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Like most XXXXX for Dummies books, Manga Studio for Dummies is a great tool for any beginner to Manga Studio. The book's easy to follow instructions on the various subjects and easy to understand terminology made using Manga Studio a breeze.
Overall, a helpful book. Still, I would have liked more screen shots and illustrations--especially with regard to Panel Layer creation and manipulation.
This dummies book explains EVERYTHING you need to know about Manga Studio and Manga Studio Debut. It came on time and everything is great.
Not all features (I am EX user) are explained in depth, and some of them are only noticed. But this book is for beginners. Complete deep reference would be 1500 pages, not 400.So I just hope someday Doug will write "Manga Studio for Advanced Dummies" and would fill those gaps. I will buy it.
If you can read Japanese, you can look for Comic Studio (debut / EX / Pro ) books, which are in Japanese, and of which there are many many such books out there.If you are the author, I would strongly suggest putting out a second revision with better division and/or visual isolation of what is a Debut feature and what is an EX feature. In attempting to learn the software more quickly, I picked up a copy of Manga Studio for Dummies. I would also suggest adding a start-to-finish on using Manga Studio (debut or Ex/pro) to sketch/draw and finish a whole page.The flow of the book really didn't feel smooth. I've had really good luck with Dummies books in the past, so this book got my first try.First Impressions:My first impression of the book was that it felt rushed. For someone who is using Debut. Given the fact that this book was a dummies book, I had expected a more grounds up approach. The legend indicates that EX features are in grey.
I didn't find that. In several cases, there is one paragraph that goes over several features, without a good demonstration of the features being covered. The approach of the book is really more along the lines of: if you've worked with another graphics editing package, like Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. This didn't really help with illustrating what a particular feature did and how it would impact the drawing/sketch.I'm a big fan of supporting authors and good books, but I'm sorry to say, I had to return this book.
Background:I have just recently acquired Manga Studio Debut, since I'm running Leopard on my Mac, I can't use Manga Studio EX. I went through the book and only with some effort, was I able to see where the feature sets and coverage for one package and another one began and end. For someone using Manga Studio EX, this isn't a problem. it downright sucks.Suggestions:If you are looking for a Manga Studio book for the copy of Manga Studio you just got, this is, at this time, the only English offering out there. Or more specifically, the differentiation between EX features and Debut features. One single picture of circles and lines. It tries to cover a good number of topics about the software package, but doesn't really go into depth about any particular feature. I felt like I was switching from reading a list of features with quick summaries to a two page write up of how some of those features, but not all, could be used on a sketch.
then use what you already know and here are some of the characteristics of this software that differs.It's not a bad book, it just did not fulfill the task that I had thought it would.Issues With The Book:The legends. The book is in black and white. except the sketch was just a bunch of circles and lines. Instead, I picked up two other books on general manga sketch technique since this book, which I went to the stores to specifically find, just didn't provide the information I needed.
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