Flash MX 2004 Accelerated: A Full-Color Guide

Rating:
Summary: High expectations!
Review: I really had high expectations before receiving this book. The author is known for creating books that show really cool tutorials (i.e. Photoshop). This book really disappointed me. When I saw "Accelerated" I pictured a book that explained the secrets behind what you see on the web. Instead it's a pre-school style book that takes you through the most basic steps. Not in any way meant for the intermediate to advanced user of Flash.

Rating:
Summary: High expectations!
Review: I really had high expectations before receiving this book. The author is known for creating books that show really cool tutorials (i.e. Photoshop). This book really disappointed me. When I saw "Accelerated" I pictured a book that explained the secrets behind what you see on the web. Instead it's a pre-school style book that takes you through the most basic steps. Not in any way meant for the intermediate to advanced user of Flash.

Rating:
Summary: An unfortunate book
Review: It looks good, it's pages look well designed, it's 4-color throughout, its got a CD full of exercises. But the value stops there.

The exercises are awkwardly organized, poorly worded and the "final versions" on CD poorly conceived and executed. The instructions are all for Windows based operating systems. Judging by the errors and omissions, it appears that whoever edited the book did not try to follow the instructions or exercises. Too much to enumerate.

(I have been using Photoshop, Dreamweaver, GoLive and HTML for a number of years and I am a content producer for a Southern California newspaper. I also have had good experience with Director and even some previous, though spotty, Flash instruction. I 'm usually a pretty quick study, given half a chance. With this book, no. It was like walking a minefield.)

I'm abandoning this book in favor of a few others which have very good reader reviews like Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Hands-On Training by Rosanna Yeung; Macromedia Flash MX 2004: A Beginner's Guide by Brian Underdahl (Author); Teach Yourself VISUALLY Macromedia Flash MX 2004 by Sherry Kinkoph; and Macromedia Flash MX 2004 for Dummies.

A waste of $30.

Rating:
Summary: An unfortunate book
Review: It looks good, it's pages look well designed, it's 4-color throughout, its got a CD full of exercises. But the value stops there.

The exercises are awkwardly organized, poorly worded and the "final versions" on CD poorly conceived and executed. The instructions are all for Windows based operating systems. Judging by the errors and omissions, it appears that whoever edited the book did not try to follow the instructions or exercises. Too much to enumerate.

(I have been using Photoshop, Dreamweaver, GoLive and HTML for a number of years and I am a content producer for a Southern California newspaper. I also have had good experience with Director and even some previous, though spotty, Flash instruction. I 'm usually a pretty quick study, given half a chance. With this book, no. It was like walking a minefield.)

I'm abandoning this book in favor of a few others which have very good reader reviews like Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Hands-On Training by Rosanna Yeung; Macromedia Flash MX 2004: A Beginner's Guide by Brian Underdahl (Author); Teach Yourself VISUALLY Macromedia Flash MX 2004 by Sherry Kinkoph; and Macromedia Flash MX 2004 for Dummies.

A waste of $30.

Rating:
Summary: Flash MX 2004 Accelerated: A Full-Color Guide
Review: The layout of this book is very good indeed, one of the best, stunningly full of colour with a nice clean look. Comes with a CD full of source files to do with the exercises, this is particularly imperative for the beginner, may be not for the more advanced. A perfect example for others to follow. This book is for beginner to professionals. Very easy to follow exercises. Also keep an eye open for all the tips and notes scattered throughout the book. Chapter 1 covers installing Flash MX 2004 If you're a beginner this is very handy, if you're a pro, roll along. Chapter 2 covers Text Design Creating logos with text and drawing a cool rabbit, and you also make a scrolling text box which I thought was pretty neat when it was first out in Flash MX. Chapter 3 covers Basic Elements of Animation Working with frames, creating and using graphic symbols also timeline effects. Chapter 4 covers Animation Methods and Characteristics Exercise 1 gets you rotating the earth using line effects. Exercise 2 you are simulating camera movement with motion tweening. Exercise 3 is working with motion. Exercise 4 shape tweening. Exercise 5 is animating masks. And Exercise 6 gets you doing an E-card animation. Chapter 5 covers adding actions to frames and buttons. Controlling movie clip properties. Making a floating menu panel. Creating Action Script with Behaviors panel. Also creating a photo gallery and much more. Chapter 6 covers Advance animation techniques. Including importing video clips into movie clips. Adding movie clips to buttons. Using masks and movie clips to make an animated movie. Chapter 7 covers Working with sound. Adding sound to a button. Adding background music. Making a jukebox and using sound in an animation. Chapter 8 covers Optimization. Export movies to make an SWF File. Create full-screen movies for CD-ROMs. Transparent flash movies. There is no doubt if you buy one in the series you will buy others in the series if they are your subjects. If you are a beginner this is very handy for you to refer to, until you become more efficient.
Conclusion: - This is a must book not only for the beginner, but also for intermediate to advanced. The layout, graphics and printing are exceptionally presented. The content of the book along with the CD are remarkable.
The book sells for $29.99 in the U.S.
Marks five (5) out of five (5)



Rating:
Summary: Great book, new stuff!
Review: This is just a great book. As a Flash novice, I've played with Flash, looked at tutorials on the web, used some books to learn about the application and such. i've increased my knowledge to the point where I can customize templates and use components in my own work, I know the basics of tweening and simple motion animations, as well as basic drawing concepts and techniques within Flash.

When I got the new version of Flash MX 2004, I didn't have time to delve into any of the new and exciting features of the program. With this book, Flash MX 2004 Accelerated, I was able to try out some new techniques quickly and with a minimum of fuss and time commitment.

The book is organized around the main features of Flash - the workspace, drawing tools and techniques, animation tools and techniques, ActionScript and multimedia tools and techniques. Each topic is explained in some detail, using illustration, screenshots and text. There are several exercises for each main topic, as well as extra "Let's go Pro" sections that show some more advanced techniques related to the topic at hand. Each chapter has a set of files, included on the CD, that show the beginning and end result of the chapter's exercises. These proved to be invaluable, as my interpretation of an illustration or instruction wasn't always correct.

One of the coolest new features of Flash MX 2004 is the Timeline animation effects. What used to take hours and a fairly knowledgeable designer now takes only a few clicks of the mouse. I can create spectacular looking animation effects to objects and text that took way too long in older versions of Flash. This book takes the time to show the reader each of these new timeline effects, such as the blur effect, the explode effect, the expand effect, the transition effect and an animated drop shadow effect, among others. This book took the time to explore this topic in the same way it treats each topic: thoroughly yet in a straightforward, non-time-wasting way. The authoring team takes a half a page or so to describe each effect and it's customization, and then presents a couple of tutorial lessons to make sure that the reader can apply the techniques to real world examples. Each of the examples is a well-designed, well thought out piece of work, without being cumbersome or inordinately confusing.

Bottom line is this: if you want a great Flash book that teaches you about great new techniques, as well as discusses some of the basics in a no-nonsense way, grab your wallet and pay the $30. I've spent far more on books that sit on my shelf.

Rating:
Summary: Just shoot me in the foot...please!!!!
Review: With the word "ACCLERATED" I thought it would mean atleast at little bit above average. But I should have heeded the words of previous reviewers:

FOR BEGINNERS ONLY.

And beginners still would get alot more help from books like Flash Mx 2004 visually or How to do everything Flash mx 2004.