3D Books

This cute little book is a retelling of Pixar's smash hit movie, The Incredibles. Brightly colored and richly drawn, it does an excellent job of retelling the story for younger readers. But, this book has an extra: It has a pop-up "viewer" and when you look through it, you will see that each page has a 3-D picture!

I bought this book for a nephew, and he loves it. I think that the people who made this book did an excellent job of putting it together. So, if you have a young fan of The Incredibles, then you simply must get him this book! My nephew and I highly recommend it.

For all who didn't know, Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to The Lair was a game which almost didn't make it to shelves. Bogged down in development hell for some time, then after some trouble finding a publisher, Ubi Soft rescued this title, and it made it to shelves after all--enjoying moderate success for some months after launch across all available platforms.

As far as guides go, you're certainly getting everything you could want, or expect, and then some. Bestiary, item's lists, secret item locations, treasure item locations, walkthroughs, puzzle solutions, and full 3D maps. But as if all this weren't enough, you're also getting a short history of Dragon's Lair, profiles of the creators, and even a time line revealing every entry in the franchise (unfortunately, a couple of the more obscure sequels are so rare collectors will be hard pressed to ever find them), and that Dragon's Lair has appeared on almost every gaming platform ever made. My only true gripe with this guide is that while the guide tells you that collecting the treasure hidden in the levels opens new gameplay modes, it doesn't tell you what those modes are, or how much of the treasure you need to collect to unlock them (hopefully not all of it, as some of the treasure is VERY difficult to get--particularly in one specific room where the guide offers no suggestions or hints about how to get it). I'll have to ding it for that too--most people buy guides for the sake of puzzle solutions, finding secrets, and unlocking bonus content--sometimes even to the point of having the plot given away, being led by the hand, or having puzzles spelled right out; not to be given vague, inspecific hints, then left to figure it out on your own through repetition. Fortunately enough though, these instances are rare--in the overwhelming majority of cases, it does offer suggestions on how to get treasure (generally in a sidebar). You can argue that the best guides give away secrets without handing out plot spoilers, but in a game where the primary objective is so straightforward, is there really a point to it?

All in all, while not perfect, this guide is an excellent companion for the game, almost completely ensures that you won't get stuck, is in full color, and has all the extras we've come to expect from modern strategy guides. It's also out of print, and near impossible to find on shelves unless it's by chance in a place that handles second hand games and guides. But people who bought this game as a permanent addition to their collection because of nostalgic value would do well to grab a copy of this guide while it's still available. It's the only official guide available for the game, it's inexpensive here on amazon, and I highly recommend it.

This is a great book. It makes in seem so simple to use! My friend has this book and he loves it. Definitly a good book. The only problem is sometimes it can be a small bit complicated.

This textbook is clear, concise and written in a way that uses many different thinking patterns to process the information. That has definitely kept me from getting bored while reading it. I often find that I've read more than I'd planned for a given allotment of time. I give this text high recommendations!

I decided to transition to Maya after becoming relatively proficient and completing a short film in school using Softimage|XSI almost exclusively. I found this book exceedingly easy to use and, most importantly, helpful. Unlike many of the books written on Maya by Alias, I find the format of the tutorials and information much more accessible and useful.
Don't get me wrong, the Alias books have a great deal of quality information but I find that unlike those books, this text does not just give you a litany of buttons to press and settings to put in place somewhat mindlessly.

The authors have taken the time (in each chapter) to explain why you are doing the tutorial and what you will accomplish. Most of the background/setup info in the early chapters is for beginners as they represent quick overviews of traditional animation techniques so if you are a seasoned or intermediate animator, the chapter introductions will be more reinforcement than anything else. However, the information regarding the Maya interface and the fact that this text concentrates solely on the tools necessary to begin animating in a proper workflow, it is helpful for any experience level if you are transitioning to Maya as a new program. Each chapter gradually builds in complexity, providing familiarity and comfort along the learning process.

