Book Description
Create and distribute PDF (Portable Document Format) documents using Adobe Acrobat 7.0. This easy-to-follow guide shows you how to generate Adobe PDF files that retain the look and feel of the original documents, share PDFs, initiate and participate in PDF document reviews, and prepare PDFs for print or the Web. You’ll also learn to develop interactive forms, secure your documents, and create PDFs from Microsoft Office and other authoring applications. With coverage of Adobe Acrobat Standard and Professional editions, this hands-on resource will help you take full advantage of the premier paperless publishing and collaboration solution.
Customer Reviews:
Great Learning Curve.......2006-11-10
I'm just learning Acrobate 7.0 from scratch, although I have a broad background in other applications. This manual has made the leasrning curve much faster, and with less headache. I've been able to find all the answers to my questions.
Helped me polish my expertise.......2006-01-31
I knew enough to do the basics, but not enough to take full advantage of the program. The book is a very helpful desk reference. I am not a professional, but I do make documents in publisher and work, as well as a few things in adobe illustrator. Now I know some tricks of the trade, and wondered why I never bought this earlier! Thanks.
Has info. not available elsewhere........2005-12-05
I got this book for my brother, who just bought Acrobat 7 Professional to create fillable forms with special functions. He tried and tried to do what he wanted, but until I gave him this book, he wasn't able to figure out how to do what he wanted to. This book had the specific information that taught him how to do what he wanted. I was amazed, because he even downloaded a huge amount of information from Adobe's Web site in his search for the right info. and couldn't get what he needed.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who needs to do more than just the basics in Adobe Acrobat 7.
Not for Macs.......2005-11-23
This is not a bad book, but it's mistitled. It should be "How to Do Everything with Adobe Acrobat 7.0 for Windows." It ignores nearly all differences in the program and procedures for the Mac version, and nowhere does it warn you of this. Hello? Anyone home?
easy to read.......2005-08-26
I've used Acrobat since Version 5, but hadn't looked into all the features of the software. After upgrading to Version 7, I decided to maximize my software investment and read up a bit. Being familiar with the "How to Do Everything" titles, and hearing good reviews about the previous version of this book, this book was the obvious choice for me!
In just the first few chapters, it's possible to get a firm grasp of what one can do with the software. The author does an excellent job of explaining Acrobat's features. It's now simple to create sophisticated PDF documents that enable me to share information with my clients more easily than before. Also, adding interactivity to my PDF documents makes it easier for my audience to quickly navigate to the desired part of the document.
If you're new to Acrobat, or looking to increase your knowledge, this is the book for you. It's easy to read, and the information is presented in a logical manner.
Book Description
In this full-color, easy-to-use book, award-winning designer and best-selling author Colin Smith teaches the fundamentals of Photoshop then covers the more advanced features the software has to offer. Learn to use traditional drawing and painting tools ranging from pencils to airbrushes, then discover how to add and manipulate text, retouch photos, create special effects, and more. The techniques professional artists apply to their work are revealed in a special "Behind the Scenes" section.
Customer Reviews:
A Great Way To Learn Photoshop.......2007-05-07
One summer, I audited a graphic design course with absolutely no graphic design background. Completely unfamiliar with Adobe Photoshop, I purchased this book, hoping that I would be able to learn something about the program.
I learned so much more than I ever expected to from this book. The colorful pages and the engaging tone of the author makes this book a great tool. I consider myself 100% competent with Photoshop after reading this book cover to cover. But there is nothing in this book that makes that necessary - other than the fact that it is that interesting. It starts out with the most basic concepts, and slowly details all the ropes of the program.
Three years later, I always refer back to this book (as it is well organized and descriptive). I have also gone on to purchase numerous other books in the series as a result of my positive experience with this one. I highly recommend this book.
Save your money and use your user manual........2007-01-28
This book is good for beginners I guess, and teaches you noting else but the basics. I think the manual that comes with your software gives you as much. A big let down. It should be named "how to start with photoshop and nothing else." It shows you couple of tricks at the end of the book but no explanations, tools used nor process but vage descriptions. Like that is a secret you'll find in a book named "How to do Everything with photoshop CS2." Save your money and just play with photoshop without this book. You'll speed you learning.
