Animation and Effects with Macromedia Flash mx 2004 …
Peachpit Press publishes computer how-to books on many subjects. This one deals with the Flash product from Macromedia. If you aren’t familiar with Flash, go to
visualxtreme.com/flash.html to see a few samples of what Flash can do. You will need the free Flash player, which you can get on that page.
The Flash product is used to give action to a web page. Creating animations and effects is the primary purpose of Flash, although it can be used for other things, as well. It has a scripting language that gives the product a versatile, almost unlimited repertoire of activities. Best of all, the result of a Flash application is designed to be small to download with the web page.
When you read this book, you know that Jen Dehaan is an expert Flash creator. She explains the possibilities is clear, concise language, but be prepared to spend several hours on each chapter, if you follow through the examples with her.
She has laid out the chapters in a logical order, assuming that you don’t know the first thing about Flash. By the time you finish the book, you will be an accomplished developer. I wasn’t willing to spend that much time, although I did follow along with several of the projects.
The book offers chapters which introduce you to Flash programming (which is mostly visual in nature). The first chapter starts off with creating animation and interactivity. A step-by-step project is laid out in the chapter; all you have to do is follow the steps. This chapter also introduces you to the Flash workspace.
The book comes with a CD-ROM with all the files you’ll need for each chapter, as well as the finished result for each project. The results of the tutorials in the book are available also at
FLAnimation.com/chapters.
The second chapter deals with animation using motion tweens. Tweens are a method of identifying the position, shape, color and other characteristics of an object at one point in time and also at a later time. Flash then creates intermediate positions, shapes, color and so on between the two points. The result is an effect of motion. The object may also be moved along a path you specify.
Chapter three also deals with tweens, but this time using shapes. For example, you might start with a star shape, then use Flash to expand it, then contract it, then rotate it. The exercise used to introduce you to this is fairly complicated. It has three links, each in a kind of sign which twists and turns. When you click, the label at the top changes to that item and would, presumably take you to that item.
Chapter four deals with frame-by-frame animation, which is similar to the way the Disney crew made early cartoon animations.
Chapter five covers character creation and animation. It’s amazing what you can create without resorting to draw programs. Using only squares, triangles, circles and color, you can create some remarkable creatures! Then you can animate them for use on a web page. The exercises in this chapter do just that. You create a robot with antennae, ears, body, eyes, arms and legs, then cause the various parts to move as you direct.
Chapter six covers ActionScript, a special programming language for Flash. It has many of the feature of modern Windows programming languages, nuking it as easy to use as possible. There is also contextual help; when you begin to type a key word, a list pops up with all the possible choices beginning with that letter. In some cases, when you select an item from the list, you not only get that key word, but also paired quotes or other useful data. Like all programming languages, you must study ActionScript in order to make meaningful use of it.
Chapter 7 deals with animation using ActionScript.
Chapter 8 covers masking (the process of hiding or revealing parts of the layer below the mask), transitions (animation or effects when moving from one page to another) and methods of including video in a Flash document. Video can be used as progressive (all of the video downloads before it starts to play) or streaming (video continuously downloads as needed). Compression of the video is also discussed, since download time may be a critical issue for some viewers of your Flash document.
Chapter 9 deals with creating menu effects. Menus can be constructed in various languages, but Flash has several advantages: almost all computers have Flash installed; menu can be dynamic and interactive; browser incompatibility isn’t a problem; Flash allows animation and effect possibilities not available with other languages. The exercise in this chapter builds a menu with buttons that look alike and act similarly.
Chapter 10, the final chapter, shows how to create a gallery, a common function of web sites.
There are four Appendixes.
| | A. Publishing SWF files. SWF is the compiled version of your Flash file. It uploads and downloads quickly and cannot be changed by the user. A subsection tells how to detect the Flash Player; you can refer the user to another site which enables downloading the Player and installing it.
B. Timeline Effects. Flash has the ability to effortlessly create special effects for an object, such as blur, drop shadow or explode.
C. Keyboard Shortcuts. Any application can be used more efficiently by using built-in or created keyboard shortcuts. The big problem is remembering them! I’ve found that learning and using a new one from time to time helps to reinforce your memory of it. This Appendix of shortcuts gives an idea of the depth and complexity of Flash; there are eight pages of shortcuts listed!
D. Resources. There are many sources of help for learning and troubleshooting Flash projects. First, there is the Help system built into Flash itself. Second, the Macromedia web site has numerous resources for learning. The Flash CD-ROM includes a HelpExamples section. There are also many, many Internet resources. This chapter lists some of these, with accompanying URLs.
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The last section is the Index.
This book is helpful as an introduction to creation of Flash applications, but for thorough learning and understanding other sources must be consulted. I would not be able to create any of the books exercises without consulting the book’s step-by-step procedures. Flash is so versatile and complex that one couldn’t possibly learn all or even most of it from one book. I believe it is a stepping stone procedure, learning something, using it, then learning another, and so on.
This is a great starting book. You can learn all about Flash in an easy-to-do way and then go on to another, more complex text.
Animation and Effects with Macromedia Flash mx 2004 by Jen Dehaan, published by Peachpit Press, a division of Pearson Education. 456 pages and included CD-ROM. Price at Amazon.com about $29.
