Game Design Books

I am not keen on any book that has Cookbook in the title. This book however is more of a Hanes manual for your old Volvo 240. You will have lots of shop spills (coffee not oil) and dog eared pages on this when you finally move on to a future version of flash. Even then this will become a great tool.

The book has four main solution sections: creating content, building interactive interafaces, using projects (I never get around to actually doing that!) and adding multimedia and data.

O'Reilly put a lot into this book, with a load of solutions, with the if, how, why and here you go.

Best if your up to speed and know your way around Flash well. For me, its a matter of understanding and implementing solutions as I encounter them. "Damn, how do I best deal with that problem? - Dunno? Read the book".

Short and too the point, you will need this if your a professional - either from the design side or the programming side of Flash. Not much use to students, though educators should read it through and get up to speed to increase the amount of knowledgeable students coming out of courses (enough of the bouncing balls already).

As an intermediate Actionscripter, I find this book incredibly useful on a daily basis. It's well-organized and well-written, with several juicy tips and tricks.

Flash 8 Cookbook
Joey Lott ISBN: 0-596102402

Cooking with Flash 8??

Reading the Flash 8 Cookbook is a painful experience considering you pay $44.95 for it. If you need answers to real-world problems don't look here. This book is a semi-helpful reference guide for those designers who are just beginning to branch out into Action Script. They try to make everything in the book very easy for you to the point that some of the chapters talk down to the reader.

The meatiest information is concentrated from page 200-340 of an almost 500 page book. Some of the information in this section is about fading movie clips in and out, the key word "this", working with Java Script in Flash, and adding event listeners.

This book features one of the best explanations I have seen on how to create a listener object and add an event listener on page 346. They break all the code down there with samples.

A bonus to reading this book is that you can download a number of great low file size components written by Joey Lott . Some of the unique components are the form controller, slide show, and window controller.

This book even introduces you to 3d Max and how to use it in conjunction with Flash. There is info on video and mobile but, surprisingly no chapter on Office Yoga for the Flash Action Scripter. They lumped together a number of topics that could have individually comprised a number of 500 -1000 page books.

I think too many cooks spoiled the Action Script in this case. I consider this to be an easy fast read. Great to take to the gym or the beach. If you had to buy just one book on Flash 8, this wouldn't be the one you would choose.

Hardly any information that would constitute as worthwhile if you have a decent grasp of Flash. There is entirely too much elementary information here. One recipe is a small excerpt on how to create an invisible button by only putting content in the hit state of the button. Also, although the cover reads "Using the Flash IDE to build Flash animations and applications", it includes entirely too much information on Swift3D in a Chapter discussing 3D in Flash. The chapter should probably have been renamed "Creating 3D in For Flash using Swift 3D" instead of the misleading name "Simulating 3D in Flash".

This is a book for beginners, not even intemmediate level readers. If you are familiar with any other design software like Illustrator, Photoshop, CorelDraw, etc. you will find that much of this book is useless since you already know it! This is a perfect exapmple, quoting the book:

"1.1 Drawing Straight lines

Problem: you want to create a straight line segment or a shape made out of multiple straight line segments.

Solution
Use the line tool[...], the pen tool[...] or the pencil tool."

This is by no means a "cookbook" and I'm very disappointed with O'Reilly being the publisher, since most of the time their books are great.

The book probably focuses on REAL ACTIONSCRIPTING up to 15% its entire content!

Only consider it if you never worked with a design application in your whole life and don't have the time or patience to read more than 2-page long chapters.

While there is no one good definition of "robot", I would state as a minimum requirement that it interacts with its environment. Of the ten LEGO constructs in this book, only two - the Climber and Beetle - would qualify as robots. Of the eight remaining ones, six have no sensor inputs at all, and four have only one motor. These vehicles basically move forward or back, with no provision for turning, without major modifications.

That was the main disappointment: the book being more Technic than Mindstorms. A much better title would be, "The LEGO Technic and Mindstorms Idea Book". For many of these projects, a Technic battery pack could substitute for the RCX - and some of these look they were designed that way, with the RCX used to make them Mindstorms. Plus, this book has little material about programming (except for an NQC programming language appendix). Robotics is about both hardware and software, and that is the very spirit of LEGO Mindstorms.

There is also an overuse of obscure, exotic LEGO parts, such as the Slizer ones for the Legosaurus, and not all these projects can be built with the standard RIS kit. The Legosaurus motor mounting will not work as shown (one 24 tooth gear on top of another needs 6 1/2 plate spacing). I solved this problem by moving the motor to the rear end of the drive shaft.

I know this is an "Idea Book", and most of the fun comes with improvising, and improving the basic design. From a purely non-robotic LEGO Technic point of view, most of these designs are great. But if you want good Mindstorms books, try instead "Jin Sato's LEGO Mindstorms" or anything by Dave Baum.

This book is a very good resource for learning the mechanical aspects of Mindstorms robots. The book provides step-by-step detail for several robot creations, with a range of complexities.

