Table of Contents

1. Why Flash?
Speed. Web Standard. Interactivity. Ease of Use. Design Capabilities. Versatility. Widespread Viewability. Integration.

2. Getting Started.
How Flash Works. What's new in Flash 5. Interface. Options and Settings. Setting Movie Properties. The QuickTime Interactive Tutorials.

3. Graphics.
Tools and Options. Drawing Tasks. Using the Pen Tool. Pen and Drawing Preferences. Editing Simple Shapes. Strokes and Fills. Importing Vector Graphics. Optimizing Graphics. Using Color. Interactive Tutorial.

4. Text.
What is Text? Creating Text Elements. Working with Text Elements. Using Font Symbols for Dynamic Type Styling. Breaking Text Apart. Animation Considerations. Interactive Tutorial.

5. Sound.
Understanding Sounds. Importing Sounds. Adding Sounds to the Timeline. Configuring/Editing Sound Instances. Sound Properties. Updating Sounds. Advanced Sound Capabilities. Using Sounds in Shared Libraries. Interactive Tutorials.

6. Bitmaps.
Importing Bitmaps. Adding Bitmaps to your movie. Working With Bitmaps. Bitmap Properties. Optimizing Your Images. Updating Bitmaps. Using Bitmaps in Shared Libraries. Using Animated GIFs. Using PNGs. Interactive Tutorial.

7. Symbols.
Understanding Symbols and Instances. Creating Symbols. Editing Symbols. Working With Instances. Interactive Tutorials.

8. Working with Elements on the Stage.
Selecting. Groups. Placing Elements on the Stage. Transforming Elements. Duplicating Elements. Cutting, Copying, Deleting, and Pasting. Interactive Tutorial.

9. Using Layers to Separate Content and Functionality.
Understanding Layers. Working with Layers. Identifying Graphical Elements on Different Layers. Using Guide Layers. Special-Purpose Layers. Layer Properties. Interactive Tutorials.

10. Using Animation to Build Movement.
How Animation Works. Understanding the Timeline. Working with Scenes. Frames. Creating Animation. Putting it all Together. Using QuickTime Video. Interactive Tutorials.

11. Basic Actions for Building Interactivity.
Interactivity in Flash. Actions Panel. Basic Actions in Depth. Interactive Tutorials.

12. Building Advanced Interactivity using ActionScript.
What is ActionScript? Thinking Like a Programmer. Variables. Operators. Expressions. Statements. Functions. Working with Multiple Timelines. Objects. Smart Clips. The Actions Panel Options Menu. Printing. Interactive Tutorials.

13. Using the Library to Manage Your Assets.
The Interface. Managing Library Assets. Working with Symbols in the Library Window. Working with Sounds, Bitmaps, and Videos in the Library Window. Viewing and Organizing Library Items. Special Libraries. Interactive Tutorials.

14. Using Movie Explorer to Manage Structure.
Understanding the Display List. Movie Explorer Tasks. Interactive Tutorial.

15. Testing.
Getting Ready to Test. Testing Within the Flash Authoring Environment. The Test Movie and Test Scene Commands. The Testing Environment.

16. Publishing Your Work.
Delivery Methods. Flash and HTML. Player Issues. Understanding Templates. Interactive Tutorial.

Promotional Information

Developers use Macromedia Flash to create high-impact, sophisticated Web sites that deliver motion, sound, interactivity and graphics. Not only is Flash-playback compatibility bundled with most Web browsers, it's now on or coming to WebTV, Excite @Home, PocketPC, and Palm products. Serious Web developers now consider Flash as part of their arsenal of essential Web-creation tools. Flash X! Creative Web Animation thoroughly covers all the major aspects of Flash, including vector-based drawing, authoring, and animation sequencing. New features of Flash X are covered throughout the book, including Flash's improved menu system and added widgets, which make it easier to add functions such as tabs, links, and pop-up boxes to Web pages. Backed up by the rich content on the CD, which contains video tutorials, source files, and a trial version of Flash X, these professional Web designers take the beginning to intermediate user of Flash on a training tour of Web animation.

About the Author

Derek Franklin is chief development officer of Crazy Raven Productions, and as such is required to thoroughly understand current technologies to push them to the limit. Derek discovered the Web, his niche, in 1995 and never looked back. When not working or sleeping in front of the computer, he enjoys playing music, reading, and dreaming about Tahiti.

Brooks Patton is the president and CEO of Crazy Raven Productions Inc., a leading multimedia and Web development firm with offices in Anchorage, Alaska, Indianapolis, and Dallas. With more than a decade of experience in network engineering, Brooks founded Crazy Raven Productions four years ago to focus on Web technologies and multimedia. On the rare occassions that Brooks is allowed out of his office, he enjoys mountain biking, rock climbing, and being somewhere warm.

Reviews

"It isn't just an excellent reference manual, but also a good learning tool for beginners who prefer manuals with more of an academic feel to them." Computer Arts - Flash Special, Issue 18 With a CD that enables you to watch techniques for over 40 of the tuturials as QuickTime movies, this is an excellent resource."Computer Arts - Animation Special, issue 19