flash movies on the Web or through players and projectors.
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How
The Book Is Organized |
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Flash
5 Bible consists of a Quick Start, 42 chapters divided into eight parts
and a set of appendixes.
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Quick
Start: Building a Flash Web Site |
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Quick
Start:
The book begins with a special Quick Start section which includes the
tutorial and tips for effective Flash development.
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Part
I: Mastering the Flash Environment |
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Chapters
1 through 7
cover the Flash file format and the interface of Flash 5, explaining the
context in which Flash movies interact on the Web (Chapter 1), and working
with the new panels and tools (Chapters 2-7). Specifically, you can read
about the new Pen Tool in Chapter 4, and you learn how to use the new
Mixer Panel in Chapter 6.
- Chapter
1: Understanding the Flash Framework:
Introducing the Flash 5 Framework; Finding Applications for Flash 5
Movies.
- Chapter
2: Exploring the Interface: Panels, Settings, and More:
Learning Flash Tool Basics; Getting to Know the Fundamental Flash Interface;
Using the Menu Bar.
- Chapter
3: Using Tools for Navigation and Viewing:
The Magnifier Tool; The Hand Tool; Zoom Control and View Commands.
- Chapter
4: Working with Selections and the Pen Tool:
The Lasso Tool; The Arrow Tool; Introducing the Pen Tool.
- Chapter
5: Working with the Drawing and Painting Tools:
Choosing Colors; The Stroke and Fill Panels; Adjusting Stroke and Color;
The Pencil Tool; The Line Tool; The Oval Tool; The Rectangle Tool; Using
the (Paint) Brush Tool; The Dropper Tool; The Ink Bottle Tool; The Paint
Bucket Tool; The Eraser Tool.
- Chapter
6: Applying Color:
Introducing Color Basics; Working with Flash Color.
- Chapter
7: Working with Text:
Understanding Font Display Problems; The Text Tool; Reshaping and Manipulating
Text Characters.
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Part
II: Creating Flash Graphics |
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Chapters
8 through 13
explore the timeline structures (Chapter 8) and the Flash Library (Chapter
9), where you learn about the symbol types in Flash 5. You can learn how
to draw with Flash (Chapter 10), animate with Motion and Shape Tweens
(Chapter 11), and incorporate external media files such as JPEGs and GIFs
into your Flash artwork (Chapter 12). You see how to structure content
on the Main Timeline and create a simple scrolling text interface (Chapter
13).
- Chapter
8:
Exploring the Timeline: Viewing
the Timeline; Manipulating the Timeline; The Timeline/Stage Relationship;
Editing on the Timeline; Onion Skinning.
- Chapter
9:
Checking Out the Library: Symbols and Instances:
The Library and Its Features; Symbol Types; Graphic Symbols; Movie Clips;
Button Symbols; Organizing Your Library; Adding Symbols to Movies; Editing
Symbols; Modifying Instances Properties; The Movie Explorer; Shared
Library and Shared Fonts. See image to the left for a screenshot of
an animated buttons file from the CD.
- Chapter
10:
Drawing in Flash: Simple Shapes
and Items; The Drawing Panels; Fill and Stroke Effects; Static Masks;
Creating Type and Text Effects.
- Chapter
11:
Animating in Flash: Frame-by-Frame
Animation; Tweening; Guide Layers; Masking Animations.
- Chapter
12:
Using Bitmaps and Other Media with Flash:
Understanding Vector versus Bitmap Images; Importing External Media;
Importing Vector Graphics; Preparing Bitmaps for Flash; Importing Bitmap
Images; Setting Bitmap Properties; Using Bitmaps as Fills; Tracing Bitmaps;
Cautionary Notes; Color Insert: Bitmap Comparisons.
- Chapter
13:
Designing Interfaces and Interface Elements:
The Main Timeline as the Site Layout; Adding Navigation Elements to
the Main Timeline; Basic Text Scrolling.
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Part
III: Sound Planning |
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Chapter
14 through 16
introduce you to sound in Flash. In Chapter 14, you learn the basics of
digital sound and see which file formats can be imported into Flash. Chapter
15 shows you how to control the playback of sounds within a Flash movie,
and you learn how to create interactive buttons with rollover sounds.
Chapter 16 explains how to adjust and optimize audio compression in an
exported Flash movie.
- Chapter
14:
Understanding
Sound for Flash: Basics of Sampling and Quality; Sound File
Import Formats; Sound Export Formats Used by Flash.
- Chapter
15:
Importing and Editing Sounds in Flash:
Importing Sounds into Flash; Assigning a Sound to a Button; Adding Sound
to the Timeline; Synchronizing Audio to Animations; Stopping Sounds;
Editing Audio in Flash. See image to the left for a screenshot of a
push-bar button with sound file from the CD.
