Customer Reviews

Fireworks 4 f/x & Design

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I must say that this book gave me more than my moneys worth!! How anyone can possibly compare it to a Quickstart guide escapes all logic. This book is intermediate as stated and assumes you know the basics. Which is exactly why I purchased it. I learned how to make complex shapes suitable for navigation. The techniques taught helped me implement my own designs. Another section I found very valuabe is the slicing and optimizing. How to best slice up a document and then how to optimize the individual slices for the fasted download times. A real usefull project was the one on deconstructing an animation. Not only can I now look at an animation and learn how someone else did something but I also learned how to look at any Fireworks source file and see what effects, fills, strokes and settings were used. All the files used in the book are included on the CD-ROM so if I was confused I would look at the file to see what I was missing. I did find a few "minor" errors which is to be expected, but nothing an intermediate user couldn't quickly identify. Plus most of the time all I had to do was check the Website for updates, watch one of the quick time movies or send an email to the author.Which by way answered any request the very same day. I learned tons of stuff about masking, how to mask an image without loosing pixels in the process, how to apply gradients and how to use gradients for lighting effects. The book is layed out in a logical format, even though it's intention is not to teach the programs basics, it still does a great job of teaching all the vital areas, such as how to fix those pesky pop-up menus problems and advanced features such as using Levels and photo restoration. If you are serious about using Fireworks for Web site design then you'll want to get this book. If you have a local bookstore pick up a copy to look at then come back and purchase it. I honestly don't think you'll be disappointed.

I've just gone through this book and am I impressed. Theres no technical jargon, nor does the author talk down to us, it's like she is sitting next to me and walking through every single step. The really helpful part is that there are many concepts that are not only explained "how" to do them but "why".

When I saw there was a supporting Web site I decided to test it out and see if a real person responded. She did and was quite helpful and pleasant, this author does care about us.

The CD, well.. one of the CDs that come with the book had some bonus movie tutorials included. I had to unzip them but hey that's no big deal. I'd rather do that than not get them at all because of CD space (explained in the readme). I've worked with the Bezier tool before but was real clumsy when it came to editing them. The beziercurves movie really helped me finally grasp the idea.

Ok, so what's in the book? I did a quick count and there are over 50 different projects and

exercises, and not your token scribbles to demonstrate a point, but real usable interfaces that I can reproduce myself. I liked the fact that I wasn't teased with a picture of a whole Web interface, and then only get the instructions for one small part of how to make it. Fireworks 4 f/x and Design includes many samples of the entire Web site or interface. There are even tips on how to place those pesky pop-up menus in Dreamweaver and how to edit them.

This book helped me realize the degree of image editing I could really do in Fireworks. I had no idea how great it was for things like tonal control, the levels command and other color adjustments. You'll find collages made using masking techniques, plenty of navigation solutions, learn how to make your own commands and use special effects.

The second CD has comping images for use in presentations to clients that you can use to demo an idea which really saves me a lot of time when I'm doing a quick mock up. I really dislike searching for a sample image.

I appreciate the fact that prior to a project being taught the techniques to perform it has been previously shared. For being a design book, it's pretty comprehensive and is a no nonsense book without any of the gratuitous babble that is so often found. My overall impression is that this book is a rare find and there are plenty of ideas that will return my money to me many times.

This f/x & Design book is a joy to read. Right from the outset you are drawn into the mesmerizing world of Fireworks. Learning and doing...learning and doing...with over 50 projects placed throughout the chapters. It's definitely an action packed ride with hardly a moment to catch your breath.

The writing is is of the highest quality and I found myself reading every single paragraph with bated breath to see what was going to happen next. The projects and exercises are on par with the level of this book and Joyce even throws in 14 quicktime tutorial movies covering topics such as masking, gradients and the famous gel button. As a former Photoshop user, this book brings me to terms with the power and sheer brilliance that Fireworks is.

With this being Joyce's first book, I can only imagine how amazing her future ones are going to be. Joyce, you just keep writing them and we will read. This is a sure fire winner and a must for everyones bookshelf. This book ROCKS!!! A unanimous 5 thumbs up.

I found "Fireworks 4 f/x and Design" very helpful in teaching the creative possibilities of using different tools and techniques together. I'm not much of an artist when it comes to drawing but Joyce's book also helped me to get some creative juices flowing. It helped me think differently (and yes, I use a Mac!). I can now approach a project and think more in terms of assembling an image or project as opposed to drawing it.

