Hi there, this isnt much of a techincal post,
I just need some opinions, and such…
A bit about me: (bear with me) I finnaly entered college, I was always intrested in online design, flash and graphics, but none of the schools here offered a New Media Arts major (or such), here in Hawaii. So I settled for Diplomacy and Military Studies major, but my passion for graphics has never subsided…
Now I was learning Flash, action script and other graphic programs on my own but all my knowledge is un orgonized… So i figure I should either
(a) take some online courses, get some certification or something… Did anyone ever do this? Can someone recommend this or not?
(b) Just buy a bunch of books, read em and do it on my own? … Anyone know any good books or such?
—Any other Ideas?
Thanks Sam…
I think you should come here everyday and see what other people are strugling. I learnt alot from people on this site. I first did tutorial one by one, which of course interested me. and put them together to build website. This is currently what I’m doing. People here are all friendly and kind enough to answer stupid questions I always ask. It’s been two weeks, I think I’m addicted to flash and best of all I’m on the roll. Good luck.
RussianBeer,
I have friend that lives on Oahu and he’s in college majoring in web/multimedia.
From my past experience with learning Flash, I’ll tell you this:
School can only teach you so much and has its limits. To truely learn Flash, you’ll need to go beyond that and experiment on your own time.
Before I took a Flash class, I searched Google and tried out almost every tutorial I could get my hands on just so that I would be prepared when I started my Flash class.
Reading books is a plus too, but you need to step away from it and experiment on your own as well. Apply what you learn to something that you can use.
Also visiting this forum has helped me out tremendously as well, by solving other peoples problems, I get a better understanding of how things work so when I encounter the same problem, I already know the solution.
Right, they do have the courses here, but its only a AS Degree at a community college!
Right… Well, I do alot of Tutorials, and I have it under some control… But the online course anyone ever do that? It can possibly help me get a good grip on things, but they do cost $$$.
Hehehe … Thanks so far guys!!
(Any good books out there?)
I agree with what the others have said, tutorials are probably the best way to learn. Here is what I reccomend, do a tutorial study it and play around with it. Then try to take the concepts and use it in something different. Anyone can copy and follow instructions… well most people can copy and follow instructions. The key is actually figuring out what it is that you are copying and why it works. Start simple and work your way up.
The actionscript dictionary is great, don’t overlook it. Many times when I have asked for help people have suggested a command I haven’t used before. The AS Dictionary is very good at telling you what the command does and giving examples. You can get to it through the help menu in flash.
Take a look at what other people are doing and learn how to do it. I’m not saying steal other peoples ideas. I’m saying if you find a cool effect on a website try to figure out how it was done, or ask how it was done. I have had several programming classes and I can’t learn when an instructor is just telling you what to type in. It’s when I try to figure things out on my own and play with the code to see what happens when I change things that I get a better understanding of how things work. The people on these forums know a lot and different people have areas where they are better than others. Overall these forums are the best place on the internet I have found for help with flash. If you do a tutorial and dont’ understand why something works, just ask and someone will probably explain it.
