Multimedia Books

My daughter loves this book. She plays the songs everyday. She now knows all the characters from Sesame Street. The pop ups are great but just a little flimsy.

My [...] son received this book for his birthday and it became a fast favorite. He loves to push the buttons and listen to the music. He also quickly found the "stop" button and likes to stop the music if he doesn't like my singing--then he laughs. This is an excellent book and I highly recommend it.

My son received this as a first birthday present and still reads it everyday (7 months later!) The pop-ups are all torn, but he loves the music. This is one of his favorite books!

Elmo is everyone's favorite character come alive in this musically interactive book.

My 19 month old daughter LOVES this book! She spends more time with this book than anything else. I wish they would make more books like this. I would definitely recommend this book!!! Not only keeps your child busy but gives mom some quiet time. :)

I'm new to SolidWorks. I used AutoCAD many years ago, and was downsized last year. I now work as a mechanical designer for a medium size auto part manufacturer.

One of the job requirements was to learn SolidWorks. SolidWorks is an amazing product... I purchased two books from these authors. Both are great. Their writing style is very straightforward. They do not assume that you have previous knowledge in 2D or 3D CAD. They give many illustrations in the book, and supply a multimedia CD. This is a BIG advantage when learning a new software package.

Solid engineering fundamentals are provided when creating a part, assembly or drawing. The back of each chapter is packed with examples which are aligned with the CSWA certification. I'm the only one in the department that is not certified. My goal is to past the CSWA certification exam someday!

I teach a single semester class of SolidWorks and a two semester class of SolidWorks. The SolidWorks Tutorial book is excellent for the single semester class, but the Engineering Design book is the best one that I have seen for the two semester class. Both books are very well written for education and are easy to read and follow. Both books have integrated homework examples which are directly aligned to the chapters and the SolidWorks CSWA Certification program.

Engineering Design covers all of the main features: Extruded Boss/Base, Extruded Cut, Revolved Boss/Base. Loft Boss/Base, Swept Boss/Base, Linear & Circular Patterns, hole, and more. The chapters are divided into logical project streams to apply the appropriate features, commands, and design intent. Both bottom up and top down assembly methods are applied with configurations. The Drawing section is well documented with exploded views, crop, projected, cut, section, detail, etc. The Sheetmetal chapter is a plus. The book is easy to follow with its bold command structure and step by step illustrations. Base features and Base Sketch planes are well documented and explained. Want to learn SolidWorks? Go no further.

I've been combining my retraining in 3D modeling and learning SolidWorks specifics with the help of two SolidWorks books; Engineering Design with SolidWorks and A Commands Guide for SolidWorks. Both books deploy a step-by-step very well illustrated instruction approach.

I'm rather new to 3D. I found the two books to be extremely useful and easy to follow. In a previous life, I was an AutoCad VAR, although that is going back quite a few years. Part of my learning process has been unlearning some of my AutoCad approaches. This takes time, but is well worth it. SolidWorks is a great software package.

Engineering Design with SolidWorks walks you through SW in no time by combining parts that you create with sub-assemblies and assemblies. The numerous illustrations with the easy step-by-step procedure makes this book ideal for the self taught person or the classroom environment. Example: In the assembly section, there are screen shots of each selection; edge, face, etc. and then a screen shot of the model with the Mate PropertyManager to inforce and guide you through the process. This is very helpful for any new user. This type of illustration is provided throughout the book.

At the end of each chapter, additional parts and sub-assemblies are available to build your confidence. The book spends a great deal of time addressing geometric sketch relationships, and the ability to edit a sketch or feature in a model. This is time well spent.

The drawing chapter takes you through setting up a sheet format, detailing drawings with multi sheets, multi views, setting part numbers in a BOM, revision tables, and inserting design tables with configurations. All great things.

The included CD has all the lessons animated. Great work here. If you get bored reading the book, pop in the CD, sit back and enjoy some Solidworks modeling.

This book has good, easy to follow instructions that step you through a process that starts out from beginner and ends up with a good understanding of the power and utility of SolidWorks 2008. The only negative is the lack of color, the text looks a little plain and could use some spicing up. However, as far as the utility goes, this is an excellent manual.