PROS: Detailed building plans and programs. Building tips to help you understand the principals behind the design. Joe Nagata: just go to his web site to see his LEGO creations and you'll know you're in good hands. Some really inventive creations, like the "water skater," a wheeled 'bot that propels itself using the same motion that a skater would use.

CONS: You'll need more parts than come with the standard Mindstorms kit. The book doesn't seem to be laid out correctly -the instructions for the current frame are adjacent to the next frame. Once you figure it out, it's not a problem. Some of the models didn't work very well as built - this is actually a PRO if you like to learn by troubleshooting.

Perhaps I'm spoiled by Dave Baum's great books but I found this book very frustrating. Some of the bots are interesting but I was unable to build most of them because they require extra parts that don't come in the Lego Mindstorms RIS. That'd be OK if the book told you what extra part syou need but I'd get 70% done and find myself short 6 #3 elbows (or whatever). True, he lists the needed parts before each bot, but he doesn't tell you which ones aren't part of the RIS. Baum does. Also, the pictures in the book lack contrast so it is hard to see details and the "steps" aren't specific. Buy the Baum books instead.

Joe Nagata's Lego Mindstorms Idea Book is a completely "user friendly" tutorial and "how to" guide book to making working robots. Profusely illustrated with more than 250 original CAD drawings and offering summaries of engineering principles and programming code, readers are easily able to understand how each robot works. Each robot building project includes a parts list as well as step-by-step instructions for their creation. Joe Nagata's Lego Mindstorms Idea Book is strongly recommended for anyone of any age or background who has ever watched an episode of "Robot Wars" and wanted to get in on the fun!

this is a very basic book, if you are just starting with MindStorms or if you are 12 years old, then you'll like it. Hackers, dont think about getting it.

I agree that Foundation was a step-by-step approach to learning with little to no explanation about the concepts underlying the processes. Since modeling is pretty self-explanatory, this book's approach is acceptable. No color pages. Lacking DVD coverage.

Well to start with, I should not review this book simply cause I have not read this book. For those considering buying this book, I will be as honest as they come. I have a few alias book both from version 6 & 7 & iv read reviews from those who bought such books. Some good, some not so good. Let me start out to say, those who write books have something to share, they take the time, interest to share there years of skill. Those who read books complain, there exspectations are way to high so high they become disapointed. Take a look at the contents of this book then ask yourself if this is where you are in Maya.In any stage of life we must be ready to explore its wonders. This book starts off where the foundation closses. Here you will learn advance stages & yes if your not ready to journey such gravel then step back & choose a more simply path so you may come back to this road when you you are ready. Learning about Parameterization for example is a must for building any model, these patches must match for seemless rendering so yes! learning such advance skill is a must. Knowing how to work with tessellation is also a plus for any successful modeling & I think this book covers such. Maya must convert to pologonal when rendering, this is where tessellation comes into to play so yes! learning such is a must. Would I buy this book ? Sure I would if I needed to learn such skills & if I was ready. Those that complain that this book is to hard to follow is just not ready. My advice is to use what you learn in the foundation book & then when the time is right, when you feel its time to take maya to the next level, feel free to explore this book. Modeling like anything, its a skill, you may have the blue prints to build the house, you may have the hammer & nails but without skill, a plan is just a plan. Good luck.

I recently took a Maya class where we learned how to do most stuff in this book. When I got this book for free, I decided to go through it step by step just for the hell of it.
I got lost. Half the stuff they told me to do did not work and I followed it step by step. There are lots of pictures, but where I went wrong, there were no pictures. I does not do a good job of explaining why it tells you to do things which is a major point in my book. I would suggest looking elsewhere for modeling.
The only good part of this book is learning one or two things teachers never bothered to tell you like merging verts after checking normals.

(...)

This book is good for those who know very little about Maya. I prefer another book, the Maya Bible 4.5 which includes more tuturials and more advanced modeling. Don't get discouraged but the 4.5 it still applies to many of the functions of Maya 6. The disk that is provided with this book is nice, giving you the ability to see some real life maya using.

I recently finished the Learning Maya 6, Foundations book, of which I thought was great, and so decided to take the next step, modeling. Hmm, let me just say, I don't think I was quite ready. Building that first model with the primitive cube technique, really stressed me out. It was like trying to decipher an encrypted code with pieces missing. The book got really confusing at parts, meanwhile skipping what you may consider vital, or at least, would have been super helpful.

However, as stressful as it may have been at first, I can remember everything 10x's better, than if I were to have just blasted through it, like I did with the foundations book---well, that's if I learned it, and not skipped past it from frustration and confusion.

While this book is obviously aimed at someone who has at least finished the Foundations book, it would also be a great idea to have practiced modeling with a more simplified body first, i.e. free internet tutorials on simplified characters (or something to that effect), and save yourself the stress of learning something beyond your current understanding.

TIP: if you get this book, and find yourself as confused as I was, opening the file the book tells you, and then importing that into your file, makes modeling and understanding from the book so much easier. Looking at the correct model in Maya, is so much more useful than the small grey pictures. Goodluck.

