Adobe CS4 training

[Lynnie_pitch nee Leigh]

hi all,

I'm after a bit of help. My school has recently upgraded to Adobe CS4 and I'm playing catch up a bit. I can do really basic stuff in Flash, Dreamweaver, illustrator and Photoshop (I know the most about Photoshop) but I want to secure my knowledge so when pupils ask me a question I don't go hmmm lets have a play shall we :o ;D

I've asked if my department will buy some books, but they have no funds! :angry: so if I want to buy some books it's up to me. So I'm looking for a cheap but useful books that'll teach me the basics with some advanced features for Fireworks, illustrator and flash. (I need them to be really straight forward to pick up the skills asap, so I can impress my lovely pupils)

I've seen two books that interest me Amazon 1 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0321580044/ref=s9_simi_gw_p14_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1VAA9CGSEGYY4M69YYQY&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467198433&pf_rd_i=468294)and amazon 2 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/032157382X/ref=s9_simi_gw_p14_i2?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1VAA9CGSEGYY4M69YYQY&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467198433&pf_rd_i=468294)

So does anyone have any opinions on the above or can provide alternative suggestions (barring in mind that I don't want to pay a lot of money)

Cheers all :)

[Lynnie_pitch nee Leigh]

Normally I'm the same as you, pick it up as needed, but with needing to teach the lovely kiddies I need to know it before they start asking more questions.

I've taught them the basics but I like it when I can go look at this cool trick and they go ooooooo Miss you're boss ;D

I'm not good learning from videos I prefer screen shots and step by step instructions :)

Would you mind emailing me the PDF guides?

[Kitten]

Lynne, the lynda.com stuff does do it step by step - you have the program open and it steps you through each thing like a tutorial - or a live version of what you're describing - screen shots and steps to follow. The video is purely showing you what to do. You then do it yourself with the video playing in a little window.

[Joe 90]

I always aquire lynda.com video tutorials. They have taught me most adobe apps & 3Ds Max