Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers (Foundation)

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review




Very Well Done, August 29, 2008
By Paul Bennett (Seattle, WA United States)
I shake my head when I think about the amount of planning that has to go into a book of this caliber. They couldn't have done a better job keeping track of the ideas introduced in early chapters and building on them in succeeding chapters until they are well ingrained.

The tone is good -- occasional bits of levity but not so much that it becomes grating.

I came to this book with some familiarity with Photoshop and Illustrator, but none whatsoever with Flash. I'm nearly done with the book and am ready to take on the Flash projects I have in mind. I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning Flash.





Very Inconsistent, August 25, 2008
By peacemaker
Having read all the positive reviews, I had a lot of expectations for this book, however, I was bitterly disappointed. I'm only on page 26 of the book and I've already become frustrated with missing steps in the instructions, inconsistent content in the digital files, not to mention, the book didn't even tell us where to download the files and I had to find them myself. Maybe PC users aren't experiencing the same troubles I'm having, as the book seems to be based entirely on the PC version with some Mac shortcuts mentioned as afterthoughts, seemingly for marketing purposes; however, some inconsistencies are doubtlessly cross-platform.

On the Mac, menu items seem to be named differently, functions don't seem to behave the same way, as least not according to the instructions in the book. But more frustrating is that the contents of the example files do not correspond to the ones mentioned in the book, as vague as the descriptions are in the book to begin with - eg. the book gives an example of 2 items on the stage, when we open the file, there are 3. Insert Layer is somehow misnamed as New Layer,it's not a big deal, we can figure it out, but is this kind of error forgivable in an instruction book we PAY extra for? When we add a new Layer "2" to the file, according to the book, it becomes Layer 5 in the software; let's not forget to mention that the book's "Layer 1" layer is somehow named "Box" in the actual digital file, what is going on here?? Now, this is not a platform issue, the digital files and the book simply do not match. The remaining instructions from the book on that exercise obviously cannot be followed as so many things are completely different, and this is only Chapter 1.

I can forgive books on general theories and analysis being vague and inconsistent, but this is suppose to be a step-by-step software instruction book, is it so hard for the digital files to correspond to what is printed in the book? Can't the authors at least take a few minutes to double-check the differences between the Mac and PC versions before claiming that this book works for both?

I'm going to try to guess through the inconsistent and frustrating examples in order to learn the software, assuming things do not get worse after Chapter 1, but I do resent having to make extra effort for all this guesswork from an instruction book. Time might be better spent learning Flash off the web.

EDIT.
Despite some inconsistencies, having read a bit further, the book does offer a lot of helpful information, and a lot of effort put forth by the authors to make learning Flash as painless as possible. If the reader has the patience and determination to persevere through some of the inevitable errors in such a large volume, the book does give a decent overview of Flash. In retrospect, I would give the book a 3.5 stars rather than 1. 8/28/2008



Not recommended, August 1, 2008
By David Hirschi (Marfa, TX)
As a true Flash newbie, I can't recommend this book. I found the sample lessons to be too much too soon and, in some cases, steps were left out. There wasn't enough time spent at the beginning on learning your way around the timeline and information about optimizing and publishing your move are like an afterthought at the end of the book. The book also bills itself as 'for designers' and yet the samples used to demonstrate Flash principles are poorly designed.



OK textbook, July 26, 2008
By Ekhat (USA)
Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers (Foundation)
I think it is a very good overview book. You get tour of everything - drawing, sound, and video. There are some omissions in sequences of instructions but it keeps your memory cells on alert - it keeps you from being automation, you actually make an effort to remember something and then use it in as agile manner as you can manage. If you do not remember you have to backtrack and earmark, and it is not nessecarily a bad thing.
Good work overall. I am not giving it 5 stars because I am old grudge.





Great book - no CD :/, July 21, 2008
By Ryan j (IL)
I just started using this book to learn Flash CS3. I think it is very easy to understand. However, the one downfall I do not like about it is that the author keeps referring to examples for the user to open as if a disk was included with the book, but isn't. It is just difficult to keep up or understand where they are going. Other wise I am learning tons!