Reviews (42)

Good but over-rated
Good but it could be much better. The selection of books on this topic is poor to begin with. But this happens to be one of the best in that underserved category.
A Refreshing Approach to Presentations
I ran across this book while researching a college workshop on perfecting presentation, dealing with public speaking and effective use of PowerPoint. As one who has suffered through numerous electronic slides that did little or nothing to augment the speaker's efforts, I was delighted to see this fresh and innovative approach. I believe this process works best, however, when one's speech is primarily persuasive in nature. Although these ideas helped me set up a strong introduction and conclusion, in a recent lecture I resorted to bullet points for the material I felt the students had to master. Perhaps as I get more used to Atkinson's technique, I'll better about using it in lecture. However, the business applications seem quite worthwhile. My students' workshop presentations that used his techniques were highly engaging. I highly recommend this book and the supporting web site.

Powerpoint Presentations that POP
If you do any kind of powerpoint presentations, this book is a must read.It provides insight into why you don't want to have your audience reading while you are presenting.It also provides you options and resources to make your presentations better, more informative and credible. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business Software - MSOffice    2. Business Software - Powerpoint    3. Business presentations    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer Graphics    6. Computer Graphics - General    7. Computer programs    8. Computers    9. Computers - Accounting Packages    10. Graphic methods    11. Microcomputer Communication Software    12. Multimedia systems in business presentations    13. Presentation Software    14. Computers / General   

Reviews (42)

This is the book you need, stop looking...
Im a college student, ive taken multiple classes that were supposed to "teach" us software via textbooks and this is by far the easiest book to follow. I have no formal experience with the software, i just bought it recently because this is the last year i will be able to take advantage of a student discount on software, and i thought it would come in handy... ive burned thru the first 1/2 of the book in 3 nites, prolly 2 hours a nite.. Its not tedious at all, very straight forward and color illustrated step by step... They give you the keyboard shortcuts, as well as the pull down menu commands upfront, and it guides you through the things you will actually use without alot of b.s. i will be ordering the rest of the series on adobe software to learn the rest of the web bundle, probably the best $45 ive spent on textbooks yet.

Well organized and easy to understand
I've tried learning photoshop many times before, but each book I read made me loose interest. This book is fun, and arranged in a way so that lessons are neither too long nor too short.

Get Deke McClelland's instruction books instead
Adobe's instruction book are: very basic, and . . . boring.Get Deke's books--you'll be glad you did. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adobe Photoshop    2. Adobe Photoshop (Computer software)    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    5. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    6. Computer graphics    7. Computers    8. Computers - Other Applications    9. Desktop Publishing    10. Desktop Publishing - General    11. Interactive & Multimedia    12. Microcomputer Graphics    13. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    14. Photoshop   

Reviews (28)

Good Starting Point for Channel Work
If you're just learning about channels, and want to learn ways to make your images look better, this book is a good start. Scott Kelby is certainly one of the most prolific pundits in the PS world, and here he assembles techniques from many sources. Explanations are simple, the techniques are tried-and-true, and the writing is not bad (albeit a bit corny). You'll get a lot better at Photoshop by incorporating these techniques into your workflow. It is indeed NOT meant for Elements users, and assumes use of CS2, although most methods can be used in earlier versions with minor modifications.
Poor description
No part of the description of this item states that the book is only for Photoshop CS or CS2 users.Photoshop Elements 3 (which I have)is a software that is used widely and is still for sale in all software sales locations.
Great explanation of channels in Photoshop
I bought this book because I was confused about channels. Mr. Kelby does a good job explaining, and showing by example, how to work with channels in Photoshop. I read the reviews before I bought this book and noticed the criticism about Kelby's "cute" writing style and lack of detail. I bought the book anyway because I wanted the information. This is a good to great book if you want to know about channels. If you already know a lot about channels you'll probably be disappointed. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adobe Photoshop    2. Adobe Photoshop (Computer software)    3. Computer Animation    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer Graphics    6. Computer Graphics - General    7. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    8. Computers    9. Software - Photography    10. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    11. Photoshop   

Reviews (4)

Practically Worthless
If it didn't have a short precis of each mission, then it would be completely worthless. I was looking for something more along the lines of one of Andy Herd's FSX reviews found at Flightsim website.And Andy's reviews are free!I paid over $20 for this waste of time and paper.Does the writer, Bart G. Farkas, really think people buying this manual are looking to find out the basics of how a plane stays aloft?We wanted the FSX secrets, the down & dirty stuff that only a collaborator with the programmers could have written.What we got was a 2nd grade book report on the very basics of aviation.Save your money, or review a copy before purchasing. You've been warned.