While there were a few perspectives that some might not have noticed or thought about. For the most part, this was pretty light weight compared to the practice exams. If you have been working in the language and keeping up with the world, you should have at least seen most of this before. I would not rely on it for more than a detailed outline of some of what you need to know cold - - - at least for the practice exams. Perhaps I will be surprised by the actual exam, and find that this is exactly what is needed - - - who knows.

This books covers a good amount of the topics on the certification, and I would definitely recommend it for the certification and general PHP knowledge. You will probably need more than this to pass the certification. I would recommend taking the online practice tests from the Zend certification site as well.

One can easily argue that the certification exam itself is a waste of money, but with this book and its associated practice exams, the case is a little more cut-and-dry.

Want to pass the exam? Know the following things:

1. What can and can't go in a function/variable name.

2. What typehints are, how they work, and where they're applied.

3. What all of the array_*() functions do. The more verbose array_*_*() functions which nobody uses can be safely skipped over.

4. How to use the SimpleXML library in a very general way i.e. access elements, attributes and convert to DOM.

5. Everything about the new object model, including abstract and final classes, the new constructor format, destructors, autoloaders and access specifiers (public, private, protected).

6. How and when to pass by reference.

7. When things go out of scope.

8. What the following php.ini directives do: allow_url_fopen, register_globals, enable_dl, disable_functions.

9. What goes in the superglobals and when ($_SERVER, $_GET, $_POST, $_REQUEST, $_ARGV).

10. What all of the bitwise operators do (you should also be able to convert numbers to and from decimal, octal, hexadecimal and binary notation with nothing but your brain and a piece of scratch paper).

Database topics are covered, but you generally don't have to know any of the nonsense about mysqli or PDO--these things are all too buggy to actually use anyway, so learning about them is doubly pointless. If you can memorize function argument lists, do so with the preg_ and various string functions, because they like to throw some curveballs that use the optional args no one ever thinks about. If you can't, then don't bother because you can usually eliminate at least two of the choices they give you right off the bat and guess your way through the rest.

And please, please, please, leave comments on the questions that have misspelled words. They really need to fix that if they're going to charge $125 for a test.

I took the test and passed :) (I think that says it all ;-) )

I studied the book along with the PHP help in order to digg a little more on the functions. I also bought the online practice test to see which areas I needed to focus on.

I liked the book, easy to understand/read.

This book provides many perspectives on PHP5 certification. However, as a certification preparing guide, I don't think it is good one to pass the exam just by reading this book.

First, it does not have questions at the end of each chapter to evaluate how well the reader learned from the material, as many other exam preparing guides do. It is hard for me to imagine how does the real exam go without those questions.

Second, it has many errors in this book. Some of them could mis-lead you to get wrong concepts of PHP. I agree with Brian, the previous reviewer, beware of using this book. Once you felt anything confused, check out other books or write some codes to test what is the right concept you should learn.

Finally, it does not mention any information about how to connect / retrieve / update information from / to databases with a PHP script. It does have a chapter called "Database Programming", but all it has are only the introduction of SQL statements. I doubt if we don't need to prepare that part for PHP certification.

However, it provides some chapters for XML, web services, and security, which are valuable to refer to. It brought my attention to find more resources to read for those parts.

If you prefer a book that mentions key points of exam without many details, this book is the one you should read; otherwise, pick another one will be a better idea for you.

I am halfway through the book, and I think it is a good book. It has helped me so far by helping me to understand how a game engine is designed, organized and coded in general. Holistically looking, this book is more about organizing (code-wise) all programming aspects of computer game development. It won't teach you to design a perfect object model for making a game engine, but it uses object oriented concepts moderately to build a coherent one. I think this book raises the skill level of an elementary game engine developer to junior or intermediate level. Please notice that your programming knowledge in C++ must be already intermediate or at least beyond beginners. Comparatively, five star for this book is fair.

This book is excellent. It is technically well written and easy to follow. The Author is obviously very knowledgeable in game programming and DirectX.

The Good :
- Well organized.
- Good examples.
- The TEXT is easy to read.
- The code can be complied, built, and run without
receiving errors.

The Bad :
- The code included on the CD-ROM doesn't always
match the code covered in the text. Sometimes
little changes have been made, but at other times
ENTIRE functions appear out of nowhere.

The Ugly :
- The author's coding practices and techniques are
HORRID. They are by far the worst that I have ever
come across in any computer science book that I
have ever read. His rare use of spaces makes the
code very difficult to read. Also, the names that
he gives his variables are nothing short of
ludicrous. Many of them make absolutely no sense.


In my experience, people who write code that is this hard to follow, have very little experience working with other programmers. This is a guy who has a computer information systems degree from DeVry and I'm guessing is only a hobbyist at best. Don't get me wrong, there are some good DirectX points made in this text, but the heart of any programming text is always the code.

Rather cryptic title I put for my review, but the book seems to follow the same route.