Overall, if you are EXPERIENCED in animation and are looking to transition to Maya from XSI, 3dsMax, etc., this book has a good, organized structure for learning the tools and overcoming any sense of intimidation you might have. It will get you up and running relatively quickly. Just note that if you understand and have used Maya to animate already, this book will not introduce advanced concepts to you on the tool itself. I think it is best for people who have had limited exposure to the program and need to start from the beginning or relearn the tool.

If you are a BEGINNER, it will give you a good overview of animation principles and a sense of the tools and workflow necessary to animate in Maya. However, the book only briefly touches on f-curves and is only a quick overview of animation so do not rely on this to LEARN animation. It teaches you the basics of the tool (Maya) but not enough in-depth information of the principles to form more than a broad understanding and an eagle eye view of animation. I think it is a good starting point to be introduced to such a complex tool -- instead of getting books that cover the entire process (animation, modeling, rendering, lighting, rigging, etc.) as that can be quite overwhelming and create for an unfocused learning process. Practice, other focused books and mentors should fill in the gaps to help you along the way...

Some of the base lessons:

- bouncing ball
- jumping flour sack
- walk cycle
- lip sync

One final note:

This book DOES NOT TEACH YOU RIGGING. I know that sometimes animation books intertwine these two as they do go hand in hand but this book focuses ONLY on animation. It talks about IK/FK, deformers, hierarchies, parenting and what not, but only to allow you to know what you are using to accomplish the chapter goals at hand. They provide ready rigged puppets for you to practice and with which to complete tutorials.

Exploring Yoga in 3D is the most beautiful and creative use of multimedia I've seen. The ability to view yoga asanas from different angles is a tremendous tool for begining and intermediate students. Recommend to all!

When my technology director asked me to create a pre-engineering class, I didn't know where to start. After talking to some high tech parents, they introduced me to SolidWorks. The students love it. It was so easy to get started and now my students are better than me. But I wanted to do more so I bought a VEX robot kit.

This book is a great way to combine learning CAD and building actually robots. The book takes students through making parts and in less than a week, students are creating parts on their own. With the book, my students have instructions on how to model the parts and compare to the actual parts. Then they assemble the parts in different configurations. Combining this book with VEX robot kit has been an affordable way to introduce engineering into the classroom. On parent's night, students present their portfolios complete with drawings. My director is happy, my students are happy and next term I have a full enrollment.

After working with VEX robots and CO2 cars for 2 years in summer camp, I decided to switch from Autocad to SolidWorks and add some 3D CAD to my program. This book is a great help introducing students to 3D modeling. Students just love the SolidWorks and they can follow the book with little intervention from me. This is a life saver when you have 30 plus students in a class.

The best part of the book is all the model files of the VEXplorer, VEX Starter Kit, and F1 in Schools car assembly. These models are great time savers and really get kids excited about learning. But don't tell them that they are learning, just having fun...

This one is more of a workbook of some of his favorite loony sketches. It is very short in length, about the size and length of a coloring book compared to the huge original Mark Kistler books, like "Draw Squad".

Mark shows you how to draw in in three dimensions so your art looks better. Space ships robots, and other inventions galore! His way of teaching is simply the easiest method a person can have to start drawing. Along the way you are learning perspective, shading, and other drawing tools without making these seem like tough concepts.

If you are looking for some fun stuff to draw, and the books you have seen before only seem to make it harder, your search is over. Mark's step by step method makes it easy for anyone at any age to get some basic drawing skills. You may want to try his big book "Draw Squad" before this one if you haven't yet... This one is for someone that has his other books already. And if his books are good, his old show on PBS and his videos are even better. He does not start by intimidating you with the completed project, in fact you don't always know what you are drawing until you are done. He takes you one line, circle, or square at a time and before you know it you have a fun completed drawing. I also reccommend you try the books from Ed Emberly, or check my lists on Amazon for kids that want to learn to draw, or be a cartoonist or animator.

Before watching the Spy Kids 3 movie, be sure to read the movie novelization. Best part of the book are the cool movie pics with real good graphics. As the story goes, Juni's sister gets lost in a video game run by the evil Toymaker. Juni must save his sister and shut down the game in 12 hours or it's game over for everyone. The Spy Kids must rely on their grandfather and group of video gamers. Kids about the age of 8-12 should read this exciting book.