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Rating: ![3 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-3-0.gif) Summary: ? Review: I dont know exactly why I do not like this book. Is it because of its bad layout, no color, very simple beginner kind of explanation of the subject or what? To me at least half of the book is useless as it explains simple features which I (and probably most other users) figure out on their own by playing around with AI10. Maybe I'm wrong or this is just no style that I enjoy. Usually special edition books by QUE are much better and larger.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: still the most comprehensive guide to AI Review: I'm a web designer, Illustrator teacher, author of beginner level Illustrator books, and quasi-graphic artist. This is my favorite Illustrator book - except for mine:).When I reviewed the version 9 edition of this book, I noted that while somtimes Que's Special Edition Using series tends be too encyclopedic, you NEED an encyclopedic reference for Illustrator. Nobody is going to explore every feature, effect, and tool, so professional designers and teachers need an accurate and complete a-z guide handy. I've got a half dozen books, but after repeated comparisson, I find I pull SE Using AI 10 off my shelf much more than any other guide to Illustrator. The basic value of this book lies in the clear explanations of any feature you need to look up. The artwork in the book is still utilitarian - clearly demonstrating features, but not providing much in the way of creative spark. And the the 4-color gallery section doesn't add much in my opinion - especially without any annotation. But so what? This is a reference book for experts, not a design book or a hybrid of the two. My main beef with this edition is the frustratingly bad layout of the index. A book like this needs a comprehensive and comprehensable index. This index is complete, but whoever decided to save a couple bucks by cramming the content into 3 columns, and not putting headings (as opposed to the many subheadings and long lists of sub-sub headings) in boldface made the book nearly unusable. Hopefully we'll see a much better index layout in the next edition.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Draws special attention to new features Review: While the coverage of Illustrator is complete, Special Edition Using Adobe Illustrator X is most suited for the graphics professional who has at least some working knowledge of the software. In the course of covering Illustrator, Peter Bauer will draw special attention to new features including: Full Mac OS X coverage; new drawing capabilities: grids, lines, arcs, compound-shape enhancements, Flare tool; Enhanced Web features: symbols, slicing, dynamic data-driven graphics, enhanced Flash and SVG support; improved effects: warping and envelope distortion, Liquify tools; and increased productivity: new Magic Wand selection tool, dynamic data-driven graphics, improved interoperability with other Adobe products, asset management, scripting. Special Edition Using Illustrator X also has several appendices that serve as a quick guide to all of Illustrator's tools, palettes, and menus. User Level: Intermediate - Advanced, 784 pages.
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