No comments about Advanced Engineering Mathematics with Mathematica(R) and MATLAB(R) Volume 1 (Advanced Engineering Mathematics).

No comments about Microsoft Multimedia Viewer How-To Cd: Create Exciting Multimedia With Video, Animation, Music, and Speech for Windows/Book and Cd (How-to).

2 comments about The Computer Cartoon Kit: All You Need to Make Your Own Comic Strips with CD-ROM.

1. Several issues:
   
   If you have never used Photoshop before, the guide is almost useless. You will need to do a lot of digging around online to find out how to use the Photoshop Elements plug-in.
   
   Photoshop Elements does not come with this book. A trial of the program does. If you want Elements it will cost you approximately $100 US.
   
   The guide to creating scenes is fair - but it is, at best, a very brief look at techniques that are better described elsewhere.



2. This book is for the cartoonist that wants to streamline and speed up his development time, or the beginning cartoonist that can make use of the included clip art. It is an awesome book! It's organized nicely and the examples are concise. Other reviewers had a problem with adobe elements not included. Download it. The demo is free. The book clearly states this is a book for people who use Photoshop elements. That program comes with its own tutorials and the examples in this book build on itself. By the way GIMP is free and has the same features. IN SUMMERY: I believe this book will allow an artist to reach new potential.

5 comments about GUI Design Essentials.

1. As usability consultants, we have used GUI Design Essentials as a reference for many client projects, large and small. We often recommend it as the 'one' book to buy, especially for programmers, users, and others who don't have extensive user interface design experience. We also use it ourselves as a reference and good source of examples. Two important strengths of the book are: 1) it is obviously based on practical experience, the techniques work; and 2) it covers a broad range of subjects. The book covers user interface design methodology (a step-by-step process), usability testing, and standards and guidelines for GUI and Web apps. For very in-depth coverage of any particular topic of interest, you might want to consider books that focus in specific areas, such as The Handbook of Usability Testing by Jeff Rubin, the Windows Interface Guidelines from Microsoft, and Designing Object-Oriented User Interfaces by Collins. The CDROM included is a bonus- we've used it as the basis for several corporate GUI standards projects. Although you will want to extend the topics, why reinvent the wheel on the basics?



2. This book provides an excellent and practical guide to the process of creating effective User Interfaces. I have used the GUI Design process as well as the Web design process successfully on a number of different projects. The techniques are described in a straight-forward, easy to understand manner. The guidelines and checklist templates are a great starting point. The User Interface Design Document template has been especially valuable for communicating how the interface should work to the development teams. It is quite easy to customize it to fit the needs of each project. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in introducing an Interface Design process to their development organization, or to anyone who needs to develop an effective Web site.



3. Many GUI books are primarily about design, and are full of profound but essentially useless prescriptions such as "Use space creatively" or "Your design should be balanced, but hey, asymmetry can be cool, too." This book, in contrast, is primarily about GUI construction. The first part is about the mechanics of designing an interface: requirements gathering, prototyping, usability testing, and so on. The remainder is made up of checklists: Avoid horizontal scrolling; place pop-up windows in the center of the action; limit checkboxes to ten. The final chapter lists some best-practice guidelines with section headings like "Who to Involve" and "What to Customize."



4. The authors write a nice, although somewhat expensive alternative to Cooper's "About Face," Howlett's "Visual Interface Design," and Mullet's "Designing Visual Interfaces," etc. However, the contents of the CD do not match the statements made on the cover of the book, nor the text within the book. For example, despite what the publisher states, I found no pdf files on the CD. I suspect that they are shipping different versions (?) of the CD with the same book. I called the publisher, they seem to deny this, or maybe they are oblivious to it. Maybe the CD is nothing special (as another reader, Jarrett, December 15, suggests). Oh well.



5. i wrote my diploma thesis about interface design and this was the worst book i have read. the authors repeat themself again and again and again. to less info, too much blahblah. for me, this book was nearly useless (and as i live in europe i paid lots of money for it!). sorry, but i'm really upset. btw. the best book i have read was theo mandels elements of user interface design!

5 comments about Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 Application Development: Training from the Source.