I purchased another book awhile back: Programming a Multiplayer FPS in DirectX - very well written and organized.

Ultimate Game Programming has a lot of "bugs". The program as you go along seems to fall apart, what is in the book isn't exactly the same as the code provided on the CD Rom. The author leaves out information as to what header files are required, where you should place some of your code. As said before the key failure is the difference in code from book and Rom.

Aside from the bad points. Good points. I do like the some code in the pages provided, even though I must realize it might be different on the Rom. Mainly because I'm using another book and this to help solidify my DirectX concepts.

So considering I have the Microsoft documentation, another book from the same publisher on programming in DirectX and now this, I have to really research and piece everything together.

The coding is really night and day too. The book by Vaughn Young, really sticks to appropriate coding practices, while this seems quickly written.

Just to establish my own credentials - I'm a game developer with 5 published titles under my belt including Master of Orion 3, Kohan 2, Axis & Allies, and two Zoo Tycoon 2 games.

I was asked on very short notice to teach a Game Development class at a local college. So off I went to Borders to find a textbook. After some digging, this is what I picked out. The features that recommended it to me where that it included the source code, and over the course of the book it promised to build a fully functional game.

Here's what I found instead:

* I would guess from his terminology that the author has never worked at a game company. He just doesn't know the lingo - or he's worked somewhere so remote from my own experience that his lingo is completely different. Also, based on the quality of his code and the quality of the resulting game, he wouldn't survive a second at any game company out there. He wouldn't make it past the phone interview. If you are considering a career in game development, do NOT follow this person's example or you won't even get in the door.

* The code is the most horribly written I have ever seen. I would expect better out of anyone who has ever taken any sort of class on object oriented programming - or worked on any sort of project employing more than one person. The best way to describe it is poorly written C code written in C++. The spacing is non-standard. That variable names are horrible. For many of the programs, it's all in the main.cpp file. Global variables everywhere. Hardly any use of classes, and where they are used they are monolithic and poorly designed. Ugh.

* The book is frequently innaccurate. It needs an errata list badly - but if there is one, I haven't been able to find it. For example, in chapter 1 he tells you that you only need 1 line of code to enable z-buffering. After talking to colleagues and looking on the web, I was able to get this to work (I'm an AI guy, not a graphics guy) - but he was missing 4 of the 5 lines needed to make it happen.

* The book also tends to be incredibly light on details. It tells you the DirectX functions you need to call (mostly) and the specific values to plug in - but not what the functions do, or what the other possible values for their paramaters are, or how the parameters affect the output. The style of the writing is also incredibly informal - it sounds like something written by a 10th grader. Granted, if the quality of the content was solid I wouldn't care about this - but added to the poor content it makes the whole thing feel unprofessional.

* The quality of the final game is what I would expect out of a high school project (at best). The collision detection is horrifically buggy. The characters don't animate or move at all (although my understanding from looking at the book is that they're supposed to). The code won't compile under VS2005, only VS2003. It also won't run without a game controller plugged in to the computer - but it doesn't appear to actually use the game controller. He's been promising since the book came out to post the fixes for those last two problems on his web site, but I couldn't find them.

All in all, this book is an embarassment. I'm sorry I made my students spend the money on it - and now I'm scrambling to find material to teach my class, because this book hasn't delivered anything close to what it promised.

There are errors throughout the tutorials, and several are major enough to halt the process of the design. That would be forgivable...IF there was an errata or the needed files on the publisher's site, but they give no support! Users have been asking for these fixes since June of 2006!

If I would have known this I never would have purchased this book. The potential is there, but the oversight and support are not.

Sorry but i'm writing in Italian:
Il libro non è male, focalizzato soprattutto sul disegno dell'interfaccia e tecniche per il passaggio da Illustrator a Flash. Non si capisce molto bene se è un libro teorico o tecnico, dato che tocca entrambi gli aspetti senza però approfondire abbastanza nessuno dei due. Molto interessanti le prime sezioni e la parte su Flash Video, mentre c'è qualche parte che di Advanced non ha nulla (esempio: la parte in cui ti spiega come usare la Penna di Illustrator...e le parti di ActionScript sono poche e veramente a Level Begginer)
Vale comunque il suo prezzo

AdvancED Flash Interface Design is the latest installment from Friends of ED. Incidentally, while reading an interview with Chris Mills, I recently learned that the ED in the title is capitalized for a reason. "Friends of Every Designer" is what the company name stands for. Read blogs folks, you'll have many serendipitous moments. Anyway, this book was very practical, filled with an enormous amount of information, all of which is very applicable on a day to day basis. This quote from Chris' blog sums it up quite nicely...

"You know those tech books you read and go 'yeah, this is all well and good, but would I ever REALLY do any of this in my work?' Well, this book isn't like that - it's nothing but real-world Flash design teachings for those of you who have already got past the basics, but want to take your work further, with creative, inspirational techniques."

