iOS Beginning Core Animation

[CodeBreaker]

Hi,
Is Core Animation the best tech to use for 2.5 D animations like Cover Flow or the transitions in Keynote and iPhoto? I want to develop apps with cover flow like interfaces (2 D objects moving in 3 dimensions).

I am looking for good books/tutorials/guides on this. Most of the Core Animation stuff I read (from Apple and books) doesn't apply to iOS and is targeted towards the Mac. I'm starting from scratch, although I know basic 2-D UIView animations. So can anyone tell me where to start?

Also what's the difference between Quartz and Core Animation?

 

[idelovski]

There are two animation books but I can't say I like them. They fail even at teaching you the basic stuff you'll need for iOS development. For example, word delegate is hardly used in either of the books.

But there are two other books that can get you started. Beginning iPhone Games Development and Sams Teach Yourself Cocoa Touch Programming in 24 Hours.

The first one has a dozen of small examples with different animations and the second one has its own version of Cover Flow clone.

There is a new Game programming book by Apress that looks promising about animations, but I just got it a few days ago and can't say much about it.

 

[CodeBreaker]

There are two animation books but I can't say I like them. They fail even at teaching you the basic stuff you'll need for iOS development. For example, word delegate is hardly used in either of the books.

I know what books you are talking about

But there are two other books that can get you started. Beginning iPhone Games Development and Sams Teach Yourself Cocoa Touch Programming in 24 Hours.

The first one has a dozen of small examples with different animations and the second one has its own version of Cover Flow clone.

There is a new Game programming book by Apress that looks promising about animations, but I just got it a few days ago and can't say much about it.

Thanks for the links. But the titles suggest they are more for game developers? I am not into games (at least for now), and I can afford only one at the time. Which one should I buy?

Thanks

 

[idelovski]

Oh. The devil with these kind of books is that you can't possibly be sure how useful a book will be until you spend some time with it. You should probably buy all of them, but if you want to start with a single title, then the older Game book is just fine. It has a nice Quartz chapter followed by the cool animation chapter and then it has few networking chapters that should be quite useful whatever you plan to do. It has OpenGL chapter too, but I never bothered to read it.

But, maybe you should first download the code - (A) & (B) - and then decide for yourself.

 

[CodeBreaker]

Oh. The devil with these kind of books is that you can't possibly be sure how useful a book will be until you spend some time with it. You should probably buy all of them, but if you want to start with a single title, then the older Game book is just fine. It has a nice Quartz chapter followed by the cool animation chapter and then it has few networking chapters that should be quite useful whatever you plan to do. It has OpenGL chapter too, but I never bothered to read it.

But, maybe you should first download the code - (A) & (B) - and then decide for yourself.

Thanks again. I will look into it.