Foundation ActionScript Animation:
Making Things Move!

By Keith Peters

Please note that there is now an AS 3.0 version of this book available.

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

This book is part of friends of ED's 'Foundation' series

The Foundation series is perfect for beginners to a technology, because it doesn't assume any previous knowledge. Each book in the series takes you step by step through your chosen technology, starting with the absolute fundamentals and working through all aspects of the technology, ultimately providing you with a firm grasp of the basics that will enable you to create your own applications or web sites. You will learn by following complete examples at every stage of your journey, often by extended case studies that you will build upon throughout the book. The Foundation series will give you the broad and solid base you need in order to progress to a higher level of expertise.