This is my first review at Amazon, and I am writing it because this is such a good book. Of course, it did arrive just when I needed help with a project. But not only did it solve that problem, but helped me avoid a few that would have come up. The book also provides examples and ideas on using Fireworks (and how to integrate it with Dreamweaver) that will enhance the next web sites that I do. Yes, there are a few errors. But the author's web site has corrections posted. And this book is A LOT EASIER TO FOLLOW than the Bible.

This book is pretty thorough for a design book. It was easy to use but intermediate as well. I had no idea Fireworks could do so much. The designs are professional and the CD is packed with goodies. There is even a section on how to get Fireworks into Dreamweaver and a great gel button tutorial.

I found the projects to be great fun, and quite thorough. ONE time I couldn't figure something out so I wrote the author with the supplied email and got a quick and courteous answer! I also found out the file names were cut off by the publisher when the CD was burned and the author uploaded them to her site for those of us that might get confused.

All in all I found the instructions to be very complete and to the point. I could say much more but some of the other reviews are more eloquent than I and I have to agree with them especially the one by Shoshanna.

I have finished almost all of the projects and have gained some real world experience I am already using in my own Web sites. Kudos to a job well done. I'll be looking for more work by this Author.

Well written, well presented, instructive, inspiring, and particularly ideal for someone with a background in computer graphics who now wants to be able to apply that knowledge and experience to Fireworks in order to be able to take advantage of its web-specific strengths.

Rather than assuming that the reader has never before drawn a circle or edited a gradient-- something that happens all too often in books of this genre-- Ms. Evans effectively and efficiently covers the information that will allow someone skilled in Photoshop (or other graphics programs) to easily adapt his or her knowledge and experience to the Fireworks environment.

From there she goes on to address animation techniques, making the most out of slices, the problematic pop-up menus, working with Fireworks 4 HTML code, and other web-specific tasks for which one has purchased Fireworks 4 in the first place.

The material includes some moderately advanced graphics techniques and contains some wonderful tutorials, including Japi Honoo's famed "gel button" from the Escogitando web site. The tutorial images are nicely chosen, and although this is another instance in which there is very little use of color (only a brief insert) the images are all available on one of the accompanying CDs.

Of perhaps even greater value are the accompanying tutorial movies, in which are demonstrated various techniques employed in the book's projects. These go a long way toward the avoidance of possible errors and confusion, and help speed along the user's development of his or her Fireworks skills.

Mac users will be pleased to note that although there is a very slight bias toward the Windows contingent, the "Fireworks 4 f/x and Design" CDs are fully compatible with the Macintosh. All of the tutorial images, movies, and commands are available to both platforms, and the included demo plugins (there are quite a few of them) are supplied in both Win and Mac formats.

Throughout the book, when keyboard commands are given they are supplied for both Win and Mac users (e.g., "...With the symbol selected, make a clone (Edit/Clone or Ctrl+Shift+D/Cmd+Shift+D)"

The author has evidently taken care to try and make everyone happy and, to a surprising extent, has succeeded.

In a crowded field of books in which the choices are often perplexing and generally expensive, Ms. Evans offers a volume of substantial content that delivers on its promises and has much to offer the Fireworks user who is already at home with computer graphics.

It's money well spent-- on a book well worth having.

I found this book extremely helpful. It was NOT a beginners book which is as it should be for an intermediate book. It is very detailed and well illustrated. I saw a review about the design elements. I happen to like the game design...design is in the eye of the beholder. After a long rant by the same reviewer, the book was recommended. I bought the book to better learn how to better use the program! And it succeeded in its purpose, plus I got some very useful design elements I can use along the way.

It appears this is this authors first book, taking that into consideration I think she did a superb job. Perfect? no, but not many are. I learned much more and more diverse things than in other books I've purchased. I like the idea that I learned everything I needed to complete a design. I look forward to more by this author. Oh, almost forgot, the movie tutorials were really helpful for some of the more complex tasks.

By the way, I did have a question and wrote the author and was shocked at the quick and very thorough and friendly response I got.

I highly reccomend this book to anyone that wants to expand on their Fireworks skills.

Having Fireworks 4 f/x & Design land on my doorstep was a blessing, it is very thorough, providing detailed descriptions of most of Fireworks tools and samples of implimentation. That's not all this book is though, it shows you some of the medium to high end techniques to building great graphics and Joyce takes you through step-by-step using a project based training approach. It has helped me with graphics creation and manipulation 100 fold.

If you're starting out with Fireworks, need inspiration, or want to more about designing with Fireworks, then this is a must have addition to your library!