General Books

Adobe Photoshop CS4: Up to Speed

Ben Willmore

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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Programming -> Algorithms -> Digital Image Processing

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Long established as a must-have guide for Photoshop users upgrading to the newest version, Up to Speed goes right to the heart of Photoshop CS4 what has changed, what is new, and how you can get the most out of the features as quickly as possible. Rather than sift through hundreds of pages detailing every last Photoshop feature and function (both old and new), you can go directly to the new features that interest you the most and get the explanations you desire in the classic Ben Willmore style-- intuitive, crystal clear, and in-depth. By focusing on a single topic--what's new in this version--the award-winning author provides precisely what experienced Photoshop users have been clamoring for, in exactly the depth they demand. After reading this book even if you've been using CS4 for awhile don't be surprised to hear yourself say, I didn't know CS4 did that! In addition to learning the new features in no time flat, a welcome side effect of learning from Ben is that you can expect to become a better, faster and more efficient Photoshop user, and few things are more fun than becoming better at Photoshop!

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Classroom in a Book

Adobe Creative Team

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Editorial Review:

The fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe Photoshop CS4

Fourteen lessons in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Classroom in a Book cover basic and advanced techniques in Adobe Photoshop, the world’s best image-editing software. Learn how to retouch digital photos, work with layers and masks, navigate the workspace, prepare images print, and explore the latest features. Tips, extra-credit exercises, and step-by-step lessons help you become more productive using Photoshop.

Learn to correct and enhance digital photos, create image composites, transform images in perspective, and prepare images for print and the web. Combine images for extended depth of field, and try out the new 3D features in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended.

“The Classroom in a Book series is by far the best training material on the market. Everything you need to master the software is included: clear explanations of each lesson, step-by-step instructions, and the project files for the students.” —Barbara Binder, Adobe Certified Instructor, Rocky Mountain Training

Classroom in a Book®, the best-selling series of hands-on software training workbooks, helps you learn the features of Adobe software quickly and easily. Classroom in a Book offers what no other book or training program does—an official training series from Adobe Systems Incorporated, developed with the support of Adobe product experts.

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Flash CS4 Professional Digital Classroom

Fred Gerantabee, Aquent Creative Team

Amazon Price: $31.49 List Price: $49.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Wiley Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $27.33

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Flash CS4 Professional Digital Classroom is like having a personal instructor guiding readers through each lesson, while they work at their own pace. This book includes 13 self-paced lessons that let readers discover essential skills and explore new features and capabilities of Adobe Flash Professional. Every lesson is presented in full color with step-by-step instructions. Learning is reinforced with video tutorials and lesson files on a companion DVD that were developed by the same team of Adobe Certified Instructors and Flash experts who have created many of the official training titles for Adobe Systems. Each video tutorial is approximately five minutes long and demonstrates and explains the concepts and features covered in the lesson. This training package shows the basics of using the program, such as using layers and instances to build animation sequences, as well as advance features, such as using ActionScript to create interactive Web page components. Jam-packed with information, this book and DVD takes users from the basics through intermediate level topics and helps readers find the information they need in a clear, approachable manner.

Dreamweaver CS3: The Missing Manual

David McFarland

Amazon Price: $29.69 List Price: $44.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Pogue Press Amazon Marketplace: 56 new & used starting at $24.98

