Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. Data Processing - Optical Data Processing    6. Applied optics    7. Computers / Optical Data Processing    8. Image processing   

Reviews (5)

Why does it matter?
`That's the question that both haunts me and excites me.
Branding for the rest of us
I am not a CEO, owner, entrepreneur, SVP of marketing, nor do I work in a company struggling to turn a fourth-tier brand into a world beater. Those are the native audiences for this wonderful, finish-it-in-a-plane-ride book. I'm a writer and consultant trying to explain branding to fundraisers, and what I intensely like about Marty Neumeier's brief "whiteboard overview" (his phrase) of branding is that it answers ALL my questions about branding and brand strategy quickly, simply, with nicely selected examples. It starts with what branding is NOT (not your logo, not your visual ID, not your products). Then it defines what it truly is, "A brand is a person's gut feeling about a product, service, or company." That's in the first couple of pages. But of course there's so much more. I love a good, insight-rich how-to book the way others love a good mystery. The Brand Gap is among the best.

Marty Neumeir's The Brand Gap - Should Be Required Reading
I met Marty more than 20 years ago in Santa Barbara before he moved to San Francisco to make history helping Apple Computerand most other big internet names you know develop their brands. I was very young and had a one truck carpet cleaning company. I was lucky enough to persuade Marty and his team to take me on as a client. The best money I ever spent. He made my little company look and feel bigger than the giant franchise companies.
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Subjects:  1. Advertising & Promotion    2. Brand name products    3. Business & Economics    4. Business / Economics / Finance    5. Business/Economics    6. Computer Graphics - Design    7. Corporate & Business History - Strategies    8. Marketing    9. Marketing - General    10. Planning    11. Product Management    12. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    13. Sales & marketing   

Reviews (5)

Great Information
A great exploration of the hypershader and detailed info about creating custom shaders. Gain a great understanding of the principles behind the on screen magic.

Texuring Lighting for the Advanced
There are few resources that compile years of industry experience into one reference guide.Lee Lanier has done just that with this book..With his background in Hollywood Special FX and Animation, working on such movies as Shrek, and Antz; his real world experience comes through in this easy to follow reference guide. This book is for those Maya users who wish to push texturing and lighting and who wish to learn specific tricks and technical aspects of the Maya Texturing and Lighting pipeline.Lee takes the time to explain the How and more importantly the Why of the techniques that the professionals use.I recommend this as an essential resource for anyone's reference library who uses Maya professionally, or even as a hobbiest!

I learned more from this book than I did in school!!
I have a degree in media arts and animation and I studied many books and online tutorials for Maya. It soon became clear that those information sources would give you clues into learning new tools and techniques, but you had to decipher those clues on your own to determine the intention of the author.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Animation    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - Design    4. Computer Graphics - General    5. Computers    6. Computers - Other Applications    7. Computer graphics software    8. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    9. Image processing: computer animation   

Reviews (9)

Not much good as a reference
Although this book may be very useful to someone who has had no prior experience with an image editing program before, I have found it particularly frustrating to use because I have never been able to find help on any subject I have needed a quick reference on without a great deal of searching.I am used to Photoshop related books that normally provide a decent index where one can look up a topic and get to it in a hurry.Not so with this book; I have to hunt and hunt to find out what I am looking for, if I can find it at all, without just experimenting with Gimp.On the other hand, it will probably be more useful to first time users of image manipulation programs simply because in its peculiar way, it does actually cover most topics, eventually, and if one read it through from the beginning it would probably help.My conclusion:It could be much better organized and indexed.

Easy to understand advanced book
Best general usage Gimp book I have read (and I have readmany).
Finally, a great resource for GIMP
Finally, there is a book on GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) that I can recommend without reservations.Personally, I love using the GIMP program for image manipulation and find that it has always been able to do everything I have ever needed.However, most of that knowledge has been gained through a long process of trial and error.Beginning GIMP is a treat to read through and explore the different techniques and effects that are possible with the program.Written at a level for the complete novice it is easy to understand and the author does an excellent job of walking the reader through complex subjects by explaining them well and then demonstrating how to do it.Some of the areas discussed include working with digital photos, drawing, using filters, creating special effects, and advanced composition techniques.If you want complete flexibility to create and/or modify your digital photos or drawings and get the results you want then GIMP will give you that flexibility and power.Beginning Gimp: From Novice to Professional is highly recommended and the first book I would recommend for the user new to GIMP. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computers    4. Computers - Desktop Publishing    5. Computer graphics software   