1. This is actually a very good book. The flow is a little wierd, but it covers a lot of ground not covered in other books. I found the conversion from ActionScript 1.0 to ActionScript 2.0 not a problem, except in one area - flash remoting and ActionScript 2.0. But for flash remoting I have found the MM docs almost totally useless and no other sources adequate. Coming from a programming background, I found Stallons' treatment of some of the many AS quirks, and that strange Flash object, the MovieClip, and how to use it in AS, very helpful. I guess the standard book padding of loops, conditional logic, functions, objects, etc. is unavoidable, but I could do without it. I could really have used a better coverage of the 2.0 components, but there again the MM docs are pretty bad on this topic and I haven't found a book that does cover these.
   
   So I would recommend this book, but the jump may be hard for a first time programmer who is using AS 2.0 and needs to rely heavily on the "copy and paste code" learning process.



2. I'll be brief. It teaches efficient programming and good tips for beginner programmers but don't try to follow the steps outlined in the book. Seems that author got lost in his own steps. For example page 144 step 8 doesn't indicate that you should place the onChanged code in the "calcObject.as" file, instead it says that you sould place it after the onKillFocus event. I lost a lot of time trying to figure out why my program wasn't working (wanting to practice debugging) until I finally looked at the files in the DVD. I'd say just read the book and test using the files that came in the DVD if things don't work.



3. [**this review was made by Denise Maitan from AIR User Group**]With step-by-step exercises, explanations, notes,tips and complementary pictures, Macromedia's book "Flash Mx Professional 2004 - application development" encompasses the simplest functions flash offers through to the most complex, like web services, XML e remoting services.
   Furthermore, the book is accompanied by a DVD-Rom with files containing prepared exercises and 30-day trial versions of Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004.
   The book is really well structured, with instructions before each exercise detailing what the reader will learn, how long each exercise should take and where to find the related exercises on the DVD.
   The book is recommended for whom desires greater knowledge of Actionscript programming. It also give guidance in the use of dynamic + interactive product applications - through the RIA (Rich Internet Application) concept - and provides preparation for Macromedia development certification. A very good training manual.



4. The author and editor obviously did not earn a degree in communication, but programming. By the middle of the third chapter the author must believe the reader is a certified programmer.
   
   I am reasonability intelligent; I am a CPA with BFA and BBA degress, but gee, only after reading her paragraphs 4 to 5 times do I get it. And her follow along examples are torture. More time and paper should have been devoted to thorough scipt examples rather than abridged.



5. Picked up this book years ago and hated it. Macromedia should be ashamed of how bad this book is. You would think a company can turn out a decent instructional book about their own product! After conversing with many people in the Information Architecture and Web Usability fields, I am discovering that many do not find Macromedia books in general to be helpful, especially when compared to others in the market. As for me, I will never buy another book published by Macromedia.

No comments about Computer Graphics for Designers and Artists.

2 comments about Simulating Neural Networks with Mathematica.

1. 
   This is another book where the capabilities of Mathematica are put to good use. Clear explanations and code make it a joy to go through and do all the calculational stuff. Helps even quite experienced people to visualise some of the concepts they may not be experienced with. All the basic models are dealt with. The last chapter on genetic algorithms is a bonus.



2. Overall, I am quite happy with the book. It does exactly as it describes...shows the reader how to use mathematica to simulate several types of Neural Networks. The code is clear, fairly short and the example networks fun to work though. The flexibilty of Mathematica made it a simple task to view what the networks were doing and thus made the networks easier to understand.

   My only complaint is that the book is too short. Part of this complaint is that I really enjoyed playing with the example nets and hated to see it end. However, only about 8 networks are mentioned and each is covered in 20-30 pages...program code included. I wish the author had time to double or triple the size of the book to cover the nets more thoroughly and to cover others.

   The book is also a bit shy on the mathematical treatment of the networks. It does have some math, but the derivations included are not that rigorous. I have supplemented this book with others to cover the theory.

   Nevertheless, If you're wanting to use Mathematica for Neural Networking and you're having difficulty getting started, this book is worth the price.

1 comments about Animation Techniques in Win32.

1. I think that this book is best ulitized by game developers.
   This book is useful in learning 2D cell animation principles, such as double buffering, dirty rectangles, and phased sprites. It is biased to 8-bit graphics with good coverage of the palette issues of Windows.
   
   It is easy to follow, and is a good read. You can code directly from the examples without too much problems. A good companion for coding DIBs is Spells of Fury by Norton. Also showing its age.
   
