These guys obviously have a lot of technical knowledge, but when it comes to actual explanation of the concepts, they fail. Hierarchically speaking, their instruction is gibberish. They jump from vocabulary to examples to anecdotes without giving an overall coherent paradigm for understanding of most major concepts.

In other words, their instruction is valid when taken piecemeal, but does not equip the user to understand or implement correct systems of thinking for the program as a whole.

Furthermore, the speed of instruction and depth of explanation varies wildly from chapter to chapter.

Addendum: 2 people commented that there are sample files and included two different urls. I am downloading as I write this and will try them out. Still feel like I wasted time & energy to get to this point. The logic of not including the url in the book eludes me. I actually went to the publishers site and sent an email to "feedback", but it came back as undeliverable. So their web site links don't work. Makes me wonder about other possible errors, omissions or frustrations in the lessons.

This book might actually be helpful if it included the sample files. I've just spent 45 minutes, reading and rereading the intro, chapter beginnings, etc., hoping that the samples files could be downloaded someplace. Nothing.

It should mention/warn before you buy the book, that the samples are not available. No mention of online download, nor does the book include a disc. Just have to imagine what it's like to do the lessons.


Luckily, I've used Flash MX 2004 and can kind of understand the lessons, but it's a bit dizzying without actual files to work on. This is a very frustrating experience especially for a pricey book.

This book might actually be helpful if it included the sample files. I've just spent 45 minutes, reading and rereading the intro, chapter beginnings, etc., hoping that the samples files could be downloaded someplace. Nothing.

It should mention/warn before you buy the book, that the samples are not available. No mention of online download, nor does the book include a disc. Just have to imagine what it's like to do the lessons.

Luckily, I've used Flash MX 2004 and can kind of understand the lessons, but it's a bit dizzying without actual files to work on. This is a very frustrating experience especially for a pricey book.

I shake my head when I think about the amount of planning that has to go into a book of this caliber. They couldn't have done a better job keeping track of the ideas introduced in early chapters and building on them in succeeding chapters until they are well ingrained.

The tone is good -- occasional bits of levity but not so much that it becomes grating.

I came to this book with some familiarity with Photoshop and Illustrator, but none whatsoever with Flash. I'm nearly done with the book and am ready to take on the Flash projects I have in mind. I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning Flash.

Having read all the positive reviews, I had a lot of expectations for this book, however, I was bitterly disappointed. I'm only on page 26 of the book and I've already become frustrated with missing steps in the instructions, inconsistent content in the digital files, not to mention, the book didn't even tell us where to download the files and I had to find them myself. Maybe PC users aren't experiencing the same troubles I'm having, as the book seems to be based entirely on the PC version with some Mac shortcuts mentioned as afterthoughts, seemingly for marketing purposes; however, some inconsistencies are doubtlessly cross-platform.

On the Mac, menu items seem to be named differently, functions don't seem to behave the same way, as least not according to the instructions in the book. But more frustrating is that the contents of the example files do not correspond to the ones mentioned in the book, as vague as the descriptions are in the book to begin with - eg. the book gives an example of 2 items on the stage, when we open the file, there are 3. Insert Layer is somehow misnamed as New Layer,it's not a big deal, we can figure it out, but is this kind of error forgivable in an instruction book we PAY extra for? When we add a new Layer "2" to the file, according to the book, it becomes Layer 5 in the software; let's not forget to mention that the book's "Layer 1" layer is somehow named "Box" in the actual digital file, what is going on here?? Now, this is not a platform issue, the digital files and the book simply do not match. The remaining instructions from the book on that exercise obviously cannot be followed as so many things are completely different, and this is only Chapter 1.

I can forgive books on general theories and analysis being vague and inconsistent, but this is suppose to be a step-by-step software instruction book, is it so hard for the digital files to correspond to what is printed in the book? Can't the authors at least take a few minutes to double-check the differences between the Mac and PC versions before claiming that this book works for both?

I'm going to try to guess through the inconsistent and frustrating examples in order to learn the software, assuming things do not get worse after Chapter 1, but I do resent having to make extra effort for all this guesswork from an instruction book. Time might be better spent learning Flash off the web.

