Flash 4 Bible

It's a challenge to write a book for a wide audience without weakening its effectiveness for any one group. Flash 4 Bible rises to the challenge, providing a clear and thorough introduction to Flash 4 for beginners as well as a comprehensive guide to the application's more complex features, like ActionScripting, for intermediate and advanced users. No one gets shortchanged here.

Although readers can reference the book in any order (the index makes troubleshooting very easy), each chapter can serve as an effective tutorial. The first third of the book maps the user interface and introduces the tools for creating animations and working with sounds. The chapter on ActionScripts is straightforward; as in the rest of the book, topics are subdivided into logical and easy-to-digest chunks. Charts help organize operators and properties.

Since, for most Web developers, Flash is just one application among many in the workflow, the authors spend considerable time on real-life situations where it is used with Photoshop, QuickTime 4, or Director. The last chapters cover distributing the Flash movie, either within a Web page, as a QuickTime movie, or as a standalone.

Along the way, sample files on the CD-ROM illustrate numerous tools and procedures while expert tutorials feature more detailed projects by leading Flash experts, such as "Sending a Form to an E-mail CGI Script." The uncluttered writing style of the book pairs well with the equally clear and well-captioned screen shots.

Because Flash is a complicated application, the book's simple layout and non-jokey text tend to minimize reader confusion. The book even anticipates common questions in sidebar notes and tips. By focusing on teaching Flash 4 step by step, this manual may succeed where others have failed. And over 600 pages of small steps can take you pretty far. --Angelynn Grant

Topics covered: A comprehensive manual to using Flash 4, including an introduction to the interface and tools, how to create graphics within Flash and how to import them, using sound, creating animations, using ActionScripts, working in tandem with other applications and distributing finished movies. CD-ROM includes sample files to illustrate points and accompany tutorials, as well as demo versions of Flash and other related applications.

About the Authors Robert Reinhardt has developed multimedia courses for educational facilities in Canada and the United States, delivered conference seminars on Web design, and served as technical editor for several Photoshop and Web books. With a degree in photographic arts, Robert takes a holistic approach to computer applications for the creation of provocative multimedia. Recently, he created installation and digital art for the Warner Bros. feature film Gossip. Now based in Los Angeles, he continues his work through "The Makers" (www.theMakers.com) as a multimedia artist, programmer, and instructor with his partner Snow and his creatively inclined dog, Stella. Jon Warren Lentz is a graduate of the Classical Studies program at UCSC, and a freelance artist and author. He is the lead co-author of a popular Web design book, , co-authored with Lynda Weinman. He's also an associate editor and columnist for EFX Art and Design magazine, formerly known as Mac Art & Design. Prior to entering the photodigital frontier, Lentz achieved notice as a sculptor working with sand-carved glass — a process that he helped to define as a fine art medium. Jon's images have been featured in the 1997 Graphis Poster Annual, Mac Art & Design magazine (Sweden), IdN — the International Designer's Network magazine (Hong Kong), and other magazines. In July 1998, Shutterbug magazine explored connections between his fine art abstractions and commercial works. His work may be viewed online at http://www.uncom.com. Jon has lectured on digital art, design, and technology at many venues, including the Maine Photographic Workshops, and the Thunder Lizard Photoshop Conference. In 1998, Jon was the visiting artist at Bradford College in Bradford, Massachusetts. In 1999, he joined the faculty at Palomar College, where he now teaches Photoshop, Flash, and Web design. Jon's personal interests are board surfing, photography, fine art, and the study of classical Latin and Greek poetry. He lives with his wife and son in Carlsbad, a beach community near San Diego, California. Contributors and Technical Editors Justin Jamieson (justin@mediumLarge.com) started using his first computer when he was eight years old. Years later, after studying design and cinematography, he combined his training with his computing knowledge to co-found mediumLarge (www.mediumLarge.com), a new media design firm in Toronto. In 1997, while developing a Web site for a local Toronto rap group, Justin began his research into the use of sound on the Internet and there's been no turning back. He recently began an online record company for unsigned Canadian acts that will distribute CDs and MP3s to listeners around the world. One of the first true Flashmasters, Paul Mendigochea has been working with the program since the release of FutureSplash. He's renowned as the architect of the award-winning FlashPad Web site (www.flasher.net/flashpad.html), which was the first community forum for like-minded Flashers. FlashPad is built entirely in Flash 4, with exemplary use of the new features. According to Paul, "Flash 4's robust forms and client/server features make Flash 4 a viable alternative to HTML-based Web sites." Paul predicts that these new features will propel "the great Internet facelift era," meaning that clunky HTML interfaces will soon be replaced with easy-to-use Flash front ends. To kick-start this era, he also maintains the Flashcgi Web site (www.flashcgi.com), which delivers support to developers who build Flash-based client/server applications. Having originally studied fine arts (BA, University of Waterloo) and literature, language, and computer-mediated-communication (MA, University of Waterloo), Colin Moock now explores theoretical and practical creativity on the Web. During the mid '90s, Colin produced SoftQuad Inc's corporate Web site, when SoftQuad's HoTMetaL PRO ruled the Web-authoring software world. He's now a Web designer at Toronto-based new media firm ICE (www.iceinc.com), creating Web sites and interactive experiences for companies such as Levi's, Sony, The Movie Network, and McClelland & Stewart. Colin's personal exploration of the Web occurs at http://www.moock.org, where he maintains online artwork, Web experiments, and collections of essays and tutorials for Web developers.