Flash 5 Weekend Crash Course

Rating:
Summary: Don't make the same mistake I did.
Review: I write this review because I do not want what happened to me to happen to any of you. I bought this book on impulse. I will never do that again. I was under the impression that a major publishing company would prevent anything like this from hitting the shelves, I was wrong. My advice to any of you out there thinking of buying one of the many Flash books on the market today is, "BE CAREFUL". If you are going to buy this book, make sure you get a good look at the book before you break the CD ROM seal, thus making it unreturnable, and leaving you with the curse of owning the book. You are welcome.

Rating:
Summary: Not that bad after all
Review: If you know all about flash 4 don't buy this book. However if you are primarilly interested in flash because you a. don't know how to do vector drawings. b. never have used flash before. c. want to use flash to increase your presentation skills because flash has much better animation potential than powerpoint. or d. just want an introduction to flash because you heard about it but never used it. Then this book is for you. Don't let the "flash freaks" psyke you into believing this book is not good because as a basic introduction to flash it is as good as it comes. It teaches primarilly the flash tool to us who has never used flash before and yes you can complete it in a weekend even if you are new to flash, vector drawing and annimation. It is much quicker than learning by doing it yourself. However if you have worked with the above subjects previously maybe you should look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Worse Flash Programming Book Ever
Review: Right now I am in the middle of learning Flash 5 with the help of this book. I am spending more time trying to figure out what the author is describing because the editor obviously had no clue how to edit text for computer users. Many of the menu paths are incorrect. For example, where on the Flash menu is the command Copy > Paste in Place (there is a Edit > Paste in Place). This is just one example of why I am getting a headache trying to learn from the [amt] piece of crap. I need to get back to the Help Files to really learn some best practices because this book has none. Hard to follow so a weekend is probably not going to cut it. Look elsewhere unless you enjoy inflicting pain on yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Worse Flash Programming Book Ever
Review: Right now I am in the middle of learning Flash 5 with the help of this book. I am spending more time trying to figure out what the author is describing because the editor obviously had no clue how to edit text for computer users. Many of the menu paths are incorrect. For example, where on the Flash menu is the command Copy > Paste in Place (there is a Edit > Paste in Place). This is just one example of why I am getting a headache trying to learn from the [amt] piece of crap. I need to get back to the Help Files to really learn some best practices because this book has none. Hard to follow so a weekend is probably not going to cut it. Look elsewhere unless you enjoy inflicting pain on yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Solid,useful introduction
Review: This book delivers on its promise, providing a solid, useful, and very well structured introduction to Flash. I really don't understand the comments of the first two reviewers, and I'm a little suspicious since they did not offer any actual criticism (other than name-calling). I hadn't used Flash before, and I can tell you that the lessons in this book were easy-to-follow and well-ordered. This book absolutely was what I needed: it got me producing decent Flash animations with a minimum of time invested. Nice job.

Rating:
Summary: Weekend 15 Hour Crash and Burn Flash Course
Review: Unless you expect to spend more than 15 days learning what this crash flash course promises to teach you in 15 hours, you had better run the other way...

I am usually a self starter and highly teachable.... but it took me hours and hours to get through some of these lessons, because I just didn't know any better....

Well if I did, I wouldn't have needed a crash course, now would I?

This book is fraught with problems....and I sit here wondering if ANYONE bothered to proof read it, before sending it to the printers.......???????

If u follow the instructions exactly for building each project, you, more than likely, will not get the desired result......

Let me give you just one example of many......

Session 9, "Building an interactive button"......

The first part of this lesson is devoted to teaching you how to use a mask layer.....which you are to use in building the different states of a button that looks like a sun. The mask layer is supposed to change the degree to which the sun's eyes are open......
and what you put in front of his eyes on the model is supposed to ultimately have
a reverse effect in the final product... so I went all out and made a very nice looking
sun, if I do say so myself...
Well it looked fine in the symbols library box.. but when I went to view my movie... the mask didn't work.. and what I ended up with was a sun with silly playdoh looking things in front of it's eyes......

I tried for hours, re-doing the lesson from the start over and over, trying to get it to work right.....to no avail.......

