Animation Magic with Visual Basic 5, with CD [Paperback]

Lever (Author)

Book Description

Series: Learning to Program | Publication Date: November 10, 1997

The first developer's guide to animation with Visual Basic 5!

• Understand the principles of 2D and 3D computer graphics.
• Includes detailed coverage of VBScript and ActiveX - plus easy-to-use clip animation on CD-ROM!
• Platform games, puzzle games, simulations, screensavers, ray casting and more.
• Step-by-step introduction to Visual Basic 5 for those who need it - plus dozens of great animation tips for VB5 experts.

Most software developers have no animation skills at all, yet increasingly they are called upon to deliver animation on Web sites and in other interactive media. This book presents the fundamentals of animation for professional software developers. The book starts with the simplest aspects of animation, including sprites. Next it moves on to cover animation art and Visual Basic animation tools; simple platform and puzzle games; screensavers; and simple 3-D raycasting techniques. Learn how to use ActiveX and VBScript to add animation to your Web site; and uncover the mysteries of the Windows palette manager. Whether you're an experienced VB5 programmer or not, this book gives you the tools you need to create the animations you never thought you could! All software developers who need to understand the basics of animation - especially VB5 developers.

Nik Lever has been a professional animator since 1980 and a programmer since 1982.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The first developer's guide to animation with Visual Basic 5!

* Understand the principles of 2D and 3D computer graphics.
* Includes detailed coverage of VBScript and ActiveX - plus easy-to-use clip animation on CD-ROM!
* Platform games, puzzle games, simulations, screensavers, ray casting and more.
* Step-by-step introduction to Visual Basic 5 for those who need it - plus dozens of great animation tips for VB5 experts.
Most software developers have no animation skills at all, yet increasingly they are called upon to deliver animation on Web sites and in other interactive media. This book presents the fundamentals of animation for professional software developers. The book starts with the simplest aspects of animation, including sprites. Next it moves on to cover animation art and Visual Basic animation tools; simple platform and puzzle games; screensavers; and simple 3-D raycasting techniques. Learn how to use ActiveX and VBScript to add animation to your Web site; and uncover the mysteries of the Windows palette manager. Whether you're an experienced VB5 programmer or not, this book gives you the tools you need to create the animations you never thought you could! All software developers who need to understand the basics of animation - especially VB5 developers.

Nik Lever has been a professional animator since 1980 and a programmer since 1982.

Product Details

• Paperback: 457 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR (November 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0138422966
• ISBN-13: 978-0138422967
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,862,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worst ever book, July 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Animation Magic with Visual Basic 5, with CD (Paperback)

This is the MOST terrible book I've ever bought in my life. I don't have many VB books, but I have a total of 8 VB books.

I bought this book thinking I could learn something with it, but nooooooooo... it just contain a stupid sprite.dll that does all the work. So what are we suppose to learn?

This guy is just showing off what he can do with VB and makes you pay for it. He's nothing but a LOUSY teacher, he definitely sucks, I'll never ever buy any books from this author anymore.

I STRONGLY oppose to this book, don't even think of buy it, if not you'll regret it for the rest of your life.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It will give you some interesting ideas, but nothing more., April 10, 1999

By 

Victor L. Peters (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Animation Magic with Visual Basic 5, with CD (Paperback)

This book tries to be everything to everybody and ends up being nothing to anybody. Despite its claim, you can not learn to program from this book. If you have very little programming experience, you will find this book very confusing. If you know a lot of progeamming then you will probably be annoyed by the lack of details and the time spent on easy topics. The only redeeming value of this book is that it may give you a few creative ideas that you can develop on your own or with better books.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very misleading!, August 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Animation Magic with Visual Basic 5, with CD (Paperback)

I was really excited when I bought this book,thinking I wasactually going to learn some cool stuff. As it turned out mostexamples didn't work and you had to run your computer in 256 colors. I contacted the author for a refund but he never responded - I would have returned it to the book store, but I opened that useless CD. Don't waste your money!