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Posts Tagged ‘CS4’

Book Review: How to Cheat in Adobe Flash CS4

02 Sep

How to Cheat in Adobe Flash CS4 By Chris Georgenes

Know enough about Flash to be dangerous? Would you like to pull back the curtain on some common applications of Flash? I suggest taking a look at Chris Georgenes’ book, How to Cheat in Adobe Flash CS4.

There are common elements that span across multiple websites that we mere mortal monkeys do not know how to create. If you ever found yourself sitting in a tree, eating a banana while browsing the web and thought, ‘I’d like to have an effect like that on my site’ but don’t want to spend years learning Flash… this book is for you.

Not a typical reference manual, or cookbook, but it shares elements of both styles. The layout of the book is in a fashion so the user can just open it up and see from start to finish the steps to create an effect, without turning the page! Talk about summing up the important stuff! I know what you are thinking my fellow primates, but rest assured this book is not jam packed with 5 point font from edge to edge. On the contrary, it is beautifully illustrated with graphics that change in style every so often.

This book is for the majority a tutorial book. These two pages here teach you how to do this. Next two pages teach you how to do that. I am not a fan of reference manuals or cookbooks. The cleaver layout did make this book much MUCH more helpful (not to mention an easier read). Chris does go over technique in chapter one, which I really enjoyed and wished there was more of. Technique and style are timeless; the tools will continue to get upgraded.

I think we all know that monkey… he’s the one that just ‘knows’ his stuff. Always seems to be one branch ahead of the rest of us. And we continue to find ourselves tapping him on the shoulder and asking, ‘Hey could you help me create (fill in the HUGE blank here) real fast?’ Well, that monkey is Chris Georgenes (don’t take offense my friend) and this book is what he wrote to show the world some of those creation processes!

Early in the book I got a feeling that really didn’t leave me. This book seems to be aimed more towards the artist. If you are an artist I HIGHLY recommend this book. If you don’t consider yourself an artist and just want to get into web design… check out this book from a Library to see if you want to purchase it. Myself, I don’t consider myself an artist but have a handful of post-it notes sticking out of the pages I want to revisit.

The interludes at the end of each chapter were a really nice touch. These little gems enhance the feeling that you know the guy. Short, sweet, and often entertaining.

Overall well done book! Again, HIGHLY recommend if you are a traditional artist looking to get into Flash. For everyone else, MonkeyButlerNinja gives this book 4 tweening ninja stars out of 5!

 
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Book Review: After Effects Expressions

27 Feb

After Effects Expressions by Marcus Geduld

Let me start off by explaining where my skill levels are at. I consider myself a very decent Adobe After Effects user and a beginner/intermediate Adobe Flash user. The next step for me in Flash is earning my black belt in Flash’s programming language Action Script 3.0. Action Script 3.0 is based heavily on JavaScript… which turns out to be the exact language Adobe After Effect uses! Oohhh how I can feel that black belt already!

I’ve attempted not once but TWICE to wrap my primate brain around Action Script 3.0. I had zero experience with JavaScript and had never attempted that language. After Effects Expressions is literally the first time that I felt that ‘AH-HA!’ moment. The examples and analogies Marcus Geduld are fantastic. I honestly hope that he puts out a sequel to this book! After Effects Expressions, part 2 The Expert Manual… or something. By the way Marcus if you use that title I am way cool with it, just make sure you toss http://www.MonkeyButlerNinja.com a shout out!

Pros:

This book will hold your hand as you take those first scary steps into JavaScript.

It is a fast read and well written. You most likely will get through this book quickly (partially because of the illustrations, see below) while retain a lot of knowledge.

Cons:

While this book assumes you know nothing about JavaScript it also makes the assumption you know nothing about math. This is defiantly not a con if you indeed are horrible at math.

The source material is all online (no CD or DVD) and the organization online isn’t the best. I hit a hiccup on the chapter 2 files but was able to recreate the material that I needed.

There are WAY too many pictures. To illustrate motion the book sometimes has 6 half page pictures in a row!! Now, I am not going to penalize the book too harshly for this, after all, the problem with books on coding is that they are books on coding. Giving our eyes a break from constant formulas keeps you fresh. Overdone, but I see a purpose.


Conclusion:

This book has a specific topic of a specific software, and I absolutely love that. When I grab a book, 9 times out of 10 I could skip the first 150 pages because of all the basics of tool selection, what the move tool does, how to install the program… BLAH… this book skips that and goes right to the good stuff. If you use Adobe After Effects and never have used expressions or have used basic ones that you got off the web somewhere… GET THIS BOOK!

I rate it: 4 wiggling Ninja Stars.

 
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Posted in Review: Books

 

Hey Adobe, want some input?

09 Dec

Adobe! I have an idea if you are interested.

It seems like a good majority of people are not utilizing Adobe Bridge. Personally I like the software and get use out of it. If you use more than one Adobe product at a time then I am one to believe the first software to fire up is in fact Adobe Bridge.

Now, some have said it is too slow and I agree the earlier versions were a bit clunky. CS3 took the speed up a notch, big monkey high five from me. I have yet to play with CS4 (will soon!) but I have a suggestion to help get more fellow monkeys in the Adobe Bridge barrel.

So many of us fellow Adobe ninjas are freelancers and it can be difficult in the early years to track hours. But in my mind, it is crucial to do so. Being able to look back at a project and say, ‘Oh it took x hours from concept to production’ allows us to more accurately quote gigs in the future! Personally I use free online software called SlimTimer (found at http://www.slimtimer.com) and it is OUTSTANDING! I track every hour I spend on projects and it takes all of 20 seconds to set up and click start (for Adobe ninjas it takes 14 seconds).

My point is this, I ALWAYS use SlimTimer and I sometimes use Adobe Bridge. If you were to say buy SlimTimer and in the next update include that feature into Adobe Bridge CS5, I bet you would have a decent jump in users.

**Disclaimer, I have no ties to SlimTimer other than a very satisfied customer! Keep it up guys!

 
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Posted in Adobe Stuff