The Woodlands, Texas - August 21, 2001 - Stacy Hiquet, Book Director for Premier Press Books has announced that Flash 5 Design - from Concept to Creation has gone into its second printing. "The book was released in early 2001 and was well received in both North America and Europe", said Hiquet. If you have been to a web site and were dazzled by the animated graphics, music and sound, chances are the site was developed using a software program by Macromedia called Flash. Last year Macromedia released its latest version of Flash - Flash 5, packed with a host of new features and development tools for web designers, graphic artists and animators. The possibilities to create dynamic web sites and presentations are truly limited only by one's imagination.
The epic software group, inc. a Woodlands (Houston), Texas-based multimedia production company, has been creating multimedia presentations, web applications, and animated graphics for over 10 years. "When we first discovered Flash in 1997, we were simply amazed how it could be used to bring a web site to life", said Vic Cherubini, President of epic. Cherubini was not alone. The popularity of Flash has skyrocketed, as droves of developers discover its power and ease of use.
Flash has now become a standard plug-in for almost any modern browser, and is automatically installed with Windows 98, 2000, ME, XP, Vista, Microsoft's System Seven and the Mac OSX family of operating systems. NPD Research conducted a study to determine what percentage of Web browsers have Macromedia Flash preinstalled. The results show that 91.8% of Web users can experience Macromedia Flash content without having to download and install a player.
Macromedia claims that Flash now resides on over 248,000,000 computers around the world and is used by over half a million Web authors. Part of the reason for the success of the program is Flash's ability to display and animate graphics. Typically, web graphics are comprised of thousands of individual elements called pixels. These types of graphics are know as "bitmaps" and can really tax the speed at which a web page appears on your screen. Flash uses a far more efficient means of displaying its graphics known as Vectors. Vectors define graphics as mathematical formula. When you load a Flash page, the formula is sent to your computer, and your machine converts it into an image.
Flash applications can also incorporate sound and music to further engage the viewer. Flash has the power to make viewing a web page more like watching TV, but allows the viewer to interact with the information on the screen. Interactivity and entertainment make for a powerful combination on the web.
To say Flash is a versatile tool would be an understatement. Flash may be used to create web sites, build games, create screen savers, and all kinds of applications that can be used offline. The program is supported by hundreds of tutorials on the Internet, along with a host of books, so why produce another book? "When we asked epic to write a book on Flash, they knew instantly what was needed", said Hiquet "Many of the web tutorials are basic and describe the use of a single Flash feature.
Many of the Flash books also cover the elementary aspects of the program (essentially a re-write of the Flash user's manual). Where Flash 5 Design-From Concept to Creation breaks new ground is that every chapter takes the reader step-by-step through an actual application from the conceptual stage through the finished application", continued Hiquet. This 360 page book features full-color graphics, and will quickly become a "must have" reference source for both new and experienced Flash developers.
The book includes the computer source code and graphics for 19 unique applications along with a companion CD-ROM that contains everything shown in the book. A bonus section of the CD also includes a Flash Gallery and hot links to Flash resources.
