The Flash MX video object is a wondrous thing, but 90% of people seem to be happy keeping it constrained in a small, square window. Why? Video can be anything that you want it to be, and then some. The experiments in this book will take you through simple video manipulation, kaleidoscopes, emulating TV effects, 360-degree displays, animating vectors over film, dynamic masking, fake blue-screening, blur and focus, combining video with the Comms Server, and much more.

But it's not just for fun. As the world turns broadband, video becomes a more and more obvious choice for content delivery. This is where the web goes another stage further than passive TV—Flash allows video to be truly interactive and grab viewer imagination.

In this fickle world, no one's going to sit still for very long to watch videos play straight across their desktop. So, now's the time to get inspired by some of the hottest designers around, and see what is possible when it comes to adding a twist of creativity to the mix. This book is about learning key skills without realizing it, and producing fantastic results.

All of the assets and FLAs needed to recreate the effects are on the CD that ships with the book.