There are many SolidWorks books that are being offered in today's environment. It is difficult to know which book is right for you. As an Inventor user who moved to SolidWorks, I am looking for a detail book that provides information in a structural format to educate me in a new software package. I am also in search of a book that will keep my attention, move at a reasonable pace, and cover major feature, sketch, drawing, assembly and analysis topics and tools. This is a very good book for the person that is looking for the above like me. The multimedia CD is a plus, but just reviews what is in the book. Additional details and tips would be nice.

Leever has definitely arrived with 'Even In Darkness"! I couldn't put it down...if you enjoy suspense-filled novels, this one belongs in your collection!

This is a very intense read. The book grabs you and doesn't let go. I simply wasn't ready for the twist at the end, but whoa! Jay's (the main character's) a guy whose feelings I could really relate to. He's definately a man with "balls."

I really enjoyed this book. The suspense is right up there with the stuff on the bestseller list. I will read anything else this author comes out with.

For the person who doesn't read often (like me), this is the kind of book that keeps you engaged and needing to read on to the next section. The pacing is excellent, and the backdrop of the story--a university campus that takes on more and more of a menacing feeling as the book progresses--is excellently done and unsettling at the same time.

I particularly liked the character of Breeze, and what happens with Kristin near the end of the book. The scenes in the tunnel system underneath the campus with Kristin being pursued in the dark by two bloodthirsty thugs were enough to give one nightmares, but it was great suspense.

Overall, a great read.

Jeffrey Aran Leever is a publications manager for a nonprofit organization in Colorado. An English/writing major from the University of Nebraska (Kearney), he presently lives in Arvada, Colorado. He has co-authored two published non-fiction books.

Colleges often have immense power with the locals of the communities they serve...power which can be turned for dark purposes. When Jay Downing's friend Reed Manley doesn't appear for a preappointed "night on the town," and some strange girl tries to lure Jay into the University's long unused underground tunnels, Jay begins to fear for his friend's life. The police treat Jay as if he is on drugs, and when Reed's body appears outside of town, even the coroner seems to be in on the coverup. But it is the professors at Jay's school in Stratton who act the most bizarre:

"Jay looked again at his professor, and wondered what the man knew. What pieces of the truth he held. It was as if Lanum was trying to hold back something, and yet share it at the same time. As if there'd been something Jay had done that gave Lanum reason for contempt. It had to have been something independent of their never-quite-so-serious interactions in class. But what?"

The idea that a university setting could be used for nefarious purposes, and that professors (who, after all, are supposed to represent the creme de la creme) could be arch-fiends stirs up a shiver of recognition in all of us. (Who hasn't dreamt about not attending class and not knowing where their final was?)

Even In Darkness is a well written, spine-tingling, Gothic, Steven Kingish novel that grips the reader from page one. Leever's use of uncertainty in speech, action, and tone puts the reader into a nervous state from the beginning. It is an excellent tool to produce the results he wants, which is to scare us to death and keep us turning those pages. Even In Darkness is an great first effort in the genre for Leever, and presents him as a new talent to be reckoned with. It is entertaining, scary, infuriating, and deeply satisfying, all at once. A great read.

...

This book is a thriller from start to finish. Word to the wise; don't read this book before you go to bed at night, you may not be able to get to sleep.

This book doesn't contain a lot of jargon. It has pictures of how to do things and explains things in non-technical terms. Great for beginners but also useful as a refresher when you haven't used some aspect for awhile. Well laid out index so easy to find what your looking for. These people have done a good job. Hope they bring out another one more advanced.

I had no idea what the interface looked like or ANY idea about how to use 3DS Max; I just knew I want to learn how to do animations.

Well, I know this book isn't going to have me making 3D animation movies, but it does give a great insight into the program's basics.

Lots of hands-on exercises, just as I like. Lots of pictures too. The authors do an excellent job of spelling out the basics and telling you exactly what you need to do to complete an excerise. And, as you move further along in the book, they "neglect" to tell you how to do something they've already covered - just like a teacher would do in class. It forces you to explore, reread (if you don't understand a subject) and practice with the program - what you need to do if you're ever going to learn to use 3DS Max.

A very well written book about the basics of 3DS Max 7.