Since my official job description is Web User Interface Designer / Developer, I figured it would be right up my alley. I chimed in with a comment on his blog post regarding this book, and he was nice enough to send me a review copy. It was written by a trio of talented Flash guys: Michael Kemper, Guido Rosso and Brian Monnone. What I like is that while this series is geared towards Flash, it covers fundamentals that are essential to any sort of visual or graphic design.

Like any book, it starts with an overview of the topic, pointing out some of the benefits of Flash, while also acknowledging a few of its drawbacks. They are quick to point out that long loading times and inaccessible content are a stigma which Flash is helping to overcome. Loading times can be avoided through smart planning of content (ala Ajax, loading things as needed) and Flash can actually be used to add sub-titles to video and such.

Chapters two through five focus on user experience, color theory, interface design and vector drawing. The content therein could be used for a design class as a textbook. Seriously, it's that good. Also, I like the way the book is planned out. Most of it is black and white, with figures that are contained in a color section. This is a great compromise between keeping printing costs low, while not missing out on some design nuance, because there are color pages too.

Chapters six and seven delve more into the Flash interface itself, covering advanced uses of the timeline and layers, and showing how to use Flash for vector drawing. In the past, these tools were considered to be sub-par, but as of version 8 it has really come into its own for creating non-destructive effects. These same effects can also be manipulated, created and removed with ActionScript. It should be noted that there is also a fair bit of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop techniques covered, throughout the entirety of the book.

Chapter 8 was a departure into the realm of video, talking about the various codecs that can be used. It also showed how to do green screen effects with Apple Final Cut Pro. Once you have isolated the video clips you want to make use of, they can then be taken into the Flash environment for seamless integration with your site's interface. Think of Adobe's own site, which has many full-motion video narrators who walk you through their varying content.

While Flash's forte is vectors, occasionally you will find yourself needing pixel-precision. Chapters 9 and 10 are about achieving this with Photoshop, and how to make raster (bitmap) images with the smallest footprints. This is usually done by exporting PNG files with the correct amount of compression and opacity. One of the nice things about Flash is that IE6 has no problem rendering PNG opacity when used in conjunction with Flash. Many of you CSS guys will know what a headache this is to do otherwise, using inelegant GIF files.

The last few chapters cover creating animated effects, Flash textures, and finishing off a site. They cover some nice tweening and transformation effects, and also show how to make water textures with distortion filters and a background image. If you've seen water in games like Unreal Tournament, you will know what I'm talking about. The final chapter covers attention to detail that will make the difference between good work and great work. It teaches how to sweat the small stuff, without being too much of a perfectionist.

My one and only complaint is that this book focused so heavily on Illustrator, when Fireworks is perhaps a more seamlessly integrated tool, and many people who have purchased Studio 8 for Flash and Dreamweaver already have it bundled. Nevertheless, many of the concepts carry over to whatever graphics program you prefer. All in all, this is a very strong title and a must-have for those who do a lot of cross-disciplinary work or just want to branch out into another aspect of web design. I like to think of Flash as SWAT - You don't call `em in for just anything, but it's great when you really need high impact.

I may be exagerating, but from the moment i bought this book i realized that the "advanced" part was easy for everyone to follow and put into good use.

I'm no big graphic designer nor a person usually capable of reading complicated books, and i usually get bored after the first few chapters. but this book is written differently, it's as clear and straight forward as if someone was actually there explaining to you how to drastically improve your basic flash techniques and give you that extra something to really make a site worth seeing.

it's as if the authors were giving away all their deepest secrets and techniques while writing this book. and on top of that, i have to repeat myself, it's as simple as reading a fairy tale and again learning comes almost naturally.

i suggest you try out this book just after you have understood how flash works, no matter if you're a flash guru or someone that builds sites just for a hobby, it takes no skill at all to learn it, a little time to read it, and just a few moments to impress everyone with your new web designing skills.

there are few books around like this, and it would be a real shame to buy complicated foggy and extra long books when you have a designer bible right here.

When i first got this book, I didn't really know what to expect. I didn't know if it was going to be a design book or an animation book for interfaces. I guess what I eventually ended up getting was a little bit of both.

The early chapters of the book are definitely not "AdvancED", but give some good insight on some topics that are normally overlooked. The one problem with this book is that it was trying to fit information about a lot of combined programs, such as Final Cut Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash. However, this HAS to be done because of the way Flash interfaces are designed these days, so as a downfall it can be excused because sometimes it is unavoidable (and sometimes very handy) to know how to use all those programs.

There is a chapter on colors which is great, but the end of the chapter (page 56) talks about the Color class. The Color class is deprecated as of Flash 8 and I wish they would have went more in depth on using the new classes in 8, such as ColorTransform and the likes.

Now that we've got the negatives out of the way, it's time to cover all the very formidable positives that this book has to offer. It has great explanations in every chapter of how to deal with good user experience and interface design. It's obvious that the authors (award winners in this subject) know what they are talking about. For instance, on a personal level, I hate bringing in graphics into Flash from Illustrator and seeing all the miscellaneous graphic symbols that it makes while importing. Some people don't clean this up in the library and it's VERY frustrating to see all those symbols and have to go in and clean them up. These guys stress highly the importance of a clean library and have a great section in chapter 7 that shows how to clean these graphics up. I can't tell you how many times I'd wished that people who work with me could make nice, clean libraries before they hand files over to me, but sometimes thats too much to ask for.