EDIT.
Despite some inconsistencies, having read a bit further, the book does offer a lot of helpful information, and a lot of effort put forth by the authors to make learning Flash as painless as possible. If the reader has the patience and determination to persevere through some of the inevitable errors in such a large volume, the book does give a decent overview of Flash. In retrospect, I would give the book a 3.5 stars rather than 1. 8/28/2008

Having read all the positive reviews, I had a lot of expectations for this book, however, I was bitterly disappointed. I'm only on page 26 of the book and I've already become frustrated with missing steps in the instructions, inconsistent content in the digital files, not to mention, the book didn't even tell us where to download the files and I had to find them myself. Maybe PC users aren't experiencing the same troubles I'm having, as the book seems to be based entirely on the PC version with some Mac shortcuts mentioned as afterthoughts, seemingly for marketing purposes; however, some inconsistencies are doubtlessly cross-platform.

On the Mac, menu items seem to be named differently, functions don't seem to behave the same way, as least not according to the instructions in the book. But more frustrating is that the contents of the example files do not correspond to the ones mentioned in the book, as vague as the descriptions are in the book to begin with - eg. the book gives an example of 2 items on the stage, when we open the file, there are 3. Insert Layer is somehow misnamed as New Layer,it's not a big deal, we can figure it out, but is this kind of error forgivable in an instruction book we PAY extra for? When we add a new Layer "2" to the file, according to the book, it becomes Layer 5 in the software; let's not forget to mention that the book's "Layer 1" layer is somehow named "Box" in the actual digital file, what is going on here?? Now, this is not a platform issue, the digital files and the book simply do not match. The remaining instructions from the book on that exercise obviously cannot be followed as so many things are completely different, and this is only Chapter 1.

I can forgive books on general theories and analysis being vague and inconsistent, but this is suppose to be a step-by-step software instruction book, is it so hard for the digital files to correspond to what is printed in the book? Can't the authors at least take a few minutes to double-check the differences between the Mac and PC versions before claiming that this book works for both?

I'm going to try to guess through the inconsistent and frustrating examples in order to learn the software, assuming things do not get worse after Chapter 1, but I do resent having to make extra effort for all this guesswork from an instruction book. Time might be better spent learning Flash off the web.

As a true Flash newbie, I can't recommend this book. I found the sample lessons to be too much too soon and, in some cases, steps were left out. There wasn't enough time spent at the beginning on learning your way around the timeline and information about optimizing and publishing your move are like an afterthought at the end of the book. The book also bills itself as 'for designers' and yet the samples used to demonstrate Flash principles are poorly designed.

Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers (Foundation)
I think it is a very good overview book. You get tour of everything - drawing, sound, and video. There are some omissions in sequences of instructions but it keeps your memory cells on alert - it keeps you from being automation, you actually make an effort to remember something and then use it in as agile manner as you can manage. If you do not remember you have to backtrack and earmark, and it is not nessecarily a bad thing.
Good work overall. I am not giving it 5 stars because I am old grudge.

I just started using this book to learn Flash CS3. I think it is very easy to understand. However, the one downfall I do not like about it is that the author keeps referring to examples for the user to open as if a disk was included with the book, but isn't. It is just difficult to keep up or understand where they are going. Other wise I am learning tons!

Overall this is five-star survey of Flash CS3, written for people with slight knowledge of earlier versions of Flash and some more familiarity with basic graphic programs (primarily Photoshop and Illustrator) and web design. The treatment of CSS covers most of what any designer or developer will need to know in the course of any average Flash project. The introduction to ActionScript 3.0 is itself worth the price of the book and serves as a beginner's course to more thorough AS3 books, of which there are plenty.

I doubt many people read a book like this cover-to-cover. Typically, the reader will head for a particular subject heading, read part of the chapter and try out the exercises. And this is where the text really shines--the exercises are extensive and presented in an accessible, friendly fashion.

People who are just starting Flash now are very lucky. Although there have been voluminous Flash manuals for years, most were aimed either at the complete novice who wanted to learn the basics of timeline animation, or emphasized some abstruse new features, particularly in programming, image filters or video development. Now at last we have some well-written books aimed at the vast middle market of designers.