I highly recommend this book to the beginning 3ds max student. It was very helpful to me, as it explained more of the basics and gave more detail behind the steps. Also, the tutorials frequently used diffent tools to accomplish the same task. This showed how to use the graphical interface, quad-menus, toolbars, etc.

I found it the best of several books I bought to get my feet wet with 3ds max. It really helped with some of the basic lighting and material concepts. While, this book doesn't even begin to touch all the features of 3ds max, it was a great primer and I'm glad I read it.

This book is perfect for those just getting started in 3ds Max 7. There are a lot of easy to follow screen shots to accompany the text so it is possible to still follow along when you're not in front of your computer. It is written with plenty of step by step explanations of what you are doing and why as well as a great accompanying disk to help with tutorials. It even tackles some of the more difficult aspects of 3d modeling such as composition, the dreaded material editor (it even throws in a side bar about UVW unwrapping) and lighting. It is written with the beginner in mind and does a great job explaining concepts and procedures without insulting your intelligence. It may, however, be a little below intermediate users, it can be a great tool to brush up on fundamentals. I can't recommend this book enough for those looking to get their feet wet in MAX.

The book by Till & O'Connell is great for newcomers simply because it doesn't attempt to give you too much information but only what new users might need to learn the basics of max 7. I had never turned on max 7 and within a week I was amazed as to how much I had learned without having any previous experience with 3d softwares. This should be the first book you buy if you are starting from scratch with max 7.

I've got to hand it to the author, this book did exactly what it said it would do. I needed to learn Premiere fast and now, although I'm no expert, I'm pretty comfortable. I was surprised it was in color too, especially since it was less than $15.

The Focal Easy Guide to Premiere Pro by Tim Kolb is just that - easy. As a longtime Premiere (and now Premiere Pro) user, I found it very easy (there's that word again) to search through the book and find references to tools or procedures that needed "refreshing" in my mind. Even if you use Premiere Pro everyday, you don't use every tool or technique on every project, so the help file and good reference books like this are essential when deadlines are looming or you are just experimenting with new ways to jazz up your videos. The descriptions are easier to follow and are better organized than the online help included with the program. They often go well beyond the information that Adobe includes in the help files.

Aiding me in my searches (and for new users, making Premiere Pro easier to understand) are the book's graphics. The graphics used for the screenshots in this book are, in a word, spectacular. They are crisp, clear and large enough so that even a casual viewing conveys lots of information immediately. They are what sets this book apart from so many other "getting started" books.

I really wish that I had had this book available when I was first learning Premiere; it would have saved me lots of time and lots of bumps from banging my head against the wall.

Jeff Bellune
Owner
Bellune Digital Video Services

A great find! This little book helped me get up to speed with Premiere Pro quickly. It is not a watered down "for dummies" book, but is not an 800-page bible either (which I don't need!!). Instead it gets right down to business and shows you how to get through your first couple projects with ease. The full color, price and ease of use make this a great package.

This book is certainly a great way to get your chops, being taught by someone who uses the application for real world work - on a daily basis.

I've followed Tim around the web for years, on different forums and as a respected expert editor and Adobe guru. You can find him online and pick from his reviews, articles and posts that all clearly demonstrate his qualifications and insights before you buy the book... But no need, it's cheap! Very easy to get way more than 15.00 of value from this book. You really can't go wrong.

It's far better than trudging through a boring black and white book (typical software manual) that covers everything but what you really want to know! The book is laid out very well, lots of color. It offers a very visual method of learning the app and why the different parts of the app are there..what they do.

I've used Premiere for 4 or 5 years now. Premiere Pro is quite different. This book is a great primer and companion for learning the ins and outs of this newly revamped Non-Linear Editor.

I am really of two minds about this book. My impression is that it would be almost useless to teach someone how to use Premiere Pro. I still liked it.

I am no great video editor but I do have some, small familiarity and have learned some things from other books. Based on that experience, I doubt this book would have done much good at all in learning to operate the program. Where I found it useful is in its overview and presentation. It does a great job of explaining broad concepts and giving a feel for the capabilities of the program. It also give some of the very basics of the mechanics of how to edit. I suspect I will find this book useful as a continuing reference not to explain the particulars of how to do something but to explain conceptually what can be done. I will use it as a jumping off point to investigate specific topics in other books.

