What is a good book for learning Core Animation?

Question

I want to learn how to use core-animation for the iPhone in a more serious manner; instead of just ripping other people's code to move a box a few pixels, I want to be able to write that code myself, and engage in translation, transformation, and other things with an understanding of the code I'm using to achieve it.

Unfortunately, the online documentation is, at best, rather dense. And while I have a good book for general iPhone programming, coreAnimation is a very large, complex area and it doesn't cover it in any real depth. Are there any good books that cover the subject?

Answer 1

Try Bill Dudney's Core Animation for Mac OSX and iPhone. The book does a fine job of walking through a lot of CA -- not all of which is available in the iPhone (yet?)

See also @neror's CA git project for good examples. @neror updates the project frequently and is a solid learning resource.

Answer 2

I have personally read "Core Animation: Simplified Animation Techniques for Mac and iPhone Development". This is a colorful book and quite easy to follow. This book assumes that you have some iPhone programming knowledge, so you will also need your general iPhone programming book. This book covers topics such as basic animation, path, what can be animated. The author would present you some code fragments, illustrating their ideas.

Answer 3

I would like to give you another suggestion.

You are asking for a good reference book about Core Animation. As mentioned above, I recommend "Core Animation: Simplified Animation Techniques for Mac and iPhone Development". However, in my experience, the book and other books on Core Animation aren't sufficient. None of the CA book is very well-written, I would rate them about 6 to 7 out of 10. Your best bet is learn from a concrete open source project. I recommend you GeekGameBoard from Apple. GeekGameBoard has two versions, the Apple version is written for MacOSX. There is a modified version for iPhone, check http://jens.mooseyard.com/2008/03/geekgameboard-getting-closer-to-iphone-ready/. Personally, I studied the source while refreshing my understanding from the book.