With the recent release of Adobe® Creative Suite® 3 Web Premium package, Adobe are now able to fully realise the potential of owning not only the world’s favourite medium for delivery of rich media via the internet, Flash, but also two of the primary tools for designing and creating content, Photoshop and Illustrator. The huge potential of this package lies in its ability to integrate these three important applications and move towards streamlining the production process from concept to delivery, but the question remains, has Adobe lived up to this potential and presented a unified and coherent suite, or have they just churned out new versions of the same old titles without taking advantage of this opportunity?
This is a step-by-step article that will guide you through the entire process of using VATech System's Active Log to log messages from Flash movie during runtime.
360PanViewerPro is a lightweight component designed to seamlessly loop an image, creating such effects as virtual tours, with little or no ActionScript required.
This is a review of the Peachpit Press publication "Advanced ActionScript 3 with Design
Patterns".
Snapshot
A strong, yet small book which provides a solid introduction
to best practices in general, not just Design Patterns. Recommended for anyone who
considers themselves an ActionScript coding professional, or aspires to become
one one.
In this review, respected Flash authority Sas Jacobs reveals how MDM Zinc can be used to extend the functionality of your Flash Projectors. Get excited about the expanded capacity to build great desktop applications which do... pretty much anything, with Zinc.
Many Flash developers will already be aware that Colin Moock is the man behind the de facto book for Flash: “Actionscript: The Definitive Guide” (and its updated counterpart for Flash MX).
The first thing to note is that Essential Actionscript 2.0 is not an updated ASDG for MX2004 - it is intended to be used alongside ASDG and not in place of it. The main reason being that relatively little has changed syntactically between Actionscript 1 and Actionscript 2. AS2 is essentially a wrapper for AS1 with a more formal object oriented syntax. The challenge with AS2 is not so much about learning the new syntax as learning how to use it in order to design robust, extensible applications.
Title: Flash MX Savvy Author: Ethan Wattrall and Norbert Herber Published by: Sybex; ; Book and CD-ROM edition (May 15, 2002) RRP: USD $50.00(Less at Amazon) Paperback: 784 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.49 x 8.98 x 7.60 User Level: Unknown Review By: Tim Skyrme
Title: Flash MX Motion Graphics Author: Seol Euna Published by: Sybex; ; Book and CD-ROM edition (August 19, 2002) RRP: USD $45.00(Less at Amazon) Paperback: 320 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.60 x 10.20 x 8.34 User Level: Unknown Review By: Tim Skyrme
Book Information Title:Inside Macromedia Flash MX Author: Jody Keating (Fig Leaf Software) Published by:New Riders. RRP: US$49.99 (Less at Amazon) Format: Mass-market paperback User Level: Unknown Review By: Hans Kaiser for ActionScript.org
Review:
There's just something about the weight of an 880 page book that inspires confidence in it's content. Unfortunately sometimes the weight just transfers into useless fluff. Fortunately that is not the case with "Inside Macromedia Flash MX" a new offering by New Riders. This book is geared toward the intermediate to advanced user, but even a novice can glean valuable information form the mountain of information.
Book Information Title:Macromedia Flash MX Studio Author: Jamie MacDonald, Keith Peters, et al. Published by:friends of Ed. RRP: USD $49.99 (Less at Amazon) Format: Mass-market paperback User Level: Intermediate-Advanced Review By: Mel Hogan for ActionScript.org
At a glance: 9/10
Review:
I've been a fan of Friends of Ed since the very first New Masters of Flash book, and this one doesn't disappoint.
Broken into 4 sections; Site Presentation, Actionscript Interfaces, Rich Media, and Dynamic Data integration, this book is aimed at the intermediate to advanced flash user. With that in mind, I jumped into chapter 1 and was pleasantly rewarded with some of the flash communities best code based animation tricks. Anyone who has ever struggled with easing in and out, velocity, or "springy" motion is sure to love this chapter. The Site Presentation section goes on to explain animation with the Drawing API, Components, and an ending chapter entitled "Taking Things Further" with ideas and concepts designed to push the user beyond what is read. I found this chapter especially useful, and was disappointed this format wasn't continued in the other sections.
Book Information Title:Flash MX Application & Interface Design Author: Peter Aylward, Ken Jokol, et al. Published by:friends of Ed. RRP: USD $49.99 (Less at Amazon) Format: Mass-market paperback User Level: Intermediate-Advanced Review By: Jeremy Coates for ActionScript.org
At a glance: 8/10
This book is published for Intermediate level. I'd say it's the high end of that scale, with chapters on PHP & XML integration. It's definitely a book for the developer, who has already got a strong grasp of MX. Don't pick this if you want to learn PHP or XML though, it's only really from the Flash perspective.
Review:
All of the code examples in the book are without commenting, however you do get good explanations of what they, but if you're not up to speed with actionScripting, then I'd suggest giving this book a miss... for a while anyway! Come back to it though - there's a lot of good stuff!!
Book Information Title:Professional PHP4 Multimedia Programming Author: Devon H O'Dell, Andy Chase, et al. Published by:Wrox Press Inc.. RRP: USD $49.99 (Less at Amazon) Format: Mass-market paperback User Level: Intermediate-Advanced Review By: Andrew Madigan (Mad_A) for ActionScript.org
At a glance: 8/10
Find out how useful a tool PHP can become for a multimedia developer!