The illustrations in this volume are luxurious. They are full color screen shots and are big enough, barely, to see what is happening on the screen. How I wish other training aids had as nice visuals!

I like this book so much, I've purchased it 3 times! (My first copy was "borrowed" by one of my designer/producers, my second copy was left at Ubisoft SF, and this is my 3rd copy for myself.)

Great mixture of theories, old-school practices, and new-school techniques.

Although I personally disagree with some parts of what this book teaches, it this game design book is one of the most comprehensive I've seen. Well-recommended.

This might be a good book for teachers looking for material in their classes gamedesign or gamedevelopment. It may also be a good book for selfstudy, if you have the discipline to do the exercises. You need to have played a lot of the classic videogames though, otherwise you might not be able to do the exercises, which are mostly about thinking about gamedesigns and making little designs or design alterations on existing games.

Few people realize just how big a business digital gaming has become. Think of it this way: It's bigger than the domestic box office of the film industry. The amount of time spent playing games by young people now exceeds everything but television in time spent on entertainment. The main factor driving the development of the new extremely powerful computers is gaming, slower machines are capable of handling almost all office tasks.

The authors of this book have a great deal of experience in both designing games and teaching how to design games. This has given them an understanding of how beginning designers grasp the structured elements of games, common traps they fall into, and certain developmental exercises that help the student learn to make better games.

Note that this is not a programming manual, nor is it a graphics design manual. It is on game design. What are the characteristics that make a game, how can you prototype and play test the game without a horrendous programming expense, and finally some input on the game industry and how to decide on how you might like to be employeed in that industry.

I consider this an excellent book on game design. As an amatuer board game and basic computer game designer, I found a lot of the material extremely useful in the *process* of coming up with a game from start to finish.

The chapter on prototyping did a great job in showing how to go ahead and create a prototype from a game idea, while keeping it simple and concentrating on the "core gameplay mechanism."

The chapter on "Playtesting" and "Functionality, Completeness, and Balance" builds on the prototype chapter by emphasizing the iterative nature of design where one go aheads and evaluates, tries new things, identify problems and keep evolving.

The next chapter following is maybe the most important chapter that discusses whether you game is fun, goes in to some theory of what makes a game fun, and relates various techniques of improving player's choices so as to make the game fun.

This is a great book that gives you the necessary tools to go ahead and be able to at the very least create a viable prototype of a game that is possibly fun and playable.

This is BY FAR the best, most concise, easy to understand, easy to follow, fun book on the subject of animation screenwriting. It covers 22, 11, and 7 minute formats and I highly recommend it.

This is a great book for anyone that wants to learn the structure of writing for animated shows. It reveals the formula for creating successful stories, characters, and scripts.

The only drawback was the overuse of the road sign analogies. Don't get me wrong, they work fine to illustrate the points, but I just felt there were too many of them.

In any case, an excellent book if you're starting out your career in animation...like me:)!

Is a shame that a great book like this only have one review until now ( and a wrong one ) hence I'll try to correct this.

NOTE: Be aware that this review is for the GARDNER'S GUIDE TO ANIMATION SCRIPTWRITING ( this review is wrongly appearing TOO in the "Gardner's guide to Multimedia & animation Studios", some kind of problem in Amazon.com I Think, :-( SORRY Chaz )

I bought this book in August 2001, if you are looking for books about scripts there are many ones, some very good, but any is writed exclusively thinking in animation and cartoons. For the animator this is an invaluable reference, here is the summary:

1.- Animation - An Overview
2.- Cartoon Genres
3.- The Moral
4.- Central Idea
5.- Dead End Ahead - The Central question
6.- The Characters and the Character Arc
7.- Introduction to Plot
8.- The Twenty-Two minute Structure
9.- The Eleven Minute Structure
10.- The Seven Minute Structure
11.- Make 'Em Laugh - Levels of Humor
12.- Prose
13.- Dialogue
14.- The Scene
15.- Broadcast Guidelines
16.- The Rewrite
17.- The Writing Process of Animation
Glossary, Cartoonography, Filmography, Road Map Forms, Apendix

The book itself have a good easyreading design, with plenty of quotations and references to well known movies or series, here you have the basics of writing but you can find more profound books about this, the special of the book is that is writed for cartoons specially, have 3 chapters studying the structures of the cartoonscript of 7, 11 and 22 minutes, of course you can apply all the information for an animation of any length, movies or shorts.