Fledglin
Although the reviewers of October 14, 2006 rated this FSX Guide very poorly. they have inadvertently strengthened the product by giving a very useful and informative errata to the Guide. We applaud their specificity. We also look forward to an immediate, upgraded corrected FSX Guide from Prim Game Guides.

Poor quality
There are many typographical errors.Even worse, the airspeed info is often inaccurate.For example, on page 107, the Boeing 737-800 is listed with a cruising speed of 477 kt but when you read the next line it states that the maximum speed is 147 kt.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Games    2. Computer Graphics    3. Games    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Games/Puzzles    6. Video & Electronic - General    7. Games / Video & Electronic   

Reviews (10)

Covers every aspect of painter
This book does not focus on just one aspect of painter, such as painting photographs or raw illustration.It goes through each different use of painter in good detail.
Great Asset!
This book is a real asset for anyone, experienced or not. Easy tutorials, and many examples of what is possible in Painter IX.

CHOCK FULL OF INFO
This is an excellent book for PAINTER IX users. There are lots of inspiring paintings from many artists and generally good explanations of the processes used to create them. It does a great job of giving insight into PAINTER's extensive capabilities.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer graphics    4. Computers    5. Computers - Other Applications    6. Fractal design painter    7. Fractal design painter (Computer software)    8. Microcomputer Graphics    9. Computer graphics software    10. Computers / Computer Graphics / General   

Reviews (9)

Adobe Illustrator CS2 Classroom in a Book
What is it about the Classroom in a Book series that I devour like ice cream in the middle of August in Texas? It has to do with the richness of the presentation, the simplicity of design and the total coverage of material that you don't get in the box with the CD, or more importantly buy direct online and dont have a manual.
Great
I got exactly what I ordered in a very timely manner.thank you

A quick guide to Illustrator
In a few words what are the capabilities to the package, with a nice companion of labs and examples. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    3. Computer Graphics - Illustrator    4. Computers    5. Computers - Other Applications    6. Desktop Publishing    7. Desktop Publishing - General    8. Interactive & Multimedia    9. Microcomputer Graphics    10. Computer graphics software    11. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design   

Reviews (5)

A comprehensive resource - but not for the novice
Truly Matt Pharr and NVIDIA are at the top of their game, and his "GPU Gems" series is certainly the only one of its kind for graphics professionals that are familiar with GPU's and shading languages already, and want to exploit them for the maximum speed and effect achievable using today's technology. It is not a "how-to" book on shading or GPUs or even advanced graphics. There are equations and code interspersed throughout the book, with bits of wisdom that are very instructive for the initiated. However, if you are a home-grown graphics programmer who knows C, or C++, or Java, and even some assembly language, plus you are familiar with image processing and computer graphics techniques, that will probably not be enough to get you through this book. I would say that this is a five star book for high-level professional graphics programmers who work with GPU specifics and shaders daily, and I would say it is a two or three star book for everyone else.
Excellent Second Book in the GPU Gems Series
This book is the second installment of the GPU Gems book series by NVIDIA. Just like the first book, GPU Gems 2 is a collection of articles by various authors from game development companies, academia, and tool developers on advanced techniques for programming graphics processing units (or GPUs for short). It is aimed at intermediate to advanced graphics developers that are familiar with the most common graphics APIs. The reader should also be proficient in C++. As with the first GPU Gems book, GPU Gems 2 is not for beginners. For professional graphics and game developers, however, it is an excellent collection of interesting techniques, tips, and tricks.
Pretty pictures
This book is targeted at people who have a good solid grasp of either OpenGL or D3D as well as a grounding in programming languages such as C/C++ or Java.While this much is obvious, the book is still painfully difficult to get anything useful out of.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer graphics    5. Computers    6. Computers - Other Applications    7. Microcomputer Graphics    8. Programming - General    9. Real-time programming    10. Computer graphics software    11. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    12. Software engineering   

Reviews (1)

