Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Image Effects (Foundations

Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Image Effects (Foundations
Authors
Todd Yard
ISBN
1430218711
Published
14 May 2009
Purchase online
amazon.com

Foundation ActionScript 3.0 Image Effects discusses the ins and outs of graphical manipulation through code of all the different elements available in a Flash project, from vectors to bitmaps to videos, from animated text effects to dynamic video filters.

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  1. Editorial Reviews
  2. Customer Reviews

Customer Reviews

David Cameron said
I began reading Todd Yard's ActionScript 3.0 Image Effects as a text book, starting on page one and going through it chapter by chapter. After a few chapters this way I found that I wanted to skip around more to specific effects or classes that were of particular interest to me.

I have no reservations whatsoever in saying that I think that any ActionScript developer interested in applying image effects and manipulating bitmaps programmatically should have this text on hand. It is filled with thorough explanations of such processes.

My issue with the book is that I don't feel that it works well as a text book or as an instruction manual. Certainly if one were interested in applying a particular effect or gaining a better understanding of a specific method for manipulating a bitmap, instructions for these things can be found in this book. However, I feel that Mr. Yard's explanations of some of these things could be written out in a way that was easier to grasp at a first reading.

Throughout the book code samples are presented that relate to the classes & functions being discussed in that chapter. On several occasions, although I had been able to follow along up to that point, the block of code presented would slow the pace of my reading considerably. Rather than having the code commented along the way, leading the reader through the code as they read it, an explanation of what is being done by each part is generally presented in the text after the code block, meaning the reader has to read the code, and then go back and forth between the explanation and the code again to fully grasp what is going on. Sometimes no explanation of what the reader would see if they were to view the resulting swf is readily offered, which seems to assume that the reader is looking at and outputting the code samples in the Flash API at the same time, which many of us are certainly not doing.

While this may seem a major criticism of the book, I think that I would like to re-emphasize my initial take on the book, which is that it is an essential reference book, very thorough in its explanations, even if fully grasping at a first read them may have taken a bit more than I would have liked.

Dean Serio said
Earlier than expected delievery - product in excellent condition. I'll definitely use this company again.

Chuck Brooks said
If digital image manipulation is like painting, then this book is like listening to a painter describes a desired artistic effect, using Actionscript as a set of brushes, the classes as a palette, and Flash as the canvas.

More a creative workbook than a by the numbers tools tutorial, the many examples can be studied on their own, after a basic review of the drawing APIs. The author makes life easier by opening up some libraries after some additional preliminary background is covered.

The largest portion of the book (about 20 percent) is on bitmaps and bitmap data, which ultimately has to do with pixel manipulation, and the many and varied ways that can be done.

The book's 628 pages are organized into 12 chapters, along with an Appendix that shows how to setup Flash, CS4 and FlexBuilder to work with ActionScript3. The relatively deep Index makes it fairly easy to quickly locate topics of interest.

Example code, organized by chapter, can be downloaded, with each having both Flash and Flex project folders. There are a few errors and typos that, while not intentional, help the reader's debugging skills. However, some of AS3's `newer' constructs, most notably the Vector class, do not work with Flex3, but do with Flex4, which is still in Beta as of this writing and has a few wrinkles of its own.

While this book is not for beginners, it can serve as a good reference for studying how creative effects can be realized using AS3. ActionScript 3.0 Bible

M. Fretz said
This book is one of my favorite Actionscript books. The author writes in an understandable and clear way. The examples are on topic and clear in the understanding. The book covers a wide variety of different aspects in the use of image effects and image processing in Actionscript 3. The target audience are definitely not for beginners or coders new to Actionscript, but for coders with medium or more advanced level. This book is definitely worth your time to dive into and gives you a lot of new ideas. For instance, what you can do with your web-cam, images or other visual projects. One part of it I really like is the explanation of the mathematical aspect of this topic. I wish my math teacher would have explained it as well as this book ;)
I haven't finished the entire book yet and I'm exited to read the rest.

Raymond Mccall said
This book is densely packed with valuable information and code for image effects. It also has an excellent chapter on Flash 3D. I own a lot of books on Flash. This is one the very best I have seen. It is an invaluable resource for serious ActionScript programmers.

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