Re: FLASH: Flash 4 Magic

[Mark McFadden]

I'll stick my two cents in to those of you who want to hear it...lol

This book is exactly what I needed to see. I just got it tonight  and

learned more about action scripting in the first 21 pages than anywhere

else. Hell of a job guys, thanks for the work you put forth in getting

this info documented for the rest of us.


Side Note:

I called virtually evry Barnes & Nobles in N.Y. and N.J. and noone had

the book in stock...for those in this area interested I finally found it

at Borders Books in Wayne , NJ

and they still have like 4 copies.


HTH,


-Mark


Cheri Harder wrote:

> 

> Flash 4 Magic - the book with contributions from Branden Hall and Chrissey

> Rey and others....

> 

> It's here!  And it looks like EXACTLY what Teacher-Tom and others have been

> wanting.  And me, too!  Step-by-step "learn by doing" instructions - tons of

> utilities & how to create them, tons of stuff on the CD too.

> 

> I can hardly wait to get started, although may need new bi-focals, font is

> pretty small for these old eyes.  It wasn't very expensive, either....but it

> wasn't free.  :-)

> 

> ~~~~Cheri Harder~~~~~

>

charderawsolution [dot] com

> Advantage Web Solution

> "Developing your internet storefront"

> www.awsolution.com

> ----- Original Message -----

>

From: "Tom Green" <tgreen17home [dot] com>

>

To: <flasherchinwag [dot] com>

> Sent: Friday, January 21, 2000 5:58 AM

> Subject: Re: FLASH: A teacher replies to Cheri et al.

> 

> >

> >

> > Cheri Harder wrote:

> >

> > <snip>

> >

> > butprobably not the time, nor the know-how of writing tutorials) I don't

> think

> >

> > > I would know where to start.

> >

> > Cheri: You start at the beginning. Step1- Open Flash.

> >

> > >  As a "geek" so to speak (and a poetic one at

> > > that) I have been studying "variables" and "While Loops" and Cursors and

> > > Case and If..then..else for 12 years.  It would be difficult to know

> where

> > > to start in a tutorial.  Do you start from "this is what a variable is"

> or

> > > do you assume they know some programming terminoligy?

> >

> > Here's a little technique I use to get the student to understand a

> variable. I

> > tell the student a variable  is simply a baggie that holds information.

> The

> > neat thing about it is that it can be given a name. Rather than get them

> > thinking tecchie, I usually use "ScumSuckingPig" as the name. This has

> become

> > so popular that the students usually work in a drawing of the class

> mascot- a

> > ScumSuckingPig. Quite effective. As an aside, when the college submitted

> its

> > application as an Authorized Macromedia Training Centre, we submitted a

> video

> > of me running a complex Director coding class. We hit a custom variable -

> > moveIt- and when I asked the class for another name, they said, in unison,

> > "Scum Sucking Pig". So somewhere at the mothership is an example of the

> > ScumSuckingPig.

> >

> > > How much do you assume?  Nothing?

> >

> > Yes. You can't go leaping into John's stuff, for instance, without a

> logical

> > progression. The first ActionScript command I teach is stop.Then I move

> into

> > the button actions to navigate. Then, step-by-step, I inch them closer to

> > John's preloader.

> >

> > People learn by doing so each lesson has a unique project associated with

> it.

> > One of my groups had their  first ActionScript class yesterday. We created

> a

> > simple Flash Movie that involved a spinning record that moved offscreen

> into

> > place. ( Importing .ai art, creating symbols, creating movie clips, using

> > motion tween) . A tone arm runs onto the stage. ( Creating a button with

> no

> > down state. Defining a hit area. Using Transform or the rotate tool). The

> logo

> > fades onto the page. ( Setting and tweening Alpha). The user is prompted

> to put

> > the tone arm onto the record. ( Enable Button Actions). And when the arm

> goes

> > on the record a sound plays. (Import a sound)  When they roll off the

> sound

> > stops. As you can see the first step is Assemble the Assets but there are

> a

> > whack of fundamentals involved.

> >

> > Now they code it. Put a Stop action in a keyframe on an Actions layer. Add

> a

> > label to a Frame. Open the instance of the the button and add Go to and

> Play

> > Actions using the labels. Add a Stop Sound Action and a Go To and Stop.

> And so

> > on.

> >

> > That one takes three hours to get through but the students have a pretty

> neat

> > example  and a clearly documented step-by -step they can refer to.

> >

> > > Then each and every tutorial would be a book and a half?

> >

> > Not really. I have written handouts that are as small as five pages-

> tracing

> > variable valuables using the Message Window in Director- to 64 pages where

> the

> > student constructs a Space Invaders game using Object Oriented

> Programming. The

> > tonearm example is 12 pages with screen shots that is laid out in

> Pagemaker.

> > The key, is to have each lesson build upon the other.

> >

> > >

> > > Action Script is not really a language, even.  But it makes some use of

> some

> > > "basic" programming theory and we are learning daily how to adapt what

> it

> > > DOES do into what we NEED it to do.  And there are "basic programming"

> > > tutorials all over the place.

> >

> > You and a couple of others who waded into this (Tim Allen for one) are

> missing

> > the point of my post. I will continue developing my own stuff simply

> because

> > nothing exists. I am more concerned about those who aren't in my classes

> and

> > wonder "How do I code a simple rollover that calls a URL". These people

> are the

> > vast majority of Flash users. Read the posts. It is very clear where they

> are.

> > They  will have to learn ActionScripting and aren't programmers. So where

> do

> > they pick it up in a manner that they can understand?

> >

> > I am encouraged to see the mothership (Thanks Eric) has noticed this but

> there

> > are three places where they should be tried out before they are released.

> The

> > first is in a real live honest to God secondary and post secondary

> classroom .

> > The teacher will let you know, real fast, what works and what doesn't work

> and

> > why. The second would be to do some beta testing. Shoot samples out to

> people

> > on the list and ask them to walk through it and let you know what works

> and

> > what doesn't. The third is to get the guys writing these things to do it

> in

> > front of a class that is coming at the subject cold. You get enough "I

> don't

> > get its" and you quickly identify that maybe we have a problem here

> >

> > >

> > > I've never been a teacher, and it very easy for me to get into the rut

> of

> > > assuming my listeners know what I'm talking about, when it is so much a

> part

> > > of my life that I can't imagine someone NOT knowing.

> >

> > Cheri, you didn't "know" when you got into to programming.

> >

> > > Teaching is easier for

> > > you, because that's what you do, and I'm sure you do it very well!!!

> >

> > Thank you.

> >

> > >

> > > Tutorials written for geeks by geeks helps us geeks and are appreciated

> very

> > > much (I don't know anybody who gets paid for writing them, maybe some

> do)

> > > but I think we're all still learning, yes?

> >

> > Yep, but the vast majority of the learners aren't even close to your

> > competency. We sometimes forget this.

> >

> >

> >

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