Including checklists for Structure, Characters, Scenes, Dialogue, Humor, Prose, 3 Structure guides, 75 Excercises, 37 Rules and an Animated 7 minutes Teleplay in the appendix: You have here a book that will go to occupy an important place near you.

I'm not an acclaimed screenwriter in fact I'm a novice in this area but I'm working with a firm producing some animations and I can asure you that this book can prevent you some rocky mistakes in this special field and even If you are a Pro you'll find some good points here.

I knew that scriptwriting was formulaic, with lots of rules about what should happen at what page and all of the structural details. But this book plots out exactly what a cartoon should do! From the general outline to the set-in-stone types of humor. Who knew that anyone had codified all this stuff! It's all here, from the Flintstones to South Park. This is how it's done.
Far from being confining, I'm finding that reading and re-reading this tome (easy to read tome!) is inspiring beyond belilef. I'm cranking up my DVD player and finding that every detail of every chapter is true down to the last nut and bolt. Professionals have been following these guidelines for decades!
This book must be the textbook for lots of classes about this subject somewhere.
I'm a 3d animator, and it's my goal to make animated shorts a lot more "arty" than Pepper Ann and Rugrats. But this book is such an eye-opener! I've never realized that even the cartoons that I've loved for years - Simpsons, South Park, Ren & Stimpy - all of them! They all follow the same rules.
One funny thing about this book: For a writing manual, it has a phenomenal number of typos. What a hoot. The book is incredibly easy to find your way around. The author is simply a master at her craft, and the insights are invaluable for anyone not employed in Callifornia. Yet you can find 1 or 2 typos or grammatical errors per page. I guess they skimped on the editing.
If you're concerned about developing content for your own animations, or aiming at a job scripting for cartoons, or just want to round out your knowledge about scriptwriting in general, this is an awesome book.

Gardner's Guide To Multimedia & Animation Studies is the complete, definitive, "user friendly", industry directory for anyone seeking jobs, connections, and services information and contacts. In addition to indices listed by state or province, and company name, Gardner's Guide To Multimedia & Animation Studies is carefully organized in four parts: East Coast, Central; West Coast; Canada. Within each regional section the companies are alphabetically listed and include the number of employees, areas of specialization; a brief description, address, phone, fax, and website address. Gardner's Guide To Multimedia & Animation Studies is a very practical and highly recommended addition to industry professional and library reference collections.

I bought this book at full price when I saw it (not through Amazon - though I wished I'd waited) because I needed a book that would explain the ins and outs of wireless data in an enterprise. This is an excellent guide to thinking through the processes needed to establish a new wireless network. Although I would not recommend it as a sole resource, it does provide the person considering wireless a series of case studies, questions, and definitions that are quite useful. I found out about this book in an add in back of my new Newton's Telecomm Dictionary, which is a MUST for all telecomm folks.

Going Wi-Fi: A Practical Guide To Planning And Building An 802.11 Network is a straightforward manual by information technology and Internet/Intranet expert Janice Reynolds for installing a "Wi-Fi" wireless network, whether within an existing corporate network or starting from scratch. An overview of "Wi-Fi" history; an introduction to its technology; and a "walk through" of the individual steps to get started, Going Wi-FI also addresses such critically important concerns as security issues, antenna positioning, troubleshooting, and more. Packed from cover to cover with a richly detailed and "user friendly" text, Going Wi-Fi is an indispensable how-to resource for understanding and implementing Wi-Fi technology at home, in the workplace, or at school.

This large book (with small type) covers everything about WiFi, from the theory behind the underlying technology to the way it can be used in both private wireless networks and public "hot spots." It is probably the widest-ranging book on the subject.

Imagine a world where you can communicate with anyone, anywhere, and at any time without interruption. This is the world of wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) that is coming of age. Author Janice Reynolds has done an outstanding job of presenting this wonderful technology at our doorstep.