Great Book.......2006-12-25
I know a little more about Photoshop than they average Joe. But after reading this book, I feel like a begginer. There are so many things in here that are new to me that I wish I had this book sooner. I found Colin because he donates his time to several websites, not his own, and gives tips. He really does not need to do this. All he has to do is sell his book. The only reason I did not give him 5 stars is because he really needed to include a disk that had the examples and pictures he uses as examples. But even without those, this is a very good book to learn Photoshop with.
Using the images the book uses.......2006-03-16
I think this book has excellent details and instructions for learning Photoshop, but the one thing it doesn't have is a disc or website listed to download the images used in the examples. It is harder to learn the steps when you don't have the images the book uses, so I only give it three stars.
Everything?? Why yes, everything!!.......2006-02-05
I usually get skeptical when I see titles promising everything, but this book delivers!
Colin has hit on each detail of Photoshop CS2.
I've been using Photoshop since v2.0 and it wasn't until now, I realized that I've been doing things the hard way. Colin's explanations of tools like History Brush and Art History Brush will make my day to day work much easier and make me more efficient. Chapter 5 Advanced Layer Techniques and Chapter 6 Demystifying Channels are two must reads. I found myself really exploring the possibilities after reading these chapters. It was like having the same energy as when a child gets a new toy for Christmas.
The book is layed out in a logical format and it's an easy read for any experience level designer, with step by step descriptions and nice graphics and screenshots.
The bonus section with a behind the scenes look into techniques from other pros is a great inspiration to all designers.
I recommend this book as a great addition to any Photoshop users library. There's something for everyone in this book.
Book Description
Delivers the goods on the latest Adobe product for graphics users of all levels. Teaches not just which InDesign command does what but also why it works and when to use it. Includes short, real-world projects that teach just enough information that you’ll be able to learn it and absorb it. Plus, provides details for those converting their layouts from Quark or PageMaker2, and includes a color insert with examples of good layout choices, InDesign’s Swatches palette, and more.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book For Thinking Professional.......2005-11-15
This is perhaps the best book in existence on Adobe InDesign CS for a person interested PRIMARILY in good page design. Bergsland is one of the most knowledgeable typographers and page layout professionals out there. The reader looking for PhotoShop glitz should look elsewhere. This book is for genuine page layout professionals. I have purchased probably every known book about InDesign CS/CS2 and this one is the best! The next best is Real World InDesign CS. Between these two, nothing else is needed. By the way, I am a professional typographer and own my own printing company so I know a little bit about this. Photoshop expertise is available on every street corner - but finding someone who knows professional page layout is rare. Get the book!
Author reviews own book, gives 5 stars.......2005-04-16
Should the author review his own book and grant it five stars?
I don't think so. And for that reason, I wouldn't think of buying the book. There are plenty of other books available to learn the same thing, whose writers haven't tried to subvert the integrity of a user-review system.
I object to Bergland's review of his own book (and the five stars) because these reviews are for us, users and potential users. We expect reports of real experience with the books. We want to know how others not associated with the product regard it. That's reasonable. If Bergland can't honor that, I'm unwilling to buy his book. Period.
First Tech Book I've Ever Liked.......2004-12-12
This book has actually helped me, and I can read it without getting exasperated. The author is smart, and presents good information in a very well formatted text. He clearly knows what he is doing. I am trying to understand font and prepress issues, which everyone knows are a pain.
The book is a reasonable size. I've had the big books, the specialized books, the dummy books, the visual books, and I don't like them. I like this book.
Better than you might think.......2004-05-03
This title is one of the better "How to Do Everything..." titles. Most of the others that I've seen aren't much better than the software manual, except for being in color; that is, they just tell you obvious things, like listing all the tools. This book has shown me some things I didn't already know about InDesign (I've been using it for a while, but never had any real training), particularly things that will make me more efficient. Books on InDesign aren't readily available, compared to Illustrator and Photoshop; any book that isn't awful stands out immediately. I don't think this one is as bad as the other reviewers make it out to be. (By comparison, the "Real World" book on InDesign was loaded with mistakes -- even naming the wrong program in some places -- even in its 2nd edition!)
