Adobe Illustrator CS3 Classroom in a Book (Book & CD-ROM) (Paperback)

~ Adobe Creative Team (Author) "Adobe Illustrator CS3 is the industry-standard illustration program for print, multimedia, and online graphics..." (more)
Key Phrases: graphic styles, brush options, press enter, Choose File, Adobe Illustrator, Choose Select (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This thorough guide to Adobe Illustrator CS3 is ideal for beginning users who want to master the key features of Adobe's powerful vector drawing software. Using clear, step-by-step lessons, each chapter contains a project that builds upon the reader's growing knowledge of the software, while review questions at the end of each chapter reinforce key concepts and skills. Adobe Illustrator CS3 is jam-packed with new features and enhancements, including Live Color, a new environment that enables users to explore, apply, and save custom color configurations; improved integration with Adobe Flash CS3, which ensures that your vector illustrations import effortlessly to Flash with their anchor point positions, layers, and paths intact; a new Eraser tool, which lets users quickly modify objects or create entirely new shapes; a new Crop Area tool, which lets users set up a workspace so that it's automatically primed for the type of media that will display their design, whether it's print, Web, video, or film; new document profiles, newly improved drawing tools and controls, and much more. Whether you're brand-new to Adobe Illustrator or are looking for a project-based tutorial to familiarize yourself with Illustrator CS3's new features, this book provides you with the key techniques and tips you need to get the most out of this software.


Educational instructor notes—created to help teachers plan, organize, and time their lessons—are available for this book (and for other Classroom in a Book titles) at www.peachpit.com/instructorresources.

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About the Author

The Adobe Creative Team of designers, writers, and editors has extensive, real world knowledge of Adobe products. They work closely with the Adobe product development teams and Adobe's Instructional Communications team to come up with creative, challenging, and visually appealing projects to help both new and experienced users get up to speed quickly on Adobe software products.

Product Details

• Paperback: 488 pages
• Publisher: Adobe Press (May 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321492005
• ISBN-13: 978-0321492005
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,206 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Average Tutorial from Adobe, August 10, 2007

By	Richard Eltzroth (Cotopaxi, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

At the time this was the only available book for Illustrator CS3, so there wasn't much choice. It gives a decent overview of the program and is fairly typical of Adobe's Classroom in a Book series. Nothing to jump up and down about though. The lessons are easy to follow, even for beginners.
More thorough and in-depth books are apparently due out soon and should satisfy those wanting more details on actually how to get the most out of this latest Illustrator.

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Getting help only if you pay by body parts..., July 6, 2007

By	A. Meit (FLA, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I know a thing or two about tutorials/manuals for I often test them as a beta-tester. The following comments are for all five of the CIBs. Yes, I have worked though each one.
As a bare start its ok but its just too much of a skimpy overview for the high price its requesting. This book should have been a PDF, unlocked, with the software. If you want a good intro at a reasonable price, don't buy this book. As for its content, I have found errors that should have been found long before it got to print. If you really want it, than wait a few more months for an updated edition. As for the pdf version, stay away from that too. Its DRM settings are overly restrictive, i.e., only 30 text selections over 30 days. There are much better books coming soon at the price with respect to its in-depth coverage. So buy them. :-)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It was helpful for me., January 23, 2008

By	Thomas J. Busse "Gibarian" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am new to Illustrator and the Adobe programs in general, and from that perspective, this book was ideal. It got me much more comfortable with the work environment to the point I found myself actually wanting to use the program to perform design tasks.

This book is not comprehensive. Some things (just my list) this book does not cover, but are essential to professional users of the program:
1. Graphics tablet features.
2. Creation of Flash symbols/integration with Flash.
3. Keyboard Shortcuts.
4. Charts/Graphs creation (this is most likely the most common commercial use of the program).
5. The pathfinder effects (these very important tools are briefly touched upon, but are essential for good use of the program and really really counterintuitive).
6. A bibliography or resource list.

I feel this book really should have shipped with the program. Like many software developers, Adobe asks a-lot when it does not provide a manual with such an expensive program. Adobe Help has much improved with CS3, but it's not the same as a true manual.

Illustrator itself is a decent program that has much improved with CS3. It's still not ideal, and really gets more attention than its competitors largely through Adobe's ingenious marketing of the "creative suite."