Say Web – Flash and ActionScript Tutorials, News and Interviews

Complete Coverage. His work is impressively extensive. He covered a lot, and looks to me, of the on line ActionScript tutors he is by far the most complete. Todd Perkins is the author of a series of well produced, technically impeccable series of Actionscript and Flash Tutorials. It is simply impossible to accuse anyone of favoritism since all major tutorial and technical powerhouses chose Todd for their ActionScript guides and manuals. Lynda, O’Relly you name, he is there, somehow.

Tutorial Clips. Instead of long 90 minutes tutorials, Todd’s work is divided tutorial themes of around 10 chapters, each chapter organized with several episodes of around 5 minutes, which makes is very handy when using it for reference. Their are dense and precise and it is clear to see that he is not working alone. On every single item the source files are included, start and final. I watched (and still watch) most of Todd’s work, and I can easily guarantee that checking his extensive coverage is one of the safest investments out there, for all those looking to improve his Flash and ActionScript skills.

Interview. I was able to reach Todd, despite his busy schedule and intense email traffic, and upon receiving his compliments on say-web’s educational efforts, as a courtesy, Todd gave us the privilege of an quick interview. Here are the complete questions and answers, unaltered.

Say-Web: I meticulously watched most of your tutorials, some of them several times, because they are technically impeccable, this means they are reliable, the coding is clear, the information is always there nothing missing. Can you tell us a bit about their success and the results they had? How far did they reach?

Todd Perkins: There was a lot of talk with my producers when I started recording titles for Lynda.com about making programming training very clear and easy to understand. I’m a pretty simple guy, and have a real appreciation for things that are explained in a small amount of clear and direct language, so I’ve always tried to do that with my training. While I do not have the numbers, I know that a substantial amount of people watch all of my titles each month, even the first title I recorded (ActionScript 3.0 in Flash CS3 Essential Training).

Say-Web: You state on http://www.chadandtoddcast.com/ that what you love the most is is “playing video games with his amazing wife”. Do you see this as a trend? Does this help training? Does your wife participate on your work? Do you know a lot of couples like that ?

Todd Perkins: Games have been a significant part of my life since I was 5 or 6 years old. Back then, games were considered nerdy, even for kids. Now, it’s cool to like games. I love that! My wife happened to grow up playing games as well, and we still play some old games together- Megaman 2 is our mutual favorite. I find playing games helps me to think more creatively, and I actually find inspiration for my Lynda titles through playing games. For example, I’ll fall in love with a particular game, and try to mimic some of the features of the game in applications I make for training. My wife helps a lot with my work, and is incredibly supportive. That support sustains me, particularly when I’m working on high-stress projects like writing books. Many of the other authors I know personally at Lynda.com have supportive spouses as well and share a lot of common interests and passions.

Say-Web: Adobe recently made two very important announcements. First. All ActionScript 3.0 on CS5 will be “exportable” to Iphone. and Second: They will be giving Flash Builder for free to anyone wiling to develop applications for Sales Force. Both moves have been widely seen as a move secure ActionScript and Flash as a cloud development platform. How do you see these moves? Will these moves prove to be effective? How will they affect the market? Do you believe on a developer migration from other platforms to Flash or from games to applications?

Todd Perkins: Seeing the popularity of both Flash and the iPhone, combining the two technologies can be nothing short of effective- especially for game development. Learning OpenGL for iPhone games is incredibly complicated. I went through some tutorials and it took a few hundred lines of code (possible exaggeration) to draw a triangle! ActionScript and Flash are both very user-friendly when it comes to working with graphics. If the performance is good enough on actual devices, I foresee Flash-created iPhone games having amazing popularity. I don’t picture anyone moving from using OpenGL to using Flash for iPhone games, but I have no doubt that as soon as Adobe releases the technology publicly that there will be a substantial growth in the App Store. This seems like a technology suited best for simple 2D games, so that’s what I picture coming out of Flash + iPhone the most.

Say-Web: Of the tutors and teachers out there you are between those who have a good reputation, the proof is that Lynda.com picked you out of several. Of your experience as a guide, what is the most common obstacle aspiring ActionScript 3.0 developers have? What is your advice for them?

ActionScript 3.0 has a pretty tough learning curve for people that are new to programming, and a lot of people coming to my Lynda.com titles expect to be able to learn everything overnight. They get frustrated when they make errors and immediately send me emails to fix them. For people that are new, my best advice is to learn how to read the error messages to find problems in your code so you can learn how to fix them yourself. Another tip is to know that there aren’t too many people out there who know everything. I look through Flash Help just about every time I use ActionScript, because there are thousands of built-in methods and properties, and I simply can’t remember them all. Become acquainted with searching for your own answers early on. That is the best way to become a Flash master in the least amount of time.

//// End of Interview.

Our sincere thanks and admiration to Todd.

Connect to Todd Perkins and useful Links:

• Todd’s Website: http://www.chadandtoddcast.com/
• ActionScript 3.0 for Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Hands-On Training. I watch this tutorial almost entirely (on video) and can personally, extensively recommend and endorse.
• ActionScript 3.0 Projects: Game Development. I watched most of this tutorial and is very good. One small warning: this one is NOT for beginners.
• Mega Man Anniversary Collection
• Search Engine Optimization for Flash
• Todd and Chad’s You Tube Chanel

Some of Todd’s best titles, such as ActionScript and Beyond are available only through Lynda.com