   However this text is steeped in MFC to the point that trying to avoid MFC is a major mental investment. The fact is MFC is rarely used by game developers. Current coders will want to concentrate on 8, 16 and 32 bit per pixel modes.
   
   Additionally, the major high-performance API described (CreateDIBSection which is used by the obsolete WinG library), has been displaced by the DirectDraw API. One can develop a 2D framework that selects one at run-time (my current project) but most new work will benefit from DirectDraw exclusively.
   
   There are some errors such as not Deleting some GDI objects, but they are easy to spot with practice.

5 comments about 3D Game Programming With Directx 8.0 (Game Development Series) (Game Development Series).

1. The first part of the book is a nice little tutorial on creating the different parts of a computer game. However, through the programming section of the book the author continually leaves out important lines of code that you need to make the samples work. Then when you dive into the source code that was provided on the CD he has changed the names of his variables and functions so that trying to find the error between your code and his extra difficult. If you are new to programming this can be extra frustrating. This is a perfect example of having someone write a book to cash in, without that person actually having the talent and determination that is need to put out a helpful and educational product.



2. The title of this book is a total lie! This book does not cover programming at all. Instead, it teaches you how to use software like Paint Shop Pro or a 3D modeller. If you are reasonablly acquainted with these types of things (e.g. you know how to add noise to a grey background in Paint Shop Pro) then there is absolutely nothing you can learn from this book. True, there is a "programming" section but beware: you do not actually code anything. Instead of teaching you something the author says that building an engine is too hard and that you should give up now (isn't the whole point of this book to learn how to?) and gives you a pre-built engine to use as a COM interface in VB. So, you basically end up writing about 5 lines of code which are calls to the COM database (TrueVision.Initialize, TrueVision.LoadModel, TrueVision.GenerateTerrain) and you're done. Congradulations ! You've just learned, in this short review, how to program a game according to Crooks.



3. I normally don't spend time rating books. Getting time to read them is enough of a problem! After reading this over, I decided to list its strong and weak points:

   Strong:
   1) It's a good overall guide to game development
   2) Covers a good range of software
   3) Uses DirectX 8
   4) Good explanations and you build several programs including a half-life model viewer and 3D shooter

   Weak:
   1) Wish there was more information included on modeling
   2) That's it.

   Hoping to see what future versions of this book will hold.




4. Pre-ordered this book after reading editorial but was a waste of money.

   1. I'm half way through the book and not 1 like of DX code yet

   2. Majority of book is screen shots - I counted over 50 pages of screen shots showing the setup wizard for the various tools!

   3. Up to page 220 is simple tutorials for using the shareware tools: much better tutorials supplied in online help for the tools themselves.

   4. Another load of pages dedicated to showing up how to put together a VB Form.

   Don't buy it without previewing some of the content first.




5. While there is a little less programming than I would have liked, the book is pretty good overall. It teaches a great deal about other things such as modelling and graphics. Maybe a different title would be fitting for 2nd edition.

5 comments about Geometric Modeling.

1. The book covers every commonly used geometric model as well as many related topics in an easy to read style and good layout. It also covers the mathematical methods used in the text making it the only book you will ever need for modeling.



2. This book is a definitive introduction to geometric modeling. However, the sections on solid modeling and surface-surface intersection are lacking in depth. A serious reader may consider consulting books by Farin and Piegl for Geometric modeling and Hoffman/Mantyla for solid modeling.



3. The third edition of this highly acclaimed textbook will be available in 2006 from Industrial Press.



4. I found the book to contain a clear, comprehensive and concise treatmen of the subject. A very good read for anyone interested in the field of geometric modeling.



5. Mortenson's 3rd edition of Geometric Modeling is an elegant presentation of the subject.
   This edition reintroduces chapter exercises to enable the student to test understanding of the concepts discussed and additionally adds chapter references for those who wish to dig deeper. The focus is on the mathematical basis of the geometric concepts which underlie the many applications so ubiquitous in today's world.
   
   Since publication of the 1st edition in 1985 the dynamic growth of computer power has allowed the underlying principles of his subject to find household applications from design to entertainment.
   
   This growth has also enabled the peculiarly shaped building of the Disney Concert Hall in my city to actually be constructed and for the Boeing Company to conceive the design and manufacture of its 787 dreamliner.
   
   It is a subject worth knowing something about and Mortenson provides us a clear and detailed exposition of its beauty.