I was thinking about getting the Photoshop 6 WOW book. Is it any good? Would it help a rank beginner like me? I'd eventually like to be able to use Photoshop for postwork and maybe texture creation (for Poser or otherwise) and at the moment I'm not really sure where to start. Because of my current job, I'm not really able to make use of online tutorials (I'm out of town most of the week, and I'd rather spend what weekend time I have after chores actually working on something, rather than reading online tutorials.) Basically, I'd like a Photoshop book that's kind of like the Real World Bryce books - a good supplement to the manuals. Preferably covering Photoshop 7, but I'm not that picky. (I have to learn to use it at all first. Then I'll worry about getting the most out of the new features.) Thanks in advance Katoran

YES!

Jack Davis is one of the best writers when it comes to understand PS.

:)
retrocity

While I haven't read their Photoshop books, Friends Of Ed made some DAMN good Flash MX books that I would stand behind any day of the week. They have a photoshopbook or two. Crack one open in a bookstore and see if it agrees with you. Their Flash MX boks are written very intelligently and are damn hard to misunderstand. Costs an extra 55-10$ usually for their books, but I say it's worth it.

Yep....I have the PS 5.5 Wow Book and the Painter 5 Wow Book....they are excellent!

Personally, I would have to agree. Jack is one of the best writers in regards to Photoshop materials. However, the material typically covered in the WOW book, is what I refer to as the 'fluffy' side of Photoshop. The WOW series is a good series of books to get because the exercises contained are fun, and you'll be more likely to stick with finishing them and therefore learn more about the program. Plus, the book comes with a CD that contains not only the program files but quite a few extras that can be used in a wide array of practical situations. But do yourself a favor, if you get the book, also get Adobe Photoshop Studio Techniques by Ben Willmore. His books, while not covering the snazzy special effects and whatnot, cover the truly practical effects that one would be most likely to use should they get an actual job using the program. Remember, just because you can make a flaming logo does not mean that you know the program...if you can correct an image's color balance, fix flaws, and make the final product look like something that HASN'T been touched by Photoshop, that's when you can say you understand the program. Ben's book will help you do this. Retrocity, back me up on this, huh?

Ben is the guy to see if you ever get the chance to go to a Photoshop Seminar. You will definitely walk away feeling your money was well spent.

As to which is a better author...

Katoran, you need to look at "What do i want to use Photoshop for?" if, as you mentioned in your post, you just want to invest in PS to pump-up your renders so they really kick @$$, than the "fluffy" style books will give you a good starting point. If you hope to expand beyond that and land a job as a graphic artist in a gaming company then you'll want to branch out more into some of the deeper "hands-on" "let's take a peek under the hood and see how this puppy works" style of books.

either way, you can always ask question here ;)

:)
retrocity

Well, texturing and post-work seemed like a good place to start. I'm not quite sure what my long-term goal is at the moment. Short term, I'd just like to have fun while working with the programs. Since I'm still learning, I'd like the process to be fun. After all, if it starts becomming too much like work, I'll probably start finding other things I'd rather work on. Like watching my hard-disk defragment. :) Thank you for the information. I'll check these books the next time I'm at the bookstore. Katoran

Greetings, all. Heh, I'm rather late at posting here, but... Anybody know if the "Photoshop 6 for Windows Bible" by Deke McClelland is any good? I want to use Photoshop for texture-making for 3D models. -- Illomen

Hi ill, better late than never ;)

I have his PS5 Bible Gold Edition (which set me back $60+ US) and even though i use PS7 (PS6 @ home) i still find myself refering back to it all the time. He covers a wide gambit of issues and explains thing fairly well.

If you do get it and have any problem understanding anything, drop a post and i'm sure you'll get some answers!

SIDE NOTE:

The problem i've found with some books are, they don't cover enough indepth the topics i want. Take yours for example (and i'm sure there are a number of other members here that want to use PS for the same thing...), you may be hard pressed to find ANY photoshop book that will give you as indepth (as you'd like) the information about texture creation. That's why I'm hoping to have some tutorials available that would offer specific solutions to some of the requests made here, it's just RW eats up a lot of my time!!

:)
retrocity