- Chapter
16:
Optimizing Flash Sound for Export:
Testing Sound Optimization Overview; Publish Settings for Audio; Fine-tuning
Sound Settings in the Library; Publish Settings for QuickTime Sound;
Final Sound Advice and Pointers.
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Part
IV: Adding Basic Interactivity to Flash Movies |
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Chapters
17 through 20
show you how to start using Flash actions to create interactive and responsive
presentations. You learn the difference between Normal and Expert Modes
of the Actions Panel (Chapter 17). Flash 5 has greatly increased the capacity
of a Flash movie to communicate with its own internal elements, such as
nested Movie Clips (Chapter 18). Properties and methods of the Movie Clip
Object are introduced (Chapter 19), and you master the art of preloading
and sharing Flash .SWF files (Chapter 20).
- Chapter
17:
Understanding Actions and Event Handlers:
Actions and Event Handlers; Your First Six Actions; Making Actions Happen
with Event Handlers.
- Chapter
18:
Navigating Flash Timelines: Movie
Clips: The Key to Self-Contained Playback; Flash 4 into Flash 5: Targets
and Paths Explained; Targeting Movie Clips in Flash 5.
- Chapter
19:
Controlling Movie Clips: Movie Clips:
The Object Overview; Working with Movie Clip Properties; Manipulating
Color Attributes; Enabling Sound with ActionScript; Creating Draggable
Movie Clips; Printing with ActionScript. See image to the left for a
screenshot of a movie clip file from the CD.
- Chapter
20:
Sharing and Loading Assets: Managing
Smooth Movie Download and Display; Loading Flash Movies; Accessing Items
in Shared Libraries.
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Part
V: Programming Flash Movies with ActionScript
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Chapters
21 through 26
introduce you to solving interactive problems (Chapter 21), making functions
and arrays (Chapter 22), detecting Movie Clip collisions and using Smart
Clips (Chapter 23), creating Flash forms and loading XML (Chapter 24),
and using HTML text fields and properties (Chapter 25). Part V ends with
an entire chapter dedicated to advanced Flash movie examples (Chapter
26).
- Chapter
21:
Planning Code Structures: Breaking
Down the Interactive Process; The Basic Context for Programming in Flash;
One Part of the Sum: ActionScript Variables; Declaring Variables in
Flash; Creating Expressions in ActionScript; Make a Login Sequence with
Variables; Debugging Your Code.
- Chapter
22:
Creating Subroutines and Manipulating Data:
What Are Data Types?: Overview of Functions as Subroutines; Managing
Related Data: The Array Object; Creating a Dynamic Reusable Flash Menu;
Functions as Methods of Objects; Functions as Constructors for Objects.
- Chapter
23:
Understanding Movie Clips as Complex Objects:
Movie Clip Collision Detection; Reusing and Repurposing Code with Smart
Clips.
- Chapter
24:
Sending Data In and Out of Flash:
Using Text Fields to Store and Display Data; Defining a Data Process
with States; Creating a Flash Form; Using XML Data in Flash Movies;
Using the Flash Exchange.
- Chapter
25:
Understanding HTML and Text Field Functions
in Flash: Exploring HTML Usage in Text Fields; Controlling
Text Field Properties; Manipulating Text with the Selection Object.
See image to the left for a screenshot of a scroll prop file from the
CD.
- Chapter
26:
Advanced Movie Clip Architecture and Beyond:
Advanced Tutorials for Flash Interactivity.
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Part
VI : Using Flash with Generator and Other Server Technologies |
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Chapters
27 through 29
show you how to get up and running with Generator 2 and other server-side
technologies.
- Chapter
27:
What Is Generator?: An Overview
of Generator 2; Your First Generator Template.
- Chapter
28:
Revving Up Generator: An Overview
of Data Representation; The Chart Object; Lists and Tickers; Using Generator
Templates in Production. See image to the left for a screenshot of a
bar chart file from the CD.
- Chapter
29:
Working with Third-party, Server-side Applications:
Using ASP with Flash Movies; Flash Generation Utilities.
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Part
VII: Using Flash with Other Programs |
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Chapters
30 through 39
show you how to create content in popular applications such as Macromedia
Fireworks, Freehand, and Director, as well as Adobe Photoshop and Discreet
3D Studio Max--just to name a few. There is coverage of RealPlayer, QuickTime
4, and QuickTime Flash movies.
- Chapter
30:
Working with Raster Graphics: Optimizing
Images in Fireworks 4; Preparing Images for Flash with Photoshop 6;
Creating Image Effects with Corel Painter; Exporting Raster Images from
Flash.
- Chapter
31:
Working with Vector Graphics: Preparing
Vector Graphics for Flash Movies; Using FreeHand 9 with Flash; Exporting
Artwork from Illustrator; Replacing Blends with Flash Gradients; Using
Layered FreeHand, EPS, or Illustrator Files; Going Wild with Expression;
Converting Rasters to Vectors; Exporting Vector Graphics from Flash.