VERY VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
Do you need to edit and organize your photos? If you do, then this book is for you. Author Barbara Brundage, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that is intended to make learning Elements easier by avoiding technical jargon as much as possible, and explaining why and when you'll want to use certain features in the program.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    4. Computers    5. Computers - Other Applications    6. Techniques - General    7. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    8. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    9. Computers / Other Applications    10. Photoshop    11. photography, digital photography, graphics, photo editing, image editing, photoshop, photoshop elements, photoshop elements 5, Adobe   

Reviews (13)

A great buy!
I am a self-taught novice graphic/web designer and I bought this book hoping to be able to incorperate some flash into my works. I downloaded the free 30 day trial of Flash 8 Pro and started working on this book. It worked like a charm. I am half way through the book and I already feel that I have a decent amount of knowledge in Flash.
A Wonderful Learning Tool
I was incredibly happy with Mr. Kerman's book, which, through the heavy use of tutorials, allowed me to become comfortable using Flash very quickly.
Very good book
This is my first review of any book.I felt strongly enough about this book to write up a quick review.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Animation    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - Flash    4. Computer graphics    5. Computers    6. Computers - Desktop Publishing    7. Design    8. Internet - Web Site Design    9. Web sites    10. Computers / Computer Animation    11. Image processing    12. Multimedia   

Reviews (46)

Oh my!
I considered myself an advanced Photoshop user until I read this book. Chapters on selection(8,9,10) and compositing (11,12,13) are simply amazing. If this book cannot satisfy your hunger for truly advanced concepts and techniques, no others on the market will. If you want to be a truely advanced -expert level Photoshop user, anything else is uncivilized. Oh my.

Great Book !
I love this book's layout (an ironically unusual benefit for design books), simple terms, practicality and real-world examples that allow you to follow along step by step.
Excellent Author
This book would help anyone seeking advanced techniques in Photoshop. It is well written in clearly understandable language. Katrin Eismann's other book, Restoration and Retouching is another example of an extremely helpful book. I place her books among the best in Photoshop books along with those written by Ben Willmore. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adobe Photoshop    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics    4. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    5. Computers    6. Computers - Other Applications    7. General    8. Miscellaneous Software    9. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    10. Photoshop   

Reviews (26)

A Must for Photoshop Users!
I have read several Photoshop books and watched training DVDs, but this book focused on my true interest, restoring old photographs. This book was more useful than all the other Photoshop training combined. I highly recommend this book.

Ms. Eismann offers Great Insight...
...into the complicated, sometimes inscrutable world of Photoshop. If you're aspiring to be a professional photographer or post-production assistant, probably the single best thing you can do for your career development -aside from practice, practice, practice- is make sure you own a copy of this book and Ms. Eismann's other work: "Photoshop Masking & Compositing". Study her techniques, apply them to your own images and re-apply them until you can look at an image and know right off which tools you're likely to use and how.
Very informative book
Well written. A lot of usuful examples of Restoration & Retouching using Photoshop CS2. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    4. Computers    5. Computers - Other Applications    6. Conservation and restoration    7. Digital techniques    8. Microcomputer Graphics    9. Photographs    10. Photography    11. Retouching    12. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    13. Photoshop   

Reviews (10)

Teach Yourself, YES! You Can Do It!
I took a Jr. College Class on Final Cut Pro 5 and this was the textbook.The teacher would lecture for an hour and the rest of the time, we worked through the lessons in the book.At the end of the class, we were all able to produce our own short videos.This book is very step-by-step and to be honest, I think that I got more out of going through the lessons than listening to the teacher.I suggest Rick Young's "The Focal Easy Guide to Final Cut Pro 5 for new users and professionals" as a companion book.They both say the same thing, but in different ways.The lessons took me a little longer than the time indicated in each lesson frontpiece, but I sure learned a whole lot about making movies and FCP!

Excelent, comprehensive, straightforward
Very powerful hands-on learning tool when combined with the enclosed DVD. Covers all the functions of Final Cut Pro and allows you to neatly learn hands-on.
Certification book

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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computers    4. Computers - Desktop Publishing    5. Data processing    6. Desktop Publishing - General    7. Digital video    8. Editing    9. Interactive & Multimedia    10. Macintosh (Computer)    11. Programming    12. Techniques - Digital    13. Video tapes    14. Computers / Interactive Media    15. Image processing: video   

Reviews (25)

All illustrations are Black & White !
I have just received my copy. I have not read it yet, just looked
Brilliant
This was a great purchase and has helped me a lot since i purchased it.

