PhotoShop Type Magic

COMPUTER BOOK REVIEW  

374  words

Title: PhotoShop Type Magic; David Lai and Greg 
Simsic; Hayden Books; ISBN: 1-56830-220-7; 
softcover, 233 pages, US$30.00  CAN$40.95 

Reviewer: Raymond St. Arnaud, "I would recommend 
this book to every serious imager and graphic artist."

The Magic Of Photoshop

A recipe book. In its simplest form, PhotoShop Type 
Magic, is simply a recipe book to enable the user to 
create some very ingenious and exciting effects on 
or with type faces. The variety of uses is limited only 
by the readers needs and imagination.

As all good recipe books should, Type Magic gives 
you a large sample thumbtab along the outside vertical 
edge of each page. This makes it very easy to browse 
through Type Magic looking for inspiration or a practical 
solution.

The recipes are well laid out on two facing pages for the 
simpler choices, four pages for the more complicated variety.

The book also gives a brief introduction on using Adobe 
PhotoShop tools and the pull down Menu items relevant 
to using Type Magic.

Included with the book is a CD ROM whose contents will 
vary whether you are a Mac or PC user. Generally you 
get some sample special effect filters, fonts, images 
and demo working copies of some popular software.

I would recommend this book to every serious imager 
and graphic artist for two reasons. First, you will get some 
step by step instructions to some very effective special 
effects you can apply to typefaces or other objects. 

Second, you will learn some fabulous new skills on how 
to use selections and layers. The creative uses of 
selections and using layers are where the most interesting 
new work is being created with Adobe PhotoShop today. 
Type Magic will give you a good workout on both.

I recommend this book in spite of finding the recipe 
instructions occasionally obscure with some confusion 
created by typographical errors. Where I encountered 
difficulty, I was able to figure out the recipe, especially 
after some success with simpler examples.

I also had problems loading, some of the filter samples 
and accessing some images from the CD-ROM. The 
documentation in the book is sparse. The documentation 
and setup procedures provided for the different samples 
or demos varies from poor to excellent and is dependent 
on the individual vendor.

But I wouldn't worry too much about it. The strength of this 
book is centered on its use of selections and layers. 
Type Magic stands on its own quite successfully with 
or without the bonus CD.