P.S. Most times, when authors/publishers review their own books, they get no stars, which (unfortunately) Amazon averages in with the other reviews, dragging down perfectly good books. It might be useful for Amazon to fix this so that authors/publishers can self-review without hurting their scores, and without starting such a controversy -- at least the guy identified himself -- see all the articles now about "stealth" reviewers puffing or destroying books as part of an agenda. Come on guys, give the author a break!
Don't Waste Your Money........2004-04-13
Unethical review practices aside, this book isn't that great. I had a look at Borders and I was not impressed by either the content nor its organization. Of all the InDesign CS books I've seen (or seen described so far), Scott Kelby's interests me the most... essentially because he does such good work on his Photoshop books that I know a certain level of quality will be achieved there.
Book Description
There’s so much more to Acrobat than the application that pops up when you double click a file with a PDF extension. Learn how and why major corporations, software manufacturers, and businesses use the full version of Acrobat to create and publish documents for electronic distribution.
Customer Reviews:
Bare Bones Approach.......2005-07-13
I had neither the time nor the inclination to learn Acrobat 6.0. Unfortunately, I did have the need to learn it. I took a new approach for me. I ordered this book, gave it to my nephew to learn (I paid for his time) and told him to learn the program forward and backward. He was then to give me an "executive summary" type of instruction and I would rely on him to do anything beyond the basics. The approach worked, after a fashion but I could have chosen a better text. He learned the basics of the program well. The advanced capabilities were not thoroughly addressed.
In his words: found the "How to Do Everything with Adobe Acrobat 6.0" instructional book to be helpful to an extent. It did a good job instilling the basics but once you reach a certain point you begin to lose understanding for lack of actual interaction with the program. Many instructional guides come with an exercise disc that allows you to participate in different exercises and projects that better your understanding of the program. This particular guide does not, and as a result it is harder to understand certain topics. It has good examples and good illustrations but the lack of hands on experience is crucial.
In short, I am satisfied, barely.
The operative word here is "Lightweight".......2005-03-14
I'm still searching for a really amazing, knock my socks off Adobe Acrobat book, that will take me beyond what I could find in the Acrobat help, or figure out myself. I can capably make a PDF from Word or any other application, I don't care about embedding multimedia, and I still see a sore need to find a book that covers forms really well. This book fails both the breadth test and the depth test; it might as well be one of the "dummies" books. Thanks for nothing!
Should Be Better.......2004-08-09
I purchased this book for an overview of Acrobat 6.0. While there is some good info, too much is not explained fully. There are constant cross references "see chapter 8", no page reference and the bulk of the book is for the pro version. The author spends a lot of time using fancy nomenclature (not technical terms) instead of offering better tips. I would love to see a Special Edition Using Acrobat from Que Publishing. That series is excellent for learning software. I will look for a better book.
Well, it tells ALMOST everything..........2004-07-20
Not bad. Certainly contains a lot of information. It didn't help me figure out how to prevent photo quality loss when sending a file to a print shop (well, it told me why it happened but it didn't tell me exactly how to fix it). However... there are lots of neat tricks and tips for other Acrobat uses. It explained all the options in Distiller and that was helpful. I think we'll get use out of the book at our office... but I'm a little disappointed. It was probably worth the money though.
Will help its reader master the many different components.......2003-09-15
From simple memos to interactive forms, How To Do Everything With Adobe Acrobat 6.0 shows why Acrobat is the tool for any electronic publishing task - including projects that require multimedia. How To Do Everything With Adobe Acrobat 6.0 will help its reader master the many different components and purposes for creating and publishing documents for electronic distribution.
Average customer rating:
- Excited to receive -- Disappointed after reading!
- Fabulous Acrobat Book
- Gain A Greater Appreciation For Adobe Acrobat!
- Very helpful book
|
How to do Everything with Adobe(R) Acrobat(R) 5.0
Doug Sahlin
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Book Description
Another release in the extremely popular How to Do Everything series, this friendly, solutions-oriented book is filled with step-by-step explanations of the various techniques needed for opening and publishing all types of documents in a wide range of platforms using Adobe Acrobat. You'll learn to create and index PDFs and share and edit documents over the Internet.
