Synopses & Reviews
Digital Media Tools is a clearly focused and highly accessible introduction to the major software tools used for creating digital graphics, web animation and web pages, suitable for course use or self-study. Its unique approach provides substantial chapter-by-chapter coverage of each of the industry-leading applications and uses practical and engaging exercises to help you gain a clear understanding of each tool and feature. Based on the authors' extensive experience in both using and teaching these tools, this book provides a comprehensive insight into both the technology and the theory underpinning its use in everyday practice.
The third edition of this very successful textbook has been completely revised to provide fully up to date coverage of the latest (CS3) versions of Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator and Dreamweaver, along with new coverage of Bridge and chapters devoted to interface features and shared concepts. Fully updated and extended with numerous new illustrations and examples, learning features and web resources (available on the brand new companion site), this book is a complete introduction to this vital range of software tools.
Also by Nigel and Jenny Chapman:
Web Design is a core text for undergraduate and masters courses that provides a complete introduction to every aspect of the building of web pages and web sites. It provides a deep and thorough introduction to web technology, markup, stylesheets, web graphics, web animation and embedded video, client-side scripting, web applications, usability, accessibility, page design and site design. Full coverage of HTTP, XHTML, CSS, Javascript and the DOM is provided, and the use of web standards is emphasized throughout. At all times, the focus remains on good practice, underpinned by sound principles. Supported by exercises, assignments and summaries, it is ideal for course use or self-study, and represents a complete overview of web design.
Also available: Digital Multimedia, a core text for undergraduate and masters courses in multimedia, covering the basic principles of each media type – text, graphics, audio, animation and video. A perfect companion to Digital Media Tools.
Synopsis
Digital Media Tools is a clearly focussed introduction to the major software tools used for creating digital graphics, multimedia and Web pages. There are substantial chapters on each of the industry-leading applications such as Photoshop or Flash, plus an introductory chapter on the common interface elements. Readers will acquire a basic fluency with these important tools, learn what they do best and what their limitations are. The book is lavishly illustrated throughout, and files are provided on the supporting web site for students to work through all the major examples themselves. The approach is highly practical and founded in the authors’ extensive experience with these tools, but also supported by a thorough understanding and explanation of the technical and theoretical issues underpinning their use.
Digital Media Tools is designed to be the perfect practical companion text to the authors’ latest course Web Design: A Complete Introduction.
This edition brings this very successful book up to date and provides information on the latest versions of Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator and Dreamweaver, along with new coverage of Bridge. This 3rd edition introduces a wide range of new teaching and learning features both in the book itself and on the new supporting Web site www.digitalmediatools.org
About the Author
Nigel and
Jenny Chapman are internationally well-known authors of major text books on new media technologies, computing and Web design.
Nigel Chapman was a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at University College London until he became a full-time freelance writer and Web developer.
Jenny Chapman is an award-winning animation and video artist, Web designer and visiting Lecturer in new media animation at Edinburgh College of Art.
Table of Contents
Welcome.Teaching and Learning Features.
Supporting Web Site.
1 Introduction.
Safe Working with Digital Media Tools.
2 Interface Basics.
Platforms.
Menus and Commands.
File Menu.
Edit Menu.
Help Menu.
Keyboard Shortcuts.
Context Menus.
Panels.
Panel Groups and Docks.
Workspaces.
Panel Controls.
Common Panels.
Tools Panel.
Options Bar, Control and Properties Panels.
Layers Panel.
Navigator Panel.
History Panel.
Automating Repetitive Tasks.
Replaying History.
Actions.
Layout Aids.
Rulers and Grids.
Guides.
3 Bridge.
The Browser Window.
The Default View.
Other Workspaces.
Rotating.
Slide Shows.
Compact Mode.
Stacks.
Navigation and File Operations.
Navigation.
File and Folder Operations.
Interacting with Other Programs.
File Organization.
Ratings, Labels and Keywords.
Metadata.
Filtering and Sorting.
Retrieval.
4 Photoshop.
Fundamentals.
Opening and Importing Images.
Saving and Exporting.
Resolution.
Modes and Colour Spaces.
Creating Images.
Layers.
Making and Using Selections.
Marquee Selection and Cropping.
Lasso Selections.
Selecting by Colour.
Paths.
Combining and Transforming Selections.
Selecting and Extracting Objects.
Masks.
Adjustments and Retouching.
Tonal Adjustments.
Colour Adjustments.
Retouching by Hand.
Effects and Filters.
Smart Filters.
Blurring and Sharpening.
Artistic Filters and Distortion.
Layer Effects and Layer Styles.
Vanishing Point.
Painting Pixels.
The Paintbrush and Pencil.
The Brushes Panel.
Selecting with Brushes.
Erasing.
Fills.
Animation.
Animated GIFs.
The Animation Panel.
Animating Layer Properties.
5 Illustrator.
Fundamentals.
Vector Graphics.
Creating Documents.
Technical Drawing.
Stroke and Fill.
Shape Tools.
Freehand Drawing.
Manipulating Objects.
Selection.
Transforming Objects.
Reshaping.
Appearance.
Complex Fills and Strokes.
Live Paint.
Effects, Filters and Styles.
3D Effects.
Warping.
The Appearance Panel.
Symbols.
Symbols and Instances.
Symbol Sets and the Symbolism Tools.
Symbols and 3D.
Bitmaps.
Combining Bitmaps and Vector Art.
Importing Bitmaps.
Manipulating Bitmapped Images.
Live Trace.
Shared Features.
Selection.
Colour.
Drawing Aids.
Layers.
Type.
Web Graphics.
6 Flash.
Basic Concepts.
Documents and Movies.
The Stage and the Timeline.
Artwork.
Drawing.
Selection.
Transformations and Reshaping.
Graphic Symbols.
Importing Artwork.
Animation.
Animating One Frame at a Time.
Motion Tweening.
Editing Animations.
Animated Symbols.
Shape Tweening.
Sound and Video.
Sound.
Video.
7 Dreamweaver.
Fundamentals.
Web Pages and Sites.
User Interface.
Preferences.
Formatting Web Pages.
Structure and Appearance.
Layout.
Simple Formatting.
Font Properties.
Backgrounds.
Links.
Lists.
Using CSS.
Displaying and Editing Rules.
Creating CSS Rules.
CSS and Layout.
Page Content.
Images.
Flash Movies and Video.
Tables.
Forms.
JavaScript.
Behaviours.
The Spry Framework.
Sites.
Local and Remote Sites.
Assets and Templates.
Templates.
8 Shared Concepts.
Colour.
Colour Models and Modes.
Picking Colours.
Gradients.
Typographic Controls.
Entering Type.
Formatting Type.
Bézier Curves.
Web Graphics.
Web Image Files.
Optimizing for the Web.
Index.