Advanced Bryce Creations: Photorealistic 3D Worlds (Charles River Media Graphics (Software)) [Paperback]

Shamms Mortier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2001 | ISBN-10: 1584500352 | ISBN-13: 978-1584500353 | Edition: 1st

Bryce is a best-selling program used to create stunning scenes and environments. With every new release, its power is enhanced and expanded. For those who have been using Bryce, this book will push their skills to the next level and help them tap into the hidden tools and functionality they may have overlooked. New users will find the in-depth tutorials and creations indispensable in their pursuit of new skills and increased performance. The emphasis throughout the book is on the creation of eight different projects, from beginning to stunning completion. The projects range from "The Great Blue-Ice Throne Room" to the "Adobe of the Lizard Masters". Every step of the creation process is covered in these detailed, hands-on projects to illustrate the variety of uses for Bryce in conjunction with other popular tools. The final part of the book includes an extensive color section illustrating each of the projects in the form of a Comic. This unique approach will provide all types of Bryce users from 3D designers, artists, movie-makers, game designers, to fantasy and comic book designers with innovative ideas to use in their own creations. It is destined to become a classic!

Editorial Reviews

Review

Advanced Bryce Creations covers eight unique projects, providing detailed tutorials covering all steps on using Bryce with other computer tools. -- The Midwest Book Review, August, 2001

About the Author

Shamms Mortier is a seasoned graphics professional and the author of a number of titles in the area including The Poser 4 Handbook, The Bryce 3D Handbook, 3D Studio Max: Building Complex Models, and Creating 3D Comix. He also writes for a variety of magazines and is a regular contributor to the Graphics Resource Club, an online subscription service that provides monthly tutorials and online books on leading 3D and 2D graphics applications

Product Details

• Paperback: 401 pages
• Publisher: Charles River Media; 1st edition (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584500352
• ISBN-13: 978-1584500353
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,975,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Misleading Title; God-awful Graphics!, August 10, 2003

By 

Natraj Jayaraman (India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Advanced Bryce Creations: Photorealistic 3D Worlds (Charles River Media Graphics (Software)) (Paperback)

This book was published in 2001, and by those standards you'd expect a better treatment of the term "photorealism." Unfortunately, it's far from being so. The examples in the book and the animations on the CD look faceted, bizzare and surreal (even Dali, the author's so-called inspiration, would be horrified). They remind of graphics from the early eighties when stick figures and garish polygons ruled the desktops of a chosen few, and quite frankly, that's where this book belongs, if not right in the trash can. It's a very, very far cry from anything close to photorealistic in this age, let alone something (what?!!) 'advanced'.
The saving grace, however, is the creation of eight different story worlds that the author takes you through in fair detail (sketch to final setup), alongside how Bryce "handshakes" with packages like Poser, Painter, Amorphium, and a myriad other plug-ins and 3D modelers. This, in a way, makes it look like a catalog of all the different tools and products you could/should/will use to do something useful in Bryce. It's like: 'OK, Bryce can't do this, so why don't you get that... I can't imagine your *not* getting that!' In the end, this book feels disconnected and reads like an instruction manual (do this, create this shape, etc.). It forms a good enough source of ideas about Bryce world creation, but I recommend buying it only if you haven't yet bought any other Bryce book. "Real World Bryce 4" by Susan Kitchens, in comparison, does a far better job, costing about as much as this one.
Moral of the Story: Don't go by the look of the title 'Advanced Bryce Creations'; it's an insult to Bryce and Bryce users worldwide.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I should write a book..., October 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Advanced Bryce Creations: Photorealistic 3D Worlds (Charles River Media Graphics (Software)) (Paperback)

This book is definitely not for the intermediate looking to tweak their skills with. The pictures are poorly done and the writing is totally unstructured. As I recall, this book was suppose to be for the advanced level and it's more like grade school level. Don't waste your time or money on this one.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your money, August 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Advanced Bryce Creations: Photorealistic 3D Worlds (Charles River Media Graphics (Software)) (Paperback)

After my original review of this book, I've had more time to look over the book. This book is horrible, the graphics are pitiful. At first glance they didn't seem so bad, but upon closer examination you'll realize that the terms photo and realistic don't belong on any of the book's pictures.

I've taken the time to look over some of Mr. Mortier's other books, based on comments I've read, and they too seem to fall in the garbage category. His book on Poser is particularly horrid, anyone can play with the controls of a program and generate something that looks awful, we don't need a book to tell us how to do it.

Unfortunately, the poor quality of this book has forced me to more carefully review books by his publisher. Mr. Mortier continues to crank out books about software he has no mastery of, and they continue to be published.

I do have to give Mr. Mortier credit though, it takes a lot of effort to produce such hideous renders from Bryce.