Review
DV Award of Excellence- 5 Diamonds! I admit it: I am a software upgrade junkie. I get all tingly when I see a new update is available, especially for a program that I use often. Because of this, I am also an early adopter, and usually the first guy among my cohorts to have the latest software which means that I become the go-to guy when they have questions about new features, or how best to accomplish this task or that. I figure most of those guys are simply too lazy to crack open the manual and search for the function in question, but let s face it: The trend with modern software is to either have huge, Biblical-style tomes that would test the patience of even ardent bookworms, or the manuals are nowhere to be found, lost amidst a sea of help menus and on-disc PDF files where it would require a compass and a Boy Scout merit badge to weed out the answer to your dilemma. Class on Demand, Inc. to the rescue! With decades of experience in producing training videos for the creative and media industries, COD offers a huge catalog of value-priced training DVD-ROMs to get you started with that new software upgrade you ve just installed, without ever having to crack a manual. One of their latest entries is Basic Training For Adobe CS4 Production Premium, hosted by the ever affable, Emmy Award-winning Tim Kolb. An Adobe software veteran of 15-plus years as well as an experienced director of television commercials and corporate video productions, Kolb has absorbed the pounds of CS4 manuals and distilled that knowledge into easy-to-follow video tutorials to get you started quickly and easily. The Training is on a Windows XP/Vista and Mac compatible DVD-ROM designed to run along side the software you re learning about (but you can run it perfectly fine on its own as well). Basic Training is a great value and even entertaining in spots. After inserting the disc you re greeted with a short video of Tim Kolb perched behind a mountain of manuals for CS3. He slams shut the last manual and proudly proclaims to have read everything there is about CS3, when an offscreen voice chimes in that CS4 has just arrived! Those of us who indulge in the (semi) annual upgrades put out by companies such as Adobe will appreciate the moment of brevity. Basic Training is comprised of 13 different lessons. The first seven are the core applications included with CS4 Production Premium: OnLocation, Soundbooth and Premiere Pro, Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, Encore and Flash. The remaining lessons spotlight other technologies featured in the Production Premium suite: Metadata, Media Encoder, 3D in Photoshop and After Effects, Bridge, Dynamic Link and Device Central. Collectively, it s an extensive boot camp that clocks in at over four hours: enough content to probably warrant watching it in several sittings. The sessions are laid out in a linear order, so when one is completed, the next one will begin right away. You also have the option of jumping to any lesson from either the main menu, or via a submenu at the top of each playing lesson. Kolb makes for an entertaining and knowledgeable host, and it s impressive how much raw information he can get across in such a relatively short amount of time (most of the key application lessons average 30 minutes). If you ve never cracked a manual, you ll find yourself absorbing information easily from these lessons. Apple and Adobe have switched their key applications over to suite bundles in recent years, and with Adobe in particular having pared back their printed manuals as a separate, paid option. Class on Demand has really come to the rescue for new users. Basic Training for Adobe CS4 Production Premium is so good at what it does, Adobe should consider bundling future volumes with their Creative Suites. Score 5 Diamonds+ Award of Excellence --J.R. Bookwalter, DV Magazine
Product Description
Explore Adobe CS4 Production Premium with Class on Demand "Basic Training for Adobe CS4 Production Premium" with Tim Kolb! Tim Kolb is the same instructor who brought you Class on Demand Award winning "Basic Training for Adobe CS3 Production Premium". Experience the all-new Adobe® CS4 Production Premium through task-focused lessons that explore the seven major applications in 4 hours of project-focused instruction developed to give you exposure to the time-saving enhancements in the CS4 Production Premium workflow. LESSONS:1. On LocationTM 2. Soundbooth® and Premiere Pro® 3. Illustrator® 4. Photoshop® 5. After Effects® 6. Encore® 7. Flash®- SUITE TECHOLOGIES- 8. Metadata 9. Media Encoder 10. 3D in Photoshop® and After Effects® 11. Bridge 12. Dynamic Link 13. Device Central. System Requirements: Windows XP/Vista or Mac OS X, Speakers, DVD-ROM drive, 1152 x 864 display, Approx. Run Time: 4 hours
