ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, to Lindsey, who has been my link to reality through this amazing experience. Her support has not only seen me through this project, but all of the projects prior that led to me being able to contribute to this book in the first place. Thank you.

To Mom and Dad, thank you for the tools. They are not perfect, but they are mine because you cared enough to make sure I had them. They have made all the difference in my life.

To Sherry for always cheering for me.

To Greg Kaplan (www.rootsolutions.com) and Tamara Yee (www.yeezersinteractive.com) for constantly raising the bar and then patiently helping me reach it.

This book would not be a book without the talent and hard work of the editorial and production teams at Apress. It has been truly amazing to watch our primitive manuscripts evolve through developmental edits and technical review that, when combined together with the production layout process, produced what you would most certainly call a book when you flip through it. A big thank you to all who have worked so hard with us on this book to bring it to its current form.

To the Flash team at Adobe for continuing the evolution of this tool. Without their ingenuity and openness with the Flash development community, we would have little to write about.

To every author of every Flash book and online tutorial I've ever read. Without them, finding my way through Flash would be much like eating a soup sandwich. A special nod to Colin Moock, who single-handedly cracked open the guts of ActionScript, poured them into a book, and pointed at all the parts in a way that made sense to me.

To Tom and Joe Costantini of Two Animators! LLP (www.twoanimators.com) for pushing my limits and inspiring me, and who, together with Steven Karp of Karptoons (www.karptoons.com), lent me insight into their approach to character animation in Flash.

To Woody Scally and everyone at Mosaic Learning (www.mosaiclearning.com) for allowing me the luxury of a full-time job and the flexibility I needed to complete this book.

Finally, to Paul for inviting me to join him in writing this book. Thank you.

Chris

To Clay for giving us the opportunity to write this book and his incomparable grace. What an amazing person to have met.

To Denise, the lady who shares my love of the kitchen—I can only say thank you, I'm sorry, and I hope you still have all your hair. If we are ever on the same coast, I owe you a meal!

To Valerie—I appreciate your work very much. I don't know how I would have kept my sanity without you. Thanks for seeing me to port.

To Ollie for hanging in there! Your insights and encouragement were always helpful.

To Kunal and Serge for picking up the slack and plugging the holes.

To Ami, Laura, and everyone thereafter—Wow! You guys have definitely cornered the market on spit and polish. Thanks for all your hard work.

To all the fish that died during the writing of this book—sorry fellas, better luck next time!

To Chris—you had better watch whose hand you shake in the parking lot, they may steal 6 months of your life. Thanks for being a stand-up guy and really going to bat late in the game. I will never figure out when you sleep, but I am thankful for how much you gave up.

Paul

I would like to thank Paul Milbourne for having me on this fine book and to all the staff at Apress who put up with my constant delays. It is amazing how patient they have been. I would also like to acknowledge my wife and my coworkers and business partners for giving me the time and support to do it.

Ollie