Apple Pro Training Series: Motion 3 by Damian Allen, Mark Spencer, Bryce Button, Tony Huet
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Book Reviews of Apple Pro Training Series: Motion 3
Book Review: Motion 3 book training... worth the purchase
Summary: 4 Stars
Apple Pro Training Series: Motion 3 book is a solid foundation into the introduction of the use of the Apple Motion software package version 3. It is well written, is easy to follow and well laid out as well.
It covers the GUI, the use of adding effects, time-remapping, baking clips out of motion, basic use of the replicator, basic use of the particle emissions. As well as going from Final cut pro to motion and out to dvd studio pro. Other topics include match moving and keying and audio effects.
Overall, its a solid book and well worth the money giving the user enough knowledge and confidence to further explore the software without guidance.
My personal quibbles:
3/4 of the projects work a lot with dvd design and I see that the last thing I would use motion for. Would have liked to see a more broadcast approach to all the projects.
The replicator and particle emissions and the paint tool deserved detailed use of there applications in an appendix to the book. They are perhaps the most useful tools that motion has to offer.
The Optical flow example (time-remapping) did not work well in the book example it looked like a displacement effect added to the work. It looked worse than the frame blending workflow.
Book Review: 3D with Motion 3
Summary: 4 Stars
I've been using Motion since it came out several years ago and I've only used it sparingly. When Motion 3 was released I decided to really jump into it. Then I realized how little I understood the software, or the 3D world. I searched the internet for a book that would give me the most bang for my buck and decided on the Apple Pro Training Series. This book comes with plenty of color screen captures which gave me a visual reference relating to the software. Lesson reviews after each chapter to remind me what I just learned, and plenty of quick tips embedded within the chapters. Also included with the book is a DVD that includes the clips that accompany the lessons, starting with the first chapter "A Taste of Motion" to the last "Adding Audio Tracks." This book taught me how to do the stunning visuals that my clients want to see.Book Review: Excellent content, cheap binding
Summary: 4 Stars
The tutorials are easy to follow and well put together. They keep repeating the shortcuts which is very helpful. I give the author and content 5 stars.
The binding is awful. After one week it came apart and just now, it broke in another place. I haven't been any rougher on this book than I am on the hundreds of others that I own. I need to get some glue and put it back together. This binding brings down the rating.
Book Review: an acceptable introduction, needs proof reading
Summary: 3 Stars
I struggled with whether to give this a 2 or 3 star rating...
Motion is a big beast with lots of complexity and I wasn't expecting for an introductory book to give me a complete view. This book did do a good job of surveying Motion. The examples/samples are generally pretty interesting.
However, I have similar comments to the other reviewers here...
1. The binding is bad. I am very careful with my books. I went through the book once and on opening it within a few days to refer to a section, the back half detached from the cover.
2. There are many errors in the book. When this happened, I would assume I had missed something and would then go back, restart the example and carefully follow ALL of the instructions. The bulk of the time, the error was in missing steps or in reversed steps. I think I remember a good half a dozen errors like this. (To the authors' credit, they have put in some helpful tips like 'if BLAH happens, remember to do BLAH' or 'don't forget to BLAH'.)
The other PeachPit Press Apple Pro Training books that I have gone through are very good - excellent really. When I got through those, I really felt prepared and able to use the tool. This one does not live up to those standards - book physical quality and proof reading and preparation for use of the tool. Again, beyond those issues, I would have liked a more detailed book giving me a deeper understanding to Motion but I understand the difficulty of that.
The book works acceptably as a survey of the tool, just don't get too frustrated by the errors.
Book Review: Needs improvement, but will suffice
Summary: 3 Stars
First and foremost, I feel the lesson dealing with 3D movement should have been placed later in the book, to better acquaint the reader with Motion's interface and the various effects, instead of trying to teach its most complicated tool so early. Since I was learning from scratch, I found myself going through the steps without really understanding what was causing the effect.
Also, as others have pointed out, there are mistakes and occasional lapses in the description of steps which sometimes could produce the wrong result. After following the steps meticulously (I thought), I found myself seriously stuck at least once.
Other than those complaints, the book does provide a good overview of Motion's abilities, and having gone over the lessons multiple times, I feel it is likely the best guide to Motion available, but I do hope future editions will improve on the shortcomings.