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Sure you can animate using motion tweens, in fact we'll help you do that with our Flash Cartoon Animation book, but isn't there something extra special in making things move with just a few lines of code?

In this book Keith Peters guides us through some basic animation theory and then demystifies the math and physics behind creating realistic animation, looking at trigonometry, velocity and acceleration, and bouncing & friction.

This book will teach you how to use Flash ActionScript to move the objects in your movies, rather than letting Flash's tween engine do it for you. The benefit of this is smaller, more realistic, more dynamic interactive movies that seem to come alive on your screen. Almost all of the code featured in this book will work fine in either Flash MX 2004 or Flash 8, and with a few minor adjustments, most of it can even be applied to Flash MX.

Although the text covers many advanced math and physics concepts, making for very realistic motion, there's no need to worry, even if you're a relative newcomer to programming and the last math class you took was in high school (and even if you barely remember that!).

This book first covers everything you need to know to get started: the principles of animation, and the basics of ActionScript, trigonometry, and Flash rendering methods. You'll work your way slowly from using code to move a single object across the screen to creating complex systems that really push Flash's capabilities with topics covered including collision detection, particle attraction, and kinematics. The book concludes with looking at 3D animation techniques, including building a basic 3D engine, 3D lines, fills and solids, and matrix math.

Once you come to grips with the ideas presented here, you'll find yourself creating all manner of exciting animations and games!

Summary of Contents




    Part I ActionScripted Animation Basics




    Ch. 1 Basic Animation Concepts

    Ch. 2 ActionScript Basics for Animation

    Ch. 3 Trigonometry

    Ch. 4 Rendering Techniques




    Part II Basic Motion



    Ch. 5 Velocity and Acceleration

    Ch. 6 Bouncing and Friction

    Ch. 7 User Interaction: Dragging and Throwing




    Part III Advanced Motion



    Ch. 8 Easing and Springs

    Ch. 9 Collision Detection

    Ch. 10 Bouncing off Angles

    Ch. 11 Billiard Ball Physics

    Ch. 12 Particle Attraction

    Ch. 13 Forward Kinematics

    Ch. 14 Inverse Kinematics




    Part IV Three D



    Ch. 15 A Basic 3D Engine

    Ch. 16 3D Lines, Fills, Solids

    Ch. 17 Advanced 3D: Backface Culling and Lighting

    Ch. 18 Matrix Math



    Part V Tips and Tricks



    Ch. 19 Tips and Tricks