After Effects region of interest

Chris Jackson's book, Flash + After Effects was written for After Effects CS3 and Flash CS3, but there's still a lot of great information in this book for users of After Effects CS4 and Flash CS4.

For example, the chapter on exporting SWF files from After Effects is just as relevant as it was when it was written, since that feature hasn't really changed since After Effects CS3. I found Chris's chapter to be a really good practical companion to the reference section in After Effects Help, "Render and export a composition as a SWF file".

Similarly, the techniques described in the chapter on creating SWF files and QuickTIme movies from Flash for import into After Effects are still valid and useful. I think that Chris did an especially good job of explaining the technical specifications of video standards for the Flash user, so that you can prepare your work in Flash such that it works well on a TV screen. (One change for CS4, though, is an update to pixel aspect ratios and frame dimensions.)

Of course, we also added a few things to After Effects CS4 to make integration with Flash better, like exporting a composition to an XFL file. I hope that Chris covers those in a new edition of this book soon. But, until he does, you'd be well served to pick up the currently available version and check out the "Rendering and exporting for Flash Professional and Flash Player" section of After Effects Help for the new stuff.