What started as a simple animation tool has evolved into a full-fledged Web development environment. Which means that if you're like many of today's Flash developers, you may know little about actually creating animations and effects with the program. Here to solve that dilemma is a hands-on guide from one of today's leading Flash experts. By showing you how to create 15 projects based on real-world Web solutions, author Jen deHaan provides a thorough grounding in all of Flash's effects and animation fundamentals. Each chapter represents a single project with simple step-by-step instructions for re-creating the cool Web elements pictured in these pages: a short logo animation with various types of motion tweens, an animated banner, a "speaking" animated character, video floating over Flash content, a Flash interface that uses transitions to "page" through different areas of a site, navigation and graphic effects, and more. Fifteen real-world projects reveal the magic behind the most useful Flash-produced animations and effects, and a companion CD includes lesson files and sample software.