Lisa Brenneis
1 Try to find something else
I have bought and used many Visual Quickstart Guides and they have always been great when getting started with something new. However, Final Cut Express 2 for Mac OS X is an exception.
Instead of explaining a sample project and then taking you step by step so you can get your feet wet, Lisa Brenneis instead decides it is more valuable to explain each item on each pulldown menu: whether you will need it or not.
She discusses in excruciating detail the various ways to save a project and how to open previous projects whose files have been misplaced, etc...without ever mentioning how to start a new project. In Chapter 3 she explains how to make a 'Custom Shortcut Button.' That's nice, but since she doesn't explain how to get video IN to FCE2 until Chapter 6, I have no idea what I would want to create a custom shortcut button for.
The first couple of chapters were full of so many details with no hands on experience or practical explaination...I was asking myself: "where's the quickstart?" oh...that doesn't come until page 145.
In Chapter 2:
"To restore a project:
1. Choose File>Restore Project
2. In the Restore Projects dialog box's pop-up menu, select the archived project you want to restore
3. Click Restore"
DUH!
Now at this point, reading from the beginning of the book, I have no idea what restoring a project means, why I would want to do it, nor do I even have a project to restore!
I sat for a few hours with this book and a simple video project I wanted to complete in FCE2 and instead of getting some good experience and information, I decided a better use of time would be to come here and write this negative review. Afterward, I am going to work on the project in iMovie; possibly tomorrow I'll look for another book and try again.
Visual Quickstart Guides are usually great, but this book is NOT like the rest.
Do yourself a favor, find yourself something else. But if you still really want this book, send me a message, I'm selling mine.