Overall I think this book is pretty good. I bought it to brush up on my flash skills, which had been sitting unused for about 5 years, and this book was perfect for getting me up to speed.
A few bad points:
-If you had little or no knowledge of adobe programs this book might be a little confusing for you. As another reviewer pointed out in the first exercise they say to click on certain objects, but they never indicate you need to use the selection tool or what that tool even is.
-The book asks you to use exercise files, but does not provide a CD with the files or any instructions on where to get them. I finally went to the publishers website and found the files in their download section.

I had no previous experince with Flash. I am about to finish this book and this is a great book.Authors and the design of the book are top quality.Source files are well designed with two folders every chapter Completed and Exercise,this is a convenience for readers.Also inside the book there are many great links to websites of good Flash designers.If you need a flash book from the beginning this is the book to go..

I bought this book for a Flash course and it helped me out a lot. The book is easy to read, but is full of useful tutorials and tips. It is an awesome book for beginners trying to learn flash.

The thing I liked the most about this book are the pictures and diagrams. The fact that it has a picture/diagram on every single page makes the book more interesting and easier to read. The book is also separated into different sections so you can just flip to the section you want to learn or need help with. The book also had an informative section on Action-Script. I had no problem reading through the tutorials and understanding it.

This is the kind of book that you'll keep on your shelf and keep referring to whenever you're having difficulties with Flash. I would recommend this book to beginners and intermediates.

If you are interested in learning Flash, this is definitely a great place to start. I started with no knowledge of Flash, little artistic talent and a desire to create something cool. After going through this book, I now have a good understanding of how Flash works and I have a lot of cool animations and apps that I can show off to my friends.

The book is very well written and has a nice learning curve. Difficult concepts are explained thoroughly, and the authors give plenty of tips that help a lot when you start to move on to doing your own things. The tutorials are very thorough and come with plenty of files to download, which is very helpful if you're like me and aren't very much of an artist. This allowed me to not have to really worry about drawing anything and focus more on learning how to use Flash.

All in all, this is a great buy for anyone wanting to learn Flash, which can definitely be a daunting challenge to most without some sort of guidance, which this book provides plenty.

Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers provides a good overview of both Flash and Action Script 3.0, even for those who may be new to the program. The setup of the chapters was helpful, with the discussion of the topics being covered followed by the exercises that allow the reader to apply the skills taught in the chapter. The class files were relatively easy to find using a search engine. The instruction in the chapters was clear and proceeded in a logical manner. This is good for someone without a strong background in technical language. In addition to instructing the reader on how to use the program, the text also covers some basics of design, such as the possibilities of using fonts in Flash documents. The highly detailed table of contents made finding particular topics in the book easy to find, with clear lists of the chapters and their respective page numbers. Overall, this text proved useful for my Flash class, and it expanded on the basic knowledge that I already had of the program.

Torn between 4 or 5-stars, it is the question "where are the source files" that makes the book less than perfect. Anyone that reads this book will ask the same question and hunt for the answer, so I'll answer it right now. Go to their website at www.friendsofed.com. Click on Downloads. Then scroll down and click on the title of the book. You'll get 2 ways to download the files - 1 big zip file (444 MB - about 2 hours w/DSL) or 14 smaller chapter files. I chose to download the individual chapters because it's quicker and Chapter 8 (video) is 324 MB by itself (Hint: download later!).

The book is so well thought out with a great layout, that I think it's unbelievable that they would overlook such a major omission. All of the content is upfront, even the tech reviewer and cover designer have their own bio pages. In fact when I looked at the blank white page that immediately follows the "introduction" but precedes the "layout conventions" I began to suspect that I probably missed it - and I did. It's written in micro-print as the last line on the copyright page (where?) just before the credits. So what gives? Probably a little joke on the readers and a gentle shove to visit their website for the clicks (uh, content).

