Plug-In Smart: How to Choose and Use Photoshop-Compatible Plug-Ins (Smart Design)

Rating:
Summary: Very good content .. very overpriced
Review: I finished this beautiful book in about 6 hours easy reading. The info was helpful .. lots of examples of PS plugins and what they did. HOWEVER I was not thrilled to pay the money for a once read book. The content could have been put in several .PDF files and folks allowed to view or download the content for much less money.

Rating:
Summary: colorful, but fairly useless
Review: The content of this book is not up to the quality of paper it is printed on or to the number of colorful pictures. The book is essentially a collection of advertisement of vendors offering photoshop-compatible plugins, which sponsored this book. The author neither attempts to compare the third-party plug-ins with those included into the Photoshop package, nor discusses the advantages and limitations of each plug-in. The enclosed CD containes primarily demo (limited functionality) versions of some plug-ins and programs, but no practical lessons, as most books with CD-ROMs do. If you are looking for an unusual effect which cannot be achieved by using the standard Photoshop filters, this book may help you to find a place where to buy what you need. Generally, you get much less than you would expect to get for this money.

Rating:
Summary: colorful, but fairly useless
Review: The content of this book is not up to the quality of paper it is printed on or to the number of colorful pictures. The book is essentially a collection of advertisement of vendors offering photoshop-compatible plugins, which sponsored this book. The author neither attempts to compare the third-party plug-ins with those included into the Photoshop package, nor discusses the advantages and limitations of each plug-in. The enclosed CD containes primarily demo (limited functionality) versions of some plug-ins and programs, but no practical lessons, as most books with CD-ROMs do. If you are looking for an unusual effect which cannot be achieved by using the standard Photoshop filters, this book may help you to find a place where to buy what you need. Generally, you get much less than you would expect to get for this money.

Rating:
Summary: limited use; limited scope; outdated
Review: This book helped me to understand the general concept of plug-ins, but that's about all. I found it at half price, but it was hardly worth that to me. The CD is mostly a lot of save-disabled demos and trials for commercial plug-ins. It was written when Photoshop was in version 4.0, so even when it discusses plug-ins that come with Photoshop, it is too outdated. Plug-ins are not discussed in detail - only one (set of) setting(s) per plug-in is covered. I'd like to see a new book on this topic that also covers the multitude of free plug-ins now available. This book doesn't.

Rating:
Summary: limited use; limited scope; outdated
Review: This book helped me to understand the general concept of plug-ins, but that's about all. I found it at half price, but it was hardly worth that to me. The CD is mostly a lot of save-disabled demos and trials for commercial plug-ins. It was written when Photoshop was in version 4.0, so even when it discusses plug-ins that come with Photoshop, it is too outdated. Plug-ins are not discussed in detail - only one (set of) setting(s) per plug-in is covered. I'd like to see a new book on this topic that also covers the multitude of free plug-ins now available. This book doesn't.