3D Books

Nice tips and tricks for someone that dosen't want to go that deep into Photoshop but still be able to produce decent textures for 3D. Being the only book on the subject I have to say it's the best =), but if you are seriuos about Photoshop as a 3D artist (which you should) you'll be better off getting one of those "in depth" Photoshop books. Like that you should be able to figure out what this book has to say by yourself.

I found this book quite educative, and it is a great introduction for newcomers. These are the pros and cons as I see it:

pros: Easy to follow step by step tutorials. Lots of hints and tips. Each chapter has a background and theory section. Great intro on the different mapping techniques, especially why you always should use diffusion. cons: Some of the photoshop files were missing on the CD. The whole book should be in colour. Having the "colour studio" in the middle of the book results in turning pages back and forth. Some of the actions in the 3D application isn't explained. For example how to save a selection in the 3D app, and how to texturize the selection only.

I don't go anywhere without my Photoshop 5 3D Textures F/X and Design Book. Great Techniques, Well written, and well planned out.

I am a Photoshop user who thought this book would be good for use solely within Photoshop, the truth is that this book is for use in conjunction with a 3D program - if you don't own such a program, then think twice before ordering this title. I am in the process of learning Strata Studio Pro, so eventually I will be able to put this book to some good use. The reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is that the ad./title for this book can be a little misleading, it should read: Photoshop 5 3D Textures f/x and design FOR USE WITH A 3D PROGRAM. Having said that, the book is well written, and I learned much from it. The tutorials are easy to follow, the results of which I will only be able to fully appreciate when I have finished learning my 3D program. The book covers creating the different texture maps within Photoshop to be used on your 3D models. Do not hesitate to purchase this book if you own both Photoshop and a 3D program.

First of all, I baught the book because it says "Photoshop 5 3D" I forgot to look at the "texture" part. Whatever.

1. This book is not Fully Colored Like the punk said. There are 15 pages (color - including both sides) that is 15 out of 274)

2. This books doesn't give much. It talks about what you should do and where to get it. It doesn't actually go into how it is actually done on Adobe 5.0 (which I hoped this will do/show)

3. It talks/there is a design about a space-ship. I don't care about the damn history! I don't care who invented and what year that space ship is in, and what it carried. Stop talking about craX and start showing how to do it.

4. I also noticed something/read something. I was very disapointed and pissed... So it says the book. Once you are done with this layer dump it in a 3D program. I am on the toilet and I am like what! Wait a second! This book I baught it to learn how to use Adobe and do everything in it! Don't tell me I've got to get me an additional 3D program! i.e. 3D Max, SoftImage, LightWave, Bryce stuff.. That was a big piXs off!

5. Lots about Wire-Frame/Layers... I didn't know Adobe Did that.. I thought 3d Progs did that...

6. Last but not least.. I'm pretty new to Adobe but I did most/all the stuff "trial and error" I learned a bit I think. I use Fireworks (by Macromedia) to do most of the stuff and what Fireworks can't do I do it in Adobe.

-=] I baught another book called Official Adobe Photoshop 5.0 Studio Techniques; Ben Willmore, so as soon as it arrives (3-7 days) this other book is going back... ]=-

I REALLY REALLY! would like to get the Adobe 5.0 WOW! Book! But from what I've herd is that they are over 5 months delayed in releasing it. That suc@k@s

So I am dissapointed buying it and man.. I hate going through the process of returning it.

...

I've only had this book for a week, and it's well on it'sway to becoming the most referenced book on my shelf. Excellent readand, if you're prepared to do a little work, outstanding tutorials.The facial animation section alone has given me several 'eureka'moments, which is what books like this are supposed toelicit.

Simply wonderful.

After reading positive reviews of this book from Amazon.com, I bought it with high hopes... This book could be worth reading if there would not be so many errors everywhere! I can't believe how many typos & missing steps & steps told in wrong order there is in this book! Buy some other more professional book.

