Amazon FLASH BOOK STORE
now you know it is getting a bit carried away. what a frenzy... check out all your favorite titles here?!?

Foundation Flash 5
by Sham Bhangal, Amanda Farr, Patrick Rey

within a new series of books published by Friends of Ed with nice graphics and good descriptions. with practical information and experienced advise. many tips on work-arounds that other resources do not cover.

Flash 5 Cartooning
by Mark Clarkson

I have this book in my library but haven't picked it up. Have heard that it is good however...

Foundation Actionscript
by Sham Bhangal

another book within the new series of books published by Friends of Ed with a very clear look at actionscript from a non-programmer's perspective. I find myself reading this for pleasure. His ability to put more advanced actionscript concepts into the hands of neophytes makes it easy to grasp. This book comes highly recommended because it is not another tutorial book but a comprehensive look at actionscript methods and programming in general.

Flash 5 Studio
by Sham Bhangal, Peter Holm,,,

must be comfortable with actionscripting and the above book. meant to be the 3rd in a series (with Foundation Flash 5 and Foundation Actionscript first) this gives you the actual practical lessions in creating games, engineering code, etc. not for the faint at heart!!!

Flash Games Studio
by Glen Rhodes, Justin Everett-Church, Sham Bhangal,,,

I briefly glanced at this book in the story and thought (not another Flash book...) but it does help you answer all those questions such as creating 'turn-based games' etc. nice complementary to your shelf of Flash Books.

Flash 5.0: Graphics, Animation & Interactivity
by James L. Mohler

Do not judge a book by its cover! This is a perfect example of a book with the most tacky cover and the most priceless and perteniant internals. Mr. Mohler is very good at describing Object oriented programming and teaching the intermediate and advanced flash user about action scripting. A must have.

Flash 5 Advanced for Windows and Macintosh Visual QuickPro Guide (with CD Rom)
by Russell Chun, Rebecca Gulick

Not your usual variety of Quickstart Guides the QuickPro Guide provides a CD with action scripts and helpful (and yes well illustrated) content more specific to action scripting (picking up where the Visual Quickstart Guide by Katherine Ulrich left off). Try it out and see.

New Masters of Flash (with CD-Rom)
by a bunch of masters of flash ...

nice tutorials by the artists themselves - many of them will be recognizable and others you will want to learn about. If you want to know how the pros did it then get this book. did you know there was a 2001 version of this??? New Masters of Flash: the 2002 Annual

Flash 5 Magic
by David J. Emberton, J. Scott Hamlin, Scott Balay, Larry Larsen

great for creating or thinking about game design and
more advanced interaction using Flash 4.0. for more
advanced Flash users with example action scripts and CD. a definite improvement to the Flash 4 book with more time spend on action scripting.

Flash 5 for Windows and Macintosh
Visual Quickstart Guide
by Katherine Ulrich

like all Visual Quickstart Guides lots of pictures with
each page on a different topic; very much an overview
with perhaps more attention spent to the tools and
less attention given to the heart of Flash - its interactivity.

Flash 5 Creative Web Animation
by Derek Franklin, Brooks Patton

a well designed book for beginners to intermediate
Flash users that want to have a bit more than the
typical examples of how Flash 5.0 works; very nice
sections on interactivity and movie clip (tell target) usage.
comes with CD.

Flash Web Design
by Hillman Curtis

step by step deconstruction of some very advanced 'motion graphics' sites; if you are more interested in the way that graphic designers bring their design to life and animate it then this is the book for you; even if this book is construed as a tutorial it is more advanced and deals with complex animations; not for beginners.

Flash 4 Bible
by Robert Reinhardt, Jon Warren Lentz

a thick volume of information regarding Flash 4.0; along
the same lines as Creative Web Animation book above;
comes with CD and good action script examples (open FLA files)
as well as quicktime movies that take you step by step
through the process. this in itself is worth the price of the book.