It took me hours more of scouring through other books for the possible cause, and I finally found it in the help section of the flash program itself ( WHAT A CONCEPT ! )....and what I found out was that it is impossible to do.....
Because, you CAN"T do a mask layer on a button !!
It tells you right there in help....

Well I scrapped the button, but realized I would need one to finish the important part of the project...which was learning to make an 'interactive' button.... so I decided my time was too valuable top do one again... and the best thing to do at that
moment was to cheat...
So I went to the CD to get the button there, to finish the rest of the project.. and Lo and behold it only gets worse.....

Had I seen the button the author built in the projects folder on the CD that came with the book PRIOR to starting the project, I would have gotten to the crux of the problem a lot sooner, because, instead of thinking that it was "I" that just couldn't get the mask to work....I would have known it was not... for sitting there plain as day.. is the 'author's' sun button.. with the silly playdoh looking things over 'IT's' eyes !!!
Did ANYONE bother to check this CD before it went to the burners???

I won't take too much of Our time going over other major bloopers that are contained within these pages....

But will just close by saying that, although the lesson plans do build nicely on giving you what you need to learn how to do many things with the program, the mis direction makes it impossible to learn what you should learn in `15 hours... and unless you are inventive, persevering, and have other books and resources, you may never learn it at all.....

I wish i could get my very hard earned money back....
But thought i would write this to keep you from spending yours...

On the other hand check out Flash 5 virtual classroom...
and the Flash Bible....
You're less apt to crash and burn with those.........

Rating:
Summary: Weekend 15 Hour Crash and Burn Flash Course
Review: Unless you expect to spend more than 15 days learning what this crash flash course promises to teach you in 15 hours, you had better run the other way...

I am usually a self starter and highly teachable.... but it took me hours and hours to get through some of these lessons, because I just didn't know any better....

Well if I did, I wouldn't have needed a crash course, now would I?

This book is fraught with problems....and I sit here wondering if ANYONE bothered to proof read it, before sending it to the printers.......???????

If u follow the instructions exactly for building each project, you, more than likely, will not get the desired result......

Let me give you just one example of many......

Session 9, "Building an interactive button"......

The first part of this lesson is devoted to teaching you how to use a mask layer.....which you are to use in building the different states of a button that looks like a sun. The mask layer is supposed to change the degree to which the sun's eyes are open......
and what you put in front of his eyes on the model is supposed to ultimately have
a reverse effect in the final product... so I went all out and made a very nice looking
sun, if I do say so myself...
Well it looked fine in the symbols library box.. but when I went to view my movie... the mask didn't work.. and what I ended up with was a sun with silly playdoh looking things in front of it's eyes......

I tried for hours, re-doing the lesson from the start over and over, trying to get it to work right.....to no avail.......

It took me hours more of scouring through other books for the possible cause, and I finally found it in the help section of the flash program itself ( WHAT A CONCEPT ! )....and what I found out was that it is impossible to do.....
Because, you CAN"T do a mask layer on a button !!
It tells you right there in help....

Well I scrapped the button, but realized I would need one to finish the important part of the project...which was learning to make an 'interactive' button.... so I decided my time was too valuable top do one again... and the best thing to do at that
moment was to cheat...
So I went to the CD to get the button there, to finish the rest of the project.. and Lo and behold it only gets worse.....

Had I seen the button the author built in the projects folder on the CD that came with the book PRIOR to starting the project, I would have gotten to the crux of the problem a lot sooner, because, instead of thinking that it was "I" that just couldn't get the mask to work....I would have known it was not... for sitting there plain as day.. is the 'author's' sun button.. with the silly playdoh looking things over 'IT's' eyes !!!
Did ANYONE bother to check this CD before it went to the burners???

I won't take too much of Our time going over other major bloopers that are contained within these pages....

But will just close by saying that, although the lesson plans do build nicely on giving you what you need to learn how to do many things with the program, the mis direction makes it impossible to learn what you should learn in `15 hours... and unless you are inventive, persevering, and have other books and resources, you may never learn it at all.....

I wish i could get my very hard earned money back....
But thought i would write this to keep you from spending yours...

On the other hand check out Flash 5 virtual classroom...
and the Flash Bible....
You're less apt to crash and burn with those.........