This book is detailed. It will talk you through a lot of the different techniques you can use to animate, but it's examples are terrible. I am not a professional animator, but even I could do better example material than this. The animation of a slug/worm type thing is terrible, both in terms of it's main movement and its secondary motion. The walk cycles are abysmal with no obvious signs of reference material being used. The Lion animation is laughable. The environment animations look extremely amateur. This book is NOT for professional animators. At best it is a fair resource for finding different techniques to animate. Why they'd release this book for any reason other than to make money is beyond me. It certainly doesn't show MAX up as being a good animation tool.

I bought other CG books before and usually got something out of it. But this is my first one that instantly helped me with my problems. Within the first 2 hours of reading I got more hints to traps and good advices than I got from reading whole books and doing dozens of tutorials before. I really recommend this book for all who want to improve their animation skills with 3D Studio MAX.

I want to express my gratitude toward the authors of 3dStudio Max Professional Animation. This is the first book I have found that truly enhanced my skills and knowledge--not only of 3d Studio Max, but of 3d animation in general. As a teacher of 3d animation, I am always looking for information that gives me the skills to answer any questions my students can throw at me. While I haven't really noticed any errors or typos in particular, I find that because the book is not simply a list of steps to follow, and because it explains in detail WHY the steps are to be taken, this helps to clear up any misunderstanding of the steps themselves. These lengthy explanations are packed with helpful information and are essential for understanding the material. This is not a book for those who like to blindly follow tutorials. Finally, I must say that I trust the information in the book. This is not only because of the authors' qualifications and experience, but because my own work has improved significantly. Once again, this book is an invaluable addition to any professional animator's library.

Some good tutorials, some really bad. Just like the first book its not written by designers but more by those techie guys who do beta testing :) But I got something out of it anyway.

This book concentrates on about 10 different features of 3ds Max and does a step-by-step explanation of them. The value in this approach was that it guides you through an unknown area of max very methodically. On the down side, the extra verbiage might be unappealing for someone that's more fluent with the program. As a student using the program for the first time, it allowed me to very quickly expand my capabilities. This should be a companion to another more comprehensive book. Includes final movies of the projects covered so you can compair your work.

I recently purchased this box and have been extremely disappointed. The projects are extremely interesting and detailed, if you can complete them. Out of the 6 projects I have tried, I have not been able to complete any of the them. Problems range from not getting the correct colors and textures to appear after following the steps listed to "intuitive" steps that are not listed that I evidently don't know. There is "help" available from the book's authors, if you can get a response, and they don't always know what is wrong. Overall, I have not found this to be a helpful book.

If you are an intermediate level Max user, 3ds max 4 Magic, is a great resource. With concise and to the point directions, full color illustrations and tutorials that cover a wide range of Max's capabilities, this book can guide you to the next level. This book is not for a beginner. The authors assume that the reader is familiar with all of the tool sets available, at least to the extent of knowing where to look. Although the time that I have invested in this book's tutorials has been technically demanding the wow factor has made it well worthwhile.

3ds max 4 magic is full-colour, glossy and packed with 13 projects covering a variety of common tasks, individually written by professional 3D artists. There are detailed chapters on for example simulating flowing water (without expensive plugins), creating realistic underwater scenes, using the new max 4 IK, churning out textures for games, and even a bit of camera matching. And as usual, they are detailed enough to be usefull but advanced enough not to be patronising and time-wasting for the experienced reader, for whom the book is intended.

The small critisism I may have centers around the lighting effects in certain chapters. They seem somewhat basic, explaining much to very little effect. In general though, the tutorials do expand on many of max 4's new features - and the accompanying CD features bonus materials and projects from those authors that got a little carried away. Good stuff!

Don't get this hoping to learn high quality character animation, but if you want to learn quick animation where time & budget is first concern then this good book. Contrary to what some have said its not all about 3rd party apps. He does cover modeling, Expresso scripting & dynamics - I believe Expresso comes with the basic CD4 and dynamics comes with the complete CD4. Even though the book is far from complete he does cover subjects no one else has the nerve to touch.

