Publishers of technology books, eBooks, and videos for creative people

Home > Store

Macromedia Flash MX Advanced for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickPro Guide

Register your product to gain access to bonus material or receive a coupon.

Macromedia Flash MX Advanced for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickPro Guide

Book

  • Sorry, this book is no longer in print.
Not for Sale

About

Features

  • NEW - Extensively revised to reflect Flash MX improvements in animation, navigation, interactivity, and more.
    • Shows students how to take advantage of the latest creativity and productivity features built into Macromedia's newest version of Flash.

  • Over 100 intermediate-to-advanced-level tasks—Covers the animation, navigation, and interactivity tasks that offer the greatest value to students familiar with the basics of Flash.
    • Helps students extend and deepen their mastery of Flash as rapidly and efficiently as possible.

  • Proven QuickPro/QuickStart visual learning format—Combines an open, welcoming design, hundreds of screen captures, expert tips, and concise step-by-step instructions.
    • Relies on a format designed to make learning as easy as possible.

  • Expert tutorial and handy quick reference—Designed not only to teach Flash MX exceptionally well, but also to serve as an outstanding task-based reference.
    • Valuable to students long after they've mastered the fundamentals of Flash MX.

  • Ideal for digital media students with widely diverse interests and goals—Presents techniques valuable to students interested in animation, interface design and usability, application development, multimedia development, and other digital media specialties.
    • Valuable to digital media students no matter what learning path they are pursuing or what types of projects they wish to create.

Description

  • Copyright 2002
  • Edition: 1st
  • Book
  • ISBN-10: 0-201-75846-6
  • ISBN-13: 978-0-201-75846-7

Ready to take your Flash knowledge to the next level? Then Macromedia Flash MX Advanced for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickPro Guide is your ticket. Designed for professionals like yourself-users who have mastered the basics of Flash but need help with the advanced animation techniques and ActionScripting--this guide is a must-have for graphic designers, Web animators, game programmers, interface designers, and multimedia pros.

In this volume, veteran Flash instructor Russell Chun eschews "cool effects" and case studies for an approach that emphasizes methodology and problem-solving. Using the task-based format that readers have come to expect from this popular series, Russell has divided the text into three primary sections: animation, navigation, and interactivity. The guide covers all of Flash's new features, including the revamped user interface, brand-new commands, and added drawing and text tools. Plus, you'll find plenty of screen shots and visual aids to reinforce the text. With Flash MX Advanced for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickPro Guide by your side, you'll soon find yourself thinking--maybe even dreaming--in Flash.

Sample Content

Online Sample Chapters

Building Complexity in Flash MX

Getting a Handle on ActionScript

Table of Contents



Introduction.

Introduction. Who Should Use This Book? Goals of This Book. What's New in Flash MX.

I. APPROACHING ADVANCED ANIMATION.

1. Building Complexity.

Motion-Tweening Strategies. Shape-Tweening Strategies. Creating Special Effects. Animated and Complex Masks.

2. Working with Video and 3D.

Integrating Flash and Video. Rotoscoping. Simulating Video. Simulating 3D.

II. UNDERSTANDING ACTIONSCRIPT.

3. Getting a Handle on ActionScript.

About Objects and Classes. About Methods and Properties. Writing with Dot Syntax. More on Punctuation. The Actions Panel. Using Objects. About Functions. Using Comments.

III. NAVIGATING TIMELINES AND COMMUNICATING.

4. Advanced Buttons and Event Detection.

Events and Event Handlers. The Button Object. Invisible Buttons. Tweening Buttons. Animated Buttons and the Movie-Clip Symbol. Complex Buttons. Button-Tracking Options. Button Properties. The Movie Clip as a Button. Keyboard Detection. Mouse Detection. Clip Events. Creating Continuous Actions with enterFrame. Creating Continuous Actions with setInterval. A Summary of Events and Event Handlers.

5. Controlling Multiple Timelines.

Navigating Timelines with Movie Clips. Naming Instances. Target Paths. Absolute and Relative Paths. Using the with Action to Target Movie Clips. Slash Notation and tellTarget. Scope. Movie Clips as Containers.

6. Managing Outside Communication.

Communicating Through the Web Browser. Communicating with External Movies. Communicating with External Images. Communicating Between Two Movies. Using Projectors and the fscommand Action. Communicating with the Printer. Detecting the Movie's Playback Environment. Detecting Download Progress: Preloaders.

IV. TRANSFORMING GRAPHICS AND SOUND.

7. Controlling the Movie Clip.

Dragging the Movie Clip. Setting the Movie-Clip Properties. Getting the Movie-Clip Properties. Modifying the Movie-Clip Color. Swapping Overlapping Movie Clips. Detecting Dropped Movie Clips. Detecting Movie-Clip Collisions. Getting the Boundaries of Movie Clips. Generating Movie Clips Dynamically. Removing Movie Clips Dynamically. Creating Shapes Dynamically. Using Dynamic Masks. Customizing Your Pointer. Beginning to Animate with ActionScript.

8. Controlling Sound.

Using the Sound Object. Attaching Sounds. Playing Sounds. Modifying Sounds. Modifying Independent Sounds. Transforming Sounds. Creating Dynamic Sound Controls. Loading External Sounds. Reading Sound Properties. Detecting Sound Events.

V. WORKING WITH INFORMATION.

9. Controlling Information Flow.

Initializing Information. Using Variables and Expressions. Loading External Variables. Storing and Sharing Information. Modifying Variables. Concatenating Variables and Dynamic Referencing. Testing Information with Conditional Statements. Providing Alternatives to Conditions. Branching Conditional Statements. Combining Conditions with Logical Operators. Looping Statements.

10. Controlling Text.

Input Text. Dynamic Text. Selecting Text-Field Options. Concatenating Text. Displaying HTML. Tweening Text Fields. TextField Properties. Generating Text Fields Dynamically. Modifying Text in Text Fields. Manipulating Text-Field Contents. Controlling the Focus of Text Fields. Controlling the Selection Within Text Fields. Detecting Changes in the Text Field. The String Object. Analyzing Strings. Rearranging Strings. Modifying Strings.

11. Manipulating Information.

Calculating with the Math Object. Calculating Angles with the Math Object. Using Sine and Cosine for Directional Movement. Calculating Distances with the Math Object. Generating Random Numbers. Ordering Information with Arrays. Keeping Track of Movie Clips with Arrays. Using the Date and Time. Building Reusable Scripts. Building Custom Classes with Functions.

12. Managing Content and Troubleshooting.

Sharing Library Symbols. Sharing Fonts. Using Components. Editing ActionScript. Including External ActionScript. Using the Movie Explorer. Listing Variables and Objects in the Output Window. Tracing Variables in the Output Window. Debugging. Optimizing Your Movie. Avoiding Common Mistakes.

Appendix A. Summary of Object Methods & Properties.
Appendix B. Keyboard Keys and Matching Key Codes.
Appendix C. Summary of the Actions Category.
Appendix D. Summary of Events and Object Associations.
Index.

Updates

Updates & Corrections

Click here for the updates and corrections related to this title.

Submit Errata

More Information

Peachpit Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Peachpit and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Peachpit products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email ask@peachpit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Adobe Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.peachpit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020