Focal Easy Guide to Flash MX 2004
For new users and professionals
1st Edition
Published on 10. August 2004
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-0-240-51959-3 (ISBN)
Description
Confused by ActionScript? Want to get to grips with creating interactive graphics and animation in Flash quickly? Whether you are a new user or a professional illustrator, designer or animator experienced in other animation and effects packages, this highly visual, color book will be all you need to get you up and running with the latest powerful upgrade - Flash MX 2004.
Birgitta Hosea uses tried and tested material based on her teaching, breaking down the software into its main components and providing lots of screenshots and simple step-by-step instructions. This encourages you to get the most out of the programme and fully develop your skills, whilst allowing those with particular needs to 'jump ahead'. The structure and style, influenced by her commercial and creative expertise, allows you either as a student or professional to dip in and out according to the needs of your specific projects, but also allows the exploration of the programmes capability when you have more time.
It is a generalist, accessible, visual and a truly introductory guide, written from the perspective of a designer with a thorough coverage of the basic features of Flash MX 2004, without going too in-depth into coding with ActionScript.
Birgitta Hosea is a motion graphics artist and Course Director of the London Animation Studio at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. Her experience ranges from designing idents and promotional materials to working as an Art Director on pop promos and short films.
Birgitta Hosea uses tried and tested material based on her teaching, breaking down the software into its main components and providing lots of screenshots and simple step-by-step instructions. This encourages you to get the most out of the programme and fully develop your skills, whilst allowing those with particular needs to 'jump ahead'. The structure and style, influenced by her commercial and creative expertise, allows you either as a student or professional to dip in and out according to the needs of your specific projects, but also allows the exploration of the programmes capability when you have more time.
It is a generalist, accessible, visual and a truly introductory guide, written from the perspective of a designer with a thorough coverage of the basic features of Flash MX 2004, without going too in-depth into coding with ActionScript.
Birgitta Hosea is a motion graphics artist and Course Director of the London Animation Studio at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. Her experience ranges from designing idents and promotional materials to working as an Art Director on pop promos and short films.
Reviews / Votes
"A useful companion for current Flash MX 2004 users, and particularly worthwhile for those thinking of working with the software and seeking to understand its features." - Game Developers' Association of Australia"I have found this book by Birgitta Hosea to be an essential reference guide to keep by my computer! As I am currently teaching myself Flash MX 2004, I have found myself constantly leafing through the pages of this book for advice. The many illustrations found amongst the pages and step by step guides have made learning Flash very clear and easy. I would recommend this book to anybody, be they a beginner or an expert! This book works on two levels; as a step by step learning process for beginners or an excellent reference guide for experts. Highly recommended! If you work with Flash, you need this book!" - online reviewer, amazon.co.uk
"...it is very easy to read. It is not buried in jargon, but instead uses real examples in a step by step tutorial like setting, where you play with the program and get comfortable with the environment.
I seriously loved this book...Go to a local book store and thumb through it yourself." - online reviewer, amazon.com
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Multimedia, Graphics, Animation, Web design & Broadcast graphics students who are new to this particular software but who have an understanding and are competent in computer graphics. <BR id="CRLF">Professionals who want to get up and running quickly using this package for the first time but who are practiced in other such similar packages.<BR id="CRLF">There are over one million users worldwide.
