The pressure on web designers using Flash has been seriously stepped up. Flash 5 is a major revision over Flash 4, and the difference between the two is most apparent in the broader, deeper scope of ActionScript. To use the features of Flash 5 effectively, therefore, a thorough understanding of ActionScript is required. The desire to learn ActionScript at the basic level is addressed in the friends of ED Foundation series. Flash 5 ActionScript Studio takes this basic level of knowledge up towards commercial best practices, thanks to the contributions of a range of leading talents who present abundant real-world examples of their techniques. This book is recommended for web designers who realize that coding is the way ahead at the top end of the industry, Flash movie creators who need urgently to get deeper into interactivity, and those who are competent in ActionScript but still need guidance from the experts. The book is split broadly into three sections. The first of these serves as a quick lesson/refresher in ActionScript syntax and technique, focusing on the notation in Flash 5 ActionScript, and its relationship with object-oriented programming. Flash 5 ActionScript presents all of its functionality in the form of objects, and each of these is dissected with examples of its purpose and use. Section Two consists of a set of self-contained examples that each demonstrate a particular use of ActionScript, including topics such as interface design, real-time 3D processing, interaction with JavaScript, and using data in XML files. Finally, the third section comprises worked case studies that involve ideas from all the preceding chapters, along with insights into the design processes used by the authors as they put together their ActionScript-rich movies. What you’ll learnWho this book is for Flash 5 ActionScript Studio assumes a readership that already has a reasonable understanding of ActionScript and some HTML. Readers will likely be existing web design professionals with 4 to 6 months of experience with Flash 5, or considerable experience with Flash 4.