A powerful tutorial for a powerful program
The Adobe Creative Team consistently produces the most powerful tutorials for Adobe products, and their manual for Adobe Photoshop CS is no exception. They are always well organized with clearly explained, excellent, and practical excercises.
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Subjects:  1. Adobe Photoshop    2. Computer Books And Software    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    5. Computer graphics    6. Computers    7. Computers - Desktop Publishing    8. Desktop Publishing - General    9. Microcomputer Graphics    10. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    11. Photoshop   

Reviews (29)

The essential tome
Yep.This is it. The War and Peace of dslr photography. This baby is absolutely jammed with useful tips and guidelines. If you can't walk the photographer walk after reading it, at least you'll be able to talk the talk. There are even some unexpected bonuses like little snippets of the history of photography and exactly which giants' shoulders we are standing on when we snap away today. Unless you're already an absolute dslr master, this would be a wise investment.

Best D-SLR Guidebook
There aren't too many good D-SLR guidebooks out there -- and most of them appear to be written by this author.I checked out his "Quick Snap Guide to D-SLRs" and it was very good, but too basic for me.The same could be said for Busch's "Digital SLR Cameras and Photography for Dummies" although it did go into more detail.This book was just right, with lots of in-depth material about using digital SLRs, as well as tips and techniques I could apply right away.This author also has more advanced books on D-SLRs, and I will probably check them out after I've had a chance to learn everything in this book.

Very Concise
I recently got into D-SLR Photography and needed to get up to speed. This was the "manual" that did it for me. Good read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Desktop Publishing    4. Desktop Publishing - General    5. Interactive & Multimedia    6. Techniques - Digital    7. Computers / Interactive Media    8. Multimedia   

Reviews (45)

Take Digital Photography to a New Level
Dan's book has literally changed the way I look at color. His writing style is entertaining and his organization of the book is excellent for what unfolds to be a complex subject. The concept of color perception is hard to grasp. And, it's quite another thing to understand its subtlties when processing digital images. The question always arises: Why don't my image files look as good as what I saw? Dan's book answers that question and many others as it guides the reader/photographer through a few easy steps that will, at a minimum, raise the output quality of images tenfold. For advanced users, there are many gems waiting in this book that will take image control and presentation to another level. If you could have only two digital photography books on the shelf, I recommend this one and Stephen Johnson's On Digital Photography.

Doesnt cut to the chase.
This book is a good one......I guess. The reason why I am not sure is that I have had this book for over a year now and I still havent managed to read it completely. Everytime I start reading it, it loses my interest after the third chapter. The authour would have been happier writing poetry about the LAB colour space. He keeps ranting on and on and on about the LAB colour space but when it comes to actually teaching you something new he does it in less than half the pages of the book. It gets to the point where the reader just goes - Ok, LAB is THE colour space to work in, now would you please stop telling me that after every other paragraph? Too much uselss information and very less practical knowledge.

A Must Read
Much truth is stated in the other reviews here. Although this book can be difficult and wordy, and some of the comments regarding layout and presentation of content are valid, this book is indeed an extremely important work to read in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the inner workings of Photoshop. I personally found that this book, along with Dan's other great "Professional Photoshop" series, took my skills at post-processing to entirely new levels.
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Subjects:  1. Adobe Photoshop    2. Adobe Photoshop (Computer software)    3. Color Computer Graphics    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer Graphics - General    6. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    7. Computers    8. Computers - Other Applications    9. Microcomputer Graphics    10. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    11. Photoshop   

Reviews (16)

Amazing!!!!
With this book i figured out in two days of owning it what i had been trying to figure out since i started tryin to learn the program some time ago. it is an amazing tool that covers everything you need to know to creat great illustrations. i thank my professor for insisting so much, this book is THE Book. Buy it! don't thinktwice.

Insprirational
If you are new to Adobe Illustrator (AI), this is probably not the best book to get started with. Also, IMO the chapters are introduced somewhat randomly. In spite of this, the book has many fine examples of great artwork produced with AI, and for an advanced beginner the book has been a welcome addon to several others I have purchased. I really like the author's writing and teaching style. I'm glad I got this book and recommend it to others.

