3D Books

Often Autodesks recommended path for learning Maya is not so hot, and this is an example of an innacurate assessment on their part of who should be reading this book. In fact there are aspects of many Autodesk books that I feel were not well planned, so you might want to explore other Maya books as well as Autodesks to see what works for you.
Apparently Autodesk sees this as an "introductory" book, and really it isn't, at all. Here's why. This book doesn't tell you "how" to do anything. It does tell you "what" things are and "why" you would use them in a very specific way, but nothing is explained in a user friendly way.
Essentially this is a book of quick overviews, but with almost nothing that will guide the reader through a step-by-step process to achieve any kind of end result. In fact many aspects of the book are almost stupidly ambiguous.
Here is a metaphor of how this book works. It's like if somebody was instructing you on how to build something but they only told you WHAT to do, but not HOW to do it. For example, say somebody decided to help you build a car. So the first thing they tell you is to "Put the engine together". You think great, here we go! Your first step is "to connect the transmission to the engine block." But you realize that the transmission isn't put together, so you ask "How do I build a transmission?" The response you get is, "put those parts together"... and that's all you get. In other words the information isn't wrong, it's just useless because it doesn't give you any genuine instruction. It doesn't tell you what parts go where or in what order, and often it doesn't even tell you where to find them. Much of this book works exactly in this manner.
With that said, if you already have an intermediate/advanced working knowledge of most everything Maya has to offer, this is probably a good book, because it gives specific overviews and general explanations on almost every aspect of Maya.
If you are new to Maya this book is completely useless. Maya calls this an "introductory" book, but it's so poorly thought out that the information comes across as being jumbled and incomplete.

Well let me start by saying this book is a great technical reference. If you're an absolute beginner like me than you'll find this book unbecoming of its title as an introduction to 3D graphics. With merely a single chapter devoted to explaining 3D computer graphics and a short synopsis in the beginning of each subsequent chapter it left me puzzled and I couldn't really understand why they would call this an introductory book. If your really interested in what every tool in Maya 8 does and what the software is capable of doing then you'll get lots of use out of this book as each tool is explained in detail. No tutorials, no work along projects and no beginners guide make this more of an intermediary book best suited for people who already have basic knowledge of computer graphics who are also using a learning series book or some other guide to teach themselves Maya. This book alone is definitely not intended to teach Maya or basic principals of computer graphics but does give you a great understanding of what the buttons in Maya do... now if it would only explain WHY I'd use that button, but I guess that's where the learning series books comes into play. I'll be ordering one or two of those next...

This is probably the worst technical book I have ever read. The author simply covers the commands of the software without any insight. There is a total lack of fluidity between the sections--each one seems to have been written by a different individual who doesn't care what was said before or will be covered later. Lots of boring repetition without purpose and very dry humor. If you still would like to buy one, BUY MINE.

This is by far-and-away the best book I have read on the subject of AutoCAD 3D. The book was a joy to work through from beginning to end, covering so many aspects (many of which other authors neglect to cover), all of which add up to produce a first class book and subsequently a well rounded course - everything you need to confidently tackle 3D CAD.

BUY IT.

1. These are not hikes. These are walks, or perhaps strolls, that my 87 year-old grandmother could do while wearing a pair of Dutch wooden shoes. Mall walking is more challenging. The people-mover at DIA is more strenuous.

2. The "hikes" are not within 45 minutes of Denver. They are within 45 minutes of Golden. Add another 20 to 45 minutes to get to Denver proper, depending on traffic. Then add another 20 minutes for traffic inflation since this book was written (in the late Pleistocene).

3. The maps are terrible. Those purple mimeograph machines from the 70's had better contrast and definition. There are no map keys or compasses. The map format changes page to page. There aren't enough landmarks on the maps. Often the maps are zoomed and cropped too close to the trail in question to get any geographical context.

Blech!

I like this the best of the Denver Hiking Guides. It is easy to use, has lots of hikes, maps and graphs so I know what the trails are like. It has driving directions and time which is nice in Denver and tells you if you can bring your dog which is good for me.

As a beginner trying to get a handle on how to do 3D modeling with 3ds Max, I have already gone through the frustrating experience of buying books containing tutorials that are just not very well tailored for the beginner. From what I have seen so far with this book, however, the author works with the reader, even going so far as to highlight specific icons and commands in the margin in order to show where they can be found. If you are an aspiring 3D designer interested in mastering this powerful software, I highly recommend that you give this book a try.

I'm very disappointed because the content of this book it's the same of Max 7 version.
If you have older versions of this book I hope you do not make the same mistake I did.

This book demo few examples to help reader to learn how to create a complete model from modeling to final render. I don't like this kind of teaching style. Hopefully. there will be some learning kit with complete learning process.
sincerely Yours.
Roger Ma

A basic guide complete and clear. I expected to have more infos about the advanced features of the program and some further details about automotive models.

I read Curt Simmons'Creating Active Directory Infrastructures book and bought this one as well. This book is very easy to read and covers AD in a visual way. The book crawls all over the AD tools and shows you how to and why to configure this or that. It also has info about design and planning as well as DNS, DHCP, and other networking services. It's kind of a different way to learn a high level topic, but I liked it, and it will be a great reference book.

This book has been very poorly edited with numerous typos in the text and the illustrations which make it confusing and frustrating to read - I would hesitate to buy another book from this publisher again. Buy something else instead - this isn't worth the price.

It appears that the person who reviewed this last didn't understand that this book is for 3DS DOS, not 3DS MAX. For 3DS DOS, I found this book excellent for explaining everything I needed to know about lighting and materials.

This is one of the more horible books on 3dsmax DO NOT GET THIS!!! halfe the steps are missing and the books requires u to get about $200 worth of plug-in's!!

This textbook has been assigned for a class I am taking on Psychological Tests and Measurements. The writing style is rambling and disorganized, which is forgivable, however, within a single chapter (Chapter 2: Norms and Basic Statistics for Testing) I have come across several mathematical errors in the examples. This makes it nearly impossible to follow. If I hadn't already taken a few statistics courses, I don't think I would be able to decode what the authors are trying to teach. There are also errors in the informational charts in Appendix 1, which are necessary for my homework assignments. I realize that most people don't have any say in the textbooks they use, but if you have any choice in the matter I strongly urge you NOT to buy this book.

I have read many books in the psychology field, and I thought this book did an excellent job of presenting clear and concise information on psychological testing. The book focused on the various testing techniques that are used in the psychology field. It raised important issues around how to appropriately apply testing and why we use them. i recommend this book to professionals in the field or to anyine who may have a curiosity about psychological testing in general. It's a real eye opener!Your interest won't fade out.

Unimpressive. They just aren't beautiful, nor realistic. Sure the cover girl is gorgeous but that's it. If this is what passes for beauty in Japan... well I can find many many more beautiful and near photo realistic 3D graphic program generated beauties all over the internet. 2 stars for the cover girl. 1 star for the rest. Rip off.

This is a great galley of Japan's most talented CG artists. The book is filed w/ high quality glossy photos of the cutest CG girls ever created. Each artist has a one-page bio with their thought, history and contact information. There are also short sections with pointers on how to model and texture.
The only thing keeping this from 5 stars is the fact that the instruction should be more in depth. If you are looking for a how-to book, go for Femme Digitale or some of the program specific books. Otherwise, a great photo collection.

This is a nice book with nice underwater pictures and 3D effects.. It's pretty difficult to see it if you don't have practice to this kind of images.