Flash CS3, the latest version of the premier tool for creating web animations and interactive web sites, can be intimidating to learn. This entertaining reference tutorial provides a reader-friendly animation primer and a guided tour of all the program's tools and capabilities. Beginners will learn to use the software in no time, and experienced users will quickly take their skills to the next level. The book gives Flash users of all levels hands-on instructions to help them master:

• Special effects
• Morphing
• Adding audio and video
• Introducing interactivity
• And much more

With Flash CS3: The Missing Manual you'll be able to turn an idea into a Flash animation, tutorial, or movie. This book will help you create online tutorials, training materials and full-blown presentations. It also teaches design principles throughout and helps you avoid elements that can distract or annoy an audience.

This is the first new release of Flash since Adobe bought Macromedia, which means that it's the first version that will integrate easily with other Adobe products. It's a whole new ballgame when it comes to Flash, and Flash CS3: The Missing Manual offers you complete and objective coverage. It's the perfect companion to this powerful software.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Missing Manual Missed Actionscript #
Comment: I bought this book because I liked Dreamweaver CS3 the Missing Manual and thought this would be similar in terms of the way the topic was thoughtfully covered.

The first section on learning the application with regards to drawing and animation were fine. Organizing the storyboard, utilizing the various tools etc. were good and I was able to essentially create what I needed.

Now comes the real problem with this book. CS3 incorporates actionscript 3 as well as 1 and 2. Actionscript 1.0 and 2.0 are going to be around for awhile but as the world turns and so do they days of our lives - actionscript 3.0 is going to gain traction since there are things you can't do in the earlier versions and 3 is going to be more compatible with newer apps like Flex. We'll be moving toward version 3 more and more.
Chapter 9 deals with interactivity and scripting. Unfortunately they don't remind you that you should have openned your document as a actionscript 1.0-2.0 document and all of the scripting that's being done after chapter 9 is in 2.0 only.
The very beginning of the book does have you open a new doc as actionscript 2, but they don't mention that they'll be scripting ONLY in that version later on. If you skip around, you'll miss that point entirely and waste a lot of time following directions that won't function.

If you're going to use Flash CS3 and take advantage of all of its features, you'll have to script in 3.0 anyways. At least it makes more sense to head in that direction. This book seems to have had a good start, but almost seemed rushed to complete based on the authors choice to omit the basics of actionscript 3.

A better book is "Flash CS3 Professional Visual Quickstart Guide". All scripting is done in Actionscript 3.0 and they tell you so much as I mentioned that, that version is going to become standard and 1 and 2 will eventually be out.

If you need more information on actionscript you'll need another book. If you want to create buttons in Flash you'll have to use actionscript so you'll need another book which there are a lot of.

The best one that bridges the gap for a beginner is "Learning Actionscript 3.0" Blue cover - Shupe, Rosser.
Great book and I use it exclusively along with the Visual Quickstart Flash CS3 book to clear the confussion.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great for Beginners
Comment: This book is geared towards those who have never used Flash. If you are familiar with any other version of Flash, this manual will just tell you what you already know. This manual doesn't go into AS3 or anything complicated. As a 5-year Flash veteran. this manual wasn't really what I needed, but great for an intro-level designer!!!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: OK beginners guide - lacks real Actionscript 3.0
Comment: The biggest upgrade in CS3 is the incorporation of Actionscript 3. It is beyond me why this book focus so heavily on Actionscript 2.

This is a good guide for beginning to learn Flash, but beginners should also learn to use the latest most flexible tools available. There's basic material on the timeline, drawing, creating symbols etc. These are all things Flash developers need to know.

There's not a lot of advanced stuff here. A tiny bit on video and audio and nothing on using XML with flash. Again, a good beginner's book as long as that beginner isn't going to be doing too much Actionscript programming.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment
Comment: Generally you can count on "The Missing Manual" to provide what you need to learn a software package quickly. In this case, however, I didn't get anything I needed, and a lot I didn't need.

I already own FlashCS3 Professional Advanced, the Visual Quickpro Guide, and am very happy with it. As a reference book, it's well-organized and thorough, aimed as much at the Interactive Designer as the Animator. But what it lacks are tutorials that can get me up to speed quickly on new features and shifting paradigms, in an application that has changed radically since moving from Macromedia to Adobe.

Having been very happy with the great tutorials in the Dreamweaver CS3 Missing Manual, I went ahead and purchased the Flash volume.

I should have looked more closely before I bought, instead of relying on my experience of The Missing Manual series. There is not a single tutorial in this book! It is far less thorough and sophisticated than the Dreamweaver volume, with most of the pages being devoted to very basic step-by-steps, mostly on drawing and animating tools. Less than 100 pages on adding interactivity, and not even a single chapter devoted to learning and using Action Script. Finally, there are 60-some pages on testing, debugging and publishing, which might be of limited value to me.

If you're looking for a book that will quickly get you up to pro speed on a pro application, I'd say that -- unlike the Dreamweaver CS3 Missing Manual -- this ain't it.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great first book on Flash
Comment: Let's face it - no single book is going to tell you everything you might ever need to know about Flash but I'd say this is pretty much a perfect first book for anybody trying to get to grips with this software package.

It's written in a very clear, accessible style - not at all the dry-as-dust style that blights so many of these technical books - but it's surprisingly comprehensive.

I only started using Flash within the last month but this book got me off to a flying start.

If you want to get into the inner workings of ActionScript 3.0 then you'll need a separate book for that. For everything else, this is the place to start.

Highly recommended.

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