Customer Reviews

Digital 3D Design: The Use of 3D Applications in Digital Graphic Design

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

 

 

Digital 3D Design is like a visual dictionary for the 3D design world. Out of all the 3D books I own, this is the one I recommend the most in teaching 3D and animation classes (with Bill Fleming's Photorealistic Toolkit a close second!).

It covers concepts and terms (introductory and advanced) in very clear and concise ways, fully illustrated.

It discusses all the major 3D packages, including Maya, LightWave, Cinema 4DXL, ElectricImage, SoftImage and others, discussing advantages of each.

It covers views, 3D space, lighting, shading, textures, resolution, UV mapping, splines, curves, polygons, points, advanced modeling concepts, raytracing, rendering, radiosity, setting up skeletons, animation, inverse kinematics--everything you'd expect if you were looking for the ideal textbook for a 3D class (I'm using it for my modeling and animation classes).

All this for around less than $30. A book every 3D designer, and instructor, should own! Highly recommended.

Over the past couple of months I've read a small pile of computer graphics books from the "Inspired" and New Riders [digital] series and others. I would put 3D design in the position of being one of the first practial how-to books a beginner should work with. Each section is clearly laid out, doesn't confuse with too much detail, and helps you gently step into CG. This book will get you oriented and everything after this will just be deeper studies in specific areas.

A lush, beautiful introduction to the world of 3D. Perfect for newbies and those just wondering what 3D is all about. Plus it includes a Cinema 4D tutorial (building a photo-realistic pool cue).

This book left me wanting more from this publisher and this author.

The BEST book out there for beginning 3D artists. Period. Should be included with all 3D software packages. If you're thinking about getting into 3D design, buy this first!!!!!!

The book does a great job covering concepts of 3D design and does it in a good general sense. It may not have the most up to date applications when it talks about apps for modeling but the current ones are just new versions of the old ones. simple read, good visuals.

This is a good book for introductory information on 3D design, modeling, animation, and related concepts. It covers topics that other books get technical on without giving you much of an overview of how everything comes together. This books is good companion and guide just before you delve deeper with other books and resources into the world of 3D design.

It's already dated, being over a decade old, but its concepts still ring true and well, and that is not the reason I "only" give 4 stars to it.

The reason I do so is because although it is his prerogative, the author's bias towards one of the software platforms-- Maya-- is only too evident. This is naturally fine as authors have a right to their own opinions but masking this in the form of a guide that is offered as factual advice, and giving readers a false impression in the process, is not.

Throughout the book (even as the author discusses different software programs well), the author speaks as if Maya is the best general 3D software there is, and the top one. His examples abound of Maya being used. And that is fine, until he brings out the "facts" of how Discreet (makers of what is now Autodesk's 3ds Max) misguides the public by purporting their software to be the top 3D software when in fact its aggressive educational policy only makes this seem so, and that eventually people go to Maya. This may not be an issue now that both programs are under the Autodesk umbrella (Autodesk having purchased Alias, the makes of Maya) but it's still misleading when in fact both (as with others) are good in their own terms, and there is a veritable and large base of 3ds max users as there are Maya and "Maya vs. 3ds Max" debates abound over the Internet.

Again this is fine, but to present this bias as factual advice is misleading. So I give this book 3.5 stars, which I'll round up to 4 stars (instead of down to 3 stars since the beef is more of a nitpick than a content problem) for what is otherwise a good book that has stood the test of time well.