July 1, 2009
By J.R. Bookwalter
I’ll admit it: I’m a software upgrade junkie. I get all tingly when I see a new update is available, especially for a program (or system OS) that I use often, and if the update adds new features or squashes old bugs, even better. Because of this, I’m also an early adopter, and usually the first guy among my colleagues and cohorts to have the latest and greatest software — which means that, by default, I become the “go-to” guy when those aforementioned colleagues have questions about new features, or how best to accomplish this task or that.
I figure most of those guys are simply too lazy to crack open the manual and search for the function in question, but let’s face it: The trend with modern software is to either have huge, Biblical-style tomes that would test the patience of even ardent bookworms, or the manuals are nowhere to be found, lost amidst a sea of help menus and on-disc PDF files where it would require a compass and a Boy Scout merit badge to weed out the answer to your dilemma.
Illinois-based Class on Demand, Inc. to the rescue! With decades of experience in producing training videos for the creative and media industries, Class on Demand offers a huge catalog of value-priced training DVD-ROMs to get you started with that new software upgrade you’ve just installed, without ever having to crack a manual.
One of their latest entries is Basic Training For Adobe CS4 Production Premium, hosted by the ever affable, Emmy Award-winning Tim Kolb. An Adobe software veteran of 15-plus years as well as an experienced director of television commercials and corporate video productions, Kolb has absorbed the pounds of CS4 manuals and distilled that knowledge into easy-to-follow video tutorials to get you started quickly and easily.
The Basic Training disc is a Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X-compatible DVD-ROM (it won’t play in a standard DVD video player), designed to run side-by-side with the software you’re learning about (but you can run it perfectly fine on its own as well). You’ll need a display with a resolution of at least 1152 x 864 to use it (and larger is better, if you want to run the software at the same time), and of course, speakers and a DVD-ROM drive are also required.
In my experience with the disc, make that “the faster the DVD-ROM drive, the better.” Even on my late-2008 15" MacBook Pro with 8x SuperDrive, the playback had a fair amount of stuttering, especially during longer lessons. It fared much better in an external Buffalo USB 2.0 Blu-ray/DVD burner at 16x speed, although still not entirely hiccup-free. I had a number of other programs open at the same time, but most of those were idle, so your mileage may vary.
That mild nuisance aside, Basic Training is a great value and even entertaining in spots. After inserting the disc and running the program, you’re greeted with a short video of Tim Kolb perched behind a mountain of manuals for CS3. He slams shut the last manual and proudly proclaims to have read everything there is about CS3, when an offscreen voice chimes in that CS4 has just arrived! Those of us who indulge in the (semi) annual upgrades put out by companies such as Adobe will appreciate the moment of brevity.
Basic Training is comprised of 13 different lessons. The first seven are the core applications included with CS4 Production Premium: OnLocation, Soundbooth and Premiere Pro, Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, Encore and Flash. The remaining lessons spotlight other technologies featured in the Production Premium suite: Metadata, Media Encoder, 3D in Photoshop and After Effects, Bridge, Dynamic Link and Device Central.
Collectively, it’s an extensive boot camp that clocks in at over four hours — enough content to probably warrant watching it in several sittings, especially if you choose to load up the companion software and follow along. However, if you choose to start at the beginning and stick it out for the long haul, the sessions are laid out in a linear order, so when one is completed, the next one will begin right away. You also have the option of jumping to any lesson from either the main menu, or via a submenu at the top of each playing lesson.
Kolb makes for an entertaining and knowledgeable host, and it’s impressive how much raw information he can get across in such a relatively short amount of time (most of the key application lessons average 30 minutes). If you’ve never cracked a manual, you’ll find yourself absorbing information easily from these lessons. The only potential downside: There’s no way to bookmark or explore chapters within a lesson, although it’s easy enough to skip through a lesson to find something that you want to see again. You also have the option to pause at any point, and also mute the audio, should you just want to see the playback while listening to your own audio.
Keep in mind that Class on Demand has branded this as “basic” training, and it is indeed just that. For example, during the Premiere Pro lesson, Kolb spends the time to deftly explain the usage of such common editing tools as trim, slip and slide, which pros and advanced users likely won’t need a refresher course on. However, even seasoned pros can appreciate such information if they’re accustomed to other non-linear suites, new to Adobe’s CS4 offering and need help getting acclimated.
As such companies as Apple and Adobe have switched their key applications over to “suite” bundles in recent years, and with Adobe in particular having pared back their printed manuals as a separate, paid option, Class on Demand has really come to the rescue for new users. Basic Training for Adobe CS4 Production Premium is a great way to maximize your new investment while keeping the learning curve to a minimum. It’s so good at what it does, Adobe should consider bundling future volumes with their Creative Suites — if they did, the lazier of my colleagues would have to find something else with which to fill my voice mail and e-mail inboxes… 
Class On Demand Basic Training For Adobe CS4 Production Premium
SCORE: 
PROS: Clear, effective guidance on Creative Suite 4 for new and advanced users alike, high-quality, professional presentation
CONS: Playback could be choppy at times, especially during longer lessons (fast DVD-ROM drive recommended), information might be too limiting for advanced or pro users.
BOTTOM LINE: Worth its weight in gold if the mere thought of cracking a manual terrifies or overwhelms you.
MSRP: $99.95
CONTACT: www.classondemand.net
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