This was book was extremely helpful and easy to follow. It was used in class to help my students and they found the animation and dynamics information invaluable. I'm always impressed when someone can successfully communicate difficult technical information.

The book really should be called "how to cheat with animating C4d by buying lots of expensive addons". The tutorials are interesting, but what is missing is basic animating in C4D with the tools already available. For example, there is no section on animating facial expressions. That is so much used in games and movies that it's omission is curious. Many of the human animations are done with using the BodyStudio plugin to import animations done in Poser. Poser's animation tools are moderately good for things like walking, but lack the sophistication of tools available in C4D. If you like premade animations, his technique is good. There is no mention of the InterPoser plugin which is a stronger way of importing Poser objects in C4D.

Also missing is any section of web based animation: rotating 3D objects in response to user input. But there is a section on modeling with IModeller 3D that really doesn't have anything to do with animation.

This book would be useful to someone who already knows how to animate in C4D but wishes to understand various addins that are useful in importing Poser animations, making games, adding keyed video (like the section on Ultra), etc. So it really a book on how to cheat in C4D and save time by buying other programs.

After working with Maya for about 3yrs now I would say this book has opened up another way for me to look at animation. It should be about the creative side to get fantastic results not about computer programming (MEL). C4D helps you get great results in no time and my man Larry has demonstrated that very nicely. Maya is so completed and confusing that you really have to be way experience to get a good enough results. I would highly recommend this book to any beginner who is wants to Learn 3D animation (so those people like me out there get, grab this book and make your first big step into the animation world). Larry Mitchell awesome book, no doubt about it, experience users of Cinema 4D you just have to wait for next book perhaps!!

This book has provided me with a hands on guid that I have search for many years. I am new to animation, and I think Mr. Mitchell did a fantastic job of explaining and making his real world application easy to follow. This book has taught me more about professional animation than any other books in my library. To me the CD is an added bonus. I would highly recommend this book to any beginner who is trying Learn 3D animation production. The only negative thing I have to say is, why it took you so long to publish a book that gave someone like me the confidence in learning 3D animation. I was able to create my first animated characters by using this book, by adding this book to your library, you will be gaining a wealth of knowledge. By the way, when is your next book coming out? Simply, this book is GREAT.

"Civil War in Depth" is a fascinating piece of work. The stereoscopic photographs literally jump off the page when viewed properly with the enclosed 3-D viewer. Many of these views were previously published using only one side. Thus the true look and clarity of detail was lost, but within these pages the pictures come back to life!

In speaking with Mr. Zeller at Chambersfest 99' in Chambersburg, PA, I found many of these views were never seen until most recently; with several more unseen views recently surfacing after publication. If the opportunity ever presents itself, by all means, see his slide presentation based upon his research.

Many thanks to Bob Zeller for the excellent work and detail that went into this publication and I hope to see more newly discovered views in a possible up and coming book.

I highly recommend this book to fellow Historians and Civil War buffs. It's a must for your collection!

This book is a fantastic resource for those interested in the history of stereo photography during the Civil War. The author focuses more on the stereo aspects of the war than on the war itself which is good because unlike the war in general, there is little written about stereo photography during this time. Many of the stereo images presented are very rare and some have never been published before this printing. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in stereo photography or lesser known aspects of this time period but those looking for another general book on the civil war may not find what they are looking for in this book.

I've got The Civil War In Depth and The Civil War Collection, so I've got my Bob Zeller itch sated. I enjoyed the stereoscopic photos in both I and II, but you know what? Once the novelty of viewing Civil War photos in stereo wears off, you're left with two books that are more or less devoted to one little niche of Civil War historiana and a hand full of images to view. For a pretty hefty price tag, too.