Classic
One reason I love this book is that it is geared toward more advanced techniques and intermediate users rather than absolute beginners. There are plenty of books written for beginners but there are not many books such as WOW! Book that focuses on teaching beyond the basic skills.
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Subjects:  1. Adobe Illustrator (Computer file)    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer Graphics - Illustrator    5. Computer graphics    6. Computers    7. Computers - Other Applications    8. Desktop Publishing    9. Desktop Publishing - General    10. Microcomputer Graphics    11. Computer graphics software    12. Computers / Computer Graphics / General   

Reviews (10)

Couldn't Be Any Easier!
Just wanted to say that I bought this book with no prior experience with Flash or Studio 8. I found the various modules of Studio 8 confusing so I decided to concentrate on just one and that being Flash 8. Hands on Training is the way to go. Gonzalez made learning the program easy. However, after going through the book, remember that you have to do your part too. Practice! Practice! Practice! Just reading the book or any book for that matter and then putting it on the shelf won't do you any good. Very happy with this book and will buy more HOT titles in the future.

Great for a beginner like me...
I had thumbed through several Flash 8 books in the local bookstore before deciding on this one. What drew me to it was that the examples progress from the basics into an end-result project. You can eliminate chapters if need be with no bearing on the final project as the necessary example files are provided on the disc for each chapter.
A good way to get a strong Flash foundation
A good way to get a good foundation in Flash
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Subjects:  1. Computer Animation    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - Flash    4. Computers    5. Computers - Desktop Publishing    6. Desktop Publishing - General    7. Computers / Computer Animation    8. Image processing    9. Multimedia   

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    5. Computers    6. Computers - Other Applications    7. Desktop Publishing    8. Desktop Publishing - General    9. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    10. Photoshop   

Reviews (7)

A Must Have
I have seen some reviews that said this can't be used to learn Photoshop from the ground up, but that is untrue, because I used this book to teach myself Photoshop with absolutely no prior knowledge whatsoever, and it does a wonderful job of explaining everything. It pretty much covers everything, and I consider it a must have. The only reason it may not be for someone is if they don't learn well from just reading; that, I admit, is a downside of this book. Sometimes it can be difficult to understand what they are talking about by just reading the instructions. If you are sitting by the computer though, it's very easy to follow step by step. If you choose to buy a book with lessons, such as classroom in a book, then I definitely recommend this book as a follow-up.

A Really Great Book!!!
I'm a member of an online gaming community and I was wanting to learn how to make my own "Sigs". After a few hours of reading I was able to use layers to make my first kool looking sig. I also was able to use Photoshop for all the graphics on my web site. If you want to learn to use Photoshop, then this book is a MUST have...

The Manual that Should Have Been.
This is the book that should ship with Photoshop CS2. Excellent. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adobe Photoshop    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    5. Computer graphics    6. Computers    7. Computers - Other Applications    8. Desktop Publishing    9. Desktop Publishing - General    10. Microcomputer Graphics    11. Operating Systems - Macintosh    12. Operating Systems - Windows    13. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    14. Photoshop   

Reviews (13)

This Dummies is a mess!
Dummies books have been a staple of my computing/software resource library for a long time.This book was very disappointing.If you're looking for an organized presentation of the functions and capabilities of Adobe 7, leave this on the shelf.There are few visual examples in the book and very few tutorials that lead you through a topic in any organized way at all.To get something out of this book, I found myself jumping all over the place, following topic and function chapter references tossed in all too frequently, sifting through meaningless and annoying chatty writing, trying to piece together a tool's functionality on my own.And did I mention the writing style?Distracting, distracting, distracting.I felt like I was sitting in a computer class for octogenarians with ADD. Get to the point!!Leave it on the shelf.

Works Great
This book is easy to use and understand. I was comfortable using the program in a week.

Photoshop 7 for Dummies
Reads like stereo instructions. Too many technical graphics terms for a novice photo editor. I usually like the "for dummies" books but this one falls way short of the mark. I would recomend this book only to a seasoned graphic artist that was already familiar with the terminology. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adobe Photoshop    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    4. Computer graphics    5. Computers - Desktop Publishing    6. Desktop Publishing - General    7. Microcomputer Graphics    8. Photo Techniques    9. Photographic Techniques Using Specific Equipment    10. Photography    11. Techniques - Equipment    12. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    13. Photoshop