Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Killer Tips [Paperback]

The hottest collection of cool tips and hidden secrets for the Flash MX 2004 user who needs results fast! In today's economy, time is money. Flash MX 2004 Killer Tips is all about speed, showing users how to get more work done in less time. This book is designed to increase productivity (and even quality) by providing shortcuts, tips, and little-known tricks that will surprise even the most experienced Flash MX 2004 user. Built on the premise that "Speed Kills", readers will get faster at manipulating Flash MX 2004 and have more time to be creative in their design and their code. Author Shane Elliott has assembled almost 300 tips to help readers with creating effects and animations, ActionScript, components, optimization, and a host of other topics.

Shane Elliott

After a long career as a student of computer sciences at several universities, including North Carolina State, Elon College, and Cal State Los Angeles, Shane's curiosity and thorough training has led him in directions even he himself could not have predicted. Although he has always been very visually oriented and creative, his skills always led him toward the more technical aspects of web and new media development.

This all changed when Shane shifted focus to design while working at a broadband search company known as Rampt. Rampt broke new ground by offering a fully functional search engine, which at the time operated completely in Flash 4. Ever since his introduction to Flash 4, Shane has followed the growth of Flash as a developing product. He has worked closely with every new release and, as a result, has been honored with awards from Macromedia Site of the Day, Invision 2000, and The Bandies 2000, as well as a nomination in the Flash Forward Film Festival in New York.

Given Shane's knowledge of programming, mixed with Flash design skills and gravitational personality, it was only a matter of time before he began to teach others the relatively new art of Flash design. While teaching at Moviola and American Media Training, he realized that sharing his knowledge with others was the next step he wanted to take. Making this a priority opened doors into authoring material for the Flash MX Bible, ActionScript MX Bible, and The Flash Animator. Having written screenplays, plays, and short stories throughout his career in design, the authoring bug had bitten long ago and making the transition into writing was a natural progression. Most recently, Shane partnered with long-time friend and colleague, Robert Reinhardt, to develop an online introductory course for Flash MX that is offered at universities all over the country.

In the recent past, Shane has applied his rich mixture of skills by working with a variety of clients, such as Infiniti, Energizer, Crest National, Toyota, TBWA Chiat / Day, and Saatchi & Saatchi. He continues to broaden his experiences by developing rich web and stand-alone Flash applications for private sources and hopes to continue growing in all directions that are made available to him. If there are creative avenues to be taken, Shane will continue to find and pursue each and every one of them.

If you'd like to keep up to date with what Shane is doing, visit his web site at http://www.timberfish.com.