If you believe the sky really is the limit when it comes to creating unparalleled user experiences and applications for the Web--then Macromedia Flash MX is sure to be your tool of choice. With Flash, you can integrate video, text, audio, and graphics into distinctive and compelling web content, stunningly interactive and expressive user interfaces, and rich applications for the Internet. Flash is all about helping you dramatically enhance the user experience. And Flash Out of the Box is all about helping you think outside of the box to get there--first, by diving into the Flash box and then becoming intimately acquainted with every nook and cranny of it. In Flash Out of the Box, you'll follow and work with a simple box through a "day in the life" style journey. You'll study, use, abuse, and transform the box as you move through exercises that teach you the basics of Flash, and much more, in an entertaining, unforgettable, task-oriented fashion. You'll learn to animate, work with video, load external assets, draw, mask, modularize, and many other things that will be essential as you move into more advanced techniques with other books. It's just you, Flash, and the box, mastering each technique along the way and adding others in a fashion that will let you practice and learn simultaneously. Most Flash tutorials you've looked at are tool-centric, focusing on Flash's individual features and how to use them (an approach that can quickly become tedious), whereas this innovative, engaging, and motivating book is uniquely user-centric. That means it concentrates on you and what you want and need to learn. Each successive lesson anticipates and builds upon your needs, capabilities, and questions as you evolve from Flash beginner to Flash master. Written in a fun and conversational tone, the highly accessible Flash Out of the Box makes learning Flash MX 2004 intuitive, logical, and, most of all, fun.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 12 Ratings

Lot's of Good Info, But Some Exercises Don't Work - 2006-08-11
Reviewer Rating:
This book is good at getting you up and running on some very useful areas of Flash. But there are a number of flaws in the exercises it has you go through that makes it frustrating, and reduces the amount you learn.

The book says to open some files provided on the CD, but when you go on to follow the instructions in the exercises, what you are asked to do has already been done, so you can't do the exercise.

In other cases when you run the exercise, it does nothing, even when you were not asked to do much (so it's not user error), so now you can't continue, meaning your learning experience has been reduced.

Overall the book is useful, is only about 70 - 80% complete, in terms of everything working the way it should. Buy it used and you will get your money's worth.

Out of the Box - 2006-01-30
Reviewer Rating:
This beginning flash book allows users to delve right into creating useful flash projects. The author assumes the reader has some familiarity with the toolbars and their functions and therefore only touches on this a little in the beginning. I feel most intro flash books spend way too much time on this.

The author is very good about explaining the best and most efficient way to do things and the reasons for them. He presents an intro to Actionscripting which gives the reader useful code to use in future projects. I appreciate his emphasis on using best coding practices.

His chapter on video in flash was something interesting since I haven't had experience with it. He covers importing and compressing video and how to use it most efficiently. With all of his importing and exporting back and forth, however, it did get a little confusing.

By the end of the book there is a great deal of code given in regards to loading external assets so I'd say this book does have a steep learning curve.

All in all, this is a good book for those who want to get the ball running and create things fast.

Fun, but very DENSE Flash Tutorial - 2005-07-21
Reviewer Rating:
I bought this book because I was sick of looking at Flash books that spent the first 40 pages naming all of the components of the Flash workspace without actually having me DO anything. Those books are boring and unhelpful because the vocabulary doesn't mean anything if you aren't actually working in Flash.

Flash out of the Box (FotB) dives right in and gets you started working! Instead of learning WHERE all of the tools are, you actually use them! IT is a much more interesting way to learn a new piece of software. It also introduces some key concepts, such as nested timelines, that other books don't discuss.

This method has a downside, though... The chapters advance very quickly and may cause inexperienced computer users to become lost. I found some of the chapters to be very info-dense; I would have to read and re-read sections in order to understand what I was doing. The book assumes that you know your way around the computer quite well, so it is not for novices.

My 2 biggest complaints about the book are this: (1) it is for Flash MX 2004 and some of the methods that are used will not work in previous version of Flash (so, if you have Flash MX, you will have to skip over some things). (2) It does not always explain the concepts very well, which means that you need to have another book nearby to use as a reference. For example, you create an animated movie clip, but it isn't clear when or why you would use a movie clip symbol.

Overall, I would say it is a good starter book for saavy computer users who want to dive in and learn Flash fundamentals quickly. However, if you plan to really do any serious work in Flash, you will find that you need another book to teach you things that this book doesn't cover. It is NOT a book for novices!

Flash Out of the Box - 2006-02-24
Reviewer Rating:
Reviewed by: Scott A. Lowe

OVERVIEW:

Flash Out of the Box is a gentle introduction to the core functionality of Flash that maintains a pace the seasoned web programmer would find acceptable while not losing those who are new to Flash. Although O'Reilly Media acknowledges the book as being "Ideal for all readers -- including programmers" it is best suited for those who are going to commit to the Flash environment and need to learn its strengths in a quick and structured manner.

EVALUATION:

Written by Robert Hoekman, Jr., Flash Out of the Box is laid out in a format that permits the reader to stay focused on the point being made without one's eye having to deal with competing or redundant information. In part, this is an O'Reilly hallmark in that special care is placed on structure. For instance, supportive information is placed in a shaded area, separate from the central text. This permits the advanced reader to rapidly scan through the chapter without missing the key information. On the other hand, the new user benefits by this format by not being overloaded by new concepts.

