Fantastic training book for video professionals breaking into web delivery. Easy to understand explanations and examples, perfect for someone who understands the basics of the web, and wants to get their work out there for people to see. This book shows you how to create interfaces just like myspace and youtube, so your site can be easy to navigate for any web audience. However, it also gives you the tools to get really creative with your video viewer - so you can say, with gusto, 'what box'? This is a must have for ALL video professionals, even if you're not on the web yet - you will be.

I bought this book being a big fan of the Friends of Ed series and expecting that an entire book on just Flash Video would cover all I need to know and then some. Wow, was I wrong. There is hardly anything to be learned here.

I'd be willing to bet you'll learn a lot more from a video chapter in a general Flash book like Flash Bible than you will from this.

As an example, one thing I wanted to do is display a video's current and remaining time (like YouTube does). None of the current FLV skins support this, only the Media Player component which you can't customize. This is not covered anywhere in the book. Maybe its just me but I think that is a HUGE omission. The chapter on customizing your skins is short and elementary...nothing new to learn. And that was the main reason I bought the book. I emailed the author about the time thing, and got back a link of an FLV showing only the current seconds in decimal form. Much like the book, no effort was put into this.

Luckily in an online forum someone was good enough to post their code on how to link up text boxes with the current and total playing time of an FLV, in conventional time format. Honestly I learned more from those 3 small blocks of code than I did from this entire book.

Steer clear and save your money for an ActionScript book. You won't learn anything from this book.

This is a well-written and enjoyable immersion into the nuts and bolts of creating and publishing video on the web using Flash 8. Aimed squarely at those beginning to work with Flash Video, the book is quite thorough for that audience. Most importantly, it covers all the essential principles one needs. From data rates for encoding videos to alpha channel effects to using the BitMapData and other classes, this book will set you up to launch that internet tv channel you've been thinking about.

However, if you're looking for the mind-bendingly master kung-fu video tricks that break existing rules of reality, I'm afraid you'll have to look further. Or write it yourself!

I like the clear organization and simple instructions the writers give. The book serves as a handy reference for those just starting to use video and other related objects in Flash. The code is broken down and explained for the reader and one can use these building blocks in combinations to stunning effect. Especially helpful is the section on playing multiple videos.

The writers make the whole thing fun and light. Hell, we're all playing around figuring out what we can do with these toys. I'd like more heavy, serious passages as well, though. Still, worth the cover preice, though.

Title: Foundation Flash 8 Video
Author: Green & Chilcott
Publisher: Apress/FriendsofEd


Begins with an overview of video file formats with brief descriptions of each. The various steps involved in creating an FLV file are covered using the Video Wizard and the Flash 8 Video Encoder. Ample screenshots with settings selected are provided, as are descriptions of all the menu options, etc. Basic video editing is described using readily available programs like MovieMaker and iMovie. Alternative FLV creation tools such as Sorenson Squeeze and ON2Flix are covered also, with start-to-finish examples provided for both. FLV components as well as the video object are introduced also.

Alpha channels and keying are described with various tutorials using Premiere Pro, After Effects, and FinalCut Pro. Using a single clip, users learn how to remove background from video with these applications. The keying plugins used in the Adobe program tutorials are specific to the Creative Suite Production Bundle. Users of the standalone versions of these programs will be able to achieve the same results using other included plugins.

Filters, blend effects, and masking provide an insight into the creative potential of Flash video. One compositing tutorial I found particularly useful used a single FLV file to demonstrate the different effects possible using drop shadows. Others use Illustrator shapes to create masks, and ActionScript code samples enable the manipulation of mask color as well as creating motion. Other useful topics with their own chapters include creating video walls and choosing and playing multiple videos. Bandwidth issues and their importance are stressed several times here.

Streaming video using the camera object is described in detail, as well as creating a video box and flipping video. The creative possiblities seem endless. If you have a webcam installed, you can see yourself on multiple billboards in Times Square using the Chapter 10 tutorials. The last two chapters get further into ActionScript and motion graphics using After Effects.

The book itself provides a solid introduction to Flash video, and demonstrates the many ways Flash now increasingly interacts with other programs. The tutorials are straight-forward and practical, and keep the reader interested. Like other FriendsofEd books, all the source files are

Foundation Flash 8 Video
by Tom Green and Jordan Chilcott
Publisher: Friends of Ed
Copyright: 2006
ISBN:-13(pkb): 978-1-59059-651-7

If you need some inspiration, this is a good book to read. It starts out basic and gets becomes advanced.

It explains the whole video process from scratch. One part that I liked was the description of buffering. The book explains that the key to successful playback is the data rate and storing enough packets before the video starts.

This author has fun with video. He is always showing you the amazing things you can do with a very small amount of code. He starts with showing you what the components can do and then ramps up with a very simple code sample that is required
to connect a video object to a web server.

Next Tom and Jordan go into Alpha Channels. They show you how to make a video clip with a green screen mask, attach it to a video object and add a drop shadow. Other exciting topics are: trim a video and use it like an ad banner, play video on video, adding cue points to trigger Flash events, and having someone walk across your web page in a browser. You can do amazing things like having a talking head discuss car models and adding a race car in another video zooming by in the background.

Filters are discussed and how they are added to a video embedded in a movie clip. He warns you that adding filters can be processor intensive.

Some of the things you learn are: moving your mouse across a video and creating trail of blur as you go. Also projecting a video onto an underlying image
with a screen blend mode.

Masking videos is discussed. You can create a mask in Illustrator, drag it into Flash and make it a mask layer. In Illustrator you would apply the roughen filter to 0.5 and the chalk scribble brush stroke. This would be placed as another copy above the mask to enable the details of the artwork to show.

Tom and Jordan show you how to fill Times Square with your own videos by removing the ads, and making masks for your own video feeds.

There is quite a lot of information about building a video wall. He explains getting the Flash Media Server 2 for no charge.

One of the crucial things about working with video the authors say is "Watching the pipe". This means always considering how much bandwidth you are using.

This book is not a complete resource on the Flash Media Server 2 or After Effects but, it touches on them just enough to get you interested.

The authors even leave you with a bit of information on video cameras and how to hook them up with just 2 lines of code. I enjoyed the fun approach in this book and its simplification of a complex topic.