There is a chapter that makes mention of video and the best part about this chapter, after having recently made a project for AT&T that used Flash video, is the fact that it makes mention of the Flash 8 Video Encoder that comes bundled with Flash 8 Professional. It's a stand alone application and nobody in my office actually knew what it was or how to use it (which for a large company such as I work for could be a bit mind boggling). They take you through the encoder and show you example usage, which is VERY handy when working with encoding FLV files. This chapter also boasts a great explanation (which I actually wish I had read before looking like a fool in an initial project meeting) of the video playback options that Flash has to offer (Streaming, Progressive, and Embedded video).

The middle of the book has a great color pullout (it's not really a pullout, but ya know...) that demonstrates examples from the book and coincides with the color chapter (since obviously you want to see colors in a color chapter...). Chapter 9 is also an outstanding chapter which takes you from start to finish on how to design an interface in Photoshop (and 10 follows up with the proper way to import it into Flash so that you can work with those graphics). There is a section in this chapter titled "Moving from Photoshop to Flash" (pg. 232) which is a HUGE bonus. EVERYONE in the world who is a Flash designer/developer should convert graphics in the way that is described in this section. It saves a lot of time and headaches later on when you use the process outlined here.

Overall, the book was a treat. It started off a bit slow but definitely picked up a lot of momentum by the end. I'd definitely recommend it to someone who normally takes graphics from programs such as Illustrator or Photoshop and brings them into Flash. Conversely, I'd recommend it to designers who design for Flash developers as there is a lot of good information to learn from here.

Although there is a lot of information packed into this book, I was very unimpressed with the layout and visual design. It looks like it was typed up in 1970. The graphics are ancient and the layout is just one big binder with no cross-referencing or indexing available. To find a useful game, you have to sift through hundreds of pages. It really is a shame, as there are some clever games here to loosen up an audience.
Frankly for this price, I expected something a bit flashier and filled with reproducibles that I would want to copy and hand out. The way it looks now, and with it's unwieldy format, it's going to sit on my shelf.
If I hadn't spilled water on it, I would have sent it back for a refund.

This book was helpful in planning an in-house managment training session. The book is divided into sections making it easy to locate games targeted at specific areas. The book is actually a 3" 3 ring binder. It is a large book, however, it does contain a wealth of information.

The best thing about The Complete Games Trainers Play is its sheer size. Actually, it isn't nearly as big as some reviews imply. It is really around 1000 pages, not 2000+. And for some reason, a significant percentage of those pages are left blank. But even with that caveat, this is still a sizable resource.

If you are willing to devote 30+ minutes to finding an activity, you are sure to find one (or five) that are ideal for your training event. The fact that individual "games" can be removed from the ring binder is also helpful. This allows you to use the activities without carrying the whole book around, and to easily photocopy sheets for individual participants as some activities require.

However, there are some significant downsides. There is no real way to find appropriate activities without flipping through virtually the entire book. A large number of the activities aren't very good. And, most of the book is in a strange "typewriter" typeface that makes it look like it came from 1972. (Oddly, there are some pages which are randomly sprinkled through the book that use a different, more recent-looking typeface.)

To really upgrade its usefulness, Games . . . would benefit from taking a leap into the computer age. In other words, along with the printed book, a computer CD should be included. This could feature a good, searchable index, which is now lacking. It would also make it possible to print out games, and modify handouts on the computer to your organization's needs.

I've never bought any other resources like this, so I can't say if this is better or worse than others. I can say that in spite of the steep price and the drawbacks, I'm definitely glad I purchased it. It was very useful to me, and will be again in the future. However, there are a few simple steps the authors and publishers could take to greatly improve it.

This is a great tool of Trainers. Keeping your trainees engaged throughout the training is always a challenge. This tool give creative ways to assess retention of information. The games are great and the administrative forms and suggestions are wonderful.

People love playing games a lot more than listening to lectures; this is indisputable. I didn't like all of the games listed here, but so what. Several I found helpful and intend to use.

Obviously Diane Weaver is a talented artist with a steady hand and excellent perspective and spatial skills. You must be too, if you would like to duplicate her projects which are very complicated and time consuming.

I consider myself an amature artist with skills slightly better than the average non-artist.

In the book, one table needed seven layers of red paint that need sanding with soapy water and wiping down between, I think, 4 of the layers. This is step 17 of 19 complicated steps, that do not even cover all details necessary.

You need to figure out how to do the shadowing yourself on many of the designs, such as the marbles on a red table, and I cannot figure out how she got the paint to gradient from red to black. She uses that gentle gradient paint method on many of the projects, and the only way I know how to do something like that is with a paint can, but she does it with a brush and I cannot figure it out.