Download Description
Take Adobe Acrobat far beyond reading PDF (Portable Document Format) documents. Learn to harness the power of Adobe Acrobat--and create and publish sophisticated electronic documents you never thought possible. From simple electronic memos to indexed electronic catalogs, Acrobat is the powerful, flexible tool for any electronic publishing task--including projects that require multimedia. Create, enhance, and edit PDF documents, or use the Internet to share working PDF documents for review or mark-up. How To Do Everything with Adobe Acrobat will help you master the many different components and purposes of this premier electronic document sharing software. NOTE: due to the large amount of text and graphics, this eBook file is 13 MG. We recommend that you download this eBook using the fastest Internet connection at your disposal, otherwise you may notice a longer downloading time than usual.
Customer Reviews:
Excited to receive -- Disappointed after reading!.......2002-05-18
I purchased this book because of the great reviews it received. Wow, what a disappointment! I agree that it is written well and easy to understand, but it is a far cry from learning EVERYTHING about Acrobat 5.0! I am a beginning user so I did learn many things I did not know before, but it tires me when authors waste over 200 pages discussing past versions, especially when one of those is Acrobat READER (the free program). "EVERYTHING" does not mean mentioning a feature or function of the subject program, then referring the reader to yet another book to find out HOW to use the feature. Maybe using the 200 pages for this purpose would have been much better.
Fabulous Acrobat Book.......2002-03-17
Finally a complete book on Acrobat. Don't even waste your money on the Adobe Classroom book on Acrobat. Really expensive and useless. You won't have a clue of what Acrobat really is used for after looking through that. This how to book is somple to read, written in an easy, engaging manner, and gets down to the facts quickly. I woulld highly recommend this one. Thanks to the author for FINALLY writing a comprehansive book on a subject that really needed one
Gain A Greater Appreciation For Adobe Acrobat!.......2002-02-02
Adobe's Acrobat program is one of the premier software solutions available today for creating and sharing PDF documents. The PDF file format (Portable Document Format), is one of the more popular methods of sharing documents online. It offers special security features and maintains uniform viewing of files across platforms. Document page layouts, including fonts and formatting are retained.
How to Do Everything With Adobe Acrobat 5.0 by Doug Sahlin provides extensive documentation and instruction on the use of the latest edition of this leading program. Sahlin demonstrates through the use of screenshots and discussion how Acrobat can easily take captured data and documents, including Web pages, and create professional looking PDF documents for sharing with others.
The book is thoughtfully divided into four sections - an introduction to Adobe Acrobat, creating PDF documents, editing PDF documents, and distributing PDF documents. Book content is extraordinarily well-structured, easy to read, and understandable. Readers may begin reading at the point they feel most comfortable with. Newbies to Acrobat are encouraged to start at the front. More advanced users may focus upon their specific areas of interest.
Major strengths of the book include readability, attention to detail, and the comprehensive coverage of Acrobat features. Readers will learn nearly everything there is to know about Acrobat - gathering and capturing data from a variety of sources, integrating audio and video files to create multimedia presentations, editing and formatting content, adding digital signatures, using document security features, optimizing files, preparing files for use on the Internet, saving and viewing files, and much more. Readers will also learn how to integrate the use of other programs with Acrobat to create file content - including OmniPage Pro 11, PageMaker, and Publisher.
Readers will gain a greater appreciation for Acrobat as a serious publishing tool. It provides smooth conversion of data and existing documents into a format accessible by millions of people around the world - business people, attorneys, engineers, researchers, educators, Web developers, writers, and hobbyists. This is must reading for anyone who wants to use Adobe Acrobat to its full potential as a powerful publishing tool!
Very helpful book.......2001-12-13
I've read other of Doug Sahlin's books, and once again he has written a clear and very useful one! Acrobat is one of those topics that gets overlooked in the sea of books about popular topics such as MS Office. This book helped me get my files into Acrobat, understand how to copy protect them when necessary, create forms, how to best use the Acrobat reader, and how to edit and distribute our PDF files. Good, clear writing style. Recommended.