Reviews (13)

A Great Book!
This is indeed a great book for both beginning and experienced photoshop users. Although it helps to get the "Photoshop CS2 One-on-one" combined with it if you're just starting out, but the author still gives a tutorial on the basics for those of you who are still a tad green.
Great book for beginners...
I'm in the game industry, and this book is right on in its techniques, and tutorials! This guy knows what he's talking about, and his easy to follow tutorials are great. Beware, this book is more for begginers, showing you the basics. I do wish he had gotten a little more into advanced technique in photoshop.

A must have for game artists!
Luke Ahearn has done an impeccable job of compiling so much information into a concise, thorough and informative book.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Design    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer Graphics - General    5. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    6. Computer games    7. Computer graphics    8. Computers    9. Computers - Desktop Publishing    10. Computers - General Information    11. General    12. Interactive & Multimedia    13. Programming    14. Computers / Interactive Media    15. Photoshop   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (26)

Indispensable Reference
Large books, by their very nature, can have good points and bad points. After all, if you have a couple or several hundred pages worth of material, you are bound to get some things right and some things wrong.
Exactly what it is supposed to be ..
Great little reference book.It is not intended to be a learning tool.If you want that, try the Head First book on HTML/XHTML/CSS that O'Reilly also publishes.
Works like expected.
I've used this pocket reference for a long time now and I love it. It's a great way to refresh your memory when you can't seem to remember a property and/or its value.
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Subjects:  1. Cascading style sheets    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer Programming Languages    5. Computers    6. Computers - Languages / Programming    7. Design    8. Desktop Publishing    9. General    10. Internet - Web Site Design    11. Programming Languages - HTML    12. Web sites    13. Computers / Internet / Web Site Design    14. Computers / Languages / Programming    15. Computers / Programming Languages / HTML, SGML, VRML, XML    16. Computers/Internet - Web Site Design    17. HTML    18. Publishing on the Internet   

Reviews (4)

Go further in describing the sharpening process.
Two powerful new titles are top picks which stand out from the computer books on the market. Bruce Fraser's REAL WORLD IMAGE SHARPENING WITH ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS2: INDUSTRIAL-STRENGTH PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES goes beyond more general discussions of sharpening tools to pinpoint the kind of sharpening each image needs, and how to use Photoshop CS2's many tools to achieve perfection. Learn the range of these tools, their differences in application, and how to sharpen selectively in a book which comes form an internationally recognized authority on digital imaging and color image reproduction. Chapters assume a basic grounding in Photoshop but go further in describing the sharpening process.
In Focus
There are plenty of books by Photoshop gurus that explain the software's tone and color controls and most users can usually master these functions if they make a serious effort.But one function that always seems rather inexact is the detail function, as exemplified by the sharpening tools.This still seems to be a rather hit or miss proposition, and there has long been a need for more detailed instruction on this function.Fraser takes the function on, and even if you don't agree with all his recommendations, this book should clarify what sharpening is about.
Pretty Good
This book nicely compiles all of the information regarding multi-stage sharpening workflows Mr. Fraser has previously published in various articles over the years. If you've never read any of them, then this is a definite must buy. If you've read all of them, you won't find a lot of new information here aside from the highly welcome detailed explanation of CS2's Smart Sharpen filter. Adobe's own documentation has always been pretty ambiguous as to what all the little checkboxes and sliders do in the new dialog.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Image Processing    3. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    4. Computers    5. Computers - Other Applications    6. Desktop Publishing    7. Desktop Publishing - General    8. Microcomputer Graphics    9. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    10. Photoshop   

Reviews (10)

