Ken Jokol

The Flash MX video object is a wondrous thing, but 90% of people seem to be happy keeping it constrained in a small, square window. Why? Video can be anything that you want it to be, and then some. The experiments in this book will take you through simple video manipulation, kaleidoscopes, emulating TV effects, 360-degree displays, animating vectors over film, dynamic masking, fake blue-screening, blur and focus, combining video with the Comms Server, and much more. But it's not just for fun. As the world turns broadband, video becomes a more and more obvious choice for content delivery. This is where the web goes another stage further than passive TV though, Flash allows video to be truly interactive and grab viewer imagination. In this fickle world, no-oneís going to sit still for very long to watch videos play straight across their desktop. So, nowís the time to get inspired by some of the hottest designers around, and see what is possible when it comes to adding a twist of creativity to the mix. This book is about learning key skills without realizing it, and producing fantastic results. All of the assets and FLAs needed to recreate the effects are on the CD that ships with the book.

This book takes an in-depth look at purposing your Flash skills towards developing fully functional Flash Applications. Taking its lead from the design element, each chapter takes you a step further into evolving your design skills into application development. It will look at: - Focusing your interface design for ease of use - Shaping up the back end to keep things simple - Delivering complex content, including video Using a blend of instructional and inspirational chapters, this book looks at Flashís strengths ñ graphical dynamism, interactivity, back-end punch and multimedia delivery. - Make gorgeous sites in tiny files with the Drawing API - Look at the marriage of data and beauty with a Flash Family Tree - Create real-feel interfaces that mimic different media - Make XML do the donkey-work in site structure - Ease up you navigation with PHP - Create an entire drawing application - Deliver video and make it interactive with Flash ...and so much more! From the Publisher This book is for people who want to hone their Flash skills to make their code really work for its supper. With one look at these inspiring interfaces, youíll see that everything pitches in to the final design. Itís foxy and functional, and will show you some indispensable techniques.