Customer Reviews

Real World FreeHand 8 (5th Edition)

5 star:		(2)
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As an author in the process of writing a textbook on FreeHand for Delmar Publishing (due out in 10/99), I have to say that at the present time Olav's book is the only one given a positive review by any of my students.

Still the best FreeHand book on the market. Even though it would appear to be dated, as version 8.0 is now two version points behind (soon to be three in November 2002), Real World FreeHand 8 captures the software at what was an obvious peak; well-developed enough to stifle cries of quirkiness, the obvious superiority and power of this mighty software was free to emerge. FreeHand was The Daddy. Before the web, before it was bundled with Flash, before they changed the pen tool...but after they...the software really hasn't changed much since v.8, actually. Except for the pen tool, that is. (Kvern didn't offer a v.9 or a v.10 of his book.) Kvern is easily the best writer of third-party computer manuals EVER. An incredible knowledge of the software, it's history and utility with enough distance to be subjective and, at times, thorny, Kvern also speaks credibly though not obtrusively about his experience as a professional illustrator/designer. Definitely add writer to the list; Kvern makes his p.o.v. clear (he loves scripting! he encourages you to manually edit preference files!) and avoids the usual flat, obvious, dull attempts at humour that are killing this genre. It made me go back to FreeHand 8 while I wait to see whether the initials MX will prove to be a viable future for this once great and might app or RIP for FreeHand. While the recent developers of FreeHand have often seemed like dull, flat-footed, primitive, dull, unimaginative, erm, hopeless morons incapable of taking a right turn with the software, Kvern makes you believe in the possibilities. Don't miss his books on InDesign either!