Animation Books

Chris Jackson is an excellent teacher. His classes in After Effects at the Rochester Institute of Technology featured notes that were far easier to understand than standard books on After Effects and Flash, and I always hoped he'd write a book incorporating some of the lessons taught in his classes.
He has, and it's a winner. Most computer animation books are heavy going, but this one is easy and fun to read. There is no waste, no padding, no jargon, just solid information. It is easier to animate 'parented' puppets in After Effects and export in Flash than to work in Flash alone--the enjoyable exercises on the enclosed DVD will have you up and animating your own characters in no time at all.
I can recommend this book to anyone who is interested in hand drawn computer animation.

This book is excellent and I highly recommend it for all animators! There are many tips, examples, and workflows that show exactly how to bridge Flash and After Effects. There is a nice balance of web and video examples and how to properly prep and animate assets for each. I found the chapters on character animation and visual effects most helpful. The examples clearly show how to get the most out of parenting, puppet tools and fractals. I found the examples fun and inspiring. Unlike many books out there, the artwork and examples are well thought out and look great! The book is also well written. All examples were very easy to follow. I commend the author for this wonderful book!

Flash MX Learning Studio
Ethan Wattral

Published by Sybex...

ISBN: 0-7821-4180-3

I would give this package 5 stars, it certainly works for me anyway.

This is another in the new line of learning-made-simple using the Sybex "Savvy" line of books. Having the CDROM based on the book "Flash MX Savvy" added to the package has made this even better.

I have already reviewed this book and found it to be excellent.....

Once opened in your CD player, you can just leave it running while carrying on working in Flash, even after you have put the book down.

It provides a very good source of easily understood information and walk-throughs. These are broken into 7 categories for easy learning.

1. Creating visuals steps you through the basic steps of animating and is further broken down into different aspects of selection, grouping etc.

2. Animation comes next and this introduces the concepts of working with timelines and movie clips.

3. Intro to ActionScripting is really useful as this is what can make or break an animation and allow interactivity with your movie.

4. ActionScript for interactivity takes your basic skills in ActionScript to new levels, and like al the sections has been further broken down into another 5 sub sections.

5. Working with audio is really useful as this has been a problem, or at least difficult to do in the past. MX makes this easier, but understanding what to do is a great help.

6. Using other tools helps understand how to integrate Flash into Director, Freehand, audio software and 3D.

7. Publishing Flash is next, and this, once again is an important aspect when file size and bandwidth are concerned.

8. The referenced section contains what you expect from it, plus it has all the keyboard shortcuts.

9. Lastly there is the Hands On section and this is where you get to practice your skills, aided by video of the lessons/

Most of the descriptions are in slide show format using screen shots, which is supported by sound where applicable, and the lessons are step-through if you don't want to watch the whole thing.

There are some special video sections, using Flash, that take you through making some movies using the familiarity that you have built up using the preceding lessons. By all means look at these early on, but they will not have the impact that will come after stepping through the rest of the manual.

As a learning tool for those who do better by using visuals and sound, sooner than reading a manual, this is definitely the way to go. Obviously the slide shows don't contain the same amount of information as the book, but they do make you click on things so you learn to work in a sensible order, and then a lot of the written work makes a bit more sense.

Teaching is really about being shown how to do something, and then following explained principles to find out how to do anything associated with that process. Books on their own are great, even with the CD-ROMS that are included, but I feel that it isn't the same as this type of learning.

For a start, the CDROM attached to a book is just a set of lessons, and it is easy to skip past stuff when you don't understand, but this CDROM is done in such a way as to make sense of what you are doing quickly. It is just like having a help file open with interactive pictures instead of just words.

Once you learn where to find the answers, you don't have many problems that you can't solve, and that is where the strength of this package lies.

You may only need a small part of the jigsaw to solve the whole thing, and with the 700 page book added, then you don't need to look much further for any answers.

Bottom Line.

As the complete learning tool, and help and assistance for problem solving, you will really need to go a long way to find a better package.

I firmly believe that this is the way that good manuals for software will have to be produced from now on. As long as the book is good for it's purpose, and the quality of the CDROM is kept up, then there is a market for this sort of package.

Once a book has been written, then the making of something like this is not that difficult, as it uses screen shots that apply to the book. Therein lies it's strength. If the screen shots don't work, then the book doesn't either, and in this case they both go together really well.

Tim Skyrme...

I've got to admit, I was a little skeptical about plunking down [money] for Flash MX Learning Studio. Boy, was I glad that I did. First off, it comes with the book Flash MX Savvy...which would normally cost you [money] to buy. Secondly, the actual interactive training CD is absolutely incredible.