Book Description
Bring your graphics to life with this vibrant resource that offers easy-to-find answers for beginners to intermediate users. Regardless of your programming knowledge you’ll discover how to create fully interactive and fast loading Web elements such as buttons, menu, animations, and backgrounds. Then, when you feel ready, move into ActionScript programming for some full-throttle creativity.
Customer Reviews:
The Book I Reach for First.......2007-03-20
This book got me going right away creating websites in Flash and it's the first book I reach for when I'm having trouble or trying something new. It's an easy read offering enough detail to let you explore a subject without being overly technical.
A useless book.......2006-03-10
This is not a book that deserves a read. You could find all the materials, presented better, from Macromedia site. It is also not a reference book because a lot of topics are not covered, though it is called "do everything".
Excellent resource for learning Flash MX.......2005-09-07
You will be amazed at how quickly you'll be up and running using this book. I had no experience in flash before I picked this book up and now I use it as a dogeared reference and a tutorial. I liked this book because it takes you from absolute novice and shows all of the interface tools and alot of techniques, all in plain english. It reads like a textbook but with no excercises at the end of the chapters. Although actionscripting is introduced and used in about the last 3rd of the book, it doesn't go heavy into that subject matter, and is honest about it. The bent is definitely more on how to use the tools, importing sound, using text, the timeline, and other graphic concerns. Those are important subjects to master before one dives into actionscript. All of the examples actually work (extremely important). You can download the examples from the website since there's no cd. There was probably extensive editing, which I appreciate...I can't find any typos or errors. The only errata I found were some of the keyboard shortcuts didn't work, but that was a relatively minor hiccup. Overall, I found this to be an excellent resource for learning Flash MX. Kudos to Bonnie Blake!
Short and Concise-Good Book.......2004-03-12
This book got me animating after the first chapter. I like the way it's organized. It made it very simple to learn Flash. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has never used this program before. It's also not boring. Thumbs up
Book Description
The world’s most popular photo editing tool just got easier to use. This user-friendly step-by-step resource breaks down the full range of features and shows you how to become more productive in Photoshop, and even points out potential stumbling blocks for beginners.
Download Description
Harness the power of Photoshop to create beautiful looking images effortlessly. Tackle common problems and technical issues, edit and enhance existing artwork--plus experiment with new ideas and methods to create entirely new visual scenes and schemas. Familiarize yourself with the Photoshop interface and tool palette, then follow along as author Laurie McCanna expertly guides you, in friendly, easy-to-understand language, through all the major functions of this amazing graphics application. Includes helpful advice on keyboard shortcuts, Photoshop Actions, and the history palette. How to Do Everything with Photoshop 7 will help you discover new worlds of artistic splendor and Web-ready visual wizardry.
Customer Reviews:
John Nemerovski MyMac.com Book Review.......2002-12-06
This book begins with a very good introduction to Photoshop 7's many screens, with their multitude of windows and features. Palette and toolbar screen shots are large, clear grayscale images with itemized arrows for detailed explanations. The screen shots are all Windows-only, but Macintosh keyboard commands are given when necessary.
How To Do Everything with Photoshop 7 is particularly strong on basics and fundamentals, and light on project usage of them. The book's structure and concept incorporate primarily an outline-and-discussion method of presentation, with everything referenced to related chapter content elsewhere in the text.
A thorough, patient approach to under-the-hood tedium in Photoshop pervades the writing style, including Chapter Three: "Setting Your Preferences." The grayscale comparative examples, such as different filter effects on page 194, don't have much impact, but they are better than none whatsoever.
This publisher's promise of the How to Do Everything series is to get novices started without too much intimidating technical detail and jargon. Ultimately How To Do Everything with Photoshop 7 acts as a comfortable reference work for newcomers, who will really appreciate the many helpful resources listed in Chapter 14 and the crucial info on "Moving Between Applications" in Chapter 13.
WOULD I BUY IT? As a reference text.
WOULD I USE IT IF IT WAS THE ONLY PHOTOSHOP BOOK AVAILABLE? Yes, but not extensively.
DO I RECOMMEND IT? When tutorial or project books are also available.