Reynolds begins by defining what Wi-Fi really is. She then goes on to explain the benefits of Wi-Fi with regards to its freedom and mobility. According to Reynolds, "Wi-Fi use is experiencing an explosive growth." She maintains that the "successful, long-term development of the Wi-Fi industry is contingent upon the availability of spectrum for its expansion." Next, the author covers signal modulation, whereby data is superimposed on or encoded onto a carrier signal wave by means of a process, which is referred to as modulation. Then, she explains why and how all of this is happening; and, how important it is to understand a bit about Wi-Fi's technology, its standards, history, and even its future. Next, the author explains why wireless LAN's foundation is built upon wired technology. Then, Reynolds examines why WLAN deployments are growing by leaps and bounds. Next, she looks at wirelessly bridging, through the use of Wi-Fi technology to provide a perfect way to connect two buildings. Then, the author gives you a valuable insight and practical knowledge of the different aspects of wireless networking technology, some general issues that each Wi-Fi flavor presents, and awareness of specific problems that may arise during implementation of the various Wi-Fi technologies. Next, Reynolds looks at how the WISP industry encompasses all businesses (for-profit and non-profit) that operate under new, although varied, business models with a common theme: providing publicly available Internet access via Wi-Fi technology. Then, she will help you determine what is best for your wireless networking environment. Next, the author provides a quick tutorial on antennae in a WLAN environment. Finally, Reynolds looks at Wi-Fi's open future.

With the preceding in mind, the author does an excellent job of making Wi-Fi an outstanding candidate for building out mainstream data networks not only in the developed world, but also in emerging markets, such as Africa, India, and China, where cost is a very important factor. Finally, with a Wi-Fi-enabled wireless infrastructure serving as the cornerstone, it is now possible for many areas of the world to leapfrog over more developed nations into a high-speed environment.

I'm a technology consultant for a Wi-Fi company, so I'm interested in books that go beyond how to set up a nice network in your home or connect to the hotspot at your local café.

I've researched quite a few books and while many offer insights into Wi-Fi, this is finally a book that offers the depth and coverage that I need.

The book covers the entire spectrum of information (pardon the pun) from the history of Wi-Fi down to the gritty details of just what a radio signal looks like, how antennae function, the nuts and bolts of the various standards, and what it really takes to roll out a secured hotspot for the home, the local café, or the business enterprise.

I especially enjoyed the insights into the entrepreneurial aspects of Wi-Fi. The book covers various business models, how the market was segmented at the time of writing, and who the players were.

The only drawback is that as a hot technology, the landscape is changing quickly. I did find that the book was dated in several areas just because it is already a few years old, and the market is changing quickly.

I do consider this a must-have on the shelf of anyone who either works with Wi-Fi or is managing projects that involve Wi-Fi, and especially those companies tapping into delivery of Wi-Fi solutions as a business model.

I'm not new to the Mac, but am new to iMovie and was struggling with some basics. I recently purchased Missing Manual and am glad that I did. Well written, complete and easy to read. My iMovie editing productivity has skyrocketed and would strongly recommend this book

I bought this book because I wanted to use I-movie to help me put together a short film in short order. It is quite simply the best computer book I have ever purchased. It is a very straightforward, lucid, step by step explanation of how to get the most out of this program specifically, and digital video in general. It seemed like every time a question or would pop up he would have a special box on the next page explaining how to solve it. Mr. Pogue appears to have thought of everything and then some. He presents a number of excellent "work-arounds" for the limitations of I-Movie and lays them out in step by step fashion. Using this book is like having an I-Movie Guru sitting next to you, helping you along. If you use I-Movie, you need this book.

I have used the iMovie application since March 2000 to create over a hundred hours of edited footage for my video production company. Before reading "iMovie: The Missing Manual, I concluded that I had learned all their was to know about this program. I previously considered it a limited program that was most effective when production time was critical and expectations were relaxed. However, I was astonished to learn of techniques and shortcuts that greatly expanded my knowledge of iMovie and radically refined my approach in it's use. The concise layout and effective index of this manual has kept it within arm's length whenever I launch iMovie. Few computer manuals are "page turners", but if you use iMovie the information that is contained in "iMovie: The Missing Manual" will surely excite and inspire you. The software that is made available is alone worth the purchase price of this excellent manual.

