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Rating: 
Summary: Great guide!
Review: I don't write reviews too often, but I found this book so helpful and clear that I felt you should know. It's also a great value!The first chapter runs you through a complete Director movie example, so you feel oriented and see the forest from the trees before delving in deeper (I wish all computer books did that). The rest of the book exapnds on all of the major Director components, following a very logical flow so you really feel you're making progress. This book is generally much clearer and easier to follow than the Director documentation.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, fast learning
Review: I love the Visual Quickstart concept. It's great to show look at some many screenshots and visual examples of learning Director, instead of seeing one or two screen shots per page and having to read a bunch of paragraphs. I found I could just find a section quickly, and then glance at the text but focus on the screenshots and quickly understand the concept. I blew through the book in a hurry and was up and running with Director in a couple of hours. Anyway, the size of the book was perfect as well. Since I'm just starting with Director, I didn't want an absolute bible that overwhelmed me. At the same time, this definitely went beyond skimming the surface...
Rating:
Summary: Great book, fast learning
Review: I love the Visual Quickstart concept. It's great to show look at some many screenshots and visual examples of learning Director, instead of seeing one or two screen shots per page and having to read a bunch of paragraphs. I found I could just find a section quickly, and then glance at the text but focus on the screenshots and quickly understand the concept. I blew through the book in a hurry and was up and running with Director in a couple of hours. Anyway, the size of the book was perfect as well. Since I'm just starting with Director, I didn't want an absolute bible that overwhelmed me. At the same time, this definitely went beyond skimming the surface...
Rating: 
Summary: Director 8 QuickGuide is excellent starter
Review: I really like the Visual Guide series. It shows you step by step how to do the basics in the new Director 8. If you are like me and have trouble doing things the first time it is a must. I would recommend it to everyone. The Director 8 for Mac & Win Visual Guide Series is really helpful when you are working alone and need some help. It walks you throught all of the basic procedures involved in setting up a Director 8 multimedia presentation. It helped me and this is the first time I have used Director 8 professionally. Director 8 is a world unto itself and you need a clean map like this to find where everything is. The books that come with the package are totally inadequate. I find this a lot. The programmers who write software think everything is obvious and do not pay attention to the documentation. They contract people who must be paid by the pound. They all put out lousy manuals.
Rating:
Summary: Great for the computer Savy
Review: I truly enjoy the Quickstart series of computer books. They're informative, detailed and the content is easy to find. In fact, their books were used as my textbooks in college and I liked them so much I continue to use them. But I won't say that these books aren't for a specific type of person. I will explain. If you've ever picked up a Whatever-for-Dummies book, or the Idiot's-Guide-for-something or any kind of Textbooks-for-Morons you either like them or hate them. Why? Because they all seem to be written at the same level meaning they are real beginner books. If you are the type of person who doesn't know how to work a mouse, then I suggest that you stick to Dummy books. The Quickbooks are more geared towards people who like to play with programs to figure them out. They do give brief explanations of the basics, and I mean: "This is a pallet, this is a brush" but they only do it briefly. They are non-patronizing to the people out there who have a knack for figuring programs out. Quickbooks are also informative. If you need information on a specific topic, such as adjusting contrast, you'll usually find it within seconds through the glossary. Not only that, but there are a number of visual aids to reference and shows step-by-step what you're going to do or use. Sometimes, they even include URLs to pages on the web. The details are also worth their while to read. They give plenty of additional tips to use that you might not think of. It will usually be in a side box with a "did you know" kind of title. These have helped in my work plenty of times and given me ideas. Plus, these books are for Mac or PC which is a plus for me considering sometimes I have to work on one or the other platform and don't always know the keystrokes or commands which can be quite different from each other. Again, these are reference books. They are not tutorial books for the ultimate beginner. I continue to use these books with my work and enjoy them thoroughly. I recommend these books for people who like to play with programs and need something to look back on and research further.
Rating: 
Summary: it's ok
Review: The Visual Quickstart Guides I've used have all been really excellent. What I really needed in a book was an extensive introduction to Lingo. This book only has two chapters and not nearly enough practical examples to really get you flying w/Lingo on your own. I'd say this book is ok, but not nearly enough Lingo examples/exercises.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Quickstarter
Review: This book really helped me learn Director 8 fast! It contains useful and practical examples that make sense in the real world. Included are especially good sections on animation and web deployment, as well as a good starter on Lingo. If you're looking to add Director to your resume of design skills, this book will get you to a solid intermediate level in less than a week.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Simplistic
Review: This book was required in my Multimedia class. I find the Dir. 8 Bible too extensive, but this is too simplistic. The first 5 chapters repeat the basics I've already learned in school. Chapters 6-10 are of little use because they're about graphics, and I do graphics with graphics software. The chapters that could have been expanded like adding video, lingo, etc. are cut too short. Using this book, I was able to make very simple Director 8 projects. I want a simple book that shows me how to get the most out of Director 8, like rollovers, uniquely shaped video playback windows, etc. Y'know, the stuff that makes people go, "WOW!" and pay big bucks! This one doesn't do that.
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