MacMice Rating: 3 out of 5
<[...]
Book Description
Use the latest version of Photoshop Elements and this easy-to-understand book to create professional-quality images for print and the Web from your very own digital and scanned images. This guide will show you how to take advantage of the flexible tools and versatile output options so you can be more creative than you ever imagined!
Customer Reviews:
Cover Art as a Loss Leader.......2005-02-05
The only well printed page (in color) is the cover. The book is printed in material that is virtually newsprint -- extremely hard to read and illustrations are poor as a consequence, some to illegibility. The book is in no way an improvement over the original Adobe manual -- or rather, it is in no way comparable. A waste of time and money.
Not very elegant.......2004-07-31
Digital photography is all about color. Why would any publisher release a book on the manipulation of color images in Photoshop with mostly black and white examples?
Save your money
Might have been a great book with color.......2004-03-13
I found the book well-organized and quite lucid. The author clearly understands the program well. The book's Achilles heel (and probably the reason for its relatively inexpensive price) is that there are only a few color illustrations in the center. All of the other illustrations are done in low resolution B&W, making it nearly impossible to appreciate the techniques or changes in images. If the publisher had raised the price a few dollars and done the illustrations in color, the book would be vastly more valuable.
My Best Photoshop Elements 2.0 Reference Book.......2003-01-03
I have three other PSE 2.0 books, but this is by far the best one. Plotkin takes you through every element, tool, method, etc. He has two chapters (52 pages) on layers alone, which to me was especially important. Although he doesn't have a lot of color pictures (using less expensive black and white), the explanations and effects are quite clear and easy to understand. I was really only scratching the surface of PSE 2.0 before I got this book.
I highly recommend it. It is also very reasonably priced as compared to some others I considered.
Book Description
This handy resource teaches you how to generate professional graphics for multiple media, including print and Web. Master Illustrator’s defining feature: creating and editing drawings by defining anchor points and the paths between them. Plus, the book features an art gallery displaying professional work to help illustrate the lessons and inspire you.
Customer Reviews:
There are better options.......2005-09-18
Unlike so many tutorial or reference books on the subject of Illustrator, this book only skims the surface of the key functions of Illustrator.
Things to be aware of:
There are no companion CD tutorials - you're on your own.
This book does not give you detailed information on how to do anything.
A few step-by-step examples are given on some certain methods, but mostly not.
The few examples of "How to" are very high level and do not go into any detail.
This book will not serve as a good reference book - information is to high level and does not include details.
You will have to create your own graphics just to follow along the lessons so you can understand the concept.
On the plus side:
The book now has color illustrations.
The tips on the bottom of each "How To" lesson are very useful.
If you have a general knowledge of Illustrator, this book can be used without the software or a PC as casual reading.
The book is broken down in seven parts:
Part 1 - Prepare Your Illustrator Project
Part 2 - Draw Objects
Part 3 - Add Type
Part 4 - Work with Drawings
Part 5 - Manage Fills
Part 6 - Use Layers and Styles
Part 7 - From Illustrator to Print and Web
This book borders on being useless for people who are seriious about learning Illustrator.
Better books that will help the novice illustrator:
Illustrator CS Hands-On Training by [...] books
The Adobe Illustrator manual/book that comes with the software.
Not as good as you might be led to believe.......2004-05-03
Let me join the other reviewers in panning this book. The color illustrations are nice (compared to the Adobe manuals, which have gotten thin and have no color), but that's about it. The details just aren't there. For example, the author will show you the star tool, and talk about using its dialog box to set options, but doesn't mention using the Command (PC:ctrl) or Option (PC:alt) keys with this tool, nor what they do. So not only does it read a bit like a manual, but it's an incomplete manual. Beyond that, there's not much content -- try Cohen's "Creative Studio" book or Steuer's "Wow!" book, or better yet, get the video training from Total Training.
Useless.......2004-03-02
I don't write reviews but this book was just awful, and the only reason I bought it was because so many people were so enthusiastic about it: this is my opinion and warning, lest others who want a well-organised book make the same mistake.
