How to Cheat in Adobe Flash CS4: The art of design and animation

I love, love, love this Flash animation book! There are lots of great how-to instructions in some basic Flash animation effects. However, this book is not for the beginner. You need to have a grounding in how to use Flash before you can successfully follow this tutorial book without feeling frustrated. There are some basic techniques explained in Chapter One, such as how to draw basic shapes and use the brush tool and trace bitmaps, but you'll be tempted to move on too quickly to the more cool and spectacular effects, such as creating fireworks or using bones to make figures dance. There is also some ActionScript coding, and it's best to have some familiarity with using the programming language firstly. I was able to use the book to create the fireworks effects as part of a Fourth of July cartoon for my website, but I think I would have been confused if I was a novice Flash user.I am an artist, not a programmer, so I can always appreciate computer books that are well-laid out and clearly explain how to create animation and effects. This is also a good book for persons strong on the programming/ActionScript side of Flash but want to learn how to improve their animation skills. The accompanying CD is helpful and there is an image index of what is on the CD. There are Twelve Chapters and it is profusely and attractively illustrated in lovely colors. It's a great resource for saving you some time trying to figure out how to create some basic effects. It's not going to teach you how to create games, for example, but is more geared toward basic animation and effects that can be incorporated into your website or Flash-based cartoon.As above, Chapter One reviews some basic techniques to create images and keep the size files down for laying a foundation for more complex animations later in the book. Chapter Two reviews the envelope tool and how to successfully distort a bitmap. This lays the foundation later in the chapter for more complex stretching and warping effects, such as rotating a playing card.Chapter Three was very helpful to me, as in my prior Flash classroom experience, masking was scarcely touched upon but a strong knowledge of masking is a very useful skill to have in creating some cool effects. After reading how to rotate a globe of our planet, I was surprised how easy it was, yet I had not considered doing it using the method that the author details. I can hardly wait to try this effect on my newest incarnation of my book website.I won't go into too much more detail so I'm not handing the contents over to the author's competitors.There are chapters on motion tweening, basic character animation, sound recording, using video, and Quicktime. There is some room in the book given to how to create other effects with Flash-related and sound editing programs, so not all of the information is immediately useful with just Flash CS4 (a little over a chapter's worth). There is information on how to create some weather effects, a basic walk cycle, page turns, lip synching, and basic movie type of effects (such as the iris effect) which can help get you running with your own animated cartoon. There is some basic information on IK animation in Chapter Twelve, which helps you get started, but I'd really like to see a book focusing just on tutorials on this new, and really cool, tool in this latest incarnation of Flash, because I lack the time to do a lot of experimentation.Another thing I really like about this book is that it shows how to not only import and use video, but also how to export your Flash file to video, something other books I own lack. It does not tell you how to export for use on particular mobile devices. I recommend Adobe flash CS4 Professional On Demand by Johnson for this (linked below).This won't be the ONLY Flash CS4 book you'd like to own, because it doesn't go into details about every aspect of Flash CS4, but it's a great jumping off point and a great addition to your Flash book library. For the nitty, gritty just how to do just this one part of Flash, I recommend this book,  Adobe Flash CS4 Professional on Demand  which I'll review later.I rate myself as an intermediate Flash User, so I cannot say how useful this book would be to advanced users.

This is a good book for learning how to use an older version of Adobe Flash. Not for beginners, but if you've figured out the basics, there are some excellent techniques laid out here for any budding animator to pick up and run with. There are example files illustrating of all the methods described in the book included on an attached CD, great for picking apart and experimenting with. The handful of extras on the included CD were a pleasant bonus, especially the folders of free extensions that add some nice features to an already robust application. All in all, a good bargain.

It does not walk you through any of the projects so you still need to teach yourself the required skills. Also, the lessons do not tell you the name of the file that you need for that particular lesson, so you have to open every file to find the right one. It is also missing certain files that are required for a lesson.

I purchased this book as a source of inspiration and addition to my text book on Flash SC4 for my Flash class. I wasn't disappointed! The book is a great collection of tricks and step-by-step short instructions on classic and motion tweens techniques and some Actionscript 3.0 as well. There is a whole chapter on the helpful plug-ins and extentions for your Flash CS4 exploration. Great book to use along with your favorite manual-type books on Flash to keep your creative juices going.

If you are looking to learn the ins and outs of flash, this is what you need. Very detailed and instructive but on a very easy to understand way. It gives you multiple ways creating what you need. I'm working on a cartoon and believe this book is going to really open flash to me. Even if you know Flash very well there are somethings you may be surprised at. It's a great value all around.

This book is a great addition to my library of web books. Well written, thoroughly illustrated, very easy to learn from. I am pleased to recommend this book for those who need quick answers to specific tasks, with versions for AS2 and AS3 laid out clearly. Rather than go on and on, I usually don't write reviews, but this book is worth the price.

I loved the first book it helped me out a lot in flash but was disappointed in this one. I thought there would be new material to study yet it was like a copy and paste of the first book. So it was almost like buying the first book all over again. I love his work but i wasnt satisfied with this book. Thought of sending it back but i said whatever and decided to keep the damn thing. Oh well itll come in good use one day for me

I am a beginning animator. I've bought this book and very like it. This book is suit for persons who is not beginner in Flash. There are a lot tutorials, tips and tricks. The explanations are clear and without superfluous words. The disk includes files which help to understand the program. I am very pleased with this book.

I had never used Flash before and had to complete a module at college in 2D Animation. I bought a couple of books on Flash and I found this one to be the most accessible. I did find in some areas that it could go into some of the techniques a little more concisely, but overall it is a very good book and was the most influential in helping me pass my 2D animation module. I have recommended it to my college as well for its broad range of methods and techniques to achieve many different effects. A very useful book.

I am a portuguese teacher. My skills with adobe flash are basic with some ASP program and yes tis book is a must have. If you aelike e and want to do some animations like these w.maladaescola.com you shoud buy one. You wan't go wrong.

Good beginners book for exponents of Adobe Flash CS4. Comes with CD of some good examples that are colourful and fun