Carrara 1.0 Bible (With CD-ROM) [Paperback]

Doug Sahlin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764533754 | ISBN-13: 978-0764533754 | Publication Date: May 15, 2000

This authoritative, comprehensive guide is your bible to Carrara 1. Written for people at all levels of technological know-how, it may be used as a reference book or a tutorial. You'll appreciate the step-by-step instructions and clear explanations enhanced by icons, charts, and hundreds of screenshots. The tips, insights, and shortcuts that appear in each chapter will help you to
* Build realistic 3D models, and bring them to life with sophisticated animation effects.
* Harness the Vertex modeler and Metaball modelers to create organic objects.
* Paint your models and add professional touches, such as texture maps and bump maps.
* Create cool landscapes, atmospheres, and other background elements.
* Take advantage of the built-in filters to add sophisticated photographic effects.
* Enhance realism with shaders, multiple cameras, and lighting.
* Save modeling time by using the collision detection and alignment tools.
* Integrate fire, fountains, explosions, and other ready-made special effects.
* Discover professional tricks for editing and tweaking your animations.
A bonus CD-ROM contains a Bryce 4 demo, VideoWave II trial, Goldwave, animations, and highly detailed commercial 3D models.

If you're an animator dreaming of spinning logos or dinosaurs locked in battle, you'll find the tools to create them inside the Carrara 1 Bible. You'll see why the entire Bible series carries such an outstanding reputation when the Carrara 1 Bible goes the distance for you.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Carrara 1 Bible offers clear, concise explanations and examples on how to use this nonstandard 3-D application. For users that are new to 3-D graphics and animation, and new to Carrara, this book offers excellent insight and direction.

The book is aimed at beginners, the opening section covering interface basics, creating a scene, animation, and using cameras and lights. Even if readers have some experience with the program, these chapters are worth paging through. The book uses screenshots generously, and many pages have tips and hints on additional features within the interface.

The second section goes into greater depth on the applications of virtual model construction. Carrara can create metaball, polygonal and spline models, and each type is suited for different kinds of objects. Each of three chapters in this section covers a specific modeling technique, while the remaining chapters discuss using advanced tools like importing 2-D vector art, extruding into a 3-D model, and using Carrara's modifiers for building complex shapes.

A computer model without texture is a sorry sight. Luckily, the third section of the book is devoted to the use of Carrara's shaders and textures, which are fairly advanced and can be used for some very sophisticated looks. The last section pulls everything together into building a final scene: adding atmospheric effects, rendering, and using Carrara with other applications.

The CD-ROM is a bit of a disappointment. It offers few extras other than the project files from most of the chapters. And it includes fewer than 20 free models, although it does include a nice assortment of texture files and shaders. Still, Carrara 1 Bible is a solid companion to this promising 3-D application and may just be the book for those looking to squeeze the most from Carrara. --Mike Caputo

From the Publisher

Carrara 1 Bible provides 100% of what you need to learn and master Carrara 1!

With Carrara 1 Bible you'll:

Learn how to use Scene Wizard, Object Wizard, and other guided features.

Discover how to create 3D objects from scratch and link them to others for logical movement patterns

Create organic models with Carrara's mesh form and metaball modelers. Develop realistic landscapes and atmospheres with Carrara

Discover how to use Carrara's built-in features to add sophisticated photographic effects to rendered images and animations

Create animations from scratch complete with dazzling lighting and special effects

Get practical examples that show you how to use 3D paint right on your objects

Work like a pro to apply Texture Maps and Bump maps to 3D models

Discover how to use shaders, multiple cameras, story-driven animation and lighting to add realistic 3D images and animations

Learn to use the collision detection feature, which saves hours when creating moving objects, and special effects like fire, fountains, and explosions

Bonus CD-ROM Includes: Plug-ins, templates, freebies, demo products, tutorial results, and full color work related to the book!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 689 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (May 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764533754
• ISBN-13: 978-0764533754
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,178,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Doug Sahlin is a graphic and website designer, photographer, and the author of several books, including How to Do Everything with Adobe Acrobat 8.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly great reference, July 9, 2000

By 

Bryan sanders - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carrara 1.0 Bible (With CD-ROM) (Paperback)

As someone that has been playing with Bryce for a year and wanted to venture into the new world of creating 3D objects, I bought a copy of Carrara. Unlike Bryce, you have to actually create the objects in a scene. When I tried to do this, I promptly got LOST. The Carrara manual was no help as it was incomplete and assumed that I already knew how to make 3D objects. This being all I can say is thank you Mr. Sahlin. You have written a book that assumes nothing. This book took Carrara from being a very costly program that took up space on my hard drive to something that is a joy for me to use. Every step in the book is laid out in a manner that is easy to understand and simple to do. If anyone asks, if you have Carrara this is the book for you.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful software has now a powerful book, April 20, 2000

By 

Paulo C. Rios Jr. (Europe) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Carrara 1.0 Bible (With CD-ROM) (Paperback)

This book covers all the different aspects of Carrara 1.0 and its CD-ROM is packed with the best you can find. You may find that there is too much detail in the book, but soon you will discover why this will help you to become a master of your own talent.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book really helps, August 15, 2000

By 

Orio (Salsomaggiore Terme, PR Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carrara 1.0 Bible (With CD-ROM) (Paperback)

If you have bought Carrara and are frustrated by the awful manual and tutorial book, GET this book. This book will introduce you to all the basics of Carrara very simply and effectively. I am sure you will learn from it as I did. I learned from it how to use the spline and vertex editors (which I never used in my life before). And it is an excellent substitute for the reference help that manual should provide and does not, or at least does badly. Only two flaws: I would have liked to have a lot more useful content (e.g. shaders) in the CDROM, and the colour pictures really do not justice to what Carrara can do.