Flash 8 Essentials

Inhaltsverzeichnis

From the contents:
Overview of 8Ball, includes IDE overview. Include to friendsofed.com useful links list - Matt Voerman
Blending Modes - Craig Swann/Glen Rhodes
Filters - Craig Swann/Glen Rhodes
Drawing Improvements - this includes strokes, fills, and gradients - Todd Yard
Getting Creative with Filters, Masks and Animation - Guy Watson
Video - Alpha channels and other improvements - Craig Swann/Glen Rhodes
TextField Improvements. Include Saffron background behind it, and examples of how much better the display is. Compare to previous Flash versions. Also, include Anti-Alias, quick resizing of textfields without distorting text in the field, and improvements to HTML support, including HTML tags for justified text - Matt Voerman
Speed Improvements, including Caching MovieClips as Bitmaps - Guy Watson
The new Image API - Guy Watson
Asset Caching - Craig Swann/Glen Rhodes
Goodbye FSCommand, Hello ExternalInterface - Craig Swann/Glen Rhodes
Low-level Data and Sockets - Craig Swann/Glen Rhodes
Appendix A: Gallery of 8Ball examples - Tink (Stephen Downs).

Portrait

Tink (aka Stephens Downs) studied Art, Design, and Photography at A-level and then Foundation Art and Design at College. It was on the Foundation course that he found an interest in user interaction, which lead him to do a Degree in Furniture design. At this point, he got his first computer and began to play with AutoCAD, 3D Studio Max, and Photoshop.

A year after finishing his degree and working in a unrelated field, a friend introduced him to Flash 5. He was immediately hooked and began his first tentative steps into programming. 2 years and many sleepless nights thinking about ActionScript later, he left his job to go freelance.

He has now been a freelance Flash Designer/Developer for the past 3 years. Based in London, UK, he works on a wide range of projects both for 3rd party companies and his own clients. He is a moderator both for the London MMUG (www.londonmmug.org,) and Flash Group (www.flashgroup.net). He is a total Flash addict and his aim is to bridge the gap between developing and designing with a primary focus on interactive motion.

His personal site is www.langwij.co.uk.
Guy Watson is the managing director of FlashGuru LTD, a Flash development consultancy company based in London, England. Guy has delivered presentations at various Flash industry events worldwide and has also won numerous industry awards for his work. He maintains the popular Flash resource website, FlashGuru's Knowledge Base, found at http://www.flashguru.co.uk/.

Craig Swann is founder of the award-winning Toronto based interactive agency CRASH!MEDIA and is focused on merging fresh ideas with cutting edge technologies. CRASH has produced Flash and audio work for clients such as Coca-Cola, Intel, Miller Brewing, Bacardi, Sony|Playstation, Cadillac, and Calvin Klein. Swann has contributed to six Flash books including XML in Flash (Sams, ISBN: 0-67232-315-X), Flash MX Audio Magic (New Riders Press, ISBN: 0735711941) and the recently released Flash MX 2004 Demystified (Macromedia Press, ISBN: 0735713979). A specialist in interactive audio, Craig has spoken at over a dozen conferences worldwide and created the web's premiere musical mixing destinations looplabs.com and bacardiDJ. When unplugged from the matrix he enjoys munching crullers and getting his freak on.

Glen Rhodes is the CTO of Interactive Entertainment Agency CRASH!MEDIA Corp. located in Toronto, Canada. He is also a Flash game developer and author, having written such books as Macromedia Flash MX Game Development, Flash MX Games Most Wanted, The Actionscript Designer's Reference, and at least six other titles. He is also a regular writer for several computer magazines including Web Developer Magazine and Practical Web Projects. Glen has developed dozens of games since the early 1990s for many platforms including Windows PC, Playstation, Sega Saturn and these days, Macromedia Flash. He has developed many Flash games including CRASH!MEDIA's "Honda Racing" for www.civicnation.ca, "Domino Dementia" at Shockwave.com, "W.R.A.X." at Superdudes.net, and "Catch the Train" for Nike.com. Glen's Website is www.glenrhodes.com and he is also the founder of and currently runs the Flash game development community website www.flashgamecoders.com.
Flash Master Instructor, Team Macromedia Member, internationally published Flash author, and RocketBoots Partner, Matt Voerman has been using Flash since its inception as Future Splash. With over ten years professional web and multimedia industry experience, Matt was one five subject matter experts (SME's) invited to work with Macromedia in the development of their official Macromedia Flash MX2004 Developer certification exam.

Todd Yard is currently a software engineer at Brightcove in Cambridge, Massachussetts, developing the Flash application and component framework for their service. He is contributing author or technical editor on nine previous friends of ED books including Extending Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Most Wanted Effects & Movies, and regularly contributes Flash, Photoshop, and Illustrator tutorials to Practical Web Projects and Web Designer magazines. His personal Website www.27Bobs.com features many of his open source applications and components as well as silly animations and experiments that still make him smile.