Flash Video for Professionals: Expert Techniques for Integrating Video on the Web, is a new book by by Lisa Larson and Renee Costantini

The book provides a framework and the professional solutions to make custom Flash video more accessible to those with intermediate programming skills. But it’s not just a programming guide. This book provides a step-by-step workflow and guides the reader through:

• understanding client needs and setting expectations

• obtaining source video and optimizing for web-based playback

• creating a site or web application that incorporates video

• creating and skinning a player with Flash

• publishing a site (including a discussion of hosting requirements)

• exploring serving options (streaming vs. progressive download)

• enabling the client to update their site with automated tools.

The book takes the developer through the process of gathering and preparing content, asking the right questions, determining the scope of the project and writing the project proposal. Authors Lisa Larson and Renee Costantini cull from their professional experience of running their own digital media company to explain in detail the special considerations in deploying Flash video applications, with ideas for solutions as well as avoiding the most common pitfalls.

Readers will explore real-world requirements and torture-tested methods needed to deploy the finished application to the web, as well as the intricacies of setting up a work environment, best practices and application design, and ActionScript. Detailed code examples are provided to drive home concepts. The book covers the most recent ActionScript language, with special attention given to bridging between versions. Flash Media Server 2 is discussed, along with filter effects, webcams and data sharing. This book is a must-have for the professional Flash developer or designer who needs to expand their skill set to include interactive video delivery.

The book is available via Amazon