Review:
Professional PHP4 Multimedia Programming covers the main PHP extension libraries used for Multimedia.
What? OK, PHP allows us to run scripts on a webserver to deliver content to a user. If we want to build Multimedia content for that user (using PHP) we use PHPs extension libraries for Multimedia. These consist of Ming, GD, ImageMagick, PDFlib and FDF.
Book Information Title:Flash Math Creativity Author: Manny Tan, Jamie Macdonald, et al.
Published by:Friends Of Ed. RRP: USD $49.99 (Less at Amazon) Format: Mass-market paperback User Level: Intermediate-Advanced Review By: Stephen (Red Penguin, ActionScript.org)
At a glance: 10/10
What a great book!
Review:
Well, well, well, what a title! This book is stunning visually and is just oozing with inspiration. Opening it and reading the forward tells us that this is a book for our pleasure. The Flash community as a whole. This is a book intended to show us what this community has been able to come up in terms of creation and allows us to poke around with the code. If you like to take a basic principle and see it evolve given enough time and interest, then this is the book for you. If you enjoy seeing "how" things function rather than "why" they work, you have the opportunity to tinker and toy with the variables to see exactly "how" it changes the overall look of the final piece. Oh yeah, and there is the Math stuff too....
Book Information Title:Foundation Macromedia Flash MX Author: Kris Besley, Sham Bhangal, Amanda Farr. Published by:Friends Of Ed. RRP: USD $29.99 (Less at Amazon) Format: Mass-market paperback User Level: Beginner Review By: Stephen (Red Penguin, ActionScript.org)
At a glance: 8/10
A very good intro to Flash in all its beauty for the beginner.
Review:
Well, have you just gotten your eager hands on Flash MX? Are you knew to the Flash environment? If the answer to these questions is a resounding yes, then you will need this book. As with all of the Friends of Ed books, you can rely on the content. It is straightforward without a lot of mumbo jumbo thrown in. How does this one compare?
A very good book for Intermediate level users with an existing grasp of basic ActionScripting. Fairly specific to game development.
Review:
Unlike most Flash books, Flash 5 ActionScript For Fun & Games is aimed at Intermediate - Advanced level users and therefore doesn't spend much time examining the basic elements of ActionScript. Indeed Variables, Arrays, Conditionals, Loops and more are all covered in about 20 pages but personally I liked that. This book is quick to get down to the nitty gritty of actual game programming and doesn't waste time dealing with the stuff an Intermediate level user should know already. Having said that, I should point out that the introductory information given about variables and the like is of good quality - it just might be a bit too brief for a Beginner (remember that the book isn't targeted at Beginners though). The blurb states that "The lessons teach all the basics of ActionScript programming…" which I would be inclined to disagree with slightly, but I guess each person's perception of 'basic' is different.
Book Information Title:ActionScript : The Definitive Guide Author(s): Colin Moock, Gary Grossman Published by: O'Reilly & Associates. RRP: USD $39.95 Format: Mass-market paperback CD: No, Web instead. User Level: Beginner - Advanced Review By:Jesse Stratford (ActionScripts.org)
At a glance:
As good as I'd hoped, and better. Most certainly the 'Definitive Guide'.
Review:
Before I begin I should probably declare an interest. I learned a lot from Colin's site when I was just a babe-in-arms in Flash terms but my review, as always, will be impartial.
Book Information Title:Flash XML StudioLab Author: I. Tindale, J. Rowley, P. McDonald Published by:Friends Of Ed RRP: USD $49.99 Format: Mass-market paperback CD: No, Web instead. User Level: Intermediate Review By: Andy (20 Ton Squirrel, ActionScripts.org)
At a glance: 8/10
A must-have for the XML novices out there, this is an in-depth exploration of XML that leaves the attentive reader itching to put newfound skills to the test.
Review:
This book details the use of XML in Flash. It approaches the topic from the vantage of a novice, so don't sweat not knowing a thing about XML. If you look at the little chart on the back of the book, you might note that this particular book is on the third tier of the FOE series of books… meaning the authors expect you to have an good working knowledge of Flash and ActionScripting.
Book Information Title:Foundation PHP for Flash (Site) Author:Steve Webster Published by:Friends Of Ed RRP: US $39.99 Format: Mass-market paperback Page Count: 500 CD: No. User Level: Beginner/Intermediate Review By: Andy (20 Ton Squirrel, ActionScripts.org)
At a glance: 8/10
Foundation PHP for Flash provides a great insight into what PHP is and its practicle applications for Flash developers.
Review:
So what is this PHP stuff anyway? Why is it such a big deal? Feel left in the dark? Well, this fine book will shed light on the subject. In this edition from our buddies at Friends of Ed you will learn everything you need to know about PHP and how it can be used in Flash. It's a bit on the technical side, so you'd better have a good working knowledge of Flash and ActionScripting. If you don't know what a variable is, then you'd better start with something more basic, because this book will leave a newbie behind!
At a glance: 7/10 Learn the ins and outs of how to make a site that allow users to interact!
Review:
The face of the web is ever changing and emerging from this maelstrom of ideas is the concept of multiuser web sites. This innovation in web design allows users to not only interact with a site, but also with the other users out there who might be browsing! Once again the folks at Friends of Ed have stepped up to explain what all this business is about, and more importantly - how YOU can jump on the multiuser bandwagon.
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