Review of Gardner's Guide to Internships at Multimedia and Animation Studios (Gardner's Guide series) (Paperback)

This books was very helpful in identifying the companies where I can apply for an internship. I live in Los Angeles but did not know how to locate and contact the companies in my area. This is a very useful book!!!

Product Description
Gardner's Guide to Internships at Multimedia and Animation Studios profiles hundreds of computer graphics, animation, multimedia companies in the USA and Canada where internships are often available. A valuable directory for students seeking to enter the computer graphics and animation field. Researched categories includes: areas of specialization; number of employees; description of company achievements, mailing address, phone and fax numbers, web address, preparing resumes, portfolios and demo reels. Indexed by geographic location of studio; and alperbetical by the name of the studio. This book is your direct link to hundreds studios that often seek interns in the summer, fall, winter, spring and year-round.

About the Author
Dr. Gardner is a graduate of the Ohio State University'sAdvanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design and Department ofArt Education. Dr. Gardner is currently an Associate Professor ofMultimedia at the New Century College, George Mason University. Beforehis appointment at GMU, Dr. Gardner was an Assistant Professor atWilliam Paterson University where he co-directed the Center forComputer Art and Animation.

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Review of Character Emotion in 2D and 3D Animation (Paperback)

Any working in animation or computer drawing will find plenty of instruction on creating characters embedded with drama in Character Emotion in 2D and 3D Animation, a survey of how to recognize emotion in life and apply it to drawings and computer software such as Poser and Maya. Les Pardew is a working professional artist with over twenty years in the industry: his tips on creating exceptional animation make for an important guide especially recommended for both art libraries and collections specializing in computer gaming or animation techniques.

Product Description
Learn how to animate emotion in your characters and add drama to your animation! Character Emotion in 2D and 3D Animation deals specifically with body language, facial expressions, emotional reactions, and other methods of giving characters emotion. It also deals with adding emotion and drama to a scene or setting. A majority of animation books cover emotion as a side element. Character emotion is a major element that plays a vital role in the believability of the character. Character Emotion in 2D and 3D Animation offers comprehensive coverage of the techniques that can help you create believable emotion in your characters.

About the Author
Les Pardew was born and grew up in Idaho. His home town was a small farming community where he learned the benefits of hard work. His graduating high school class only numbered 33 individuals. From this small beginning Les has grown to become a recognized leader in interactive entertainment.

Les Pardew is a video game and entertainment industry veteran with over 20 years of industry experience. His artwork includes film and video production, magazine and book illustration and more than 100 video game titles. He is the author or co-author of eight books.
Game Art for Teens
Beginning Illustration and Storyboarding
Game Design for Teens
Mastering Digital Art
The Animation Reference Book
Basic Drawing for Games
Game Art for Teens 2nd Edition
Beginning Game Art in 3ds max
Everyone Should Draw
Game Character Animation All In One
Figure Drawing With Virtual Models
Maya 3ds Max Side-by-Side

Les started his career in video games doing animation for Magic Johnson Fast Break Basketball for the Commodore 64, He went on to help create several major games including Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Star Wars, Wrestle Mania, NCAA Basketball, Stanley Cup Hockey, Jack Nicholas Golf , Where in the World/USA is Carman Sandiego, Starcraft Broodwars, Rainbow six and Cyber Tiger Woods Golf to name a few.

Les is an accomplished teacher having taught numerous art and business courses including teaching as an adjunct faculty member at Brigham Young University-s Marriott School of Management.

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Review of Gardner's Guide to Multimedia & Animation Studios (Gardner's Guide Series) (Paperback)

Is a shame that a great book like this only have one review until now ( and a wrong one ) hence I'll try to correct this.