The mysteries of Photoshop unlocked
I have been struggling to make full use of Photoshop CS2's remarkable power, and it wasn't until reading and using Colin Smith's wonderful book that it all finally began to make sense.Not only is everything explained in clear language in a step-by-step way, but the companion CD allows you to go through the steps and get hands-on experience working with Photoshop so you can really understand what you're doing.
no doubt about it
......in less time than it takes to get up, carry the trash to the bin 15yds. from where i sit,.... adobe raw's wonder, became a part of my thinking...... i am not nesessarily a teach yourself book person, but i was familiar with colin' work, and commend the way he " shares " information, so i opted to purchase this gem of a manual. suffice to say, i've not been bored yet. In less than 10 minuets, raw became a whole new dimension, and figuring out the bridge ( somewhat ! ), was not far behind.
Covering all the new features of CS2
Colin Smith's COMPLETE PHOTOSHOP CS2 FOR DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHERSprovides tutorials covering all the new features of CS2. It's designed and written for digital photographers and provides all the basics to organizing, enhancing and touching up images, and includes start-to-finish instructions for everything. Add five video files from PhotoshopCafe and screen shots and photos in full color throughout and you have a digital photographer's dream reference. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computer Graphics - Photoshop    4. Computers    5. Computers - Desktop Publishing    6. Desktop Publishing - General    7. Digital techniques    8. Image processing    9. Photography    10. Techniques - Digital    11. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    12. Photoshop   

Reviews (39)

Great tricks
This book has some great tricks, mostly for me it was more the steps to do the tricks which can be used in other designs. Its a good book to learn about different ways of doing things in photoshop.

PhotoshopCS Down & Dirty Tricks
Although this was written for CS and I've since upgraded to CS2 I still find the book extremely useful for those quick tips that can make a big difference to your image. Additionally "Down & Dirty" speeds up your production of projects as you get to learn about the new features that make Photoshop the number one product in its class.
THE TRUTHfrom someone who knows what they're talking about
Here are some noteworthy tutorials perhaps you may find a use for, even though I did not: DVD mockup, Book mockup, Grudge Effect, Making a Photo Look Old. The best tutorials are by Felix Nelson, because they are original and unique. Scott Kelby's stuff is kitsch. He copykats what graphic designer's are doing today and recreates a cheap knock-off tutorial for this book. Best Buy, American Pie's Logo, etc. Why the hell would I want to make a logo that looks just like American Pie's logo? Or a logo that looks just like EA Sport's logo? How trite. But if that's your thing to steal, mimic, and make crappy versions of the original then go ahead. I used to respect Kelby, mmm not so much anymore. Anything for a buck and reproduce filler garbage for the masses. I pity anybody who uses this for commercial purposes or for anything that the public will see. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adobe Photoshop    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computer graphics    5. Computers    6. Computers - Desktop Publishing    7. Desktop Publishing - General    8. Microcomputer Graphics    9. Techniques - Equipment    10. Computers / Computer Graphics / General    11. Photoshop   

Reviews (12)

Creating your web master piece
What this book does in basic terms is walk you through the process of website conception to managing your website once it is on line and everything in between. It covers all of the information that you will need to get your site up and running. Some of the the subjects are covered very well like the use of CSS, adding graphics, flash animation, design elements, templates, HTML, Meta tags and the use of graphics. All subjects are covered in ample detail.
Misses the mark.
I am new to web design but am pretty good with computers.I have been producing and editing music for fun for years.This book is dicey at best.There are good points, but overall it is hard to follow and gives a poor explaination of Dreamweaver's features.Hopefully, the author is better in the classroom than she is in this text or I feel sorry for her students.

EASY READ
I love this book!!!Very easy to use and follow, explanations are in english not tech words.I started to create my first website using dreamweaver 8, I read the book it came with, and didn't understand what I was doing.After reading the first two chapters of dreamweaver 8 for dummies, I was starting to create a website like a pro. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - General    4. Computers    5. Data Processing - General    6. Internet - Web Site Design    7. Computer graphics software    8. Computers / Internet / Web Site Design    9. HTML   

Reviews (3)

A Walkthrough, without the spoilers
This strategy guide did a credible job of helping me locate important items without spoiling the plot. Without this book, I would have missed out on most of the sidequests and optional battles.You can only access some of these extra features of the game during a specific point in the story.
The walkthrough starts on page 122.
There are 240 pages in this walkthrough but the walkthrough doesn't actually start until page 120 with a picture.
First impression is disappointment
I have to admit, I havn't actually started the game yet, but I just received the guide and would like to point out that it has absolutely no maps in it.I can't imagine what the guide author was thinking, considering that there are numerous internet sites that give walkthroughs for free, and the main advantage of buying guides for RPG's is the maps.The editorial description above saysthat the guide contains "Detailed area maps", but I can assure you this isn't true. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    3. Computers    4. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    5. Interactive & Multimedia    6. Role Playing & Fantasy - General    7. Video & Electronic - General    8. Video & Electronic - Sony Playstation    9. Games / Video & Electronic   