This book answers every question I have had since I started using iMovie in January. It is not only very complete and extremely easy to follow, it also includes some unexpected surprises such as a very comprehensive explanation of film basics such as lighting, camera angles and sound. Before reading the book, I thought that iMovie was a great program but had some severe limitations - that was not the case after reading the book. Any limitations I had come across were covered in the book and Pogue provided excellent and simple workarounds for most difficulties I have had. I would highly recommend this book as a starting point to any person- skilled or novice - interested in creating video productions for personal or public use.

David Pogue's long-awaited iMovie manual is a terrific intro to digital movie making using the incredibly popular and now FREE iMovie for Mac.

Now there's no excuse for not making that little movie that's been rattling around in your head. Pogue's guide is logically laid out with numerous easy to understand graphics that take you step by baby step through painless editing of your video footage.

This is the finest of the iMovie guides and equal to Pogue's best past efforts. He's a master of technical explanations and has a deservedly large and devoutly grateful following.

If you are considering buying an iMac or have ever thought about making a simple movie, this stimulating book would be an smart, inexspensive first step -- even before forking over a dime on any software, hardware or a DV cam.

The digital revolution has begun and this is the manual that is entry level. The initiation rites happen when you first plug in that firewire, batch capture and string some selected scenes in a new creative order.

For someone with a strong visual sense and some basic story skills and with careful pre-planning and this manual, it is possible for a first time filmmaker to make a high quality mini masterpiece. Or better yet, a product to enter in one of the red hot film competitions like the Palm Springs Short Film Festival.

Pogue even promises a (free?) download or revision for the inevitable iMovie version 2.

This book covers all bases and FAQ's regarding iMovie and iMac configurations.

Now stop reading this review, buy Pogue's book and commit to making that life-altering little film that's still screening in your head. Isn't that why you're reading this? Now you can be empowered to create that film that comes out of nowhere and charms the world (to say nothing of making millions). Step aside BLAIR WITCH. I know what you're thinking!

Every man, woman and now child can be a studio unto him and her self. No middleman. Peasants, raise your no longer missing manuals. Share the vision.

In other words, I am saying David Pogue's iMOVIE THE MISSING MANUAL is highly recommended.

And, hey, don't be ashamed if all you want to do is edit some vacation video or the kid's recital or some hanky panky with the spouse. But the potential for something far more creative is definitely available to anyone now. My guess is THAT is the drawing power of iMAC, iMOVIE and the terrific MISSING MANUAL.

A suggestion for future editions: include a simple appendix of film language and story structure basics. Maybe a CD-ROM for an on screen guide that includes filmmaking and digital film internet links.

And then, Mr Pogue, a clear guide to Final Cut Pro.

Quiet on the set. Action!

This is far and away the best book available on Lightwave rigging. Gorden is the only author to thoroughly address the relationship between weight maps, bones and the polygonal structure of the model and how they must be combined to create a working 3D character. I consider this book absolutely essential for anyone looking to do any kind of character animation in Lightwave.

I'm a Lightwave user for about 3 years now, I did a lot of 3D stuff but never any boned character animation. Just had trouble getting trough the process of rigging ( like every other beginning 3D artist ).

I bought the Volume 1 and 2 en really took the time of reading it word by word. Underlining the most important things so i'll be able to use these books as a quick reference guide. Sometimes I just forget things and then I like to quickly return to my books for help ;-)

I know that a lot of you prefer some training DVD's above reading because it takes some time to get trough these books... But believe me, they are worth it. They get you trough the basics and then take you up to the next level. The CD that comes with this book also helps a great deal. You can go and analyse the settings of the examples.

I recommend this book to anyone who's thinking about character animation, even if you haven't got any knowledge of rigging. You have got to get this book...

This book has proved invaluable resource for dealing with Ligthwave's rigging. Filled with great tips and examples, this book shows you clearly how to build efficient rigs.

This is an excellent book for detailed instruction on using Lightwave for character rigging and texturing.

Until I read this book Rigging was always a challenge and something I avoided. This book clearly explains not only the buttons to click but the basic concepts needed for anyone that wants to rig. Then when you have mastered the basics he walks you thru complex, power, but easy to setup rigging setups.

As an Instructor I recommend this book not only to my students but also to high end studios. Jonny has written the "Rigging Bible" in my honest opinion.

I hope we see more from this talented artist!