NOTE: Be aware that this review is for the GARDNER'S GUIDE TO ANIMATION SCRIPTWRITING ( this review is wrongly appearing TOO in the "Gardner's guide to Multimedia & animation Studios", some kind of problem in Amazon.com I Think,:-( SORRY Chaz )

I bought this book in August 2001, if you are looking for books about scripts there are many ones, some very good, but any is writed exclusively thinking in animation and cartoons. For the animator this is an invaluable reference, here is the summary:

1.- Animation - An Overview
2.- Cartoon Genres
3.- The Moral
4.- Central Idea
5.- Dead End Ahead - The Central question
6.- The Characters and the Character Arc
7.- Introduction to Plot
8.- The Twenty-Two minute Structure
9.- The Eleven Minute Structure
10.- The Seven Minute Structure
11.- Make 'Em Laugh - Levels of Humor
12.- Prose
13.- Dialogue
14.- The Scene
15.- Broadcast Guidelines
16.- The Rewrite
17.- The Writing Process of Animation
Glossary, Cartoonography, Filmography, Road Map Forms, Apendix

The book itself have a good easyreading design, with plenty of quotations and references to well known movies or series, here you have the basics of writing but you can find more profound books about this, the special of the book is that is writed for cartoons specially, have 3 chapters studying the structures of the cartoonscript of 7, 11 and 22 minutes, of course you can apply all the information for an animation of any length, movies or shorts.

Including checklists for Structure, Characters, Scenes, Dialogue, Humor, Prose, 3 Structure guides, 75 Excercises, 37 Rules and an Animated 7 minutes Teleplay in the appendix: You have here a book that will go to occupy an important place near you.

I'm not an acclaimed screenwriter in fact I'm a novice in this area but I'm working with a firm producing some animations and I can asure you that this book can prevent you some rocky mistakes in this special field and even If you are a Pro you'll find some good points here.

Product Description
This is the most comprehensive new media industry directory. Gardner's Guide to Multimedia and Animation Studios profiles hundreds of computer graphics, animation, multimedia companies in the USA and Canada. A valuable directory for professionals and students seeking to enter the New Media job market. Researched categories includes: areas of specialization; number of employees; description of company achievements, mailing address, phone and fax numbers, and web address. Indexed by the following categories: geographic location of studio; number of employees; area of specialization; in addition to the generic index. This book is your direct link to hundreds of studios that employs over 30,000 practitioners.

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Review of Macromedia Flash MX for Dummies (Paperback)

When Flash MX was released, I wanted to get myself up to speed as quickly as possible on how to use all the new features of this new version of Flash. The first book I bought-and the one I still refer to the most often-is Gurdy Leete and Ellen Finkelstein's "Flash MX for Dummies."

Flash is said to have a steep learning curve, and the pursuit of learning a little Flash to liven up one's website has been known to cause more than one otherwise sane and intelligent individual to pull out her hair in fits of frustration and despair. When I was first learning Flash, I purchased and studied a wide variety of thick (and expensive) tombs on the subject, and yet, in spite of hours of agonizing over code and techniques that I never could get to actually work, I finally discovered the clear writing of Gurdy Leete and Ellen Finkelstein. Within a week after purchasing and reading my first "Flash for Dummies" book, I created my very first movie in Flash, and I was thrilled with the end result.

"Flash MX for Dummies" contains just the right amount of clear, concise information, along with step-by-step instructions that will walk you through the creation of your first Flash movie. As you read through the book, you will feel that you have a pair of friendly and competent mentors at your side. The authors have a way of making even the most difficult concepts accessible. Their tone is warm and friendly, yet never condescending.

In addition to providing thorough coverage of the basics of learning Flash, the book also introduces a number of intermediate concepts such as using masks, importing sound and video into your Flash movie, and making use of templates. The chapter named "Getting Interactive" provides the reader with clear and easy instructions for accomplishing such advanced tasks as using the SetMask method to make a movie clip into a mask and dynamically loading music from the web. I also appreciated the section entitled, "Frequently Asked Questions" which provided crystal clear, step-by-step instructions for doing some fun things like creating a custom cursor and making "drag-and-drop" objects.