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Total reviews: 94 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Welcome to Dreamweaver CS3. This new version of the popular web design software offers a rich environment for building professional sites, with drag-and-drop simplicity, clean HTML code, and dynamic database-driven web site creation tools. Moreover, it's now integrated more tightly with Adobe's other products: Photoshop, InDesign, Flash, and their siblings. But with such sophisticated features, the software isn't simple. So say hello to Dreamweaver CS3: The Missing Manual, the fifth edition of this bestselling book by experienced web site trainer and author David McFarland. This book helps both first-time and experienced web designers bring stunning, interactive web sites to life. With jargon-free language and clear descriptions, this new edition addresses both beginners who need step-by-step guidance as well as long-time Dreamweaver users who need a handy reference to address the inner-workings of the program. Dreamweaver CS3: The Missing Manual teaches designers how to construct and manage web sites by examining web-page components and Dreamweaver's capabilities through "live examples." With a complete A-Z guide to designing, organizing, building and deploying a web site for those with no web design experience, this book: Takes you through the basics to advanced techniques to control the appearance of your web pages with CSS Shows you how to design dynamic database-driven web sites, from blogs to product catalogs, and from shopping carts to newsletter signup forms Teaches you how to master your web site, and manage thousands of pages effortlessly Witty and objective, Dreamweaver CS3: The Missing Manual is a must for anyone who uses this highly popular program, from beginners toprofessionals. Altogether, it's the ultimate atlas for Dreamweaver CS3.

Adobe Flash CS4 Professional Classroom in a Book

Adobe Creative Team

Amazon Price: $34.64 List Price: $54.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Adobe Press Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $25.65

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Editorial Review:

The fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe Flash CS4 Professional.

Adobe Flash CS4 Professional Classroom in a Book contains 10 lessons. The book covers the basics of learning Adobe Flash CS4 Professional and provides countless tips and techniques to help you become more productive with the program. You can follow the book from start to finish or choose only those lessons that interest you.

Learn how to design Flash projects with sophisticated animation, import video and sound files, and integrate buttons with compelling interactivity using ActionScript 3.0. Powerful features such as the new Motion Editor, inverse kinematics, and support for 3D will make developing your Flash sites fast, easy, and fun.

“The Classroom in a Book series is by far the best training material on the market. Everything you need to master the software is included: clear explanations of each lesson, step-by-step instructions, and the project files for the students.” —Barbara Binder, Adobe Certified Instructor, Rocky Mountain Training

Classroom in a Book®, the best-selling series of hands-on software training workbooks, helps you learn the features of Adobe software quickly and easily. Classroom in a Book offers what no other book or training program does—an official training series from Adobe Systems Incorporated, developed with the support of Adobe product experts.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques

Chris Orwig

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Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Build your Lightroom expertise, one technique at a time. Why sort through piles of unrelated documentation when you can focus on the essential techniques? In Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 How-Tos, author Chris Orwig brings you the best techniques to quickly organize and correct your digital images using this powerful program created specifically for photographers. Complete with illustrations and practical tips, these bite-sized lessons from Chris’s experience as a photographer and instructor provide just the information you need. Here you can explore the program at your own pace, spending less time at your computer and more time behind the lens taking great pictures.

Coverage includes

• Customizing the Interface
• Understanding File Formats
• Finding Images with Text, Refine, and Metadata Filters
• Using Presets in Quick Develop
• Correcting White Balance
• Applying Settings to Other Images
• Changing Hue, Saturation, and Luminance
• Dodging and Burning with the Adjustment Brush
• Customizing Web Galleries

Adobe Illustrator CS4 Classroom in a Book

Adobe Creative Team

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Editorial Review:

The fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe Illustrator CS4

Adobe Illustrator CS4 Classroom in a Book contains 15 lessons. The book covers the basics of learning Illustrator and provides countless tips and techniques to help you become more productive with the program. You can follow the book from start to finish or choose only those lessons that interest you.

Learn how to create artwork for illustrations, logos, stationery, page layouts, posters, and integrate with Adobe Flash® movies, Adobe InDesign® layouts, and more!

“The Classroom in a Book series is by far the best training material on the market. Everything you need to master the software is included: clear explanations of each lesson, step-by-step instructions, and the project files for the students.” —Barbara Binder, Adobe Certified Instructor, Rocky Mountain Training

Classroom in a Book®, the best-selling series of hands-on software training workbooks, helps you learn the features of Adobe software quickly and easily. Classroom in a Book offers what no other book or training program does—an official training series from Adobe Systems Incorporated, developed with the support of Adobe product experts.

Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands

Marty Neumeier

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Subjects -> Business & Investing -> Marketing & Sales -> Marketing -> General AAS

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Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"When everybody zigs, zag," says author Marty Neumeier in this fresh view of brand strategy. ZAG follows the ultra-clear "whiteboard overview" style of Neumeier's first book, THE BRAND GAP, but drills deeper into the question of how brands can harness the power of differentiation. The author argues that in an extremely cluttered marketplace, traditional differentiation is no longer enough—today companies need “radical differentiation” to create lasting value for their shareholders and customers. In an entertaining 3-hour read you’ll learn:

- why me-too brands are doomed to fail
- how to "read" customer feedback on new products and messages
- the 17 steps for designing “difference” into your brand
- how to turn your brand’s “onliness” into a “trueline” to drive synergy
- the secrets of naming products, services, and companies
- the four deadly dangers faced by brand portfolios
- how to “stretch” your brand without breaking it
- how to succeed at all three stages of the competition cycle

ZAG is an AIGA Design Press book, published under Peachpit's New Riders imprint in partnership with AIGA. For a quick peek inside ZAG, go to www.zagbook.com.

The Essential Blender: Guide to 3D Creation with the Open Source Suite Blender

Roland Hess

Amazon Price: $29.67 List Price: $44.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: No Starch Press Amazon Marketplace: 43 new & used starting at $26.50

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Total reviews: 37 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Blender is a free and open source 3D creation suite that is a real alternative to commercially available 3D design software. A cross-platform software package with millions of downloads annually, Blender is now one of the world's most popular 3D design tools.

Although Blender is free, it's intended for design professionals and others motivated to become 3D artists. The Essential Blender will provide you with the knowledge you need to help integrate Blender into your work and begin to master its powerful creation tools.

If you've never tried 3D design before, an introductory chapter will familiarize you with relevant terminology and concepts. If you're already experienced with commercial 3D software, The Essential Blender will get you up to speed with Blender quickly.

After a tour of Blender's 3D modeling, animation, and rendering capabilities, you'll learn how best to use Blender for these tasks:

Object manipulation and animation

Mesh and sculpt modeling and shape animation

Materials and texturing (including UV unwrapping)

Lighting and rendering

Particle animation

Character rigging and animation

Node-based composition

The book is modular in its approach, with each topic addressed independently and accompanied by hands-on tutorial sections.

The combined expertise of key members of the Blender community, coupled with the experience of editor Roland Hess, bring you The Essential Blender--the definitive guide to Blender. You'll find a wealth of 3D design information inside that will help you to unlock your artistic potential and get the most out of Blender.

Includes a complete version of Blender 2.44 on the CD-ROM. Covers Windows, Mac OS X, Linux (x86 and PowerPC), Solaris, FreeBSD, and IRIX.

Produced by The Blender Foundation. Printed and distributed By No Starch Press.

Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop: The Basics of ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo Updated for ArcGIS 9 (Getting to Know series)

Tim Ormsby, Eileen Napoleon, Robert Burke

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 70 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A nice, basic GIS primer with ArcGIS software included 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I teach an introductory GIS course using this book. I like the simple, informative layout and the exercises that are useful, if a little basic. One of the real values of the book is the inclusion of a trial version of ArcGIS 9.2 with a full gamut of extensions (there is a newer book out with 9.3), as well as exercises that go along with the book.

This in itself is very valuable, because it allows my students to use the state of the art software during the course on their personal computers. Unless you have access to ArcGIS from another source, I would highly recommend purchasing the book new, since the trial software is one-time use only.

Editorial Review:

With revised material and new exercises based on ArcGIS version 9, this updated work acquaints geographers and GIS professionals with the principles of GIS as it teaches the mechanics of using ArcGIS software. Conceptual material is followed by scripted software exercises. Necessary GIS skills are presented in a variety of areas--map symbology, data overlay, map projection, and data conversion--as the making of maps and the analysis of geographic data is conceptualized. Spatial modeling exercises using the Model Builder technology of ArcGIS version 9 are also provided. Other topics covered include organizing data, planning a GIS project, creating derived data, and presenting results.