Rating: 
Summary: Adobe After Effects 4.0 Classroom in a Book
Review: For the information that is consistent with After Effects 4.0 the diagrams and accompanying text are clear. However, Lesson 4 (specifically p. 155, item 4) is wrought with errors and is frustrating for the learner; the directions in the fourth tutorial fail to match the capabilities the actual application. If one purchases this book, be aware of the discrepencies in Lesson 4.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for new After Effects users
Review: Highly recommended for anyone starting out in After Effects. In fact, if you've never even seen After Effects, this book is for you. After just a few lessons, you'll feel more comfortable and confident using the After Effects interface and features. If you need to get up to speed quickly with this powerful compositing software, then AE Classroom in a Book will serve you well.Regarding a few of the criticisms that some people have leveled against this book: If you're already an AE pro and have gone through the earlier edition, then the "what's new" section of the official AE manual should be your main learning tool. This book is designed for beginners, not to help people migrate from version 3. Yes, the lessons in this book are not earth shattering and exciting. This book teaches you how to use a professional compositing software package. Serious compositing is, generally, an unexciting procedure. For people wishing to be entertained, I would recommend a collection of Gary Larson's Far Side strips. For people who wish to learn After Effects, I would recommend this book. Happy compositing! Philip Williams
(...)
Rating:
Summary: Great for new After Effects users
Review: Highly recommended for anyone starting out in After Effects. In fact, if you've never even seen After Effects, this book is for you. After just a few lessons, you'll feel more comfortable and confident using the After Effects interface and features. If you need to get up to speed quickly with this powerful compositing software, then AE Classroom in a Book will serve you well. Regarding a few of the criticisms that some people have leveled against this book: If you're already an AE pro and have gone through the earlier edition, then the "what's new" section of the official AE manual should be your main learning tool. This book is designed for beginners, not to help people migrate from version 3. Yes, the lessons in this book are not earth shattering and exciting. This book teaches you how to use a professional compositing software package. Serious compositing is, generally, an unexciting procedure. For people wishing to be entertained, I would recommend a collection of Gary Larson's Far Side strips. For people who wish to learn After Effects, I would recommend this book. Happy compositing! Philip Williams
(...)
Rating: 
Summary: A comprehensive, informative guide to FrameMaker.
Review: I came to this book as a new user of FrameMaker, fully expecting it to be as frustrating as the User Manual (someone should teach Adobe how to write one). Once I had swallowed the exorbitant price I was very pleasantly surprised. The accompanying CD contains files relating to 15 lessons of increasing complexity. The book takes you, hands on, from the absolute beginning, through various stages of formatting, use of graphics, tables, cross-referencing, book files, generated files, PDF conversion, hyperlinks, web publishing - the lot! The authors have made a great effort to include as many functions as possible within the book. This makes it an even more valuable resource for the beginner; the downside is that many are only mentioned once, in passing. While the information is there, it has to be digested. For example, the following sentence occurs in Lesson 9 on Anchored Frames and Graphics: "The text appears in a text frame that's drawn inside the anchored frame, and the picture of coffee beans is in an anchored frame that's run into the paragraph." Now, not being quite sure yet of the difference between a text frame and a climbing frame (whether anchored or unanchored), it required a bit of thought (and I'm none the worse for that). I found myself saying, "Now I'm sure I read that some way back..." It's rather like a mine to be explored more than once, and a re-read, even without using the computer, reinforces a great deal of the information, helped by a good index. All in all, a good buy. Armed with my new-found knowledge, I am now ready to face the User Manual and the on-line Help - er...maybe.
Rating:
Summary: Don't expect to be up and running after doing these lessons
Review: I faithfully completed all the lessons in this book then attempted to create my first FrameMaker document from scratch. Within five minutes I was stuck and didn't know what to do. I should add that I am not a computer neophyte. I am a software developer by trade and I am an experienced Word user, some would say a power user. This book gives an overview of the basic features of FrameMaker and leads the reader through exercises on existing documents. I would have found the book more effective if it had started at the logical starting point, creating a new document with a simple one-sided layout. Each chapter could have introduced the same features, but by building on that original document.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome, from basic to expert, one step at a time
Review: I had been using framemaker for a while and had no clue how to make use of the rest of framemaker's capabilities. This book shows you how to perform each function one step at a time through simple steps and graphics. The book is easily read and printed on very nice paper which makes it easier to read. It also comes with a companion CDROM with programs you manipulate so you learn how to use framemaker with hands on experience. A must buy, especially for beginners.
Rating:
Summary: Must have for Framemaker neophytes
Review: I recommended Frame to my company and had to quickly learn how to use it and be productive from day 1. I purchased this book and went through it. The proof of the book's quality was when I recently took a Frame Int/Adv course, there wasn't much that was new for me to learn. One word of advice... Go through the lessons then use Frame in your work. Go through the book again in about 3 months - you'll reinforce concepts and learn something new, since you'll be able to apply certain features to the work you have in progress. I HIGHLY recommend this book to all Frame users. Now if only Adobe could get some help with their online help ....
Rating:
Summary: Helpful even for veteran Frame users
Review: If you already own or use a copy of FrameMaker at work, and you need additional skills in using the software, or want to learn more of the powerful features Frame has to offer, this book will be useful to you. I can't say how helpful it would be to a new user, but for anyone who's been muddling through by learning how to use Frame on their own, this book will teach you many things you don't already know, and will help you create better-constructed documents. Remember to practice on documents you create yourself (from scratch) or the lessons won't stick.
Rating:
Summary: Helpful even for veteran Frame users
Review: If you already own or use a copy of FrameMaker at work, and you need additional skills in using the software, or want to learn more of the powerful features Frame has to offer, this book will be useful to you. I can't say how helpful it would be to a new user, but for anyone who's been muddling through by learning how to use Frame on their own, this book will teach you many things you don't already know, and will help you create better-constructed documents. Remember to practice on documents you create yourself (from scratch) or the lessons won't stick.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: If you have Classroom in a Book for AE 3.1, don't bother with this book. The lessons are identical. Very disappointing in that no new features are discussed or covered.
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