For any professional designer or developer working in the world of web technologies or multimedia, Flash is the must-have application, and knowing how to use it effectively is vital. Add in ActionScript 3.0, and Flash becomes an even more powerful tool for the development of high-performance web applications. The Essential Guide to Flash CS4 with ActionScript introduces and explores the possibilities available to you by using Flash CS4. You will learn the basics of Flash's working environment and, using a step-by-step approach, work through the features of Flash and ActionScript needed to quickly achieve results. From navigating the interface to using graphic tools to write scripts and troubleshoot, you'll master deploying highly interactive applications with rich audio, video, and animation. Written for the beginning-to-intermediate Flash user, this book uses complete examples that highlight best practices that you can apply to your daily work as a developer or designer in today's rich media world.

We all know what a great tool Flash is for creating dynamic, engaging web content, and Adobe's CS4 release just makes it even better. Among the newer features is the ability to take all the power of Flash for the Web and put in on the desktop using AIR. AIR capability is built right into the Flash CS4 integrated development environment, which means you can start writing desktop applications right away. This book not only covers the essentials of using Flash with AIR (and AIR with Flash), but also shows you how to extend application functionality in new ways. Once you've got Flash on the desktop, you're no longer constrained by the limitations of running inside a web browser. You'll have access to the local desktop file system, and AIR adds SQLite functionality for native database support. And just as Flash animations have a consistent look and feel across browsers, AIR allows you to create applications that work consistently across operating systems—Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. For any Flash developer who wants to go from the Web to the desktop (and who doesn't?), this book is required reading. It not only tells you how to do it, but is full of practical, easy-to-follow examples that will have you building desktop AIR applications with Flash in no time. Expanding your existing Flash skills with the Essential Guide to Flash CS4 AIR Development will make you an even more potent and indispensable force on any development team!

If you're familiar with the basics of Flash, then The Essential Guide to Flash CS4 will take you further in all aspects of the application, animation, sound, 3D, inverse kinematics, the drawing tools, ActionScript, and much more. This book takes all the good bits of Flash CS4 and demonstrates them in methodical and intuitive exercises full of hints and tips for streamlining the creative process. Jump straight into Flash CS4 and start working on real life examples that you can customize to suit your needs. Demystifies Flash CS4—explaining new features deep diving through old favorites Streamlines the production of cutting-edge Flash CS4 animations and applications Provides a unique commercial perspective in compelling Flash productions This book is for intermediate Flash CS4 users as well as the more advanced user who wants to learn about using Flash CS4's awesome new capabilities, such as motion tweening and kinematics poses. Each chapter has a number of exercises that contribute to an overall project. The exercises are fun and compelling and allow you to place your own creative stamp on them, while still following the steps to completion. The final chapter focuses on bringing the exercise output together in an overall campaign consisting of a website featuring advanced flash components and advertising banners. An underlying theme of the book is marketing a website online. It discusses industry standards for banner campaigns (banner weight, frames per second, etc), effective website marketing techniques, and delves into search engine optimization and search engine marketing.

The fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn ActionScript® 3.0 for Adobe Flash CS4 Professional ActionScript® 3.0 for Adobe Flash CS4 Professional Classroom in a Book contains 14 lessons. The book covers the basics of learning ActionScript and provides countless tips and techniques to help you become more productive. You can follow the book from start to finish or choose only those lessons that interest you. Learn to add interactivity to Flash files using ActionScript 3.0: Control timelines and animation, write event-handling functions, and control loading of and interaction with data, text, video, sound, and images. “The Classroom in a Book series is by far the best training material on the market. Everything you need to master the software is included: clear explanations of each lesson, step-by-step instructions, and the project files for the students.” —Barbara Binder, Adobe Certified Instructor, Rocky Mountain Training Classroom in a Book®, the best-selling series of hands-on software training workbooks, helps you learn the features of Adobe software quickly and easily. Classroom in a Book offers what no other book or training program does—an official training series from Adobe Systems Incorporated, developed with the support of Adobe product experts. All of Peachpit's eBooks contain the same content as the print edition. You will find a link in the last few pages of your eBook that directs you to the media files. Helpful tips: · If you are able to search the book, search for "Where are the lesson files?" · Go to the very last page of the book and scroll backwards. · You will need a web-enabled device or computer in order to access the media files that accompany this ebook. Entering the URL supplied into a computer with web access will allow you to get to the files. · Depending on your device, it is possible that your display settings will cut off part of the URL. To make sure this is not the case, try reducing your font size and turning your device to a landscape view. This should cause the full URL to appear.

Visual learners can get up and running quickly on ActionScript programming skills for Flash CS4 If you're a programmer who learns best when you see how something is done, this book will have you up and running with ActionScipt in no time. Step-by-step, two-page lessons show you the core programming foundations you must master to create rich Internet content using the preferred language for work with Flash. The visual approach breaks big topics into bite-sized modules, with high-resolution screen shots to illustrate each task. You'll learn such skills as how to add interactivity, animate in code, and work with external content to create Flash projects with pizzazz. Designed for visual learners, with two-page lessons and step-by-step, fully illustrated instructions Covers foundation ActionScript, animating, interactivity, and working with external content Demonstrates using the Actions panel, syntax rules, and essential language foundations Shows how to use variables and arrays; write functions, classes, if/else statements, and loops; and work with static classes such as Math Explores essential techniques such as loading visual aspects at runtime, text from delimited text files and XML, and server-based assets using Flash Remoting Companion Web site features all the code that appears in the text, ready to plug into your Web pages ActionScript: Your visual blueprint to creating interactive projects in Flash CS4 Professional is the visual learner's way to master ActionScript quickly and easily.

Processing is a open source project that bridges the gap between programming and art. Its simplicity and power appeal to non-coders and old-hands alike. As a Flash developer, you already have a firm grasp of basic programming principles and an understanding of creating and controlling visuals through code. This book uses your existing knowledge as a springboard to learning Processing and harnessing the extra creative power and control that it offers, both on and off the web. The Essential Guide to Processing for Flash Developers takes a hands-on approach to learning Processing that builds upon your familiarity with Flash, and your experience with the ActionScript language and object-oriented programming concepts. The book offers a full series of Processing projects, structured to allow less experienced coders to get up to speed quickly, while leaving room for more experienced programmers to take the initial project concepts and build more complex applications. Includes a language primer explaining all of the Processing-specific programming theory you need to know Contains a full series of Processing projects and numerous easy-to-follow code examples Covers Processing's Java mode, providing an easy-to-navigate bridge to programming in Java, Processing's underlying host language

Learning Flash CS4 Professional offers beginners and intermediate Flash developers a unique introduction to the latest version of Adobe's powerful multimedia application. This easy-to-read book is loaded with full-color examples and hands-on tasks to help you master Flash CS4's new motion editor, integrated 3D system, and character control with the new inverse kinematics animation system. No previous Flash experience is necessary. This book will help you: Understand Flash fundamentals with clear, concise information you can use right away Learn key concepts and techniques in every chapter, with annotated screenshots and illustrations Develop an ongoing project that utilizes material from every chapter Practice new skills and test your understanding with constructive exercises Learn how to package your work for distribution on the Web and through AIR desktop applications Download sample files and discuss additional Flash features on the companion blog As part of the Adobe Developer Library, this is the most authoritative guide to Flash CS4 available. Get moving with Flash today!