I'm not into collecting Civil War stereophotographs. I like looking at them and am mildly interested in viewing the photos for their own merits as windows onto the greatest struggle the US has ever been through. But I don't have the passion for collecting them, and I'm not really interested in Civil War photographers; I've always been thrilled by the image of Pickett's charge, or of the assault on the stone wall at the base or Marie's Heights. I wish The Civil War In Depth II had more photos, more depth, and less focus on photography and photographers. I cruised throught he book and thought, "That's it?"

This book in an excellant introduction to Civil War stereophotography. The pictures are wonderfully composed and provide insight into the war. There is a good foundation placed and a simple history written.

"The Civil War in Depth, Volume II" is Bob Zeller's followup to his first book of Civil War stereo photographs, published three years ago. As he explains in the foreward, Zeller had not intended to do a sequel, even though there had been some outstanding stereo views he had not been able to include in the first volume. Less than two years ago, however, he was granted access to a phenomenal collection of Civil War stereo photos compiled by Robin Stanford, an amateur historian (and that is "amateur" in all the best senses). Photos from Ms. Stanford's collection provide nearly half the images in the present volume.

In this book we see in three-dimensions battlefields and campgrounds, generals and private soldiers, the living and the dead, great cities and slave plantations. Viewing these images is like being granted a small peak through a time machine. They give an unmatched immediacy to the Civil War and the people who lived through it -- or died in its battles. The photographs of the dead (some familiar from their usual "mono" reproductions) are especially powerful, the reality of battlefield death driven home when you for the first time see the soldiers' bodies seemingly at your feet.

I bought this book based on the prior reviews and was so frustrated with it, I almost gave it up. I found that the Planchard's wrote their text with a lot of detail information and if you have experience with Solidworks, it would be a useful manual to have, however if you are new to Solidworks, this is the type of manual that is best bought AFTER using another manual first and gaining confidence. I made an adjustment manual wise and found my enthusiam for this software returned almost instanteously. Learn the basics from someone such as Scott Hansen's book then graduate to this text and beware of the reviewers. One reviewer made the statement that he did not know how somebody could write a bad review about a well written book. For a beginner, the Planchard book gets into too much orgin of the commands. Keep it simple. The two stars are for the reviewers moreso than the authors. That's my view.

Excellent book for a person who wants a solid foundation in SolidWorks. Ideas very well explained.

This is a great starter book which has step by step instructions. Also this book came witha CD to show how to do the different excercises if you cannot figure from the book.

I passed my CSWA Certification process partly due to the Planchards. I had a SolidWorks issue a few weeks ago, I contacted David Planchard, and he helped me out to resolve the problem, and it turned out that it was a design issue, not even a SolidWorks issue.

The Planchards have been writing great SolidWorks books for over 10 years. The books are targeted for the beginner to intermediate user using a large bold command structure format and a simple but effect step-by-step procedure.

I hired three new designers in the past two weeks. They are relatively new to SolidWorks. I purchase this book and arranged SolidWorks VAR classes to bring them up to speed quickly.

The book provides an excellent foundation of the user interface, menus, toolbars and Feature and Sketch tools. The Multi-media CD does a great job in providing a visual presentation of the first five chapters. The step-by-step procedure moves at a good pace, while each new section reflex's on the previous section. There are great design tips and notes thought-out the book.

One reviewer wrote that the book from Scott Hanson is a better book for the beginner. Scott does not write a book for 2007! You can not believe all reviews...

I'm a PhD phycisist that has just started a new start-up. We need to prototype parts and make assembly and test fixtures. While the new class of CNC machines can make parts much better and faster than when I first learned how to mill, going to a machine shop with hand drawn sketches turns out to be an expensive proposition indeed! So I decided to learn the design tools used by the CNC shop we use for machined parts, and this was the text book for a class at a local Jr College. The book doesn't always teach you the fastest way to get any task done, but that's OK, it does a very good job of showing you all the different ways to get a specific job done. The instructions are very detailed, and every time I thought there was a problem with the instructions, it was me screwing up.

