| Macromedia Flash MX
Hands-On-Training
by Kymberlee Weil, Lynda Weinman
Review by: Nancy Fusco
Paperback: 803 pages Book and CD-ROM edition (September
24, 2002)
Peachpit
Press; ISBN: 0321112725
Summary
This was my first introduction to the "Hands-on-Training"
series, and I am really impressed with this book. In the
introduction, Lynda Weinman says, "I take pride in
the fact that this book was written by an experienced teacher
who is familiar with training students in this subject matter."
That is truly how I felt as I was working through the book.
I was learning from a teacher who knew her subject and her
students very well. The writing style is easy to understand,
and the concepts are easy to apply to the real world of
Flash design. The approach in this book helps the reader
to truly retain the skills being taught by progressively
layering the new concepts over the established concepts
- so by the end of a chapter you have gone over the core
concept about 6 times, adding a new functionality to that
skill with each pass.
Chapters 1 - 2 gives an exhaustive overview of the background
information for Flash, the Flash Player, and the Flash user/designer
interface.
Chapters 3 - 5 cover drawing and color tools, animation
basics and shape tweening.
Chapter 6 goes into detail about symbols and instances,
doing a remarkable job at presenting this challenging information.
Chapters 7 - 9 covers motion tweening, bitmaps, and buttons.
This is where things really get into high gear.
Chapter 10 is about MovieClips and compares them to animated
graphics. This chapter is heavy reading and gave me a brain
cramp. Although it is important, and well placed, this chapter
requires careful reading and a full cup of java. I recommend
two full passes through this chapter to glean all the good
info from it.
Chapter 11 does the best job of explaining and using Actionscript
basics that I have read anywhere. I was learning Actionscript
and having fun at the same time - what a concept! Actionscript
can be very difficult to understand and retain. This book
explains when to use the different types of Actionscript
commands on each of the different elements in a movie. For
example, it explains when to use an Actionscript command
on a button and when to use it on a frame. The results are
completely different and the reader would otherwise be left
to trial and error to figure out where to place their code.
All the Actionscript tutorials are done in normal mode,
which provides an interface for filling in the required
elements and code hinting. This prevents the newcomer from
making simple mistakes and helps them to see how the code
is structured.
Chapter 12 is devoted to working with text. It might sound
boring - a whole chapter on text, how can that be? Much
to my surprise, there was a lot to be gained by not skipping
this chapter. It includes how to work with static, dynamic,
and input text. Dynamic text, which can be changed based
on Actionscript by loading text from a .txt file, is a powerful
tool for displaying text that is not hard coded into the
flash presentation. This makes it easier to modify this
information and then Flash just picks it up on the next
event. Input text is also one of those "need to know"
concepts to move an html website to a partial or complete
Flash website. Input text is used to create forms that elicit
user input, much like a basic html web form, which can submit
information to a server side script for processing or send
the form via email. Chapter 14 really digs into the Input
text and making Flash forms.
Chapter 13 is about sound, various audio formats, how Flash
encodes sound, and how to apply sound to various objects.
Chapter 14 is on components and forms, and shows how to
build a customer feedback form.
Chapter 15 explains general video, importing video, compression,
playback options, and how to apply Actionscript to buttons
for controlling imported video.
Chapter 16 is on publishing and exporting
Chapter 17 says in the first paragraph, "You might
find that you know more than you think you do." I found
this very true. After all the practice during the book,
I was well prepared for the ‘real thing’. It
takes all the elements that have slowly been building up
in your toolbox and puts them into action. It pulls them
all together and shows how to build the xboarding.com website.
This website is fairly advanced including sliding menus,
buttons that start and stop movies, and buttons that load
other scenes.
Chapter 18 shows how Flash integrates with other products,
including both Macromedia and Adobe products.
Appendix A is a great reference for troubleshooting FAQ's
and technical support. It is an extensive index, which is
great for looking up terms as you begin creating your own
Flash designs.
The Pros
This book contains very complete training on Flash MX, from
the basics of the drawing tools through Actionscripting.
If I could only buy one Flash book, this would be it. The
beginning of each chapter takes a broad look at a topic,
and the successive pages uncover more and more layers to
that particular topic. I would make the visual analogy of
spelunking - or cave exploring. What is breathtaking to
see from the opening of a cave only gets more and more wonderful
as you progress down through the caverns.
The tutorials and sample files are complete and well constructed.
The tutorials worked as explained and the sample files were
all right where they should be.
The Cons
One of the topics that I would expect to see in this type
of book that was not covered in the Hands-on-Training manual
is Flash Remoting, which is needed when developing e-commerce
applications. For this reason, it does not utilize all the
new Flash MX features relating to database connectivity.
I assume that the author believes this topic is better suited
to more advanced books.
The Verdict
This Hands-On-Training books is a must have book, especially
for the beginning Flash designer. It is complete enough
so that the reader will be able to create fun animations
or interactive sites. I have used many of the examples on
real-life projects including a new ‘all Flash’
interface for my company’s website. As new members
are added to the team here at Monarch Design Studios, there
are a few books we will give them - this book is one of
them.
Review by: Nancy Fusco
Paperback: 803 pages
Book and CD-ROM edition (September 24, 2002)
Peachpit
Press; ISBN: 0321112725 (copyright ©2003 by lynda.com)
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