If you need to get to grips fast with creating interactive graphics and animation in Flash - then look no further! Whether you are a new user or a professional, this highly visual book is all you need to get up and running with the latest powerful upgrade - Macromedia Flash 8.

Birgitta Hosea breaks down the software into its main components and offers simple, visual step-by-step instructions to explain the fundamental practical techniques you need to create finished projects. The accessible style and structure lets you dip in and out when working on a project, or work straight through to explore more of the programs capabilities and develop your skills.

Written by a designer for designers The Focal Easy Guide to Macromedia Flash 8 offers a thorough coverage of the basic features of Flash, without going into in-depth coding with ActionScript.

Birgitta Hosea is a motion graphics artist and Course Director of the London Animation Studio at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. Her experience ranges from designing moving branding to art directing pop promos and short films.

A Volume in The Focal Easy Guide Series.

The Focal Easy Guide series:
Starting working with new software immediately regardless of your level
Achieve professional results, learn practical skills from industry experts
Focused, user-friendly coverage of the key tools you need to know

*If you need to get up and running fast with creating interactive graphics and animation in Flash - then look no further!
*Offers a thorough coverage of the basic features of Flash, without going into in-depth coding with ActionScript
*Dip in and out of the book when working on a project, or work straight through to explore more of the program’s capabilities

Great for Flash Beginners
I’m the type of person that seldom cracks an instruction manual. I work on the Mac platform, and most design software is pretty intuitive to me. Flash wasn’t. Even with a thorough ability in Adobe Illustrator, Flash did not come easy. It has too many sub panels. This book made it easy to master the basics of Flash 8. Including the minimal programming you need to learn to put a website online. With this book you’ll be able to create basic Flash animations, websites and more. The language is simple and straightforward, and it is well illustrated. It’s a good place to start.

fairly useless....
I am a graphic designer trained in print, and looking to get into Flash since its becoming a staple of the industry. This read gave me...maybe 4 or 5 tips that I couldn’t have learned by just experimenting on my own. The way the chapters and examples read is extremely choppy...and there is little to no explanation of why things are being done..it’s more just, "...heres the menu you go to to make this happen.." or "..heres where you’ll find this option..".

all in all, not really impressed, and if it isn’t too late, I may return it.
For a beginner like myself, it may do more harm than good.

Great...
Very sweet book for beginners and a nice reference for those who are veterans in the Flash community. Well worth to keep around to flip through or learn the basics of Macromedia’s Flash 8.

Easy to read basic level
Good book for a basic level
Screen shots for every step, you can’t get lost.
It is fun to follow.
I recommend this book to people that gets bored easily reading.
Most of the books that teach FLASH are just black & with; and one of the wonders of flash is to play with colors so this is a good book to start.

Easy to read basic level
Good book for a basic level
Screen shots for every step, you can’t get lost.
It is fun to follow.
I recommend this book to people that gets bored easily reading.
Most of the books that teach FLASH are just black & with; and one of the wonders of flash is to play with colors so this is a good book to start.

Thorough it is not
You often hear that everyone is not a teacher. Sometimes teachers are not particularly good at it either. The primary purpose I needed help with was addressed in this book, but in an off-hand way. When it didn’t work - after numerous attempts - I tried writing to the author. No reply.

Needed one thing...
Was looking for an EASY example to make pop-up menus and this book had the example. I refer to this book when I need a "model" to manipulate. I haven’t read it cover to cover, but the parts I have used were easy and straight to the point...no extra crap to distract from the task.