I don't think the explanations are very good, but my main complaint is with the structure of the book. What good is an explanation of paths if it's then impossible to find out how to set points geometrically without plodding through 80 or so pages in between? Some people want more explanations, some less, but the difficulty of finding what one wants to know quickly and concisely is a major failing in any book which pretends to instruct.
The book is written to be worked through in sequence: the lack of a decent index is proof of that. The dearth of tables and lists is another annoyance. And the chatty tone is DULL and makes it tedious going when trying to find the essentials of an instruction.
I have tossed this book aside countless times and just gone back to my older copy of the Visual Quickstart for Illustrator 10, with much more efficient results.
When one of the more in-depth books comes out I'll probably buy that, since I'm returning this one. For a beginner, I would suggest buying the Visual QuickStart book (which is an excellent series in general) or one of the other basic guides until the Bibles come out. And I would not recommend Adobe's Classroom book, which is lacking in crucial information which they will probably end up selling in an overpriced "companion" volume.
A text for the rest of us.......2004-02-24
So, you are beginning to believe that ten pound illustrator book will become your headstone! Send it to your mother in law, you don't need to start with that much information. How to do Everything........by David Karlins is a clear and concise group of instructions wich will help you jump start your computer drawing skills.
Karlins covers all the basic drawing features of this powerful software, while including particular tips and cautionary notes where required. This book is a refreshing departure from most technical manuals, as it's colorful and easy to understand. There is a significant amount devoted to type and all the special effects which can be achieved. Since Karlins is a professional web designer, he seems to be particularly well versed in the methods to configure an illustration for the Web.
Do not expect that by just doing the exercises in the book one will know and understand the material. As with any type of instructions it is important to set up some challenges of your own to test how far one can take ones instructions.
Read and Practice, Practice, Practice!
A Quick Read.......2004-02-21
How to Do Everything . . . by David Karlins is clearly evidence that in addition to the time he spends teaching Macromedia's Dreamweaver, he has found time to try to "demystify and break down the art of vector art." He points out where the CS version is different from earlier Illustrator versions. He especially praises improvements in the text formatting and the inclusion of better 3-D effect capabilities. It is convenient how throughout the book he includes the keystroke shortcuts for the various actions. David has included a lot of diagrams and illustrations to help understand the use of the various tools and pallets. A lot of time is well spent writing about how to use the various Pathfinder tools. His use of Caution, Tips and Note caveats in each chapter reminds the reader of an area that can use special attention.
Book Description
Written in an easy-to-follow format perfect for this new product, this resource teaches even inexperienced users how to create and burn professional, high-quality DVDs in no time. Intended for videographers, video productions companies, and digital video enthusiasts of all levels, this great guide gives readers help with all the basics, as well as sophisticated DVD features such as subtitles, alternate audio tracks, and motion menus.
Customer Reviews:
Worse than the manual.......2004-07-27
I'm still trying hard to master Adobe programs, and I can say that Encore is the first one that I fully understood. I used most of the features in the program. I ordered this book after reading some online guides and the help file. I read it concomitently with the Encore manual. I think the manual is better. I definitely did not like the style of the author. I think the book would be 20 pages shorter if the author would skip the phrase -for your clients-. (he uses that too much when he addresses the reader).
I think the book has a pretty clear layout and a comprehensive description of most of the features of the software. It has plenty of illustrations, but sometime the text can create some confusion and I would have preferred a screen picture at a different step of the explanation. The manual has much fewer illustrations, but I think that they are more useful. The book covers more some of the integration with premiere and (of course) with photoshop. I would have liked to learn the best format to export from Audition to Encore. I couldn't find that. I couldn't believe that actually the manual gives more creative ideas than this book. On many chapters I felt like the manual was rewritten, the author lenghten some parts and skipped some bits from the software manual.
I would still recommend this book if you read the manual and you need the same explanations in a different style. The book is about the Encore 1.0 version, so I guess is outdated by now, there is Encore 1.5 outthere.
Excellent Text!.......2004-02-17
I highly recommend this book for anyone trying to make sense of Encore. The Encore manual is useless and this book provides smart, entertaining, easy to read instructions with real world applications. It made tasks seem obvious and I had many "so that's how I do it" epiphanies along the way.
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