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-240-51959-3 (9780240519593)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Content
Introduction: History and development of the program; What is it used for?; How to use this book; Interface: At a glance guide to the interface; The Start Page; What are all the windows for?; Panel Sets and customizing your interface; Using the Help files; Flash Documents; Naming files and working cross platform; Vector Drawing: At a glance guide to the tools; The drawing tools; Drawing a line; The Shape Tools; Drawing with the Pencil tool; Painting with the Brush tool; Using the Pen tool and the Subselection tool; Changing colours; Creating text; Spell checker; Selecting and Modifying: Making selections; Modifying drawings; Changing your view; Using layers; Step by step manually create a drop shadow; Rulers, Guides and Grids; Step by step create a perspective grid; At a glance keyboard shortcuts for the tools; Importing Images: Vectors vs. bitmaps; File types you can import, Bitmap file formats, Vector file formats; Importing images with areas of transparency; Tracing bitmaps; Painting with bitmaps; Navigation 1 - Buttons: Button symbols; Libraries; Creating a button symbol; What is a symbol?; What is a keyframe?; What is a behavior?; Step-by-step create a links page; Using movie clip symbols; Step-by step animated rollover buttons; Navigation 2 - Menus: Button actions and frame actions; Creating a basic menu; Menus and submenus; An online portfolio; Loading images; Mail to link; Animation: Creating a banner ad with frame-by-frame animation; Separating and locking layers; Using keyframes; Onion skinning; Frame rate and size;
Symbol animation; Creating graphic symbols and instances; Motion tweening; Editing symbols; Summary; More Animation Techniques: Using motion paths; Easing; Shape tweening; Animated highlights; Animating gradients; Mask layers; Further Animation Techniques: Timeline effects; Animated symbols; Creating a looped background; Copying and pasting frames; Altering symbol centre points; Symbols within symbols; Using scenes; Character design tips; Sound: Creating sounds to bring into Flash; Some fundamentals of digital audio; Importing sounds; Streaming vs. event sounds; Editing sounds in Flash; Attach a sound to a button; Adding comments to frames; Warning about file sizes; Video: What is digital video?; How do you bring it into your computer?; Using video in Flash; Rotoscoping; Preparing for video output, Frame rate and frame size, Pixel aspect ratio, Frames vs. fields, Broadcast safe colors, Overscan; Designing for Cross-media: Planning a web site; Information architecture; Design for the web, Size, Color, Typography, Usability; Planning for animation; Putting Flash on the Web: Accessibility; Project management tips; Tips for lowering file sizes; Testing your work; Anatomy of a website; Exporting; Exporting with audio; Creating pre-loaders; Uploading; Cross-media Publishing: Publishing Profiles; Exporting stills; Exporting with audio; Exporting for video output; About compression and file sizes; Compositing your Flash movie; Putting your Flash movie onto video or DVD; Exporting projectors; Appendix. Resources: Web usage statistics; Web design info; Accessibility; More about mobile devices; Sound resources on the web; ActionScripting tutorials on the web; Flash animation tutorials on the web; Animation resources on the web; Further reading on character animation; Further reading on motion graphics; Further reading on Flash
Symbol animation; Creating graphic symbols and instances; Motion tweening; Editing symbols; Summary; More Animation Techniques: Using motion paths; Easing; Shape tweening; Animated highlights; Animating gradients; Mask layers; Further Animation Techniques: Timeline effects; Animated symbols; Creating a looped background; Copying and pasting frames; Altering symbol centre points; Symbols within symbols; Using scenes; Character design tips; Sound: Creating sounds to bring into Flash; Some fundamentals of digital audio; Importing sounds; Streaming vs. event sounds; Editing sounds in Flash; Attach a sound to a button; Adding comments to frames; Warning about file sizes; Video: What is digital video?; How do you bring it into your computer?; Using video in Flash; Rotoscoping; Preparing for video output, Frame rate and frame size, Pixel aspect ratio, Frames vs. fields, Broadcast safe colors, Overscan; Designing for Cross-media: Planning a web site; Information architecture; Design for the web, Size, Color, Typography, Usability; Planning for animation; Putting Flash on the Web: Accessibility; Project management tips; Tips for lowering file sizes; Testing your work; Anatomy of a website; Exporting; Exporting with audio; Creating pre-loaders; Uploading; Cross-media Publishing: Publishing Profiles; Exporting stills; Exporting with audio; Exporting for video output; About compression and file sizes; Compositing your Flash movie; Putting your Flash movie onto video or DVD; Exporting projectors; Appendix. Resources: Web usage statistics; Web design info; Accessibility; More about mobile devices; Sound resources on the web; ActionScripting tutorials on the web; Flash animation tutorials on the web; Animation resources on the web; Further reading on character animation; Further reading on motion graphics; Further reading on Flash