- Chapter
32:
Working with Audio Applications:
Sound-editing and Creation Software.
- Chapter
33:
Working with 3D Graphics: Introduction
to 3D Modeling; Simulating 3D with Flash; Using Adobe Dimensions to
Create 3D Objects; Animating Figures with MetaCreations Poser; Exporting
Animations from Kinetix 3D Studio Max. See image to the left for a screenshot
of a 3D file from the CD.
- Chapter
34:
Working with QuickTime: QuickTime
versus Video for Windows; QuickTime Support in Flash; Importing QuickTime
into Flash; Combining Flash and QuickTime Movies; Using Digital Video
in Flash Movies.
- Chapter
35:
Working with RealPlayer: Flash to
RealPlayer; Flash Versions and Content Considerations; Controlling RealPlayer
Playback; Controlling RealPlayer Playback; Evaluating Media Quality
for RealFash Movies; Publishing RealPlayer Presentations.
- Chapter
36:
Creating Full-Motion Video with Flash:
A High-Quality Video Output from Flash; A Quick Video Primer; Adjusting
Flash Movies for Video Output; Creating Sequences from Flash Movies;
Creating .AVI Files on the PC; Importing Sequences into Video Applications.
- Chapter
37:
Creating Cartoon Animation with Flash:
Working with Large File Sizes; The Storyboard; Backgrounds and Scenery;
Some Cartoon Animation Basics; Animator's Keys and Inbetweening; Flash
Tweening; Lip-synching; Finishing Up.
- Chapter
38:
Planning Flash Production with Flowcharting
Software : Workflow Basics; Using Inspiration to Create Flowcharts.
- Chapter
39:
Working with Authoring Applications:
Integrating SwF Files into Dreamweaver; Using SwF Files in Macromedia
Director.
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Part
VIII: Distributing Flash Movies |
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Chapters
40 through 42
show you to export (or publish) your Flash presentations to the SwF file
format for use on a Web page, or within another presentation such as a
floppy disk or CD-ROM project. Chapter 40 details every option in the
Publish Settings of Flash 5, as well as providing tips for optimizing
your Flash movies in order to achieve smaller file sizes for faster download
performance. If you prefer to hand-code your HTML, then read Chapter 41,
which describes how to use the <EMBED> and <OBJECT> tags,
how to load Flash movies into framesets, and how to create plug-in detection
systems for your Flash movies. If you want to find out how to create a
Flash standalone projector, or use the Flash standalone player, then check
out Chapter 42.
- Chapter
40:
Publishing Flash Movies: Optimizing
Flash Movies; Testing Flash Movies; Publishing Your Flash Movies; Publish
Settings; Publish Preview and Publish Commands.
- Chapter
41:
Integrating Flash Content with HTML:
Writing Markup for Flash Movies; Detecting the flash Player; Using Flash
Movies with JavaScript and DHTML.
- Chapter
42:
Using Players, Projectors, and Screensaver
Utilities: The Flash Stand-alone Player and Projector; Stand-alone
Limitations and Solutions; Using the flash Player Plug-in for Web Browsers;
Alternative Flash-Content Players.
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Appendixes
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- Appendix
A: Using the CD-ROM: The CD-ROM contains many
examples and tutorials.
- Trial
versions of Macromedia Flash 5, Dreamweaver 4, Fireworks 4, FreeHand
9, and Director 8.
- Evaluation
versions of many SWF-compatible applications and utilities, including
Swift3D, SWiSH, Swift-Inspector, and Swift-Generator.
- Demo
versions of Sonic Foundry's audio applications, Sound Forge 4.5,
and ACID Pro 2.
- Limited-edition
version of Joey Lott's sendmail.cgi Perl script, to be used in conjunction
with the Flash form lesson in Chapter 24.
- Just
about every .FLA and SwF file that is discussed in the book, including
those used in Expert Tutorials.
- QuickTime
movies and QTVR panorama and object movies.
- Appendix
B: Contact Information for Contributors and Expert Tutorialists:
List of Contributors and Expert Tutorialists.
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Flash
5 Bible
is an excellent resource book. As with other Bible series book, the CD is
packed with files from the book that are invaluable. |
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For
running Flash 5, you need:
PC:
- 133
MHz Intel Pentium processor
- Windows
95, 98, NT 4, 2000 or later
- 32
MB or RAM
- 40
MB of available disk space
- 256-color
monitor capable of 800 x 600 resolution
- CD-ROM
drive
Mac:
- Power
Macintosh
- MacOS
8.5 or later
- 32
MB of free application RAM
- 40
MB of available disk space
- 256-color
monitor capable of 800 x 600 resolution
- CD-ROM
drive
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Graphics:
Adobe Photoshop 6.0
Web Page Design: Macromedia Dreamweaver
4.0
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This
site is (c) Copyright 2001, by PC Cafe Online. All World Wide Rights Reserved
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