Reviews (1)

This book is nicely laid out!
I have been publishing 2-d and flash games for a bit, and now need to hit DirectX for 3d again (stopped at v8) and need to catch up.There were several things I needed for the new game project starting and it was easy to find all of them right off the bat.I checked first in the index.e.g. I need landscape/terrain generation, .x file loading, and concepts described in pure mathematics (not pseudo code) before showing the actual code. Don't be afraid of matrix math/calculus and get this book.It is a total re-write from the ground up of a previous book.I like this guy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer Programming    5. Computer games    6. Computers    7. DirectX    8. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    9. General    10. Programming    11. Video & Electronic - General    12. Computers / General   

Reviews (7)

Perfect
This is exactly what i was looking for, i think this is an amazing book if you want to learn....you have to get it.

needs more depth
after using this book for a while I find it needs to go into more detail on how tools work and common errors.For example the birail and curve editing tool are give about 4 sentencs but are used alot.
Horrible book
Too many steps in this book are vague and don't account for the fact that Maya doesn't always give you the results you are aiming for. The author will explain 2 or 3 steps very well then he seems to give you very little info for the next step, as if rushing through it like "well you should know all this." He assumes too much and in the end I found myself frustrated and lost. I mean if you get the end results but didn't understand the process you did to get there, then did you really learn anything? I go tired of spending 15 minutes staring and 2 pictures and trying to figure out what he did, since he didn't have the brains to tell me in print. Feels like yet another pro trying to teach when he can't remember what its like to be on the level of those he is teaching. If this were a class I'd have to raise my hand every minute and ask him to slow down. Oh, and NO I am not totally new to Maya and I've had very good luck with other books, so its not just some total noob venting. I've tried for weeks now to get into this book, there is just no way to do so as I see it.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Animation    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer Graphics - General    5. Computers    6. Computers - Other Applications    7. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    8. Image processing: computer animation   

Editorial Review

Clint Eccher has designed professional Web sites for seven years and now makes some of his designs available as templates through his own site (A5design.com) and with his new book, Read more

Reviews (25)

Leaves something to be desired
As a Web professional, I'm always interested in reviewing the work of my peers, seeing what I can learn from them. I visited the author's Web site and perused his portfolio since a look inside the book wasn't available here, and I was more than a little disappointed. The integration of his CSS/XHTML is flawed and it just doesn't display the way it should on the major operating system/browser combinations that it should. With this in mind, any advice from the doesn't hold much water for me. I was most interested in this book as a source of inspiration, and have found the Taschen series much more to my liking.

useful book - good "jumping off point"
I was particularly interested in the templates found on the CD-ROM. As others have noted, these designs are created with nested tables. The art is created in Photoshop. Having "picked" at a couple of templates, I'm now seeing where the various images are and how to manipulate them. I wish, however, that the authors had used layers rather than templates. I'm finding that the best way (for me) to utilize these templates is as a basis for a new design by starting with a blank HTML page and replacing the tables and with layers.

Useful and up-to-date content
Web technology evolves so much in these years. This book introduces various kind s of modern web design and development and the essential points during the process. The enriched and useful contents are benifitial to the design and development on any state. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: Web Programming    3. Computers    4. Design    5. Interactive & Multimedia    6. Internet - Web Site Design    7. Programming Languages - General    8. Programming Languages - HTML    9. Web sites    10. Art / Graphic Arts    11. World Wide Web (WWW)   

Subjects:  1. AutoCAD    2. AutoCAD (Computer software)    3. CAD-CAM - General    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computer graphics    6. Computers    7. Computers - General Information    8. Drafting & Mechanical Drawing    9. Computer Software Packages    10. Computer aided design (CAD)    11. Computers / CAD-CAM / General   

Reviews (8)

