New Masters of Flash (WITH CD-ROM) by Joshua Davis

by Joshua Davis

Learning by doing is always good, especially if you have good role models to follow. As part of the publisher's "Showing It" series, this book brings together 19 of the most innovative designers who are working in motion graphics, and gives them lots of page room to talk about their work in general, their inspirations (movies, games, etc.), and how they created some of their best projects. Some of the best-known participating artists include Tomasz Jankowski of Mondo.com, Todd Purgason of Juxt Interactive, Eric Jordan of 2advanced.com, and Irene Chan of Eneri.net. Following along is easy; large screen shots and step-by-step narratives guide readers through each process--often telling not just how to do a particular something, but also why. How you then apply these methods to your own work might not be spelled out, but by re-creating the projects you'll gain the confidence and experience that you need to push your skills to the next level.Projects range from thevoid's fairly basic, tween-heavy ripple animation to an interactive menu that's driven by dynamic ActionScripting from James Paterson of presstube.com. Simple text effects are covered, too, along with an introduction to ActionScripts, 3-D animation using only Flash, ActionScripting and Swift 3D, deciding between bitmap and vector art, discussions of download time, integration of Photoshop and Director, and many other topics. All project files are included on the companion CD-ROM, along with some extras.This is a great addition to the Flash library, but the book unfortunately gives off an overpowering ink smell. The layout of the chapters is sometimes confusing, too. Neither of these issues applies to the CD-ROM, however, which reproduces everything in the book in animated form. All you have to do is sit back and watch. And there are some great interview movies, through which you can get to know some of the personal motivations and philosophies of favorite Flash gurus. --Angelynn GrantTopics Profiles of 19 designers who work in Flash, with illustrations of their work and influencesBasic and advanced instruction in Flash, including the Tween animation Simple, intermediate, and advanced ActionScripting Interactive menus Coordinating multiple movie clips and timelines Integrating Photoshop and Director 3-D animation Using sound

Genres: Computers

Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

Joshua Davis is an American writer, film producer and co-founder of Epic Magazine.

Reviews

[Matt McClard · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book to help me learn Flash. It was not very helpful, but it did have nice pictures.

[Andrew Montalenti · Rating 5 out of 5]

This old book taught me to respect the mixture of creativity and craft inherent in web development.