Wacom

Just when I almost stopped thinking about it entirely, it shows up on my doorstep. The FedEx box was placed on the cold dark steps leading to my front door. I noticed it as soon as I got out of my car. The sender on the package said ‘Taylor & Francis‘, and I just knew it was a copy of Pushing Pixels. Coincidentally I had emailed my production editor this morning about the status of the book and just a few hours later I was holding it in my own hands.
I have been more eager to see this book than my previous titles because of the difficult printing issues we’ve experienced during production.  Taylor & Francis uses an American printer while previous titles such as the How to Cheat in Adobe Flash series have used a printer in China. The difference between the 2 printers? The HTCIF series printed successfully without any technical issues. I submitted my print ready PDFs and a few weeks later the book were shipped. The same process of screen capturing, preparing files, InDesign layout and exporting didn’t yield the same results with the American printer. After numerous failed tests I had to edit every single image in the book manually by increasing the resolution and changing their color profiles. It was grunt work at its purest.

I carefully removed the shrink wrap, a production detail that was missing from previous titles, and could immediately smell the faint traces of untainted paper and fresh ink. I cracked the binding and went through every single page, one by one, until I reached the back cover. I examined every word and image, with the fear of discovering the inevitable; typos. The strange thing about writing a book is, you proof read your own words countless times, as does the technical editor, proof reader and ultimately the production editor. We all find various spelling and syntax errors. The corrections are made and the the book is scrutinized several more times thereafter for inconsistencies. When the book finally goes to print, at least 10 people have examined the entire contents from cover to cover. But inevitably, assuredly and without fail, with the printed book held firmly in hand, you will always find at least 1 blatantly obvious grammatical or layout mistake glaring at you from the page.

I found 2.

On page 32 the alignment of an entire block of text overlaps a screenshot image. It wasn’t like that in the source file or PDF, but it’s there in the printed book.

My bio on the back cover is the outdated version. It was rewritten and submitted in time, but for some reason, it’s not there.

At the end of the day, these are only 1st world problems and I will certainly go on living with them. Some of the screenshot images in the book are slightly fuzzy too. But there’s nothing that can be done about it. It’s just a book. It’s just a book that I hope helps anyone trying to tread water in the deep dark sea of digital animation.

I’m long over due for an update as to what’s going on with that new book title you may have heard I was writing this past year. If you haven’t heard, I was asked by Focal Press to write a brand new animation title. I told them I’m not smart enough to write another book on the same subject matter and my fear was duplicating my efforts and diluting the sales of the existing book. After all, how many ways can I explain tweening or inverse kinematics in Adobe Flash?

Focal Press didn’t care. They told me the book could be about anything I wanted to write about. So I reached deep down inside myself (which is illegal in some states) and realized I may actually have a small nugget of knowledge to offer the digital animation world. My current articles, titles and tutorials teach readers individual animation techniques using Flash but I failed to recognize the most important technique of all; how to take all those tips and tricks to create an entire project from start to finish. From concept to storyboard, design to rigging, and ultimately editing and publishing to the web and mobile devices.

The idea for a new book title was fully realized.

This is what Pushing Pixels is all about. The book walks you through 3 of my own personal and professional animation projects from blank canvas to a format suitable for viewing across a myriad of platforms.

But wait! There’s more!

The final chapter of the book focuses entirely on creative apps for mobile devices. I wrote about everything from Adobe Touch Apps to sophisticated drawing and animation apps. I feature a few of my favorite styluses and the Wacom Inkling. If you are curious about being creative while mobile, this chapter may pique your interest.

Pushing Pixels, as of this writing, is in the hands of the printer and according to my wonderful production editor, the advanced copies look awesome. If you’ve preordered the book already, I humbly thank you with warm and fuzzy feelings. I seriously hope you enjoy the shit out of this book because I think I’ve exhausted all the knowledge I have left in my aging brain. Please let me know if you have any feedback (good or bad) by posting it on the Pushing Pixels Facebook page.