Who this book is for

This book is for anyone who is making—or thinking about making—a cartoon in Flash. Whether
you are a rank amateur or seasoned professional animator, this book has something for you.

• Teaches you how to create professional-quality character animation for broadband, TV, and file
• Details the use of Flash at every stage of the character animation pipeline
• Covers best practices and case studies on Flasha and After Effects workflow integration

Prerequisites

We have assumed some basic knowledge of Flash, so if you have never used Flash before, you
will need to become familiar with the interface and tools before doing many of the tutorials
included in the text. Likewise, in the chapters covering After Effects, we assume some knowledge
of the program, and therefore do not cover basic information that would be included in a
beginner’s guide to After Effects.
As for animation, this book does not purport to be a manual about how to animate. Again, we
assume some basic knowledge about the principles of animation. This is, however, a manual
about how to animate in Flash. If you are a traditional animator interested in learning how to
animate in Flash, this book is for you. If you are a truck driver who likes to watch cartoons but
has never used a computer before . . . well, keep on truckin’!

Downloading the code

The source code for this book is available to readers at www.friendsofED.com in the Downloads
section of this book’s home page. Please feel free to visit the friends of ED web site and download
all the code there. You can also check for errata and find related titles from friends of ED.

Lynda.com Actionscript 3.0 Projects Game DevelopmentAdbe Certified Instructor Todd Perkins makes ActionScript fun in ActionScript 3.0 Projects: Game Development . He explains the principles of game design and development, then shows how to overcome game-making challenges to create all kinds of games. Todd teaches developers how to deal with case sensitivity, create dynamically moving enemies, add event listeners, determine a win or loss in a game, and add additional features and artificial intelligence. Each set of tutorials covers how to build a game from scratch. Exercise files accompany the tutorials.

Flash is one of the most engaging and innovative, and versatile technologies available—allowing the creation of pretty much anything from simple slideshows, animated banners and icons and cartoons, to Rich Internet Applications, Interactive videos, and dynamic user interfaces for web sites, kiosks, or DVDs. The possibilities are endless, except that now, it just got better. In 2007, Adobe released Flash CS3, which boasts a whole host of new features, including fully customizable workspace, full ActionScript 3.0 support, a PSD importer, a tween-to-code animation converter, and much more. And this book is all you'll need to learn Flash CS3 from the ground up, or learn about all these new features, if you already have previous Flash experience—Flash experts Tom Green and David Stiller take you step-by-step through all facets of Flash CS3, with the emphasis firmly on good design techniques that you use in your own projects.

• Learn Flash design from the ground up, or just get to grips with the new features, with a series of step by step tutorials.
• Provides an easy introduction to ActionScript 3.0 coding, but the focus is mainly kept on design.
• Learn from the experts—written by renowned Flash designers Tom Green and David Stiller.

ActionScript 3.0 in Flash CS3 Professional Essential Training
with: Todd Perkins To fully take advantage of Flash CS3, it's necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of ActionScript 3.0. From manipulating movie clips and responding to user actions with variables to writing functions and conditional operators, ActionScript 3.0 in Flash CS3 Professional Essential Training covers the vital skills necessary to master ActionScript 3.0. Instructor Todd Perkins uses numerous hands-on examples--including two game-building exercises--to explore ActionScript's powerful features. Exercise files accompany the tutorials.

Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Classroom in a Book with CD sources