Customer Reviews

Essential LightWave 7.5

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

 

 

Essential Lightwave 3d 7.5 is nothing short of fantastic. Being an enthusiastic newcomer to both 3D and Lightwave, I bought several Lightwave-related books in a burst of eagerness. They are all good -- I haven't read a bad Lightwave book yet. Finding this one, however, is like discovering a glowing diamond in the midst of a scattering of other, assorted gemstones. No pun intended, but this book really rocks.

The author's knowledge of, and respect for, his subject matter is evident. He covers the basics clearly, in an entertaining style, but the real value of this book, for me, lies in the way he explains tools that are often avoided or glossed over in other works. Rail bevel and rail extrude, for instance. I fought to understand those tools for a month, but -- after reading Albee's book -- I can work 'em! Examining the illustrations was crucial, I admit, but at least Albee tackled an explanation and presented a demo for these challenging tools. He walks boldly into territory that even the writers of the Lightwave manual merely tiptoe through.

If you are a beginner -- or even an intermediate user, looking to do more than "scratch the surface" of Lightwave -- I highly recommend this book. I would imagine that even seasoned Lightwave users could discover pearls of wisdom among the pages because, as Albee points out, one will never know everything about Lightwave. It's just too awesome.

Two thumbs up! I am anxiously awaiting the publication of Essential Lightwave, V8.

As a seasoned Lightwave user, I wasn't expecting to learn much from "Essential Lightwave3D 7.5". Well, I was wrong! And what a great surprise: this book isn't just another "quickstart" guide to explain the interface and what all the buttons do. Rather, it's packed full of useful explanations and guides to using the program. You will find information that most pros will tell you took them months to discover on their own. And, there are several useful tutorials that explain good modeling and animation workflow, without bogging down the inexperienced user with too much detail. Top that off with a CD chocked full of plug-ins, scenes and objects to play with (it also includes a demo version of Lightwave3D) and you are well on your way! If you are a new user to Lightwave, this book is a must-have in your arsenal.

I have over 20 books on 3D animation and modeling and most of it covering Lightwave specifically....
I have to say that Timothy Albee certainly spoke my language when it came to this book.... I, being more an artist by trade than a techincal person was able to follow his logic and flow than just about every other book on Lightwave I own...
He certainly showed me some Lightwave stuff I didn't know. He also showed me some new ways of using some LW's tools that I had not concidered until now... it was good reading and the tutorials were clear... I did not miss a beat on a single one... this is the only LW book I have gotten, and not put down until I had gone through the whole thing start to finish...

I recently decided to pick up 3D modelling and animation as a hobby. Having chosen to use Lightwave, I started reading the Lightwave manual and got somewhere close to page 400. Even then, I noticed I still could not model a single object which was rather frustrating. I then decided to purchase this book (based on the reviews I read at amazon.com). It's a wonderful book and Mr. Albee has done a remarkable job. Clearly written, easy to understand and very entertaining. Each time I pick it up and sit in front of the computer, I find it hard to put it down. Now that's the only problem I have with the book - it's so good, it's addictive. If you're new to Lightwave (like myself) or if you intend learning Lightwave, I'd advice that you make this one of the first books you obtain (or rather Essential Lightwave 8 which would soon be out).

I received my book about a week ago and have been reading it. I want to model and only wish this was the first Lighwave book I purchased. I love this book.

This is a quite clear book, at least in the writing, because its size seems to be too small to display the screenshots clearly. Add to that the fact that it is printed in black and white and the difficulty to read some images worsen, since they don't have the necessary contrast to resolve items that result in a very similar tone of gray when converted from color to B&W. To be fair I have to say that Tim has a nice writing style. His book has helped me to start to understand LW, which is a huge piece of software.

This book is quite staightforward and the examples in the tutorials - like modelling a simple canoe - are very useful for picking up basic skills. The tunnel fly-through tutorial is a godsend, as it finally explained to me in a clear way how to create a pre-set path for a camera to follow during an animation.

This book focuses mostly on the modelling side of lightwave, with a few forways into actual animation - if you need a guide to learning complex animation tools and skills in lightwave, you'll need another book to support you.

I do recommend this book as a very good way to get your toes wet when it comes to Lightwave, though if you can afford it, nab the 8.0 version as it doubtless has lots more new and useful material. I studied multimedia at university and this book did save me a few times when I was lacking in inspiration for how to get my models to be the shapes I needed.

I mean that...it was an OK book. I learned some useful stuff but I would never give it five stars. As a newbie to LW I found 'Inside Lightwave' much better. There are a few more books out there I would think about getting before you get this one.