Customer Reviews

Digital Creativity: Techniques for Digital Media and the Internet

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

 

 

The author appears to be lost in the sixties (perhaps worse, the '80's). Personal philosophies and idle thoughts are presented as relevant facts. There is a shocking amount of technical errors, even basic optical concepts are incorrect. The interviews have potential but even there the author is so inept that the questions prompt nothing interesting from the contributors. A very disappointing book.

Test group rated this book very low: Primary Text = 1, Reference Text = 0, Companion Text = 2.

We conducted a review of seven recent books on digital media for a large university here in Michigan. The criteria was to review each book as a possible text, reference or companion for pre-college and introductory college classes. We assembled a group of college and high school teachers as well as separate group of students.

The panel of students responded very negatively to this book. Their expressed concerns were about the lack of structure and that it did not have enough ÒtechnicalÓ information. They did not find the personality sidebars interesting or relevant. Other students found the tone of the book "condescending." It received the lowest scores of all the books reviewed.

Some of the teachers were more positive but their assessment of this book as a primary text was very low because it Òdoes not present facts or techniques in a way that allows the teacher to either assign specific reading assignments or to test students on the information.Ó Other teachers expressed concern that much of the technical information was not accurate or that it was too vague and not clearly presented. This book was not considered adequate to be a primary text in high school or college.

On the other hand, the teachers that were relatively new to digital technologies were slightly more positive, finding the book "light and a easy to read." This group found the sidebars more interesting because they related to the questions about making the "transition to the digital relm." A subject that the students found to be "dated and boring."

Our two highest rated books by both groups were far more technical and advanced; the Rosebush/Pocock ÔHandbookÕ and the second edition of KerlowÕs ÔThe Art of 3D Computer Animation.Õ In both instances the perceived value was the blend of scholarship and technical clarity. Students found both books relevant to their concerns and teachers were impressed by the presentation and excellent writing. These are two very valuable books that will be relevant resourses for many years.

Yes, there is much useful information in this book, but Mr. Wands, although he may know his field, seems to lack the skill to write about it. He evidently used spell check to edit his book. Most of his interviews seem to be from graduates of the school where he teaches, so he may have called in a lot of favors. He uses, as examples, his own creative work, which, from my limited perspective, is professional but less than stellar. The technology is hopelessly out-of-date: a P III is cutting-edge processing? A digital camera with a floppy disk drive? No comment.

I'll bet the highly positive reviews were favors called in by the author.

There is value here but the book could use a major update with a professional editor. You'll learn something but be distracted by the glaring errors.

I've looked at most of the introductory books for digital media, even wrote one a few years ago that was published by Prentice Hall. Some books seem to be written by technicians and some written by artists. I think this book is by an artist, for an artist. The technical info may not have depth but beginners don't need that anyway, the fundamentals of understanding media and creating media are in this book in ways that technical books do not typically include. The chapter on creativity and the creative process are an excellent introduction to a very logical sequence of information for the designer and the technician. The book is dated in some technical information and style but the wealth of insight in this book still make it well worth reading.

This is a very disappointing book. The information is so shallow and superficial that to waste a student's money on this book would be a shame. Teachers should expect to spend time explaining how the author makes the most interesting contributor and subject, boring. An adolescent and largely inaccurate attempt at what could be an interesting subject. Check out the Lynn Pocock and Judson Rosebush ÒhandbookÓ for a valuable student reference book in digital media. Don't waste your or your student's money on this one.

With such intelligent advise as "find a corner where you can be creative" this is a testament to the self-absorbed and the vacuous. Not a single original thought or insight in 300 plus poorly designed and garishly illustrated pages. There is no relevant digital nor creative value to be found in this book.

I was reading the January issue of Yahoo Internet Life magazine and saw that www.sva.edu/mfacad was chosen as one of the "Top 100 Web Sites of 2002" for Best Original Web Art. I was quite surprised that a graduate school department site was chosen over sites like Rhizome, the Whitney, San Franciso MoMA and other high profile Net Art sites. I visited the site and saw that the students did great work and had won over 60 other awards, including the 2001 Leonardo Award of Excellence, the Smithsonian American Art Museum's New Media/New Century Award, Prix Ars Electronica, Sundance Online Festival, SIGGRAPH and others. I saw that Bruce Wands was chair of the department and I bought his book. I found the book to be excellent, easy to read and very helpful on the creative side of new media production. The chapter on creativity was worth the price of the book alone. The book is now required reading in my graduate and undergraduate digital art classes. The interviews are with top people in the field (including Isaac Kerlow) and are really interesting, giving added dimension to Mr. Wands' writing. The book also has an excellent annotated bibliography for those interested in exploring the chapter subjects in depth. I also own the Pocock/Rosebush book and the Kerlow book. Both are highly technical books that are only about computer animation and do not have the breadth or the wealth of practical information the Wands book has. Based on Mr. Wands' superb track record with his students, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be more creative and develop quality new media content.

This book gives a good amount of general information about the computer graphics field to the novice. It introduces concepts and explains job functions in a variety of ways. It is not meant for advanced users, and is certainly not a software manual. It allows a new student to find many important explanations (such as the difference between shaders and maps) in an easy to read format. Despite all the negative reviews here (some being personal attacks) I think the author did a good job.

This is the first book I have seen that actually guides the reader through the art of actual production of a project from start to finish. Having produced a number of projects I value to breadth of this work which focusses on the broad range of production options available for true creativity rather than a rework of software manuals and help menus. For any artist that actually wants to produce works using the full range of digital options available this book is invaluable. I know music production very well, but after reading through Wands' book I now can pursue video, photography, film and a number of other media that I would have had to struggle to deal with. In a word, excellent.

Interviews with professionals, and examples that depend on technical tools drawn from every facet of the visual world make this a thorough tour. This is a terrific guide for someone considering entering the world of digital media - and it will undoubtedly convince them to stay, and then help them thrive in it.