If you can get over the fact that the pages are written in b&w or having to create your own cd (flash drive!)- it's really a great book to read and work with. I'll use Chapter 1 (Learning the Flash CS3 Professional Interface) to explain my reasons why. The title is a bit modest because it introduced a lot of material like concepts, keystrokes (PC & MAC), tools, timelines, symbols, movie clips, library, objects, layers, motion and more --- in every day language. Along the way, you're actually using them. At the end, I had a really good general understanding and a nice comfort-level with the features of Flash while being hungry for more. Perfect timing because the remaining chapters are more in-depth and build on Chapter 1. Moreover, I was excited to realize that it bridges the learning curve for the other CS3 programs. Afterwards, I jumped into another newbie book (Adobe's Dreamweaver CS3 On Demand) and nope - no fog! I haven't written a review on it yet but it's looking pretty good and it's in color.

If you are new to flash and have no experience whatsoever, the Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers from Tom Green and David Stiller is an excellent choice to get yourself familiarize with Flash CS3. I am very pleased with this purchase and learned a lot from this book. Flash is a very powerful program that involves ActionScript. Flash CS3 includes the latest version, ActionScript 3.0, which is a code oriented programming language. However, the authors tried to approach ActionScript 3.0 so that beginners will enjoy Flash. I am not a programmer, but after reading certain chapters changed the way I think about the process of coding. I can pinpoint the code to manipulate easily because it is clearly labeled and commented. As you follow along with the book, your skills will quickly give you the knowledge of becoming an advanced user.

A good chapter to beginning learning the basics of ActionSript is chapter 4. The examples are dedicated to guide you through and inspire you to put your creativity to the test. They are extremely detailed and visually can follow along because of the screen shots.

I am a new user to Flash and this book guided me through the program step by step. Like I stated before, I am just astonished at how detailed and easy the examples are. Anything that I wanted to do, the book gave a detailed example. This is an excellent book to get you familiarized with Adobe Flash CS3, whether you want to create an interactive game or a web page, this book will get you started on how to accomplish your goals using Adobe Flash CS3.

This book is awesome. I used it as reference for a flash course that i took and it was very helpful.

Liking the book a lot so far. This book does a clear and concise explanation of the basics and on. It makes designers like me who really just do print and have been only doing online stuff minimally. I'm almost half-way through the book and learning has been fun. The explanations and terminology is easy to understand. It is also easy to follow as you have Flash CS3 open. Great walk through. I'm so glad I found this book. Now I'm not as scared to face the Flash monster and Actionscript. My next goal will be Dreamweaver.

Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers is a great book because it is simple enough for someone brand new to the Flash like me, and difficult enough to provide information useful for real world design.

Each tutorial is easy to read with language not hard to understand like other software books. Also, for people who like to see things instead of read them, there are pictures on almost every page making it easy to see what the final product should look like.

Another great feature of the book is the ability to use the index, find what you want to learn, and then go to that tutorial. Although it is smart to read the book from front to back, often you may want to find information about a specific task or feature. In the book, it is not necessary to read all to know one feature in Flash. You can just flip right to it.

Lastly, the book does a good job of touching briefly on Action Script 3.0. The code is extremely difficult and the book does an excellent job of breaking it down so it does not seem too daunting or extreme, which is great for beginners.

I would recommend this book to anyone from beginner to immediate who is either interested in Flash for fun or is interested in designing for others.

This is a great book for beginners. I am about 250 pages into it at this point, having just completed building the mp3 player example this past weekend. I'm still not entirely clear on many details of Actionscript 3.0 having no prior experience in Actionscript, but I am getting there. The instructional style and design is good. Most examples are very clear and the authors make it fun to learn. Highly recommended.

I have never used Flash before. I purchased this book in order to learn how to put together some cool animations for video title scenes that I am working on. I am very happy with this purchase. I am not an expert after having gone through it, but learned exactly what I needed to in order to get my job done. That is one of the strengths of this book, after the first three chapters, you really can jump around and focus on what you need to.

Overall this book is well written. The authors managed to anticipate all of the questions that popped in my head as I was reading and following the examples. I did get a little frustrated in the "Building a Flash Movie" section of chapter 1. This section offers step by step instructions on the elements of creating a flash movie. Unfortunately, not all of the instructions are clear cut for the novice. For example, there is a set of instructions on creating a moon shadow that I followed precisely many many times. The confusion comes about when you are instructed to "click" on an object. There are different ways to click on an object in FLASH which the authors do not cover in chapter 1. In addition, I had "object drawing mode" turned on, which is not explained until chapter 2. This was very frustrating to me because I was following the instruction precisely and it was not working out. I persevered through it and can now tell you exactly what was wrong.

