 Suitcase 10, Font Management Application, Extensis, $99.95
Suitcase 10 is a font management application that continues to provide speed, stability and compatibility with current Macintosh and Windows operating systems. The features of Suitcase 10 make it easier than ever to preview, activate, and use your fonts without crashing the system. Automatic activation and activation on demand provide the font you need when you need it. It handles font conflicts, allows for Control Strip activation and collects fonts for output. Suitcase 10 will track fonts to identify corrupt fonts, print type samples, and provides customized viewing options. It's stable and it works! There isn't an easier or more intelligent way to manage your fonts than with this powerful upgrade. And with Adobe's announcement of no longer supporting ATM (which conflicted with many applications, including some of Adobe's!), Suitcase 10 becomes the primary application for font management. If you're using more fonts than your system installs, you need Suitcase 10.
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 Flash 5: Hands-On Training by Kimberlee Weil and Caro Green with Lynda Weinman. Peachpit Press, $44.99 with CD-ROM.
"Read the book, follow the exercises, and you will know the product." That's the motto over at Lynda.com and they really stand by their word. Flash 5 Hands-On Training is the newest in their series and it's the ideal way for busy professionals to learn this cutting-edge Web technology. It gives you a complete learning experience, combining the best of book-based and classroom instruction, modeled on acclaimed teacher Lynda Weinman's unique brand of instruction. You get the flexibility of following the book's clear, step-by-step exercises at your own pace, plus CD-ROM full of sample files and QuickTime movies demonstrating key techniques.
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 Adobe Photoshop 6.0: Studio Techniques by Ben Willmore, Macintosh and Windows, Adobe Press, $44.99 with CD-ROM.
This book goes beyond conventional step-by-step instruction and provides the kind of insight and information that will help you truly understand and appreciate Photoshop. It includes an introduction to the mechanics of the program but then goes on to giving you successful production techniques for scanning, color correction and working with curves and channels. Learn how to effectively blend and retouch images by working with filters and layer masks. An excellent section on Web techniques covers slicing, rollovers, animation and optimization strategies for creating professional-quality images. The companion CD includes practice images to use for the tutorials and chapter supplements. Go beyond the book on its companion Web site to find tutorials, advanced techniques, example images, and updates.
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 The Arts and Crafts Computer: Using Your Computer as an Artist's Tool by Janet Ashford, Peachpit Press, $34.99.
This is one of the most beautiful computer books around today. Filled with gorgeous pictures of what you can create using your computer, scanner, digital camera and color printer as artist's tools, you'll learn how to understand the basics of digital image-editing, use the new inkjet printing media including cloth, decals, stickers, magnets and transparencies to create unique greeting card, envelopes, books, games, toys home decorations and gifts.This book is not only a visual delight, but the projects are fun and easy for anyone with a crafter's soul. The child's coloring book, for example, is a beautiful thing to make, a personal gift for a special child. Directions and drawings take you through the simple process and the author even includes directions for binding with the Japanese Stab binding to create something of enduring loveliness.
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 The Little Digital Video Book by Michael Rubin, $19.99, Peachpit Press.
This delightful and helpful book uses everyday English to show you how to make great videos the easy way. Learn how to gather shots and easily edit them into great-looking finished projects. No special tools, no storyboards, no scripts; all you need to start creating videos you'll be proud of for years to come is a digital video camera and a computer equipped with video-editing software like iMovie. Have fun, be productive, and wait for Hollywood to call!
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 Macromedia Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio for 3d by Phil Gross and Mike Gross, $44.99 with CD-Rom, Mac and Windows and Macromedia Freehand 10 Training From the Source by Tony Roame and Subir Choudhury, $44.99 with CD-ROM, Mac and Windows; Peachpit Press..
Both of these powerful learning tools provide hands-on, step-by-step instruction in these important Web-based and print applications. All the tools you need are on the companion CDs, letting you work through the lessons at your own pace. The Director book shows you how to incorporate 3D scenes into your Director movies, create 3D primitives, lights, and cameras and import and control objects in 3D modeling programs as well as generate 3D text with animation and lighting effects. The Freehand book teaches you how to create vibrant object-based graphics for print and Web as well as combine and manipulate text and graphics for complex multi-page layouts.
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