If all of this isn't enough, the book also comes with an accompanying CD that is packed with resources, including a library of vector graphics you can use in your movies, Flash movies that you can open in Flash and dissect in order to further your understanding of Flash, and even a whole library of sounds you can practice with, courtesy of SoundRangers.

Not only does this book provide you with top-notch instruction for learning Flash, but you won't have to pay an arm and a leg for it. The price of the book is less than half the price of many other books on the same subject.

The book is perfect for those just starting out in learning Flash. At the same time, it provides more experienced Flashers with a wealth of information, resources, and new ideas.I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in furthering herunderstanding of Flash. Buy the book. Then you, too, can be one happy dummy. : )

Product Description
The fun and easy way to jazz up a Web site!

Hands-on tips for creating buttons, animations, actions and more

Make Web sites come alive with movement, sound, and interactivity - no animation experience required!

With Macromedia Flash, you can transform an ordinary Web site into an interactive showplace that'll make visitors say "wow." But how do you get the hang of all those tools and techniques? Don't worry! With this friendly reference, you'll be drawing pictures, building buttons, creating animations, adding sound, setting up actions, and more - in a flash!

All this on the bonus CD-ROM

• Macromedia Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and FreeHand trial versions
• Author-created graphic shapes, designs, and images to incorporate into your own Macromedia Flash movies
• Plus Adobe Photoshop tryout version and SWiSH demo

System requirements: PC running Windows 9x/2000/Me/XP, Windows NT 4 or later; Power Macintosh running System 8.6 or later.

From the Back Cover
The fun and easy way to jazz up a Web site!

Hands-on tips for creating buttons, animations, actions and more

Make Web sites come alive with movement, sound, and interactivity - no animation experience required!

With Macromedia Flash, you can transform an ordinary Web site into an interactive showplace that'll make visitors say "wow." But how do you get the hang of all those tools and techniques? Don't worry! With this friendly reference, you'll be drawing pictures, building buttons, creating animations, adding sound, setting up actions, and more - in a flash!

All this on the bonus CD-ROM

• Macromedia Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and FreeHand trial versions
• Author-created graphic shapes, designs, and images to incorporate into your own Macromedia Flash movies
• Plus Adobe Photoshop tryout version and SWiSH demo

System requirements: PC running Windows 9x/2000/Me/XP, Windows NT 4 or later; Power Macintosh running System 8.6 or later.

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Review of 50 Fast Flash MX Techniques [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

This book looks like you will learn a lot as there are 50 tutorials.

Unfortunately, many are redundant, many are not really significant (not really useful, just funny), and the last one is a filler as it teaches you how to make a projector.

If you are buying this book from a library, take your time to review the center page that display each "Technique" in color.

It is worth half the price it costs. Not a great deal anyway. At least, you get the source files.

This book is for beginner who wants to have a bit of fun.



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Review of Macromedia Studio MX Bible (Paperback)

Samuel Johnson remarked once that learning in Scotland was like bread in a siege town.Everyone got some but none got enough to make a meal.His quip could equally apply to this book.It touches on everything, but doesn't cover anything in sufficient depth.In fact I would tend to view the book as really centered around bringing Fireworks and Freehand into play (contra Illustrator and Photoshop). Freehand and Fireworks get 200 pages each, while Flash gets 90 pages. Dreamweaver gets just under 300 pages, and the surface of many features is revealed. However, there isn't a lot of depth throughout and elaborate examples are avoided.The rest of the book is focused on Cold Fusion (which was not of interest to me).

My personal recommendation is to look at specific books for specific components. Compendium type books, often suggest more than they can deliver.

Product Description
* Provides everything Web designers need to build cutting-edge applications with Macromedia's new tool suite, which includes Dreamweaver MX, Flash MX, ColdFusion MX, Fireworks MX, and Freehand
* Covers building data-enabled sites with Dreamweaver MX, creating Flash MX animations, working with ActionScript, creating Web graphics and animations with Fireworks MX, building interactive ColdFusion MX applications, integrating Flash and ColdFusion, and drawing vector art with Freehand
* Major changes in the Macromedia MX tool suite mean even veteran developers and programmers are looking for the updates this book provides
* CD-ROM includes trial versions of the software, extensions, sample databases, images and applications

From the Back Cover
"If you are a developer using Macromedia MX technology, this is THE book to own."
-Brad Halstead, author of Dreamweaver MX Magic

If Macromedia Studio MX can do it, you can do it too . . .

