Customer Reviews

Sams Teach Yourself Adobe(R) LiveMotion(R) in 24 Hours

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

 

 

This is the second book by Ms. Holzschlag that I've purchased. The first was Mastering Adobe GoLive 4.0, which is one of the best computer reference books I've ever read. I'm happy to report that Molly has done it again!

This time following a very different format, Molly's style nevertheless shines through. The writing is clear, intelligent, and permeated with a sense of fun and exploration. As a newbie to web design, I've been intimidated for months by Flash. When I heard that Adobe was coming out with LiveMotion, I thought, "Finally! Another alternative!"

Well, that's right, but as Molly reminds us throughout this book, LiveMotion is far more than just an alternative to Flash. Like Fireworks, LiveMotion can be used to draw and manipulate images, to develop intricate web designs for export, and, of course, to create glorious web-optimized animations. LiveMotion also features tight integration with other mission critical Adobe web apps, like Photoshop 5.5 and GoLive.

I usually read 2-3 computer books a month, and I often buy books about programs I am interested in, but do not yet own. I use the books to learn as much as I can about the program's features and ease-of-use, and a well-written book can sell me on a program. My two tests for rating computer books are: (1) can I sit down and read it from cover-to-cover, without falling asleep and without having to be in front of a computer to follow along?; and (2) when I'm through reading, is the program a "must-have" addition to my software wish list? On both counts, this book rates five stars.

Thanks again, Molly, for being as good and thoughtful a writer as you are a teacher!

Holzschlag's book is a good introduction, but it won't take you far. If you're completely new to Adobe products and web design, this might be a good start, but you'll be needing to buy additional, better books within a few days if you don't want to stay at the surface of the program.

I bought the Sams guide, as well as Elain Wienmann's Visual Quickstart Guide for Live Motion and Adobe's Classroom in a Book for LM. The last two are better books than the Sam's guide. Adobe's Classroom is all tutorial, with CD-rom lessons that will teach you to do very sophisticated animations (such as count-down clocks) within a few days work. You will have to concentrate on the lessons, and perhaps do them more than once to fully understand them, but they're well worth it. The value of seeing on the CD the final animations you're trying to make is invaluable -- you can look at the Timeline code and see exactly how the animations were done, and then compare and fix your own efforts. If you can master all the tutorials in Classroom in a Book, you will be able to say that you really know LM.

The Visual Quickstart guide is very different -- it's a reference and tutorial in one. If you have questions about procedures in Adobe's Classroom tutorials, you can look up the answers in VQ. So my suggestion is if you have some knowledge of Adobe projects, just get Classroom in a book and VQ. If you're really new to this, you might want to buy the Sams book also as a start off, but don't think you can get away with just the Sams book

This is the second book I've bought by the same author (the first was Mastering Adobe GoLive 4), and I was not disappointed. I think some of the reviewers here forget what it was like to just start out with the complex tools from Adobe, and have no patience for a tutorial that assumes nothing about the reader's experience.

This book was wonderful. The author is an experienced teacher who has found just the right blend of instruction and hand-holding, without ever talking down to all the novice readers (like me!) out there who are most likely to benefit from this book. True, LiveMotion is probably targeted to users of other Adobe products, but this book doesn't hold you to that. Instead, it provides an elementary tour of the product's many features, and shows you how, why, and when to use each one.

Best yet, this tutorial is not only clear, but a pleasure to read. Computer books, expecially books about graphics programs, all too often lose the sense of adventure and fun that should accompany experimenting with the program. This book remembers that, and the resulting approach invites the reader to continue reading all the way to the end.

LiveMotion, like most Adobe products, is far too sophisticated to learn every nuance in 24 hours -- the real aims of this book are to introduce the application, point out what it can do and how, encourage the reader to experiment and, if necessary and/or desireable, find a more advanced text for further study. On all levels, this book succeeds.

I eagerly await the next book(s) from Ms. Holzschlag. Thanks!

This is a fine book, but REEEAAAALLLLLY for beginners. I mean, it explains some very basic things about the web, color, fonts, stuff like that. Things I already knew. But hey - not everyone knows this stuff yet - we all have to learn sometime! So if you feel like you are a total newbie, this is a very nice book. It makes no assumptions about what you know about Adobe products, internet applications - well, anything. You won't feel overwhelmed with a lot of complicated technical information with this book.

It's a good book, just mostly for beginners.

Sams Teach Yourself Adobe LiveMotion in 24 Hours carefully teaches the reader how to use Adobe's new Flash competitor to create animated graphics for their Web sites. The first few chapters of the book lay the groundwork for understanding how LiveMotion works, and then move on to the creation of simple animations. By the end of the book the reader will be able to create entire Web sites in LiveMotion or export to the Web for a multimedia presentation. A totally "user friendly" approach, Sams Teach Yourself Adobe LiveMotion in 24 Hours is a very highly recommended four hunudred page instructional guide for Beginner to Intermediate level students.

I thought the book was generally pretty good. It was very simplistic and it took a while to actually get into anything that was really interesting about LiveMotion. I was disappointed that it didn't deal a little more in depth with animation and effects as that's what can really spice up a web site. If you already have Adobe products the first half or so is review because LiveMotion integrates so well with the rest of Adobe's product line. If you an absolute beginner at Adobe products this book is good, otherwise, wait for another to be published

This book is geared toward beginners of LiveMotion. Fair warning: if you already know how to use LiveMotion and are looking for advanced books about LiveMotion techniques and tricks, this book will disappoint you. If you've used other Adobe products before, the first few chapters are a piece of cake. The author did a good job of explaining various features of LiveMotion, such as the toolbox and grouping objects, how to combine objects, and modify their properties. The short, non-techical style of the book makes it easier for newbies to master the program's basic features. A detailed "To Do" section after the explanation of a particular feature helps to enforce what you've read. The LiveMotion Timeline is also covered (although it may be confusing if you're absolutely new to animation, but you'll eventually find out how easy it is to use LiveMotion's animation capabilities. After you've understood how to use the program, then it's up to your creativity and talent to push LiveMotion to the limit.

The first half on this book is about the very basics of internet design concepts, the other half is a small introduction of LiveMotion, this book is for people with 0% knowledge on internet design. This was my only "throw away my money" purchase on amazon (I hope)

I have used the SAMS Teach Yourself approach for several different subjects in web development. For the most part they are very good. I ordered this book before it was published and waited patiently for it to come. In the meanwhile i honed my Flash skills. I got the bok as soon as it was available last year, I am just sittng down with it now. After going through the first half, I feel this book could have used a little more editting and quality control. THere are references made to tools and settings that are not where the book says they are, as early on as the explanation of the settings! The book also assumes that you have covered areas early in the book when infact, they have never been addressed before. Like I said, this book is good for beginners, but be ready to do some searching of your own so you do not get lost.

I have a few Sam's Teach Yourself books. Some I like and some are just dust collector, but this is the first time in a long time I could not wait to return a book.

I learn better when I see how others have used a program--the learn from the Master's feet kind of thing. Well Molly I must say that there was less teaching and more show and tell here.

This book takes the User Guide you get with the program and adds several layers of text to it. Book has already gone back so there will be no quotes--It was like having a Calc teacher explaining how to add. Too much on what an elipse is and nothing for me to learn from--you know like homework. I need to do something to actually learn-like classroom in a book. My next purchase from the refund I am getting from this book.