Chapter 2 is a real eye-opener if you manage to get through "creating a Flash Movie" in CH1. In chapter 2, I learned about the fundamentals of the features that had frustrated me in chapter 1.

Chapter 3 rounds out the last of the essentials that you should really have under your belt. There was a section on 9-slice scaling that I feel was not well done and the example used was in poor taste. The authors used images of a cross-dressing man in green leotards that dresses up as Peter Pan. I found the images to be quite disturbing and had the misfortune of having to work with this image in order to learn 9-slice scaling which I never learned because maybe I was too distracted by the fact that I was working on an image of a grown man dressed in pantyhose, a green dress and shiny shoes. Whatever happened to images of flowers and mountains? Really guys? Peter Pan? Was the Cinderella guy too busy to pose for you that day?

Peter Pan aside, this book get a full 5 stars for content. I really learned a lot and the authors made this book fun and easy to read. I do recommend that the novice reader not dwell on the building a flash movie in section 1 if things are not working out. It will all become clear in subsequent chapters. Also, maybe it is written in really big letters somewhere and I missed it, but I could not find one reference in the book to tell you where to go to download the companion zip folders that contain the sample files that the reader will need. I had to google it and when I did find a source, the Chapter 8 files kept coming in as corrupt files. I had to go to a secondary source to find Chapter 8. (you can find the files on the friends-of-ed website.) With these small few exceptions, I highly recommend this book.

The approach taken by Tom Green and David Stiller in this book is to teach Flash CS3 from a designer's point of view. However, Flash CS3 is a powerful tool and it is impossible to avoid some programming in any book such as this. The authors have used only ActionScript 3.0 which was introduced with Flash CS3. One nice feature of the book is that the working examples are not just a rehashing of the same old examples that you will find in most books about Flash. The authors have made a great effort to use fun and interesting examples for each topic-based chapter to make learning Flash almost painless for the designer and artist.

The authors take the usual progression when teaching Flash. They begin with a tour of the workspace and cover the basic steps to building a Flash project. Next, you learn graphics and color. With Flash CS3, the integration between Flash and the other Adobe software is greatly improved and the ability to import graphics into your Flash project that have been created in other programs is an important production asset. The book covers this and other topics such as drawing your own graphics with the Flash drawing tools.

Symbols are the backbone of any Flash project and the Flash Library is a must for organizing your assets for a large project. The authors cover these as well as 9-slice scaling, tracing bitmaps, group and nesting, filters, blends and masks. I especially enjoyed the newer soft masking example.

By the time you reach chapter four, you enter the world of Flash ActionScript and the Actions panel. Here you get just enough introduction to ActionScript programming but not enough to overwhelm the designer and artists. The authors cover the basics such as objects, variables, data types and conditionals. From this point, you move on to more advanced topics that do require a little ActionScript including audio and video. You will build an MP3 player and use ActionScript to handle multiple audio files. The Superman movie example will teach you how to work with video, add captions and set full-screen options.

The authors have a little fun when discussing the various ways to use text in Flash projects. You learn the basics such as creating scrolling text but you also learn how to blow it up. Up to this point, you have only touched on animation. Now it is time to cover animation more thoroughly. The authors use great examples to teach animation basics including tweening and easing.

Flash CS3 has improved many of the built-in components and added a few new ones. The authors introduce you to UI elements and how to use ActionScript to control them in your online application projects. Next, they discuss using CSS and XML to add style and dynamic data to your projects. One of the newest Flash topics is creating Flash for mobile devices. The authors discuss Device Central and Flash Lite 2. Finally, you are ready to discuss publishing considerations such as bandwidth and optimizing your SWF files. You will also create a simple preloader and convert your SWF to QuickTime format.

Tom Green is currently an author and Professor at Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning in Toronto, Canada. David Stiller is a career multimedia programmer/designer and author.