If you want to develop Web sites that stop traffic on the Internet, this definitive guide to Macromedia Studio MX is essential. Aided by expert tutorials from some of the nation's top Macromedia developers, Web design guru Joyce Evans gives you an in-depth course in each application - Freehand MX, Flash MX, Dreamweaver MX, Fireworks MX, and ColdFusion MX - plus tutorials and detailed instructions for integrating their capabilities. Whether you're creating static HTML pages or interactive Flash animations and data-driven Web applications, this book will become your constant companion.

Inside, you'll find complete coverage of Macromedia Studio MX

• Use Fireworks MX to create and optimize images
• Create Web and vector graphics with Freehand MX
• Construct interactive ColdFusion MX applications and integrate ColdFusion with Flash MX
• Animate sites using Flash and work with ActionScript and Flash Remoting MX
• Develop data-enabled sites with Dreamweaver MX
• Understand how ColdFusion's programming language works behind the scenes in an application
• Integrate Flash movies and multimedia objects into Dreamweaver MX
• Apply client-side scripting and code, and use tables, snippets, and cascading style sheets

Bonus CD-ROM

• Author-created tutorials and movies
• Trial versions of Alien Skin Software's Eye Candy 4000, Splat! and Image Doctor
• Extensions, sample databases, images, and applications

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Review of Flash MX Complete Course [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

incorrect pictures, lack of filenames ("drag the main project movie file from the CD-ROM onto your desktop" - there is no file called anything similar so you have to guess), dead end instructions, lack of explanations or results. And that's just in the first session. Some of it you can go back and learn on your own by realizing their mistakes, but most of the omissions and errors are beyond correction. i've been banging my head on my desk trying to determine what i've done wrong, and figured i'd come to amazon to see what the reviews of the book were like. Glad to see i'm not alone. i've never given a book review before but had to save other starving artists like myself from wasting their money. This book is absolutely terrible.

Product Description
Exercises build gradually so that by the end of the book, readers will have created a Flash-based Web site that contains several Web pages.
* CD-ROM contains all raw files needed to reconstruct the project, plus "iteration" files for each session.

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Review of Macromedia Flash 5 Design: From Concept to Creation (With CD-Rom) (Miscellaneous) (Paperback)

I'm a Flash novice and searched the Internet looking for a good introductory book.I found Flash 5 Design from concept to creation, and it sounded like the kind of book I needed, so I checked it out at local bookstore.Its organization, layout, use of examples, and appropriate level of detail immediately impressed me. Computer books are all too expensive, but that is the price of admission if you want good information, so I reached for the plastic and I'm glad I made the investment. I really got into it over a long weekend, and I was thrilled! I found a chapter that had an application that seemed like it would be fund to build and I jumped right in.The directions were easy to follow, and not only was I able to duplicate the application, but understood the technical concepts in the end.For someone whose background is in graphic arts this is quite an accomplishment!

Product Description
In Flash 5 Design: From Concept to Creation, successive chapters build on each other to provide a foundation for understanding Flash.This book, written by a team of Flash experts, demonstrates the creation of more than 20 sample Web sites that use Flash in exciting ways to solve specific graphics challenges, such as designing an animated shopping cart or multimedia game.The companion Web site provides all the graphics and sound files needed to build these Flash files.This book is geared toward users who have some experience with Web or graphic design, but might be new to Flash.The accompanying CD contains a special interactive multimedia piece about the book, which includes sample applications as well as links to Flash resources on the Web.

About the Author
The Epic Software group is a team of designers, illustrators, and programmers. They specialize in multimedia products that use tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Director, Lingo, and Java.

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