Customer Reviews

The Art of Cartooning with FLASH (With CD-ROM)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I can't evaluate this book's value for an expert point of view, since I'm more of a beginer rather than an expert.

So, I must 5*-rate it just because it showed me just about everything I should know about animation, but also opens your doors to the world of Cartooning. This is not one of those Dogma-like books where the Universal Solution is the goal.

Here you can understand what's going on, and then give your best shot!

Sure I wouldn't mind a thing if Gary Leib would have 400 more pages dedicated to the drawing section, but at least I got myself a direction of what steps should I follow, since the amount of information in this kind of mean, is simply staggering (at least I think so).

Since I think a book never ends on it's last page, I didn't hesitate and got myself sharing some ideas and feedback with John Kuramoto via email... So, that extra mile gives the 5* status to the book.

I'm not saying this is the very best you can find, but it is the best I could find, and I recommend it.

Conclusion:

Go for it! And if you don't like it at all, you can always cross the ocean and beat me ;-)

A few years ago I tried learning Flash animation by using tutorials on the Internet. I learned a little bit, but most of the tutorials weren't concise and they were confusing and usually I found myself aggravated with Flash deeming it was "too complicate to learn." I found this book for $5 and decided to give Flash another try. Gray made this book easily accessible for novices and advanced users alike with clear instructions. Each chapter begins with a few words on the techniques you will learn in that chapter and some tips. Then the rest of the chapter consists of hands-on exercises. Artwork and sample files are included on the CD-Rom if you do not have any original artwork. These exercises are very easy to follow. I completed the first four chapters and I made a short movie with music. That was only two days after reading the chapters. I read the help file about importing music. This topic isn't covered in the first four chapters but it is in later chapters. It does not take hours upon hours to learn Flash animation using this book. Knowing some basics of Flash beforehand will come in handy, though. I highly recommend this book if you want to learn to make Flash animations. You will not regret your purchase!!

*The CD-Rom also includes software. Macromedia Flash 5, Adobe Photoshop, Bias Peak VST, Bias Peak LE, Bias Deck, and Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge. Most of the programs are PC & Mac compatible.*

Shows you how to make use and organize symbols. Also some helpful hints and how to make use of alpha and tint functions. I learned how to make use of the transitions and shape tweens in animation very helpful. If only it were more specific on character animation and staging it would get a five star rating.

This is a pretty decent book. However, for the most part it had nothing new or original to offer that I hadn't already seen in other animation books. Nice artwork thought and it's definitely pretty to look at so I guess in a way it's useful in providing inspirational material. But you're not really going to gain anything new by reading it.

I don't get why other guys gave 5 stars to this it's not giving enough information.The chapter go like this:

chapter 1 : Is only talking about the author and what he thinks of the book

chapter 2 :It talks about Very Very Very basic stuff of animation

I don't want to bother myself by writing more about this book
it's just a waste of time unless you don't know what is flash!
It's 32.99$ l wouldn't buy it even for 5.00$ I recommend to everyone to buy "Animating Flash characters" it's cheaper and better.
The guys who rated this item with 5 stars are surely the author or his frieds, or maybe they didn't even see what's on the book
Anyway l made the mistake of buying it and l am writing this so you won't do the same mistake as l did.

This book is awesome, and having the cd with it makes it that much better. It's funny without being corny or a waste of time, and the weight keeps your page open without having to fight it. I recommend this book for anyone just getting started in Flash, whether for fun or profit.

I found this book to be poor in content. The artwork was okay but I didnt learn much in terms of tricks and tips. It waqs pretty basic. The book despite its hype, was a bit dissapointing. I think a better buy is another new book, The Flash Animator. The book tends to have much better layout and the interviews w/ all these animation legends are pretty unique for a flash book.

I bought this book thinking it was for beginners but it's not. This is what I'd call an advanced flash cartooning book. I was frustrated with some of the examples in the book. I didn't like how the author did his walk cycle. The walk cycle was too complicated for me. I tried several times to read the book with an open mind but that didn't help. I also didn't like the fact that their animatic wasn't created using flash but with quicktime. I did enjoy their flash cartoon "Jicketts Speed Shop Episode 1". Go check out jicketts.com/pilot/index.html
The best flash cartooning book I've come across for beginners is "Flash 5 Cartooning" by Mark Clarkson. I'd recommend "Flash 5 Cartooning" instead of this book.

I just got this book and I am utterly dissapointed in my purchase. First off this book talks a lot about some interesting concepts of animation, like secondary action, but fails to show you what the hell is it is. I had to look in another book to figure it out....bottom line, the book is very wordy. The artwork was very minimalistic and every thing is totally based on a stiff cut system. So stiff, that the walk cycles dont even look right! If you like generic Icebox type animation, dive right in because thats what this book will teach you.