There are not enough pictures to cover these complicated projects, for instance, one wooden cuppboard is painted with many realistic insects and looks very cool, but she does not show any close up pictures of the complicated insects such as a dragonfly or butterfly, (she does show detailed pictures of the ladybug, which most first graders can draw easily.

The coloring she did on the dragonfly looks amazing, how she got the lacy colorful yet translucent wings is the 8th mystery of the known world. There are no instructions, and no close up pictures.

This book did inspire me, although I will not be doing any of the projects in the book, not until I raise my kids, go back to art school for 4 years, then retire from work to have the time and experience needed for her projects.

Her work is interesting and she is talented, but I would have perferred just photos of many more projects, just to inspire but not instruct. Or more details. I know book length, word count, and number of photos included are usually dictated by the editor and not the writer, so I do not mean to insult Diane Weaver. Her work is beautiful and the photos that are included are clear, bright, colorful, and helpful.

All my complaining could have been avoided had the editor left the misleading word "Simple" out of the subtitle of the book, and just subtitled it, "Techniques for Fresh, New Looks."

Would I buy this book again? Yes, but only at a good sales price, which you can find here at amazon. Or buy it if you have artistic talent, you may get more out of this book than I could. That is why in spite of all my complaining, I am still giving her 3 stars instead of less.

I bought this book along with "Painting and Decorating Furniture" by Sheila McGraw. While this book did inspire some ideas, most of the projects aren't very exicting and the tips are common sense. I like "Painting and Decorating Furniture" by Sheila McGraw much better. She gives really good tips that aren't common sense (like using chaulking to create raised effects).

I was looking for some inspiration, but the furniture was pretty
uninteresting. Only the cover piece was at all bold -- everything else pretty predictable.

This is the most useful book I've seen on painting furniture. Though these are not "quickie" projects, each is full of good information. Obviously the author really knows her stuff, and the information on preparing furniture for decoration is solid. I used some of her techniques to start off a piece and it came out wonderfully. Please write some more books, Diane!

I thought this book would be a simple "how to" book. It offers several projects; many look pretty darn complicated for the person looking for "simple techniques" as the title suggests. I was pretty disappointed.

The features you need, the advice you want, the examples you'll refer to again and again: that's what you'll find in this book. The experience and insights that the authors bring to this book have made it one of my favorites among computer books in general and my total favorite among Photoshop books. I recommend this edition of the Bible to anyone who has already used most of the basic features and wants some expert advice to move them on to the next level. The "Professional" tag is appropriate, but you don't need to be an expert to use the book: that's where it takes you. Don't expect this book to baby you and for every single button and dialog box to be covered, because this is a book focused on the features you use for more advanced projects, and the work that pushes the edge of the design envelope. If you're looking for coverage of everything in the Photoshop menus and tools, get the main CS2 Bible, the one that's like 1500 pages. If you want to learn specific stuff to take your work to the next level, the Professional Edition is the one you want.

The Professional Edition appears to be missing any information on at least 2 new Photoshop CS2 features; Smart Sharpening and Reduce Noise. It has sections on Sharpening and Noise BUT does not cover the new CS2 commands. I have not been through the whole book but this situation took me by surprise.

Good book giving the details on all the CS 2's new features. Two thumbs up!

If you want to take your pictures to the next level this is the book for you. Fantastic and easy to follow .. for the advanced amateur and pro.

Title: Photoshop CS2 Bible - Professional Edition
Author: Laurie Ulrich Fuller, Robert C. Fuller, and Deke McClelland
Publisher: Wiley Publishing, Inc. 2004
ISBN: 0-7645-4179-X
Pages: 649 pages
Reviewer: Bruce Frank
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Deke McClelland is quite possibly the most accessible and humorous Photoshop guru around, rivaled only by Scott Kelby and Russell Brown. In the introduction to this book, he asserts that he was born in Verona in 1511, and later, with diabolical intent, developed a pathogen code named the "Pernicious Instrument of eXtreme Evil" (you guessed it, "pixel" for short). Then, in the words of the introduction, "When his invention turned out to help rather than hurt photography, he went quite mad. He now inflicts his revenge by writing educational books and hosting training videos."

Although written with his characteristic wit, McClelland always returns to the point, very carefully and thoroughly explaining the precise steps needed to achieve various results in Photoshop, so that even a beginner will be able to follow along easily. Having said that, this book is true to its "Professional Edition" designation - it covers very advanced techniques. For example, one very interesting bit of information I picked up is that Layer Styles (automated effects provided in the Layer Styles palette) can be "deconstructed" - that is, by choosing Layer > Layer Style > Create Layers, you can take over and edit each layer of the effect to your satisfaction.

Attention to detail is one of the hallmarks of this book - in the chapter called "Painting and Brushes," McClelland even covers the hardware a Photoshop artist would probably use (the Wacom tablet), and elaborates on the techniques it can facilitate.

