As a creative professional or interactive developer, youll be amazed at the exciting possibilities presented to you by the features available in Flash 8; but as a busy designer, we know you won't have as much time as youd like to explore these new additions. Never fear; this book wastes no time looking at timeline basics, tweens, or movie-publishing optionsit focuses exclusively on the new Flash 8 features, getting you quickly up to speed with a combination of illustrative tutorials, handy references, and inspirational examples.

By the end of the book, youll know that theres no shortage of new tools to enhance and inspire your Flash development; and since this book is written by some of the community's leading Flash experts, youll know youre in good hands. If youre looking to master Flash 8 with a minimum of time and effort, then this is the only book for you.

After studying theatre in London, then working for several years as an actor in the U.S.,Todd Yardwas introduced to Flash in 2000 and was quickly taken by how it allowed for both stunning creativity and programmatic logic applicationa truly left-brain, right brain approach to productionand has not looked back. He now freelances as a Flash developer in New York City, creating both silly animations and utilitarian applications. His personal work and experimentation can be found at his website, 27Bobs.com.

Overview of 8Ball, includes IDE overview. Include to friendsofed.com useful links list - Matt Voerman.- Blending Modes - Craig Swann/Glen Rhodes.- Filters - Craig Swann/Glen Rhodes.- Drawing Improvements - this includes strokes, fills, and gradients - Todd Yard.- Getting Creative with Filters, Masks and Animation - Guy Watson.- Video - Alpha channels and other improvements - Craig Swann/Glen Rhodes.- TextField Improvements. Include Saffron background behind it, and examples of how much better the display is. Compare to previous Flash versions. Also, include Anti-Alias, quick resizing of textfields without distorting text in the field, and improvements to HTML support, including HTML tags for justified text - Matt Voerman.- Speed Improvements, including Caching MovieClips as Bitmaps - Guy Watson.- The new Image API - Guy Watson.- Asset Caching - Craig Swann/Glen Rhodes.- Goodbye FSCommand, Hello ExternalInterface - Craig Swann/Glen Rhodes.- Low-level Data and Sockets - Craig Swann/Glen Rhodes.- Appendix A: Gallery of 8Ball examples - Tink (Stephen Downs).