Customer Reviews

3ds Max Bundle: 3ds Max 8 Essentials

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Though most of the book is a repeat of previous material from the Courseware Fundamentals text, I found the book well organized and clearly written for NEW or BEGINNING students who wish to learn how to use 3ds max in a logical and well structured approach. The lessons are written to help the user understand the approach to animation, not just how the software tool functions and will help users to better grasp how the software fits into a broad scheme of creating animation. All basic functional areas are touched except reactor and particles, but these are dealt with adequately in the online reference and tutorial manuals that accompany the software package if you are an experienced user. However, for most people who are just starting out in 3D animation, the online tutorials may be somewhat advanced and expect the user to already be familiar with the interface. In that case, 3ds max 8 Essentials is a great place to start if you have never before worked with an animation software application.

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.

This is a good introduction to Max. The book is clearly written and is a great starting point to those new to Max. The theory of the techniques are covered well and the tutorials are simple and thorough enough so it doesn't seem as though they are just asking you to press buttons.

It does lack a little in the demonstration of the new features of max 8 such as pelt (there's only a brief description on it), and does teach some old techniques such as boolean and shape modeling which are used infrequently today.

Overall it's a great text for beginners and I'll be recommending it to the students in my 3d classes.

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.

This is exactly what the beginner needs... it's not massive in its scope and it sticks to the meat and potatoes of 3dsMax. If you want to learn the basics and aren't a fan of frills and glamor then this is for you. I suspect that intermediate users would like this book as a refresher or reference. A must own, for a used copy price of course.

As near as I can tell, Focal Press, the publisher of 3ds Max 8 Essentials, took their max 7 book and renamed it. The so-called "Max 8" version covers NONE of the features new to 3ds max 8. Don't waste your money if you already have a max 7 guide.

(In my opinion, Focal Press -- an imprint of Elsevier -- puts out a lot of long-winded, over-priced texts.)

This is a reasonably good max 7 text, but New Riders press puts out better guides in its Fundamentals series.