For my first serious approach to Flash I was looking for a book easy to read, and that covers not just the basics but some code teaching too. I picked this based on the reviews and I'm by far very satisfied with the book and my progress with Flash.

The book is really easy to follow thanks, not just to the expertise of the authors, but also the way it was written. One little thing I didn't like about the book is that the pictures are black and white with a poor contrast, and when the authors use them as a reference for some exercises is disappointing not being able to see what they're talking about; but this is like I said, in some exercises and examples, so if you're following the tutorial properly it wont represent a real issue.

I got my book very fast thank you... And was it was just like new what was nice thank you for that too... And I buy all my books for Amazon so I will be buying more and more books from here....

Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers is a great introduction to Flash for those new to the program. It will definately show you all the basic to intermediate things Flash can do. Covers the basics of AS3 quite well. However this book would be a waste of money for the more experienced user. Teaches nothing above the intermediate level.

There are lots of errors in the book such as telling someone to close the same window three times or press ok to close the window and it repeats itself to press ok to close the window. Also open the transform dialog box and they don't tell you where it is, so you have to guess. I am using this book in a class on Flash and my teacher and the rest of us are lest then impressed considering that we are only into the fourth chapter and we have already found more than twenty errors of this kind. Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers (Foundation)

An excellent primer, engagingly written, filled with real-web examples and clever exercises. With humor, wit, and a genuine love for the program, Tom and David manage to bring out the code-phobic designer's inner techie without tampering with the creative impulse. Developers and designers alike will benefit from keeping a copy of "Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers" within arm's reach.

Whether you're brand new to Flash, or a little more advanced and want a nice reference book... this ones a winner. Very easy to follow, provides examples throughout, and easy to use a reference for quick look ups. I HIGHLY recommend this book for Flash CS3.

After using this book in conjunction with a university class, I can say that it's just about everything that you could ask for in an introduction to Flash CS3--whether you're completely new to Flash itself or have used previous versions and just want a shortcut to figuring out new features and understanding the nuances of the most recent release.

The authors do a commendable job of presenting a very wide range of information in a format suitable for a wide range of readers. The writing is clear and entertaining, and covers almost all aspects of the authoring tool. There is also a brief theoretical background of object-oriented programming leading into the discussion of ActionScript 3.

The authors present ActionScript 3 in a way that's both easy to skim, for readers used to programming, and easy to follow (without being overwhelming or intimidating) for those who've never programmed anything before. There are lengthy examples and sample bits of code (even an MP3 player you can create by following along with their example), and going through the online projects accompanying the text is a painless way to become acquainted with not only the "big picture" concepts and principals but the finer points of the authoring tool.

With ample sections on working with Text, Animation, Audio, Video, Interaction (through Components and ActionScript), and tips on everything from planning to publishing your project, the breadth and depth of this book make it a must-have for anybody who's looking for a solid introduction to Flash CS3.

Green and Stiller's book is really helpful, especially for someone like me who had no previous experience with Flash. The book provides easy-to-understand descriptions on the functions of the basic tools in Flash. There are also step-by-step exercises for producing a variety of creations from simple animations such as the Nanagook Lake tutorial to more complicated media applications such as the mp3 player that may require some code.

The book is also organized in a way that makes it easy to follow for developing Flash skills in basic graphics to animations, audio, and video publications. Each chapter represents an important technique in Flash CS3 and is further subdivided to specific aspects of Flash from which to choose from if you decide to focus on a certain area. Another advantage of the book is the pictures and code samples serve to guide you through the exercises to make sure you are doing the right thing by comparing your work. Also, you can download the final .fla for the exercises to double-check or to get an idea of what to expect if you are stuck while following the instructions for the tutorials.

The entire book is very useful overall either as a reference for someone with some Flash experience or as a resource for a person learning about Flash for the first time. Being a beginner, I am satisfied after using this book and thanks to it, I have learned a lot about Flash and the wide range of things you can do with it. It truly sets the foundation for any person interested in this unique multimedia tool: Flash.

This book has a great amount of information for the latest Flash version.
For those of you that have used the previous Flash 8, and worked with AS2, this is also a great place to spear-head the new AS3 along with the new features that come along with the CS3 application.