The book covers all the basics of making parts and assemblies, and passable drawings as well. One of the chapters works through the creation of a plastic part and it's injection mold, and this level of training has allowed me to create items for submission to rapid prototype houses like ProtoMold. This is really, really good. It shows the basics of what FEA can do, but the exposure isn't sufficient to really do meaningful FEA, these parts are more of a tease. Because it's an introductory book, it only gives a small exposure to the sheet metal tools and doesn't go into surfacing much at all. If you are careful as you work through the tasks and excersizes, you will learn lots of ways to use the software in a fast and efficient manner. If you're looking for advanced concepts, other books may be better. For me, I found it a very good introduction to the power of solidworks, and I'm happy reccomending this book to anyone who wants to learn the basics.

While I am a 3D Studio user and own several 3D Studio books, this general-approach book is what I return to time and again to regain my perspective and sense of purpose. While it does not cater to any specific 3D package, it does a better job of guiding one through the creation of a complex model (a blimp) and scene, including lighting and animation. Do not be fooled by the rash of newer 3D books on the market that, though addressing your specific 3D package, are hastily assembled, rampant with typos and erroneous steps, and composed of meaningless discrete examples that take you nowhere. This well-written and carefully-edited book remains one of the best resources on how to tackle a 3D project beginning to end.

This book was an excellent starting point for me. The examples used are software neutral enough to be used on any plaform. This book is a wonderful resource and reference, I find myself always referring back to it for definitions and examples. A must have for the beginner as well as the professional.

This is the book I had been looking for a long time. Most 3d Software Manuals or tutorials tell you how to do something. But, this book explains why. It also explains the differences in software concepts: Ray tracing vs. scan rendering, surfaces vs. meshes, the different types of textures, and the different ways to apply them. Lighting & camera utilization. A must for every 3d artist.

I don't usually rave about generic books like this but I'll make an exception. No matter what programme you are using to generate your little 3D gems, this book will give you a focussed step-by-step intro to doing almost anything that you need to provide professional results. Complete this book, pick up a few more on photorealistic techniques and change your name to George Lucas!

I had to choose between this book and the one by Michael O'Rourke. I chose this one because of the CD. But the CD is useless except for some sample files because it contains demos of some old applications and it's not working well in my computer.

I don't know about this book. I has a CD with it, but I've bearly used it in 4 years. Some reviewers love it. It is definitely not fluff. Lots of math, and well written. BUT it's about OpenGL and a bit about Direct3D. BUT I've found gaming coding books which are much more readable, 10x more useful at the same price (see any of Andre' LeMothe's books.

This is a great book. It is for beginners. It assumes some math background. And is discusses the fundamental concepts that apply to graphics development in a platform independent manner. However, there is a great implementation of a game engine (3dgpl) that supports multiple platforms, so you can see the concepts at work. I love it. After this book, I plan on reading a few more advanced books on game development, OpenGL and DirectX. This book is where to start.

This book is a great value -- it covers quite a bit of ground in a thin, relatively inexpensive book. While lacking the visual appeal and beautiful color foils of Foley and Van Dam's massive work, this book provides lots of valuable information.

This is an exlenet book if u starting out with computer graphics. It takes you through the basic principles of CG and rasterezation of primitives and only than goes into 3d. But if you are looking for some cool GI and NURBS programming techniques this isn't the book for you. This book does it's job well

A clean & simple look into the field of computer graphics, without the use of complex examples & arcane solutions. This book is by far the best I have read in the field of general graphics programming. The topics flow together in a logical manner that actually makes sense. The examples are applied solutions rather than the theological stuff you find in most other books. The straightforward style make it ideal to the beginner, yet it still contains lots of little tricks for the more advanced. A real gem.

This book tells you all you need to know about MAX. Everyone should buy it!!!

