The best way to show off a powerful new technology is to demonstrate real-world results with it, and that's exactly what Adobe and O'Reilly have done with Flex 3.

Through it's Flex Cookbook website, Adobe invited users of the Flex 3 beta to post their own solutions for working with this technology, using O'Reilly's popular problem-solution-discussion format. Website monitors (and authors) Joshua Noble and Todd Anderson chose the most useful solutions for Flex 3 Cookbook.

This highly practical book contains more than 200 proven recipes for developing interactive Rich Internet Applications and Web 2.0 sites, including several contributed by Noble, Anderson, and other Flex experts. You'll find everything from Flex basics and working with menus and controls, to methods for compiling, deploying, and configuring Flex applications.

If you're interested in recording and streaming media using Flash Media Server 3 (FMS3) and Adobe's Real-Time Messaging Protocol, this 267-page PDF-only book is the perfect primer. web developers familiar with Flash Media Server 2 or Flash Communication Server 1.5 will quickly discover that FMS3 is a different animal. Each chapter in this step-by-step guide focuses on a specific aspect of the server and how to develop FMS3 applications with ActionScript 3.0 

If you're interested in recording and streaming media using Flash Media Server 3 (FMS3) and Adobe's Real-Time Messaging Protocol, this 267-page PDF-only book is the perfect primer. web developers familiar with Flash Media Server 2 or Flash Communication Server 1.5 will quickly discover that FMS3 is a different animal. Each chapter in this step-by-step guide focuses on a specific aspect of the server and how to develop FMS3 applications with ActionScript 3.0.

And this book, the 2nd edition of the critically-acclaimed Foundation Flash 8 Video, shows you how to make the most of video in Flash CS3. The authors start with the basics of creating video ready for use on the web using popular applications such as Windows Movie Maker and iMovie, creating FLV (Flash video) using both Flash and other applications such as Sorenson Squeeze, and importing that video into Flash.

With that out the way, then turn their attention to essential practical techniques such as creating and customizing video players, applying blends and filters to Flash Video, effective use of video alpha channel and masks, captioning, cue points, interactivity using the Camera object, going full screen, and much more.

All Flex applications look the same—a blue-gray background and silver-skinned components—right? That doesn't have to be the case, though. This book shows you how to ensure that your Flex 2 and 3 projects stand out from the crowd and provide your users with an application that is both visually stunning and beautifully functional.

Flex Builder coupled with the Adobe Creative Suite (CS3) is a powerful combination, providing all the tools you need to create compelling, vibrant interfaces. This book guides you through creating applications with Flex Builder, designing layouts in Fireworks, creating custom skins for your components in Photoshop and Illustrator, and using CSS to enhance the appearance of your rich Internet applications (RIAs).

You'll learn how to efficiently use and style states, enabling you to switch between "pages", thus adding real depth to your applications. Youll also learn how to build web forms that are intuitive to use, helping your users provide the information youre after.

In this book, authors Rich Shupe and Zevan Rosser share the knowledge they've gained from their years as multimedia developers/designers and teachers. Learning ActionScript 3.0 gives you a solid foundation in the language of Flash and demonstrates how you can use it for practical, everyday projects. The authors do more than just give you a collection of sample scripts. Written for those of you new to ActionScript 3.0, the book describes how ActionScript and Flash work, giving you a clear look into essential topics such as logic, event handling, displaying content, migrating legacy projects to ActionScript 3.0, classes, and much more. You will learn important techniques through hands-on exercises, and then build on those skills as chapters progress. ActionScript 3.0 represents a significant change for many Flash users, and a steeper learning curve for the uninitiated. This book will help guide you through a variety of scripting scenarios. Rather than relying heavily on prior knowledge of object-oriented programming (OOP), topics are explained in focused examples that originate in the timeline, with optional companion classes for those already comfortable with their use.

Part animation guide, part Flash manual, The Art of Flash Animation: Creative Cartooning provides a practical primer on classic, hand-drawn 2D screen animation as well as an introduction to using Flash for creating your own cartoons. Section I discusses the terms and techniques of hand-drawn animation, character design, and storyboards, while Section II covers scanning, digitizing your artwork into Flash, and setting up scenes.

Learn how to:
- Animate a walk cycle.
- Record and edit dialogue, sound effects, and music.
- Use recyclable symbols to make the animation process more efficient.
- Prepare your work for video or web download.