Flawed, but still worth a look
This book could have really been excellent with a little more work.It contains all the elements you'd want.A programming overview, a Torque overview, sections on the architecture of Torque, sections on torque script, really nice large reference sections, a step by step game project in torque, and lots more.Sounds great right?Well, it would be, except for the really poor organization of the book. Fully half of the book is not in the bound softcover book, but rather on the cdrom that accompanies it. To me this largely defeats the purpose of buying a book, since if I wanted to rely on online references I could always just go to the garagegames website.
"The Game Programmer's Guide to Torque" is invaluable
"The Game Programmer's Guide to Torque" is, in my opinion, far superior to any other Torque book available, including "3D Game Programming All In One". I own both books and definitely prefer the newer book (GPGT). It not only helps you to learn Torque and understand various concepts (datablocks for example), but also acts as a great reference document as well (I found myself skimming through sections that go into great detail on setting up sun/water/other things that weren't immediately important to me during my first read through and referencing them later).
Great Reference for TGE Programmers
If you are planning to start writing games in TGE (Torque Game Engine), it would be beneficial to you to start picking up a book on TGE since the documentation on the website regarding tutorials and references require sometime to find and some may be alittle outdated.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    3. Computer games    4. Computers    5. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    6. Programming    7. Video & Electronic - General   

Subjects:  1. Adobe InDesign    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Computer Books: Desktop Publish    4. Computers    5. Desktop Publishing    6. Desktop Publishing - General    7. Typography    8. Computer graphics software    9. Desktop publishing software   

Reviews (1)

Excellent Reference Book
I have many years of architectural drafting experience. Although this book says "Basic Skills" on the cover, it is much more than basic. It's an excellent reference book, covering everything that is needed for interior design drafting: from line weights to scale, dimensioning, plans, elevations, sections, checklists, furniture and finish schedules, contract documents, and the list goes on. I highly recommend this book for students of interior design and practising designers alike. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Building    3. Building Construction    4. Construction - General    5. Decorating    6. Details    7. Drafting & Mechanical Drawing    8. Drafting Technology    9. Drawings    10. Interior Design - General    11. Interior architecture    12. Structural drawing    13. Technology    14. Architecture / Interior Design    15. Computer aided design (CAD)    16. Engineering graphics & technical drawing    17. Home furnishing & decoration    18. Interior design   

Reviews (2)

great rendering and dynamics for maya7
A great book for beginners of maya7.It is basicaly the "Rendering" and "Dynamics" books of the Learning Maya6 Book Series all in one.There are over 600 pgs of color diagrams and simple text discriptions.It is very clear and covers many very important aspects of image quality.Unfortunately for me, I already have the Learning Maya6 Book series so there is a lot of redundant information.Though there is enough new info to keep me happy.

The best it gets!
These books are a spectacular edition. Alias has been good about teaching in their books, but these books actually have FUN projects! I have enough books that will tell me how to do something (and these are VERY easy to understand) but the only ones that I can actually have fun working with are the ones contained in this new series. Not for the advanced user though. If you want advanced, go for the Maya Tecniques series, not the Learning Maya series. Great books! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Animation    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer Graphics - General    5. Computers    6. Computers - Other Applications    7. Non-Classifiable    8. Nonfiction    9. Computer graphics software    10. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    11. Image processing: computer animation   

Editorial Review

Digital compositing, defined here as "the digitally manipulated combination of at least two source images to produce an integrated result," is a huge field incorporating 2-D and 3-D still and animated artwork. Read more

Reviews (21)

Must Have for compositors and digital artists
This book is a in depth study of the techniques and technologies involved in the art of compositing. Not sooo technical that no one will understand it, but technical enough that it even explains in detail the algorithms and math used for antialiasing, blurs, the transfer operators like multiply, screen overlay., etc... I am a professional cg artist and highly recommend this book.

Just Great
I use Fusion 5 and this book has been of great help understanding not just how the different operators work within Fusion, but also, how a good composite has to be done. The final section shows different real world examples of compositions made for films like Titanic, an invaluable resource if you are a begginer and a point of reference if you have more experience.

Very good book! helped me prepare for my career
This is a great book. I wanted to really get deeper into graphics and film and out of all the many-many books I have bought this is the grand daddy of them all.Ron Brinmann gives you a wonderful understanding of film and graphic language and really helps to prepare you to be equipped
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books And Software    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics    4. Computer Graphics - Design    5. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    6. Computers    7. Computers - Desktop Publishing    8. Digital Image Processing    9. Digital techniques    10. Image processing    11. Computer graphics software    12. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    13. Internet