Flash CS3 is 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.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 16 Ratings

Missing Manual Missed Actionscript # - 2008-06-16
Reviewer Rating:
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.

Only half finished - 2009-04-21
Reviewer Rating:
This book provides a concise introduction to Flash's user interface and basic features, but it barely touches on any of the advanced features or programming that are essential to creating in Flash. In order to even briefly cover all of Flash, the book would need to be twice as long.

This book is useful only for beginners with no Flash experience. If you already understand the basic features and know your way around the interface, it will be of no use to you at all.

Great book love Missing Manual books to help me study CS3 - 2009-06-21
Reviewer Rating:
I have been looking at books to help me with CS3 and I came across this books by Misssing manual, they are great, inside they have lots of tips and ideals that can help you in your studies of CS 3 or CS4 these are very good if you want to step up your knowlage of the subject

good referance - 2008-12-16
Reviewer Rating:
i would never have finished my final in digital art without this book. I chose to often thumb through other books (how to cheat in flash) but i often came to this book with specific answers, the answers were easy to find and very detailed. I would recommend this to others

A Great Resource! - 2008-08-25
Reviewer Rating:
I borrowed Flash CS3 The Missing Manual from the LA Flash club hoping that it would teach me Flash in a new and more effective way than I was used to. I have read several other Missing Manual tutorial books and have never been disappointed, so I was excited to see if the Flash Missing Manual would meet my high expectations.

The book does a good job of laying out the lessons in a way that is both logical and functional. For example one of the first topics covered is "Creating Simple Drawings", a natural lead in to the next chapter "Animating Your Drawings". While this might seem like the obvious thing to do I have encountered several other books whose lessons seem almost independent of each other and require new files to be created with every lesson. The Missing Manual builds up on each lesson leaving me with a sense of accomplishment and a series of steps that is easy to follow. In the back of the book there is also a very useful "Menu by Menu" layout of almost every Menu and command available to you. This serves as a great quick reference guide when you don't need all the extra information contained in the lessons themselves.

My only gripe with the book is the black and white images and code used throughout the book. While it is not a deal breaker, color code and images would have helped in some instances where I had to take extra time to look and figure out exactly what was going on.

Overall this is one of the best resources that I have found for learning flash, and even when I am finished reading through it it will serve as a great quick reference guide in a pinch.

Browse Similar Topics

Top Level Categories:
Graphics

Sub-Categories:
Graphics > Adobe
Graphics > Flash
Graphics > Web Graphics