Customer Reviews

Deconstructing the Elements with 3ds Max, Third Edition: Create natural fire, earth, air and water without plug-ins (Autodesk Media and Entertainment Techniques)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At the begining I was confused because it doesn't have any DVD with the supported files, but later I realize that I had to download them in Peter's web page with a unique passcode at the end of the book, It would be better if you can get a DVD with the book, but you can access to a lot of files including all the effects in the second edition, finally I could create all the effects in the book and some plus effects that I could downloaded

So a fully recomend this book!!!

The book is very easy to read, and even those who are relatively new to 3D packages will be able to quickly grasp the underlying concepts behind what the book offers. It covers everything from fire to ice, and does a phenomenal job of explaining each step in the process.

I would definitely recommend this book to both people trying to learn visual effects trickery or to those that have been in the field for a while. The only letdown to me is that the image that's on the cover is unfortunately NOT covered in the book. Otherwise, an excellent reference guide.

I have the 2nd edition and now own the 3rd. If your a 3D artist and you don't have this book then your out of the loop!

First off the book is great, and Pete Draper comes through again with many great tutorials. This book is full of all new tutorials, that take you from start to finish. If you are familiar with the second edition, then you will want to add this to your 3DSMax Library, as it will increase anyone's knowledge, skills, and ability to create the effects you want. I have read plenty of other books on Max,(lighting, rendering, etc.) but no other book contains straight forward tutorials like these(Deconstructing series). Highly recommend for novices or experienced, everyone can learn from this book.

Pros:Great tutorials, easy to read, pages are in color -makes it nice to see how end result should look.

Cons:Online content -hope they go back to DVD format.

UPDATE: Website is now fixed, and full tutorials are available for downloading.

Also note: Pete personally responded to my post here on Amazon, there are not many authors who would do that, very few indeed. Thanks Pete.

I just bought this book and I have to say it is very good book from great VFX artist. Book is very well written and there are many useful advices. Deconstructing the elements with 3ds max are one of the best books about 3dsmax I have ever bought. Michal

I've been a fan of Pete Draper's for a while, his selection of free tutorials and articles on his website are very educational and have been a great resource to me.

I always wanted to get one of his books, so when I saw this one for sale (on amazon.de as well as here) I immediately grabbed it.

Just the book alone would have been a good deal, the fact that it includes the previous two books as well is a huge bonus, as is the DVD's worth of video tutorials, scene files and assets.

Prior knowledge of 3ds Max is of course useful, but I dare say even beginners can jump right in.

Pete has quite a number of articles on his website on the "Education" page, where gives an overview of how he achieved a particular effect, accompanied by a few screenshots and the scene file - but no instructions.

If you can follow those articles, you should have no problem following the tutorials in this book.

Pete's a genius, and I always find it very insightful when he describes his analysis of an effect and then starts building the cg effect from there.

The amount of things he manages to pull off just with PFlow is amazing, and this book can be a real life saver - especially if you can't afford any of the fancy plugin alternatives.

At first I was a little worried about the book being uncomfortable to use, and I wished it included a PDF - but the large format and step-by-step structure turned out to be great.

But don't take it from me, the cover has a quote of Allan McKay expressing his approval.

He's another 3ds particle guru, also worth looking up :)

Very, very good collection of tutorials. If you want master Particle Flow this is your book.

I didn't get through every tutorial covered in this book but it's easy to see that it covers everything step by step and gives you some really quick and very impressive results. There are also tips on how to create some alterations to the effects and make them even more impressive. There may not be as much overall coverage of the program as in other books but the covered material is very well done.

Best bought as a "bonus" to other books such as the 3ds max bible.

Good book.

Unfortunately, the advertised in the book link to the website with all files and video tutorials does not work.

The modeling, and knowledge of the 3ds max are great, however the author is the most difficult to fallow and confusing teacher of Max I have seen.

Most the time he mumbles stuff you cant follow and he gets lost on tangents that defocus the viewer from the lesson. Lots of explanations of why he hasnt done it the other way, he overwhelms you with pointless chatter.

I wish he'd do a step by step tutorial that you can actually fallow. More than that a lot of his files have already stuff in them he doesnt cover...

Hope his next edition will be better explained.