LiveMotion for Windows and Macintosh is an easy-to-read, liberally illustrated guide to learning and using Adobe's tool for creating animation for the Web. As with all Visual Quickstart Series guides from Peachpit Press, this book is geared toward the user new to the software covered in the book, and is designed from the ground up to get you up to speed in as little time as possible.

Every feature of LiveMotion is covered (some better than others), from an introduction to the interface and all its palettes to animation basics, creating and using objects, using layers, using text, creating rollovers, using behaviours linked to objects and exporting your work for inclusion on a Web site.

Using a simple two-column format, the tools, palettes and features are explained in a balanced presentation that is half text and half illustration. Since animation is LiveMotion's forte, it gets more coverage than any other feature. Animation basics, using the timeline, working with keyframes and adding sound are introduced in chapter 13, "Animation", while chapter 14, "More Animation", takes on advanced concepts like animating layers, reshaping objects, animating text, using motion paths, and using rollovers. It would have been nice to see a larger section on using behaviours (chapter 15, "Behaviours", is only about 13 pages long), but that is a minor shortcoming in an otherwise valuable book. --Mike Caputo