I was pleased with the book. It started out with the basics and worked up from there. Some of the advenced expression controllers took some tinkering to get them to work by it also helps you understand them better. worth the money!

This is the book for anyone using 3D Studio MAX for the first time. After completing the first 3 chapters I was able to begin reading (with understanding) the more comprehensive manuals for experienced MAX users. GREAT MANUAL, THANK YOU Michele and company.

First let me say that I had previously written a more positive review of this book; however, I may have been a little over zealous.

I asked Amazon.com to remove my review as I no longer felt the way I did about the book. Many months later I see my review still on the board, so I have taken the time to write a more accurate review of this book.

Now to the review:

The book has a good section on the Fit Deformation command of the lofting component. The model that you make (a woman's high heeled shoe) is a good practical model for learning the Fit Deformation command and the other features that go along with the lofting component. A pretty good section on animating a hopping kangaroo, however...

In the tutorial that shows you how to model and animate a kangaroo, the author clearly states that the boolean function may not work when modeling the kangaroo. She's right! I never got it to work. Boolean functions are indeed tricky, but to put a tutorial that is clearly going to have a difficult time performing a boolean function shows extreme short sightedness. As a seasoned 3DSR4 user, I had the patience to try this boolean over a dozen times before I gave up. I cannot imagine new users truly understanding the usefulness of the boolean function if it doesn't work in a tutorial.

Half the book is made up of one tutorial in which half of that tutorial is composed of programming. Most 3D artists are artists, not programers. I don't mind learning some scripting but the tutorial they provide (which is pretty neat, by the way) is way too long and complicated.

In sum, they should get rid of the kangaroo tutorial and the space buggy tutorial.

This book, written ages ago for MAX 1.2, doesn't do the job now that MAX is up to v2.5. While I did learn a few interesting tricks, for the most part I was dissapointed. Several tutorials contained blatant errors or would not work as explained. Most of what you learn here, you learn by fixing the author's errors or figuring out the things he forgot to tell you. Add to that the fact that it's out of date, and it adds up to a definite last resort resource book.

As a teacher of animation, I chose this book as basic courseware for my students. Although it doesn't cover every feature of the powerful software program (no single book could), it certainly covers the basics.

This is great for teachers as well as self directed learning.

I found this book able to explain the concepts involved with 3D and this particular program very well. It's in plain english, and has exercises to help you come up to speed fast. It's best if you have prior experience in other graphical programs. Overall, a great book.

Honestly a few days ago I did not know a thing about 3D Studio Max 8. All that I knew was that I needed to learn it. This book Ultimately is the beginner's bible for those out there that have no clue about how to use 3d Studio Max. It is divided into sections which cover all the bases from the Overall user interface, modelling, Animation, texturing and finally rendering.
If you want to get started on 3D studio max 8 this is the book, But!!

IF YOU ARE ALREADY EXPERIENCED AT USING IT THIS BOOK IS MORE OR LESS USELESS TO YOU!!!(Maybe as just a reference but that's it)

Great book for 3D beginners, but that's about it. Some tutorials on ligting and shadows are pretty good.

I am new to the world of 3d and have no clue with regards to a 3d environment. My company bought 3ds Max 8 and have also sent me on a course to "get-up-to-speed" quickly. Before the course started I thought I would purchase this book so that I do not look like a total novice on the course. What I love about the book is that it explains concepts and then moves into a practicle aspects of what it explained. At all times I knew exatly what I had to do (as they have many screen dumps) and I never found myself looking for a button or a tab (which I often find myself doing with training matterial). I have completed the book and have attended 2 days of the 3ds Max course. To my amazement I would say that I am compentent at this stage of the course.
To conclude: I think that attending a course is always the best way of learning (if you have a great facilitator) BUT this costs a lot of money. If money is an issue I can highly recommend this book to learn the basics of 3ds Max 8. I hope that they bring out another book that is more indepth.