 

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www.flashtoolset.com/FTS/features.html
does everything as 3rdd party toolkit, previews for pocket pc, create autorun cd, extract files from swf, asset browser, etc.

www.flashwiz.co.uk/
free application that creates screensavers out of flash files (pc only)

www.swift3d.com/
conversion of 3d to swf files... (pc only)

www.vecta3d.com/vecta3dsite.html
another conversion tool for export from 3dS Max as
well as a stand alone product for PC and Mac...

www.davidgould.com/
Illustrate 5.0 plug-in for 3DS MAX and MAYA (PC only); download the 30-day evaluation copy.

screenweaver.com/
one of many screen saver creators using a Flash swf file (PC only)

swifftools.com/stools/
check out this sight for the latest SWF tools; for Flash Developers; includes links fot SwiffPEG (for conversion of MG3s to SWF files; Screenweaver (listed above to create screen savers from SWF files); use this link to order or evaluate public BETAs. cool.

 

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Director 8 Demystified
Phil Gross
nice thick and strong development of Director's interface, animation and lingo. my favorite (although only for version 8)

Macromedia Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio for 3D: Training from the Source
Phil Gross, Michael Gross
i do not have this but students recommend it to me. they like it.

Director 8.5 Studio: with 3D, Xtras, Flash and Sound
Christopher Robbins
haven't plunged into it yet but seems substantial and received good reviews.

Visual Quickstart Guide: Director 8 for Macintosh and Windows
Andre Persidsky
wonderful beginners guide to Director and how to use it.

 

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Inside 3ds max 4
by Kim Lee (Editor)
wonderful title with newly updated tutorials divided into game and broadcast production. pretty clear and informative. Check out Inside 3ds Max 3 too for section on texturing by Eni Oken.

3ds max 4 Magic
Sean Bonney
many of the tutorials are well done. some are quite a bit confusing. nevertheless, if you are ready to plunge into some advanced and new, sophisticated ways of doing 3d; this is the book. Check out 3ds Max 3 version too.

3ds max 4 for Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide
Michele Matossian
this is the book for the class. it is a one of a kind with clear definitions, descriptions of how max works and beginners style and method of doing 3ds Max. Lack of animation and texturing but then again it is a beginners book and thinner than most out there.

3D Studio MAX 3(r) Professional Animation
Angie Jones (Editor), et al
a wonderful book to teach you how to do character animation using max 3 (hopefully they will follow with a max 4 version soon). clear clean and easy to follow.

The Art of 3-D : Computer Animation and Imaging, 2nd Edition
Isaac Victor Kerlow
wonderful reference guide to 3d terms, the 3d world and 3d marvels in film. a must have for any person wishing to know more than just how to use 3d studio max.

Digital Character Animation 2 : Essential Techniques
George Maestri
a must have discussing digital character animation clearly and this is not application specific but better... it puts into simple words how to create a character for animation. some very important animation techniques that are invaluable to lively animation.

Digital Character Animation 2, Volume II: Advanced Techniques
George Maestri
this book follows digital character animation 1 and guides you through the development of a story (i utilize these ideas in my couse). wonderful although spending less time on how to technically do it but more on how to design an animation and produce it.

Digital Lighting & Rendering
Jeremy Birn, George Maestri
another wonderful book in the Maestri series (see above). this one goes into wonderful detail on 3d lighting and rendering. a must have.

Digital Texturing & Painting
Owen Demers, Christine Urszenyi (Editor), George Maestri (Editor)
another book to sit and use next to the Digital Lighting and Rendering Book mentioned above. Shows you how to build a texture library and how to look at objects and tell a story about them. a must have.

 

Below is a list of books by Bill Fleming; as you can see there are many and none are application specific. Once you become familiar with 3ds Max pick up some of his books. He teaches photorealism and many of his ideas are wonderful.

3D Modeling and Surfacing
Bill Fleming
pick this one up to learn some of the rules of realism (1st in the series; advanced techniques [below] is second).

Advanced 3D Photorealism Techniques
Bill Fleming
wonderful for creating very nice models, grass, etc.

3D Creature Workshop, Second Edition
Bill Fleming
revised and updated; how to create and texture creatures.

Animating Facial Features and Expressions
Bill Fleming, Darris Dobbs
detailed (very detailed) on facial muscles and animation.

Mastering 3D Graphics: Digital Botany and Creepy Insects
Bill Fleming
how to make bugs and plants

 

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www.max3dstuff.com/
Peter Watje's famous free plug-ins page

www.digimation.com/
the main provider of plugins for 3DS Max. You can get a significant student discount through Creative Engine for these plug-ins. Demos available and free plugins too.

max3d.3dluvr.com/pluginsarchives.php
plugins history provided by max3d site.

 

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