Flash 5.0: Graphics, Animation & Interactivity

I would not consider myself a dumb person but have tried numerous ways (books, a multimedia CD and a class) to learn Flash and this has proven the most effective.What is different about this is that it has plenty of tutorials (accessed by the accompanying CD) that force you to learn the intricacies of Flash as you work through them. I am only on the fourth chapter but already I am most comfortable with the interface etc. Ive bought plenty of books all of which I have returned and researched plenty others and once I sat down at my computer with it this has proven to be the best.You definitely have to have patience working through all the examples but thats why I say if you are serious about Flash this is defnitely the best way to go. Have fun.

I read this book on a flight from Singapore to Sydney. I couldn't put it down... Why? Well, finally, after reading plenty of material on Flash I found a book I could get some clear and detailed information from about ActionScript and the Flash 5 development environment.When I got home to San Mateo I applied what I had read to my current Flash project and things have really taken off for me from there.There are some great features including an ActionScript Object Macro-organizer, a pull-out Quick-key reference guide and excellent studies/examples on the CD.If you are looking for a book to take you above the "graphic designer" level, this Flash book might be a great place for you to start, but I highly recommend that you get a good grasp of JavaScript first.

Coming from someone who is highly interested in all things computer I have throughout my computer education taken note of several different learning types. There are those that want to jump right in and do "stuff" so to say without really understanding the "why" behind the stuff they are doing. Then there is the learner that never seems to grasp anything conceptually and seems so fixated on following exact procedures from books that when something finally goes wrong they are as lost as someone in the middle of the desert without a compass to guide them. Then there are the more middle-line learners, that do not take all forms of instruction literally but also seek to do cool "stuff" and can assimilate and integrate both kinds of instuction rather well. In Flash 5: Graphics, Animation, and Interactivity Mohler offers a rarity in computer books today: in-depth, precise, clear explanations of what you are supposed to do to do some cool "stuff" when you get your inspiration, and great behind the scenes "knowledge" to help you understand why you need to do what to do, to do your cool stuff, and how what you will do is essentially working. Since Flash is all the rage today most people are buying books searching for techniques that come from graphic designers when such people buying these books clearly are not graphic designers. If you want to learn to do pretty interfaces, and figure out how to solve problems through design then buy some graphic design theory books, but don't buy Flash 5 books simply because they offer neat tricks when you don't even understand the individual concepts that combine to make those neat little tricks. To really get far in that end of Flash you will unfortunately have to undertake learning programming theory because all of those tricks utilize programming and that is a separate monster of its own. This is clearly the book you want to buy if per say you are a designer who knows how to do the pretty stuff but you want to integrate that into Flash and want to have a comprehensive knowlege of the program that will allow you to carry out your ideas. Also buy this book if your a student taking a Flash class at a college or university because it is literally like having a "good" ( I say this for special reasons ) teacher beside you explaining the smallest details that are essential to understanding and knowing how to build a good flash movie. Flash 5 practically transformed itself from Flash 4 so much so that I was completely lost for sometime, and this book explains the the changes, future drops, and issues related with the new version, which is essential information for anyone that is going to undertake the time consuming effort to produce a good flash site. Remember that to even get good at Flash it helps of course if you got some graphics and design ( as it is a graphics and design tool )backround but like anything it also requires something called: Drive-Time, that and examining, and analyzing, and dissecting other peoples wor

This is by far the best coverage of Flash 5.0 ActionScript I have found. The author's clear prose and liberal use of examples included on the companion cd rom have allowed me to quickly learn the ins and outs of Flash web animation and programming. He also provides outstanding email support, not only answering my question quickly, but also attaching an example illustrating the solution described in his return email. Flash Graphics, Animation & Interactivity is an excellent investment for first time Flash users as well as experienced Flash programmers upgrading from an earlier version.

I am very impressed by Mohler's book because he doesn't just parrot the stuff in Flash, the way so many books seem to. I've looked at many other books that promise a lot but which in reality simply list the options for each flash tool that anyone can see just by pulling down the menu.Mohler tries to explain the concepts underlying flash. For example, he distinguishes two sublayers on each flash layer: this distinction helped clarify for me issues of precidence, grouping, etc. And I've learned some very useful lessons about handling user events (keystrokes, mouse clicks, etc.) in movie clips versus buttons.Learning flash is like learning a foreign language: you have to do the exercises as you go along. Mohler's exercises are always simple and quick and they teach just one or two points at a time.The book does not seem particularly intended for people who want to learn to draw pretty pictures, although I'm sure they could benefit from learning about flash's underlying structure. This book seems to be for programmers like me and for people interested in animation.So far I have worked my way up through the 7th chapter and skipped ahead on occasion. I have learned much more from this book than from Macromedia's own documentation or from the tutorials at flashkit, etcThe only criticism I have of this book is that the index could be much better.