For instance, Chapter 3 discusses animation by dividing the total process into individual, linear sections. In the obligatory discussion of managing text there is a side section defining "Synchronization", which is necessary information but is also a slight tangent from the topic. By separating the process into sections and then sub-dividing the section with support material sidebars the beginner can proceed in a slow, methodical pace and the veteran can bounce through chapters with ease.

Hoekman also utilizes the sidebars as launching points to future avenues of learning and potentially vital resources. For example, when discussing "Animation Transitions" in Chapter 6, the subject ends with examples being limited to simple graphic animations. However, there is a note at the end introducing the API (application programming interface), which addresses the question of advanced capability down the road. In general, the author takes care in leaving the user pointed in the right direction once they have exhausted the materials in the book.

In some sense, the content of the book parallels that of most books written about Flash and therefore seems almost clichGÇÜ in its approach. Topics covered include the usual "how to" sections from drawing boxes and using the ruler to creating a quiz and importing video. However, there is a layer of content that makes Flash Out of The Box two books in one. This becomes evident in the second half of the book where Action Scripts and Behaviors are blended into the exercises. By the time the reader gets three-fourths of the way through the book (the section covering importing video) there is a full comparison of Flash with and without action script. Effectively, a new user can make a first pass at studying the lessons, from beginning to end, and then come back weeks later to learn the more intermediate level of Flash in a context that is familiar. In addition, the advanced programmer or advanced graphics user who is new to the Flash environment can ramp up to speed very quickly.

The book ends with overview sections on placing Flash on hand-held devices and CD-ROM's, a compressed look at Components, and an index listing on-line resources. Unfortunately, the included CD, which is labeled "Contains exercises from the book", really is little more than a disk containing some of the material and evaluation copies of the Macromedia products. Conceivably, there is enough evaluation software to get the reader thought the book without having to purchase a license. Still, the bonus CD is a little thin in what it provides, with no cut-and-paste shortcuts, but at least the basic pieces are there for the exercises. The reader will have to really do the exercises to gain the benefit of learning. Of course, if that is the only real negative aspect to this book then there really aren't any.

CONCLUSION

Flash Out of The Box is essentially two books in one. It is the ideal rapid-guide for the advanced user/programmer who is new to flash as well as a multi-level learning tool for the beginner. Robert Hoekman provides a focused, linear path of learning that sticks. The acknowledgements state that Tim O'Reilly himself kept a close eye on the production of this book -- and it shows.

A great self-help book for Flash - 2005-12-11
Reviewer Rating:
"Flash - Out of the Box" by Robert Hoekman, Jr. (published by O' Reilly Media, Inc. Seabastopol). What a great metaphor name for a great self-help book to teach people to think "out of the box" creating art and animation like a child finger painting. Learning "Macromedia Flash" with the guidance of this book is as easy as a child finger painting. A child doesn't have to know how to read to be creative. I still don't know how to read this book intelligently to quote it; but, I can follow it enough to know the "A" button is the "A" button. And, when the "A" button has a word that I have no idea how to pronounce - I still can click on it and make it produce a beautiful finger painting.



If you want to speak Geekease - then go back to college. If you want to jump in head first and learn "Macromedia Flash" software - pick up this book. Robert Hoekman, Jr. wrote he thought he was writing "Flash - Out of the Box" for the beginner remembering to introduce the language as if he was learning Flash for the first time Doing so, he learned terms all over again as they have evolved into new terms along with software's ever changing technology.



I personally found that after reading the explanations of how and why Flash worked with the many metaphors Mr. Hoekman uses I learned Geekease in spite of myself. I learned valuable acronym language that is used in most popular design software that I self-taught myself, yet never knew what that termed meant. Mr. Hoekman refers to this book as "Alignment for Unlicensed Chiropractors." It is because of all the "bone structures" you will learn to apply to your work. Naturally, you will carry them through to all the software you already know. So, it is not just "Flash" software you will learn - it is the bones of graphic design. He brings back the simple childlike A, B, C's of time-saving techniques like "just lay out the graphic design" then go back and fill in the text and message instead of stressing over the text and trying to adjust the layout to fit it later. He takes you step-by-step with pictures of rulers and guides to create a simple box to a triangle morph movie. Then
you will understand the thought process and be doing pictures of your mother-in-law into a monkey in no time.



"Flash - Out of the Box" will guide even a person like me who did not know how to spell Macromedia how to purchase and load your software, click on your first box picture, create a movie time-line, to loading your work into a web-site. Mr. Hoekman's use of humor and simple layman's term explanations makes this book a must if you really want to lean the popular Macromedia graphic software bones. All you need is a desire to remember to finger paint again.

Carole Ann Morton
Member, D-Mag.org

Browse Similar Topics

Top Level Categories:
Graphics
Multimedia
Programming

Sub-Categories:
Graphics > Animation
Graphics > Flash
Flash > ActionScript
Multimedia > Animation
Programming > ActionScripting