The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group For the Bookshelf

Becoming a Computer Artist
reviewed by Major Keary

Books designed to adorn small tables are usually large format, big on spectacular pictures, and sparse on text. The subject is never technical, and any factual information is coincidental rather than intentional.

Here is something different. A computer book perfect for a small table-or to be placed casually among the glossies in an up-market reception area -has just appeared in print: Becoming a Computer Artist.

Everything about Becoming a Computer Artist is atypical of computer books. The author, Chad Little, is a computer artist and founder of a company that specialises in computer graphics, imaging, animation, video, and multimedia.

Graphics-oriented book design is used to great effect in the maranGraphics series (distributed by Prentice Hall) and the How To... series from Ziff-Davis. They are graphic-oriented, relying on the pictures to tell the story with a minimum of text to link them and fill in necessary detail.

Chad Little, on the other hand, relies very much on the text. He does two quite innovative things: the main subject is dealt with in a dialogue, and the text layout is used as a graphical element in a way not seen in computer publications.

A casual reader can open it at almost any page and begin reading, without knowing what has gone before, and become engrossed in the subject. For computer aficionados, no matter what their level of knowledge, it makes fascinating reading. For those involved in graphics, from professional to hobbyist, there is a rich source of information.

A CD comes with the book. It contains a promo of an interactive CD version, but that does not give any insight as to what one can expect from the product. There is also a working model of Rio, a graphics application from AT&T Multimedia Software Solutions. It is DOS-based and limited to ten saves in each of four formats, its ability to render high-resolution images has been disabled, and it cannot import/export. However, it is fully functional in all other respects and quite suitable for evaluation.

Multimedia Madness
reviewed by Major Keary

This is a an introduction to multimedia with descriptions of hardware and software. Step-by-step tutorials guide the user through various processes performed by the programs. Sound, video, animation, and text are each covered with plenty of practical examples.

There are useful discussions of peripherals and the like, such as graphics cards, to help those who may be bewildered by the plethora of claims made by manufacturers. Various software packages are described with tutorials illustrating their use. There is also a substantial section listing software and hardware with the names and addresses of vendors; it is a useful resource.

Two CDs come with the book. One is a special edition of NautilusCD, an electronic multimedia magazine. The other contains some demonstration versions of commercial software, including Multimedia Toolbook, HSC Interactive, Q/Media, Multimedia Impact, Adobe Photoshop, Picture Publisher, and many more. There is a collection of graphics clips, stock photos, music clips, and sound effects. Also on the second CD is a collection of shareware.

Making Multimedia
reviewed by Major Keary

sing multimedia products is one thing, aking multimedia programs is quite another and has particular system requirements. It also calls for a substantial outlay on specialist software. It is quite different from deciding on a new word processor or spreadsheet application, or even a high-end desktop publishing package.

Anyone with a serious interest in creating multimedia programs should invest first in a book describing the processes and available software. The literature does not come cheap, but that is largely because they are bundled with CDs.

Another consideration is whether you want to run DOS-based or Windows-based software. Yes, there are some significant packages written for DOS. I suspect it is because Windows has limitations on the size of files it can handle.

Most users associate multimedia with Windows and will turn towards applications written for that platform, so it is not surprising that most of the literature is Windows-oriented. There are two excellent books that, while not intended to be volumes 1 and 2, supplement each other in a progression from introductory to advanced information.

Multimedia Developer's Guide
reviewed by Major Keary

This book is for those intermediate and advanced users familiar with Windows programming in C and C++. It contains quite a bit of code, all of which is on an accompanying CD with evaluation versions of Microsoft Viewer and Asymetrix Multimedia Toolbook. There are also sample multimedia controls.

The emphasis is on programming techniques and multimedia authoring. An example of the depth of coverage is a discussion of optimising a program for using a CD-ROM; the need for maintaining the correct read data rate is explained, as well as provision for writing data to temporary files.

The control of flicker in bit map animation will not bother multimedia users if the programmer has included the right kind of code. Not only are listings provided, but the CD has a sample program to illustrate the effect.

A number of software packages are described to assist developers to select tools suitable to particular needs across the the full range of media: sound, video, animation, user-interaction, joystick controls, special effects, text, and so on.

Multimedia Developer's Guide is an in-depth treatment of programming for Windows multimedia. It is not a book for browsing, but is written for those who have the necessary programming knowledge and who want to master all elements of multimedia.

Windows NT and Networking
reviewed by Major Keary

Networking is an essential part of the corporate environment and requires powerful operating systems, such as NT.

If you happen to be a network administrator, LAN manager, or system integrator in a corporate LAN environment where NT is the operating system, then you should look at a recent publication from Van Nostrand Reinhold. It is not overwhelming in size, but is a valuable reference and tutorial covering topics from installing Windows NT, through making NT work where there are multiple protocols and operating systems, to problem-solving and recovery.

Students of the NT operating system will find it a useful resource, likely to provide information not easily found elsewhere.

More Yellow Pages
reviewed by Major Keary

The New Riders' Official Internet Yellow Pages follows the familiar yellow-pages format. It is not clear from where the "official" appellation is derived, but I guess a Foreword by Vinton Cerf gives the directory some authority. It is not to be confused with a similarly named publication from Osborne McGraw-Hill.

The book is similar in size (but with only a third of the pages-the paper is thicker) to a single volume of the Sydney or Melbourne Yellow Pages phone directory. The layout is similar to the extent of an alphabetical ordering of entries beginning with AACIS-L and ending with Zoology - but no Zymurgy. The most unusual heading I found is General Interest and it has the sub-heading, men, and tells us, "This digested mailing list discusses men's issues". The same information is repeated under Men's Movement. Indeed, several entries are repeated rather than providing a one-line cross reference. 

That reduces the effective content of what should be a valuable resource. Another feature lacking is a general index, which would have enabled the compilers to avoid repetitious entries and to make information easier to find. Instead an alphabetical listing of keywords is provided and an "audience field" list.

The audience field is "... a list of audience and occupational categories for whom there are specific Internet resources of interest listed ...". In each listing of the main directory there is an "audience" entry that tells the user what audiences) the particular resource is designed for.

An extraordinarily large amount of work went into this directory and it is a pity that its shortcomings were not detected before going to print. Making a directory of Internet resources is a difficult job they are virtually endless and what was current five minutes ago may already be in limbo. However, there is a place for a Yellow Pages and it is to be hoped New Riders will enhance any new edition with a comprehensive index.

Reprinted from the August 1994 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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