Customer Reviews

Digital Beauties: 2D & 3D Computer Generated Digital Models, Virtual Idols and Characters

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I purchased the book hoping to use it as a reference for my freelance pursuits in 3D human modeling and texturing. Some of the artwork offers stunningly realistic renders, and others close-up insights on modeling techniques. Examples are those by Robichaud, Dean, Koch, Stahlberg, and several Japanese artists.

However, I was disappointed to find that most works were created by the consumer-level Poser software, for which pre-made 3D models are readily available and simply need to be "posed"; there is no original creation of 3D models on the artist's part. Moreover, the Poser works in Digital Beauties rudely show the mediocre rendering capabilities of the software - the models are often defined by jagged edges. In short, the best works in the book are those with original modeling and attention to detail, not those primarily intended provide erotic gratification for the viewer.

The book itself was well-conceived and attractively designed. It could be condensed and even more appealing by excluding the less-than-professional artwork.

I went through this book in a bookstore and was a little disappointed. It's a nice thick book that's beautifully printed and designed, but I'm afraid the majority of the content is just not that great. Being a graduate student studying in the field of 3D modelling I was looking for a good reference book full of today's most advanced professionals' work. I saw this book and thought it would be useful. This inch and half thick book is full of artists from all over the world, but unfortunately 9 out of 10 of them just don't have the quality in their work that would warrant they be included in such a book. Many of the artists in the book have work that almost anybody in possession of a copy of Poser (a human body rendering program which is what most of them use) could create or replicate easily (and do everyday). A lot of these artists clearly do not belong in the same book as some other artists. One such artist's images, who worked on the film "Final Fantasy", clearly make a lot of the other works in the book look amateurish.

That is not to say there isn't any good work in there. There are plenty of artists who are in the book that belong there, but some cursory editing of work evaluated by industry professionals could have easily cut the book down to a third of it's size (and hopefully a third of it's price). It would have made it a much more valuable book to have and I would have happily purchased it.

In short, it's not a bad buy for the price Amazon's selling it for, but if you are familiar with the world of 3D modelling be prepared to be underwhelmed by 90% of this book.

I found "Digital Beauties" to be surprisingly filled with some of the best 3D and 2D computer graphics artists and graphics of our time. Over 500 pages of full color quality prints fill this book with imaginative and colorful digital wonder. It was refreshing to read the auto biographies of the artists in there own words as opposed to biographies by critiques.

I highly recommend this book to any art lover as well as computer graphics fan from gamer to graphics
professional "Digital Beauties" delivers the goods!

Ralph Manis
Infinitee Designs

Digital Beauties has a great premise, exposing the world to digital artists who create visions of women in dynamic, flattering or erotic representations. There are several high points in this book, Works by Daniel Scott Murray, Will Kramer and Frans Mensink top the list, but save for 3 or 4 other artists, the rest us very amateur at best. Some are downright questionable as to talent or design. However the work that is the top of the pile is just that, very nice.

Having been in the design world for some time, I know just how difficult it is to create the human form in a 3d environment and not have it look like a lifeless object. Some of the artists as mentioned, pull this off beautifully, others...eh. The book is laid out well from a design prospective with short but interesting bios on the featured artists.

Bottom line...10% of the work is beautiful, I just wish the rest of the book kept up.

I'd advise having it in hand to review before purchasing.

The thing that occurred to me while perusing the digital beauties in this book was that 90% of the "artists" paid to be included. With the exception of 3 or 4 of them, they don't even measure up to talented amateurs. There is one guy that is embarassingly bad. I won't mention names.

If you want the cream of this crop, screen capture the book cover and let the rest go. Don't waste your money... I'm sorry I had to give it a star at all.

I found the book to be very informative because it not only featured some of the best artists in the world but it gave informative tips on how the artist's created their characters. There is also an excellent variety of artistry that shows what one can do with various programs.

If you are interested in the cutting edge of computer graphics this book is for you. It is full of images created using computer graphic programs. There are so many wonderful images to look at and study for the technique...a wonderful collection of digital art from around the world....

No such book has ever been made before, this is the first of its kind - a comprehensive gathering of artists from all over the world, working with digital beauty. In the future it will definitely become a collectors item.

As one of the contributing artist to the book, I was most pleased when I received my advance copy. The images are all vibrant and clear. The artist biographies are interesting and seem to reveal something of the personality of each artist. Digital art is coming into it's own and it is nice to see it finally get the attention it deserves.

If you have an interest in digital art, particularly 3D digital art, I recommend this book. If you've ever turned your nose up at digital art because you felt it wasn't a true art form, I recommend this book as well.

this book is full of so-so artwork. aside from the work of steven stalberg, there weren't too many memorable pictures. some of the artwork was just bad. but you might want to check it out to see what the work looks like in the market.