Byte-Size Flash MX : Adventures In Design Optimization

Have you ever poured all your creativity into a Flash movie, but found your friends grumbling at the download size? Have you tried to use just one tiny picture in your movie, and seen the file size go through the roof? Is it possible to do anything remotely effective in a small file? More than you could possibly imagine! This collection shows you just exactly what can be done with tiny Flash files, using some of the hottest Flash designers around. These authors pull designs out of the top drawer and show you exactly how you can go about creating great SWFs with the smallest amount of download pain. We will look at: creating incredible generative designs -- so small you can use them for wallpaper producing 3D animations that roll in at under 5k in size creating sound toys in the smallest possible file space de-mystifying the use of JPEGs and photographs while keeping your Flash movies small strategic use of back-end technology to keep your delivery times down to nanoseconds! changing the boundaries to look at new ways of delivering entire sites! From the Publisher Who is this book for You've worked with Flash, but are wondering why people are getting tetchy at the download time. You're willing to start learning some ActionScript tricks to fight the file flab, and you're not afraid to become addicted to optimization! About the Author Genevieve Garand Conceived 3weeksinApril.com, an experimental web site that explores new ways of navigation and features an engaging narrative. David Hirmes is a Flash developer living in Brooklyn, New York. Kip Parker Works through his own company Hi-Rise Limited and in collaboration with Anthony Burrill as Friendchip, which was established in 1998. Keith Peters Found Flash to be the ideal medium for creating graphics with code. Robert Reich lives in Hamburg, Germany. Flash became his favourite besides normal HTML and serverside driven website creation. He is working as freelancer for several firms. Roy Tanck Currently employed in Hilversum, as part of a team that creates innovative e-learning solutions. Within this environment, Flash is a great tool. Front Matter....Pages i-3 Generative Experiments....Pages 5-41 A Byte-Size Bitmap Gallery....Pages 43-67 Dynamic Interfaces....Pages 69-97 Math-Based Animation and Dynamic Drawing....Pages 99-129 Sound Toys....Pages 131-173 City Blossom....Pages 175-205 Beyond the City Limits....Pages 207-241 Using Javascript with Flash MX....Pages 243-277 Separating Form and Function: Flash and XML....Pages 279-331 Back Matter....Pages 333-342