Well written and designed, and with color photos and screenshots throughout, this is a tome (649 pages!) that should serve as a useful reference for years to come. Although this is written to cover Photoshop CS, nearly all of the techniques covered would apply to Photoshop CS2 as well. Supplemental information can be found at dekemc.com.

The basic principle behind this book is obviously to dissect Apple's Aperture image-editing...no no, workflow program. I was standoffish on buying Aperture as I am very married to Photoshop, however, as I began to shoot more digital photos I found myself with photos on various hard drives, backed up two or three times because I couldn't remember what I did or when I did it, and then there is Aperture and this book.
The book only received 4 of 5 stars from me because I think they should have covered the monitor calibration or color correcting information in the beginning, but this isn't a book about color correction for your monitor, it is about Aperture.
I found the book easy and enjoyable to read. It was technical, but not so technical that you find yourself confused or frustrated. While you do not need a book to get started in Aperture, this book will certainly walk you through all of the features in v1.1 so that you do not under use the application.
I would recommend this book even though Aperture is now running at v1.5.

This is one of the most easy-to-read technical manuals that I have come across. The style is engaging and light, while the content is comprehensive, up to date and surprisingly detailed. Recommended for those just starting with Aperture or those after a very good companion manual.

I was disgusted to receive this book and find it was for Aperture 1.1. I wasted $20 on this book. The user interface on 2.0 had changed. Many of the features have been substantially improved. Buy a book on Aperture 2.0 not this book. I will try to return it. If anyone wants to buy it, please write me. I will sell it for less than what it is priced at here. My book is in new condition.

What is Aperture? The program is Apple Computer Company's answer to a digital workflow for digital images. The program tries to recreate the days of editing slides on a light table. The program is like the professional version of iPhoto with more power. It is also designed to handle RAW images which most professional Single-Reflex-Lens (SLR) cameras can shoot.

The program is a digital workflow program and has many nondestructive editing fea-tures built into it. The program is not a substitute an external image editor such as Photoshop, Photoshop Elements or other photo editing programs if you are interested in more creative editing. Aperture works in conjunction with these programs.

Apple updated Aperture from version 1.1 to version 1.5 while I was working on the re-view. Apple has added 20 new features to the program so the book is somewhat out of date but the basic functions of the software have not changed much. I wrote the review based on version 1.1. Reading Apple's website, version 1.5 will make the program eas-ier to use with other Apple programs such as the Apple's iLife Suite and the iWorks and a more flexible library management for example.

The authors Ellen Anon and Josh Anon fit a lot of information in 297 pages. The di-mensions of the book are 10.0 x 8.0 x 0.7 inches so the book is easy to take along with you if you use Aperture on a laptop. The book has plenty of white space and color pho-tos so it's easy on the eyes. The chapters covered by the book are Welcome to Aper-ture, Importing and Organizing Your Images, Viewing Images, Finding the Keepers, Nondestructive Image Processing, Exporting Images, Printing, Creating Web Content, Creating a Book, and Advanced Aperture.

The book is easily to understand and the authors tried to make it as non-technical has possible. If you are new to Aperture you might want to read the entire book but if you have used the software for a while you might be interested in the second half of the book. The authors are very clear about this in the introduction of the book stating you can read the entire book, chapters or just sections.

The authors give you examples of various nondestructive editing techniques you can use in Aperture on your digital images. They also give you the published website so you can download the examples files and work with the examples yourself so you can better understand what authors are trying to explain. I found working with examples helpful because you can only go so far with trying to understand text and the screen shots.
As you read through the book the authors discussed how to adjust digital images. They will not give you a lot of theory as to why you would do certain things. This would be beyond the scope of the book but you should be aware if this limitation of you purchase the book.

As I read through the book and the authors discussed various features of the Aperture and then under printing the authors discussed color correcting your computer screen so you get true colors. I was surprised that they waited until three-fourths of the way through the book because they discussed color adjustment and other features in earlier chapters. I think the discussion of color correcting your screen should have been dis-cussed at the beginning. The reason I believe the discussion should be a the beginning of the book is the authors spend so much time on color correcting and editing the digital images through out the book. If your monitor screen colors are not correct you will likely not color correct your images correctly. Once you go to a different computer or print your photos you might be in for a big surprise. Also, if the readers of the book are new to digital photography they might no realize the problems of not having a color corrected screen.

In the copy of the book I reviewed, I found Figure 3.11 had a dark screen shot. The figure is on page 66.

I found that when I read a selection and then came back to it, I had a hard time finding the commands and short cuts. I think the authors might consider a short cut command page per chapter so readers do not have to search for them.

Aperture Exposed is a good book for someone wanting to learn Aperture. If you are an advanced user you might only find the last part of the book useful to you. Just a re-minder this version of the book is for Aperture 1.1 and the newest version that just came out the end of September 2006 is version 1.5. Some of the features have changed so some parts of the book will be out of date if you purchase the book.

The instructions in this text are a little difficult to follow. I am an intermediate photographer, and this book may have been intended for a person with more experience and skill than I have. It is full of important information, but I am going to look for a more basic Aperture manual.