Flash Hacks

Flash Hacks

This collection offers expert Flash tips and tricks for optimization, creating interesting effects, ActionScript programming, sound and video effects, and much more--and you don't need to be an expert to use them (although you'll certainly look like one). Ranging from practical hacks to the fun and quirky, the book covers Flash MX, Flash MX 2004, and Flash MX Professional 2004. If you want more than your average Flash user, Flash Hacks is for you.

		Foreword
		Preface
			Why Flash Hacks?
			Who This Book Is For
			How to Use This Book
			How This Book Is Organized
			Conventions Used in This Book
			Using Code Examples
		Chapter 1. Visual Effects
			Hacks #1-7
			Section 1. Fake Per-Pixel Transitions
			Section 2. Per-Pixel Text Effects
			Section 3. Simulate Old Film Grain
			Section 4. Create SWFs from Animated GIFs
			Section 5. Animate Photoshop PSD Files with Flash
			Section 6. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
			Section 7. Blowin' in the Wind: Simulate Tree Movement
		Chapter 2. Color Effects
			Hacks #8-13
			Section 8. Video Color Effects
			Section 9. Video Fade to Black and Fade to White
			Section 10. A Custom Color Transform Class
			Section 11. Create and Organize Custom Swatches
			Section 12. Borrow Color Schemes from Nature
			Section 13. Simulate Sepia Effects
		Chapter 3. Drawing and Masking
			Hacks #14-25
			Section 14. Create Filled Circles Quickly at Runtime
			Section 15. Create Synthetic Art
			Section 16. Create Seamless Tiles
			Section 17. Fill Areas with Patterns
			Section 18. Imitate Escher
			Section 19. Fix Alpha Property Inaccuracies
			Section 20. Use Complex Shapes as Masks
			Section 21. Interference Patterns and Ripple Effects
			Section 22. Feather Bitmap Edges
			Section 23. Add a Vector Edge to a Bitmap
			Section 24. Solve the Bitmap-Shift Bug
			Section 25. A Page-Turn Effect (Exploit Symmetry and Masking)
		Chapter 4. Animation
			Hacks #26-34
			Section 26. Smooth Scripted Motion
			Section 27. Time-Controlled Movement
			Section 28. Quick, Bandwidth-Efficient Character Animation
			Section 29. alt-Flash: Motion Graphics Alternatives
			Section 30. Deja New Animations
			Section 31. Hacking The Matrix
			Section 32. Computer-Generated Character Animation
			Section 33. Particle Effects
			Section 34. Shape Tweening Complex Shapes
		Chapter 5. 3D and Physics
			Hacks #35-41
			Section 35. Simulate 3D
			Section 36. Panoramic Images
			Section 37. An Optimized 3D Plotter
			Section 38. Use Acceleration to Simulate Gravity and Friction
			Section 39. Simulate a Throw
			Section 40. Detect Multiple Collisions
			Section 41. Turn Toward a Point
		Chapter 6. Text
			Hacks #42-51
			Fonts
			Section 42. Keep Text Legible
			Section 43. Autocomplete Text Fields
			Section 44. Store a List of All Input Words
			Section 45. Import Complex Formatting in Flash
			Section 46. HTML and CSS in Flash
			Section 47. Use Accessibility Text as Help Text
			Section 48. Text Effect Framework
			Section 49. Typewriter Effect
			Section 50. Time-Based Text Effects
			Section 51. Timeline Text Effects
		Chapter 7. Sound
			Hacks #52-60
			Section 52. Create a Flash Speech Synthesizer
			Section 53. A Talking, Lip-Synched Avatar
			Section 54. The Ubiquitous Sound-Kicker Hack
			Section 55. Turn Low-Bandwidth Monaural Sounds into Stereo Sounds
			Section 56. Real-Time Sound Effects
			Section 57. Quickly Create UI Sounds
			Section 58. Optimize Sound
			Section 59. Sound Time Codes (Cue Points)
			Section 60. A Custom Sound Transform Class
		Chapter 8. User Interface Elements
			Hacks #61-64
			Section 61. Amit's Dials (Interactive Testing)
			Section 62. Right and Middle Mouse Buttons
			Section 63. Button Movie Clips
			Section 64. Dude, Where's My Scrollbar?
		Chapter 9. Performance and Optimization
			Hacks #65-73
			Optimize Filesize and Download Time
			Optimize Graphics
			Increase Code Performance
			Section 65. Beat Flash File Bloat
			Section 66. Bandwidth Testing for Complex Sites
			Section 67. Hide Low-Quality Settings
			Section 68. Optimize Graphics for Performance
			Section 69. Benchmark Runtime Performance
			Section 70. Adjust the Animation Complexity Dynamically
			Section 71. Performance Budget
			Section 72. Substitute Bitmaps for Vectors
			Section 73. Optimize Component Downloading and Usage
		Chapter 10. ActionScript
			Hacks #74-85
			Changes in Flash MX 2004
			Section 74. External Script Editors
			Section 75. Strict Typing and Casual Scripters
			Section 76. Code Hints
			Section 77. Clone an Object
			Section 78. An Idle Timer (Timeout Event)
			Section 79. Fast ActionScript Searches
			Section 80. Lock the actions Layer
			Section 81. Debug with trace( )
			Section 82. Undocumented ActionScript
			Section 83. ASnative( ) Back Door
			Section 84. Obscure Operators
			Section 85. Import ASC Files as XML
		Chapter 11. Browser Integration
			Hacks #86-96
			Section 86. Keep Your Site Browser Friendly
			Section 87. A Universal Flash Plugin Sniffer
			Section 88. Test Multiple Flash Plugins
			Section 89. Preferences and Publishing Defaults
			Section 90. Center Your SWF Without Scaling
			Section 91. CSS-Based Browser Centering
			Section 92. Dynamically Resize Content
			Section 93. Create HTML Links in Flash
			Section 94. Integrate the Back Button with Flash
			Section 95. Give the Flash SWF Keyboard Focus
			Section 96. Add Key Shortcuts to Your Site
		Chapter 12. Security
			Hacks #97-100
			Privacy Settings
			Cross-Domain Policy
			Handling Local Executables
			Section 97. Recover Content from a SWF
			Section 98. Protect and Obfuscate Your Flash Files
			Section 99. Make Your SWF Phone Home
			Section 100. Review Compiled ActionScript
		Index

Table of Contents