Flex is the technology for creating cutting edge web applications, both in terms of functionality and design—it is easy to put together an application that works and looks great. But what if you want to customize the look and feel of your application, so that it doesn't look like every other Flex application out there? That's not quite as simple a proposition. However, help is at hand with this book. Foundation Flex for Designers is a dream come true for any designer working on customizing the look and feel of Flex applications. It takes you through how to customize style and layouts using CSS, how to bring design assets into Flex from applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, and Flash, how to spice up your design work with some handy ActionScript 3.0 techniques, and even a look forward to designing hybrid desktop/web applications with Flex and AIR. It culminates with several design-oriented case studies, including a video picker application, picture gallery, customer service site, and more.

• The ultimate Flex book for designers wanting to customize the look and feel of Flex applications
• Covers workflows between Illustrator/Fireworks/Photoshop, and Flex, as well as using CSS with Flex.
• Includes several design-oriented case studies to teach and inspire you

In this book, authors Rich Shupe and Zevan Rosser share the knowledge they've gained from their years as multimedia developers/designers and teachers. Learning ActionScript 3.0 gives you a solid foundation in the language of Flash and demonstrates how you can use it for practical, everyday projects. The authors do more than just give you a collection of sample scripts. Written for those of you new to ActionScript 3.0, the book describes how ActionScript and Flash work, giving you a clear look into essential topics such as logic, event handling, displaying content, migrating legacy projects to ActionScript 3.0, classes, and much more. You will learn important techniques through hands-on exercises, and then build on those skills as chapters progress. ActionScript 3.0 represents a significant change for many Flash users, and a steeper learning curve for the uninitiated. This book will help guide you through a variety of scripting scenarios. Rather than relying heavily on prior knowledge of object-oriented programming (OOP), topics are explained in focused examples that originate in the timeline, with optional companion classes for those already comfortable with their use. As chapters progress, the book introduces more and more OOP techniques, allowing you to choose which scripting approach you prefer. Learning ActionScript 3.0 reveals: New ways to harness the power and performance of AS3 Common mistakes that people make with the language Essential coverage of text, sound, video, XML, drawing with code, and more Migration issues from AS1 and AS2 to AS3 Simultaneous development of procedural and object-oriented techniques Tips that go beyond simple script collections, including how toapproach a project and which resources can help you along the way The companion web site contains material for all the exercises in the book, as well as short quizzes to make sure you're up to speed with key concepts. ActionScript 3.0 is a different animal from previous versions, and Learning ActionScript 3.0 teaches everything that web designers, GUI-based Flash developers, and those new to ActionScript need to start using the language.

Flash Designers: push Flash to the next level with After Effects robust toolset.

* Add motion graphics and visual effects to your Flash projects
* Fuse 3D depth into 2D animations
* Prepare Flash animations for broadcast
* Save development time in executing animations

Combine these two powerhouse applications to expand your multimedia horizons. Flash + After Effects gives the experienced Flash designer a working understanding of the After Effects toolset with professional techniques that raise the design bar for Web, broadcast, or CD/DVD delivery. The companion DVD contains project media that permit you to practice essential After Effects skills that include:
* Working with video and the AE timeline
* Using alpha channels for keying and enhancing interactivity
* Putting vector animation to work with Text and Shape Layers, and animation presets
* Creating 3D backgrounds with cameras and lights
* Animating with Behaviors, Parenting, Expressions and the Puppet Tool
You also get a video primer, render and file optimization techniques, and publishing and streaming guidelines.

Flash Designers: push Flash to the next level with After Effects robust toolset.

* Add motion graphics and visual effects to your Flash projects
* Fuse 3D depth into 2D animations
* Prepare Flash animations for broadcast
* Save development time in executing animations

Combine these two powerhouse applications to expand your multimedia horizons. Flash + After Effects gives the experienced Flash designer a working understanding of the After Effects toolset with professional techniques that raise the design bar for Web, broadcast, or CD/DVD delivery. The companion DVD contains project media that permit you to practice essential After Effects skills that include:
* Working with video and the AE timeline
* Using alpha channels for keying and enhancing interactivity
* Putting vector animation to work with Text and Shape Layers, and animation presets
* Creating 3D backgrounds with cameras and lights
* Animating with Behaviors, Parenting, Expressions and the Puppet Tool
You also get a video primer, render and file optimization techniques, and publishing and streaming guidelines.

Combine two powerhouse applications to:
* Add motion graphics and visual effects
* Fuse 3D depth into 2D animations
* Prepare Flash animations for broadcast
* Save development time