You can sit and watch tutorial movies...and then try out the techniques you just watched - all within the CDs learning environment. Its a perfect tool for those who learn software by watching things being done - instead of just reading about the techniques.

Flash MX Learning Studio is worth its weight in gold! Buy it and you'll see.

Leslie Carbaga is a big fan of Fliescher cartoons and this book shows it.I loved so many of them when i had the chance to see them on TV in my younger days.(Color Classics,Popeye,Sing-Alongs, and the movies Gulliver and Hoppity.)This tells the story of Max Fliescher,who made many worthy but largely unknown contributions to the art of animation.I recommend this to any fan of the vintage cartoons of the 20s/30s/40s

Rarely I have seen a biography with so much interesting details.Not a single page is wasted.As a Fleischer cartoon fan,it's la creme de la creme for me.Congratulations Cabarga.You wrote a book with love and admiration.

This book along with "Hermie" and "You are Special" are great books for children! My 2 year old loves this one and so do my 8 and 10 yr olds. Lucado seems to have a way to write any book directly at the audience and it seems like the audience is always you. I love Lucado's adult books and "you are Special" was so great I had to buy this one. It has been carried around, droppped, dragged and dunked, it is still readable and gets read atleast once a day, upon request!

Strikingly illustrated by Glue Works Animation with whimsical rendered artwork featuring caricatures of human like insects, Flo: The Lyin' Fly by Troy Schmidt is a powerful picture book tale of Flo, a little fly who likes to ignore the truth and spread lies. One by one Flo's friends get tired of her lies and leave her, until she turns to God for help. God teaches Flo the importance of telling the truth, and once she learns her lesson she must rebuild her shattered reputation with time, patience, and hard work. Flo: The Lyin' Fly is enthusiastically recommended reading (...).

This is a great companion book to "The Art of Hercules the Chaos of Creation" by Stephen Rebello and Jane Healy.

The lyrics of "Go the Distance" bring the illustrations beautifully to life.

It is in hardcover with a beautifully illustrated just jacket.

This is a great companion book to "The Art of Hercules the Chaos of Creation" by Stephen Rebello and Jane Healy.

The lyrics of "Go the Distance" bring the illustrations beautifully to life.

It is in hardcover with a beautifully illustrated just jacket.

Now, only if I could locate a copy!

Okay, [...] if you are a mature artist you will probably benefit from the the techniques found in this book. I'd put it at an beginning to intermediate level.

this is a great book for begginers and experts alike. it has tips on how to draw faces, bodies,and hands(wich are hard for me) but it got me drawing like a pro some of my friends even want to buy my drawings. i highly recommend this book

I searched all over for the other comics in this series with no success. Now I,m woundering is it possible that they only did one book. I see it this way, if they continue the show, continue the comic. I would appreciate any reply on this and hope that this series of comics has another issue and not just the one.
Thank you

In this book Ash gets a Pikachu and doesn't get Charmander, Squirtle, or Bulbasaur because he's late to get his Pokemon. Gary is there when Ash arrives and Gary already has a Pokemon. There are lots of exciting parts to the book, and Pikachu almost dies saving Ash! And also Ash takes Pikachu to the Cerulean City Pokemon Center, breaks Misty's bike, and heals Pikachu. Then they fight off Team Rocket.

I thing sylvester and tweety are da bomb. Tweety is so cute. Sylvester is my favorite though. I watch Sylvester and Tweety almost everytime it comes on.

This is a great book. It tells you all the cartoons They were in. Even before they came together. It has who directed and talked for them. Pictures from back when they were black and white. Cartoons from World war 2 and even show back when Tweety was a quail and not a canary. A must have for all Tweety fans,

Even while flipping through it for the first time, I found at least a dozen things that I didn't know about AutoCAD, and I've been using AutoCAD for 10 years now! I can't decide what I like most about this book. Not only do you get commands listed alphabetically, but it includes tips, keyboard/mouse functions, a detailed section on system and dimension variables, and highlighting new options in R14 (including the new Bonus Tools) all of which is in a neat, well organized format. A book like this usually comes in the size of a phone book with a price tag close to $85, but this book is a convenient size for much-much less. If you only buy one AutoCAD [R14] book this year, get this one!

Clear, concise, and authoratative reference for AutoCAD R14. A must for all users of AutoCAD (including R12 and R13 users).

Excellent book even for beginner, just make sure you have solid trig. and calculus skill before pick up this book.

very good book, alot of examples. Useful for graduate and undergraduate courses.