As a serious Web designer, you'll want to do one thing and one thing only when you lay your hands on the latest version of Flash: Start tinkering with all its new features. Problem is, that's hard to do on someone else's dime. With Flash MX 2004 Magic, you don't have to! In these pages, 10 Flash wizards draw on their own professional experience to offer 12 real-world projects that let you explore Flash MX 2004 at your leisure. With a focus on areas that can be troublesome for professional users--whether because they present thorny issues or because they draw on completely new features--each lesson provides need-to-know tips, proven techniques, and best practices. By working through the step-by-step tutorials (whose project files and code you'll find on the accompanying CD), you soon will be finding your way around all of Flash MX 2004's new features: CSS support, enhanced components, JSFL, and more. In addition to the code listings and exercise files on the CD-ROM, you'll find videos that clearly demonstrate step by step all the procedures you need to complete in order to create the projects.

Table of Contents:
Magic Series Introduction. How to Make the Most of This Book. Conventions Used in This Book. Project 1. Constructing a Site Dynamically. It Works Like This. Preparing to Work. Making the Buttons Work. Using the MovieClipLoader Object to Load Assets. Using a TextField.StyleSheet Object to Apply CSS. Using the LoadVars Object to Load External Text. Creating a Shared Library Asset. Seeing Your Project in Action. Now Try This. Project 2. Creating an Interactive Presentation with Built-In Print Functionality. It Works Like This. Preparing to Work. Setting Up the Template. Removing Assets and Layers. Importing New Assets. Creating the Animation to Be Used in the Transition. Creating the “States” of the Transition. Targeting the MovieClip to Play Between Slides. Making Your Entire Presentation Printable. Now Try This. Project 3. Attracting Users with a Transparent, Flash-Driven Ad. It Works Like This. Preparing to Work. Setting Up the Stage. Creating the Flash Ad. Integrating the Flash Ad with HTML. Working with Third-Party Hosts. Now Try This. Project 4. Creating Electronic Haiku with a Sound Mixing Toy. It Works Like This. Preparing to Work. Building the Base Grid. Generating the Mixer Interface. Adding Sounds. Scripting the Music Boxes. Scripting the Playhead. Scripting the PLAY/STOP Button. Adding the Volume Control Slider. Putting It All Together. Now Try This. Project 5. Designing and Scoring a Pac-Man Style Maze Game. It Works Like This. Preparing to Work. Creating the Game Intro. Tiling the Maze. Collision Detection. Character Movement. Adding Sounds. Keeping Score. Now Try This. Project 6. Creating a Navigable 3D Environment with ActionScript 2 Classes. It Works Like This. Preparing to Work. Creating the Generic Class. Creating the Clip Class to Manage Visual Assets. Creating the Camera Class to Store a Global Variable. Creating the Scene Class to Manage Scene Properties. Creating the Quaternion Class to Rotate Objects in the Scene. Creating the Node Class to Define Positions in 3D Space. Creating the People and Background Assets. Integrating the Classes with the FLA. Triggering Movement in the Scene with Key Commands. Now Try This. Project 7. Adding Video to Create an Interactive Filmstrip. It Works Like This. Preparing to Work. Setting Up the Flash Movie. Adding Your Own Video Clip. Customizing the Component Parameters. Dynamically Sizing the Component. Using the Component as Navigational Element. Now Try This. Project 8. Controlling Your Text with CSS. It Works Like This. Preparing to Work. Creating a Simple Style Sheet. The Simple CSS Approach. Using CSS Classes to Style Flash Text. Using External CSS Files. The Real World: Loading Images from Image Tags. Now Try This. Project 9. Extending Video in Flash. It Works Like This. Preparing to Work. Loading the Variable Object. Preparing External Video. Preparing Nonlinear Video. Creating the Accessory Clips. Enabling Video Controls. Loading External Video. Scripting Video Controls. Now Try This. Project 10. Creating an Information Display System. It Works Like This. Preparing to Work. Designing the XML Container File. Preparing the Flash Movie. Sewing Together the Components. Now Try This. Project 11. JSFL: Using Flashs New Automation Language to Create Text Effects. It Works Like This. Preparing to Work. Creating a GUI for Your Effect with XML. Creating the Initial Code to Start the Effect. Saving the Original Text in an Editable Format. Breaking the Text Field into Individual Characters. Converting Each Letter to a Symbol. Adding the Symbols to the Library. Handling the Direction Option. Applying the Parameters to Each Letter. Creating the Animation of Each Letter. Cleaning Up the Effects Timeline and Returning the User to the Main Timeline. Removing the Effect. Now Try This. Project 12. Developing Interfaces for Pocket PCs. It Works Like This. Preparing to Work. Setting Up the Stage. Creating the Background Assets. Designing the Sliding Background. Creating the Navigation. Adding the ActionScript to Make It Work. Building an Easy-to-Navigate User Interface. Creating the Sliding Panel. Now Try This. Index.