Flash Cs3: The Missing Manual

I borrowed Flash CS3 The Missing Manual from the LA Flash club hoping that it would teach me Flash in a new and more effective way than I was used to. I have read several other Missing Manual tutorial books and have never been disappointed, so I was excited to see if the Flash Missing Manual would meet my high expectations. The book does a good job of laying out the lessons in a way that is both logical and functional. For example one of the first topics covered is "Creating Simple Drawings", a natural lead in to the next chapter "Animating Your Drawings". While this might seem like the obvious thing to do I have encountered several other books whose lessons seem almost independent of each other and require new files to be created with every lesson. The Missing Manual builds up on each lesson leaving me with a sense of accomplishment and a series of steps that is easy to follow. In the back of the book there is also a very useful "Menu by Menu" layout of almost every Menu and command available to you. This serves as a great quick reference guide when you don't need all the extra information contained in the lessons themselves. My only gripe with the book is the black and white images and code used throughout the book. While it is not a deal breaker, color code and images would have helped in some instances where I had to take extra time to look and figure out exactly what was going on. Overall this is one of the best resources that I have found for learning flash, and even when I am finished reading through it it will serve as a great quick reference guide in a pinch.

Let's face it - no single book is going to tell you everything you might ever need to know about Flash but I'd say this is pretty much a perfect first book for anybody trying to get to grips with this software package. It's written in a very clear, accessible style - not at all the dry-as-dust style that blights so many of these technical books - but it's surprisingly comprehensive. I only started using Flash within the last month but this book got me off to a flying start. If you want to get into the inner workings of ActionScript 3.0 then you'll need a separate book for that. For everything else, this is the place to start. Highly recommended.

Flash CS3: The Missing Manual I just got this book and in less than 24 hours Im using Flash in a beginners level, its easy to follow and the learning curve is really good. I firmly believe that when Im done with this book ill be doing mere complex stuff for animations and web.

Flash CS3: The Missing Manual by is the perfect title for collections strong in web design and development; particularly those catering to Flash users. It covers the basics of animation, from how to create movement between images using special Flash tools to adding integrative and interactive functions, color and video to liven the results, and creating smooth transitions between Flash works. This book should've come in the box with Flash: since it didn't, it's essential for any Flash programmer and any library catering to them.

"As expected from the missing manual series, Flash CS 3 : The Missing manual is great reference for anyone interested in learn Adobe flash cs3, the book contains 14 chapters as followings : Introduction Part One: Creating a Flash Animation Chapter 1. Getting Around Flash Starting Flash A Tour of the Flash Desktop Toolbars Panels The Timeline The Flash CS3 Test Drive Opening a Flash File Chapter 2. Creating Simple Drawings Planning Pays Off Preparing to Draw Creating Original Artwork Copying and Pasting Drawn Objects Adding Color Chapter 3. Animating Your Drawings Frame-by-Frame Animation Adding Layers to Your Animation Animating Automatically (Tweening) Part Two: Advanced Drawing and Animation Chapter 4. Organizing Frames and Layers Working with Frames Adding Content to Multiple Layers Viewing Layers Working with Layers Organizing Layers Chapter 5. Advanced Drawing and Coloring Selecting Graphic Elements Manipulating Graphic Elements Adding Text to Your Drawing Advanced Color and Fills Creating Custom Colors Saving Color Swatches Importing a Custom Color Palette Copying Color with the Eyedropper Chapter 6. Adding Special Effects Built-in Timeline Effects Spotlight Effect Using Mask Layers Chapter 7. Reusable Flash: Symbols and Templates Symbols and Instances Templates Chapter 8. Incorporating Non-Flash Media Files Incorporating Graphics Incorporating Sound Incorporating Video Part Three: Adding Interactivity Chapter 9. Automating Flash with ActionScript How ActionScript Works Adding an Action Adding a Prebuilt Behavior Chapter 10. Controlling Animation Slowing Down (or Speeding Up) Animation Organizing an Animation Looping a Series of Frames Reversing a Series of Frames Chapter 11. Interacting with Your Audience Dynamic Text Input Text Tying Actions to Events Chapter 12. Components for Interactivity The Built-in Components Adding Components Customizing Components Finding Additional Components Part Four: Delivering Your Animation to Its Audience Chapter 13. Testing and Debugging Testing Strategies Testing on the Stage Testing in Flash Player Testing Inside a Web Page Testing Download Time The Art of Debugging Chapter 14. Publishing and Exporting Optimizing Flash Documents Publishing Your Animations Exporting Flash to Other Formats Part Five: Appendixes Appendix A. Installation and Help Appendix B. Flash CS3, Menu by Menu What i like it about the this book is containing a lot of tips and trick and answers on common questions and so many figures explain to the reader the instruction step by step . and also the book cover a basic and traditional subject related to ActionScript 2.0 . Recommended for beginners . "