The overall book is broken down into great chapters that flow well. It has great examples to work with off theory and also hands-on.

My only comment is that once this book gives you the handle on AS3, the book really doesn't push it any further. But that's not what the book is truely for. I would highly recommend this book for introductory levels, and novice level Flash Developers, or people that want a nice book to push them along from Flash 8 to Flash 9.

Don't get mislead by the title, this book can help both designers and the average Joe. This book is a great aid for ANYONE who wants to learn about flash.

This I have to say is the PERFECT book for flash. Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers is a great refresher for all of the basic tools for flash. Not only does it teach these fundamental tools but teaches you code as well. Gives step by step lessons for all of the topics introduced in this book. This book not only covers animation but also text, audio, video, mobile and MORE!!!

This book isn't just for those who want to learn flash as a hobby but also for those who want to get into the industry as well. If you are a beginner this is THE how to book that covers all the essentials of flash and more!! This book gradually leads you into more advance topics with plenty of commentary written in the chapters to help you out. It teaches the lessons step by step instead of throwing you the task all at once. The book also comes with supplemental material that you can access online. Some of the supplemental material comes with exercises you can work through to learn flash. It teaches you flash in the most practical way; you learn by doing.

I thought the book was very informative. I love the examples. I like that the book is basic. The only down part is that sometimes I had problems breaking outside the "tutorial" box and using the examples for my work. The book did do great on covering basic uses of flash for graphics and design. If you're a designer and are looking to learn flash, its the perfect book for you to read. It covers a very broad range of flash knowledge which is perfect for the beginning flash user.

First I should say that I didn't read the entire book, but I used it more as a reference. The index was pretty good, and I was able to look up what I needed for the most part. I think how the book is structured makes Flash not seem too intimidating. It has a good flow into how to tackle the different aspects of Flash. I was already somewhat familiar with Flash before getting this book so it was helpful in clarifying concepts that I didn't remember or didn't really grasp yet.

The only things that really bothered me about this book were the typos. In the Ch. 1 exercise called Moonrise over Lake Nanagook, the last steps needed to complete the exercise were abruptly left off. At least at the book's website, you can download the completed .fla and see how the finished exercise is supposed to look like (a huge plus if you get stuck or need to make sure you did the exercise completely). The book also doesn't specify that you have to put the two trees in separate layers or else the output won't turn out the way you want it to. Another nitpicky thing is that the mp3 player exercise in Ch. 5 refers to the actions layer when it should be referring to the scripts layer. These are small things, but I don't like to be confused when I'm walking through tutorials. As with all books, it would be very useful if there was an errata posted on the book's website.

Overall, the exercises were the most useful for me, and there are a lot of different varied exercises that you can walk through. Some of the exercises are really short, and I did find myself wanting more complex exercises to walk through like moonrise and mp3 player ones. For the price that I bought it off of Amazon, you do get more than your money's worth.

After searching for just the right book on Flash CS3 I finally found a book that's comprehensive and easy to learn from. Starting at the Basics right through an intro to Action Script 3.0. This book helped me pull off some amazing applications using the new Adobe CS3 Flash.

I was impressed with the learning technique used and the illustrations that helped tie the tutorials together.

I would highly recommend this book for those interested in Flash CS3 weather a first time Flash user or a seasoned professional developer. It's a must have for your library.

In a word... Excellent! Challenging material made clear and accessible. It's not surprising to find that one of the authors is a long time teacher.

I've been reviewing this book for use as a textbook in community college level interactive multimedia classes. Since our department has grown out of a traditional graphic design program, we still face some resistance when it comes to teaching any kind programming. Now that so many artistic pursuits involves pushing around 1's and 0's, the institutional tendency to separate art and science, right brain/left brain, is no longer workable. The artist/designer of the future will have to be skilled in logic and at least the rudiments of programming. (for an excellent rant on this, see Aral Balkan's forward to ActionScript 3 for Animation by Keith Peters)

So, imagine the smile on my face when I saw the index to this book. ActionScript in chapter 4... well before animation in chapter 7... in a book with "for Designers" in the title! The inclusion of ActionScript so early in the learning process will allow us a much more integrated approach - something that is critical now that Flash is all grown up.