Great Deal Adobe Illustrator CS5 Classroom in a Book
Illustrator is Adobe's oldest app, going back to 1987. What's called "Illustrator CS5" is actually Illustrator 15. In September of 2003, when Adobe released its original Creative Suite collection, Illustrator shared a common user interface (UI) with Photoshop and InDesign. Though many of the tools and panels in many of the CS5 apps look and operate similarly, each app has it's own hidden power. It seems to us that there's more power hiding in Adobe Illustrator (Ai) than any other app in the Master Collection. We go back to Illustrator 3 but need to brush up with the new features with each version which is released. We have many resources for getting up to speed but none is better than Classroom in a Book (CIB). As Janet & I go through the lessons in Ai CS5 CIB we find ourselves saying to each other, "Did you know that..." For Illustrator professionals, the first chapter is an excellent overview of the CS5 new features. In the past, this chapter has seemed a little too packed and we've had concerns that it could overwhelm the reader. Well, the chapter is still packed but it's well-crafted so that the learning curve does not seem too steep. This is not to say that Ai CS5 CIB is for Illustrator professionals. You can be completely new to Illustrator and the second and third chapters, "Tour" and "Work Area" will leave you feeling that Ai CS5 is doable. The lessons in these starter chapters are attractive leaving the reader feeling accomplished. By the time you make it to just page 175 (plus the later chapter on layers) of this 440 pages of learning, you should have an excellent mastery of what Ai CS5's core features are all about leaving you with a sense of comfort with the app. After that, Lesson 6, on Color and Painting, starts moving you toward one of Ai CS5's most awesome feature sets, the bristle brush tool which comes together later in Lesson 11 on brushes. It brings a flavor of painting to vector art which parallels what Photoshop CS5 brought to pixel art. The two apps' bristle brush feature sets are similar but with completely different results. Equally, though there are type features all over CS5 apps, what you can do with type in Ai is very unique. CIB has an excellent chapter on that with very rich lessons. We have watched and re-watched videos on Ai CS5's other fabulous new feature set on perspective drawing. The videos seem a little daunting for some. CIB Lesson 9 makes perspective seem as simple as it is. When some start in Ai their results resemble some of the static vector art which goes back the original Illustrator 88. Lesson 10 helps the reader to see how easy it is to blend colors and shapes for professional results, as Lesson 12 offers for the effects feature set and Lesson 13 does for appearances and styles. The chapter entitled "Working with Symbols" plays down all that's contained within it. This powerful set of tools for developing websites, Flash, and other interactive projects, which you can now create in InDesign CS5 is at the heart of this chapter. Even many seasoned Ai users will look at this lesson and think, "I can do that in Illustrator?" This appropriately leads to the fifteenth lesson which excellent demonstrates how to combine Illustrator with Bridge, Photoshop, and other CS5 apps and what each app uniquely brings to the table but can be swapped back and forth. This is the best-crafted Ai CIB yet.
Good for beginners who are willing to spend some time - Boris Ma - Alexandria, Virginia USA
The Illustrator is a complicated program but this book does a good job of explaining various features through lessons. While following the instructions in the book, I realized how difficult it is for them to describe every step precisely and clearly, in part because the book has to address both PC and Mac users and the program menus and tool settings change depending on the screen resolution of the user computer. For example, the book asks the reader to click the word Transform but some readers may not see the Transform in the described panel because of their limited screen resolution. So the book describes another way of selecting the Transform. In addition, the Illustrator is highly customizable, so the book reminds the reader to start with the default settings, not just once but over and over again. So the book tries hard not to lose the reader in the lessons by anticipating possible situations the reader may face.
Due to the complexity of the program, every step has to be described very clearly in order for the reader to successfully complete each lesson. Sometimes I was stuck because my result from the previous step was different from what the book expected. I thought the book missed some step or the previous step was incomplete. After spending some time trying to figure out what went wrong, I just corrected the result in my way to match the book's result.
Considering the complexity of the program and the variety of the user hardware environment, I thought the book does a good job of getting the user started with the Illustrator. I know there is still a long way for me to go but I feel that I have a good foundation to grow from thanks to the book.
Rating : 4.5
Price on Aug 30, 2010 10:00:10 : $54.99
Offer Price : $28.99
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Adobe Illustrator CS5 Classroom in a Book Features
- ISBN13: 9780321701787
- Condition: New
- Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
Adobe Illustrator CS5 Classroom in a Book Overviews
Creative professionals seeking the fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe Illustrator CS5 choose Adobe Illustrator CS5 Classroom in a Book from the Adobe Creative Team at Adobe Press. The 15 project-based lessons in this book show readers step-by-step the key techniques for working in Illustrator CS5.
Readers learn how to create vector artwork for virtually any project and across multiple media: print, websites, interactive projects, and video. In addition to learning the key elements of the Illustrator interface, they'll learn how to integrate their artwork with Adobe Flash movies, Adobe InDesign layouts, and Adobe Flash Catalyst software to add interaction to their designs.
This completely revised CS5 edition covers new perspective drawing tools, variable-width watercolor strokes, multiple artboards with video-specific presets, the new realistic Bristle brush and Shape Builder tool, and the ability to maintain consistent raster effects across media.
“The Classroom in a Book series is by far the best training material on the market. Everything you need to master the software is included: clear explanations of each lesson, step-by-step instructions, and the project files for the students.” —Barbara Binder, Adobe Certified Instructor, Rocky Mountain Training
Classroom in a Book®, the best-selling series of hands-on software training workbooks, helps you learn the features of Adobe software quickly and easily. Classroom in a Book offers what no other book or training program does—an official training series from Adobe Systems Incorporated, developed with the support of Adobe product experts.
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