Experience Xsi 4: the Official Softimage]Xsi 4 Guide To Character Creation [Paperback]

Aaron Sims (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Course Technology (1980)
• ASIN: B000N6336Y
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is it with XSI books?, January 15, 2005

By 

M. Bhangal "S" (Somewhere in Northern England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Experience XSI 4: The Official SOFTIMAGE XSI 4 Guide to Character Creation (Paperback)

I recently decided to get back into 3D after a number of years out of the loop. After experimentation with the top applications (Maya, XSI, 3DMax and Lightwave, plus a number of less well known applications such as Cinema4D), I decided to go with XSI. Maya came a close second: XSI just seemed easier and more intuitive.

The next problem was finding some teaching material to learn XSI with. There are literally hundreds of courses, books and DVDs for Maya, but only a handful for XSI. This was a fact that almost made me go for Maya (there is no point getting a high powered application if you dont know how to use that power!), but I took the precaution of actually reading some of the XSI books, and boy was I impressed - although there are far fewer XSI books out there, the quality of them exceeds many other digital authoring and computer books I have read. As a computer book author and freelance web designer myself, thats no mean feat... I get through a lot of books!

There are only two books you need to get up to speed with XSI: The XSI:Illuminated:Foundation (published by Mesmer) and this book.

The expertise of the authors of the Experience XSI 4 books is obvious just by flicking through the pages. One of the authors was actually involved in the development of XSI itself, and the other is a noted CGI professional. You just can't go wrong with tutors like these!

The other surprise was the high production values and low price of the book: full color gloassy paper throughout. This is not a showy color book with little technical depth though, far from it. It is packed with concise and totally practical tutorials.

Perhaps one downside of the book is that the authors push you straight in at the deep end: the character you create is commercial quality (ie it would not look out of place in a Hollywood motion picture). For me, thats an advantage not a pitfall: I'd rather be working slowly through a book that showed me how to create a believable, realistic character than fly through 300 pages creating cubes, matchstick men and simple rotating logos!

Highly recommended.

S

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for anyone interested in characters in XSI!, July 26, 2004

By 

Jonathan Jordan (Venice, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Experience XSI 4: The Official SOFTIMAGE XSI 4 Guide to Character Creation (Paperback)

This is a great book for anyone interested in working with characters in SoftImage XSI. Not only does it provide a thorough overview of all the new features in the latest version of XSI, with regards to character rigging and animation, it also includes great insights into the basic mechanics of the building blocks that make up a character rig.

The fact that the authors, Michael Isner and Aaron Sims, are production artists is apparent, and that really guides the whole process. It's invaluable to have the insights of people working day-in and day-out with the tools they are writing about. Their goal is to show you how to get a character up and running so you can start creating as soon as possible, and if you're a production artist, or want to be, that is the goal.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that you can finally sink your teeth into!, July 20, 2004

By 

3D Instructor (Los Angeles, Ca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Experience XSI 4: The Official SOFTIMAGE XSI 4 Guide to Character Creation (Paperback)

I have been a 3D instructor for several years. 99% of my students demand that we structure the course so that the content reflect a real world production environment. In addition, we design the courseware so that the student/professional would walk out the door with a demo reel he/she would be proud of. This exceptional book will do just that. I am currently on page 102 of this book, and I can't seem to put it down.

I think this book is going to provide the "student" in all of us, more insight into the steps/workflow that an experienced 3D Artist must follow at a groundbreaking studio like, Stan Winston's. It's not about the location of the buttons per se, but more about the process by which one begins with Aaron's renderings, and ends with a hi resolution creature intended for a live action production. The quality of the material in the tutorials cannot be found in any other 3D book on the market. Furthermore, for those of you who prefer to reverse engineer a character rig or shader network, you can download the finished product from the book's website.

In addition, at the same time I had begun to work through the tutorials, I came across this more elaborate review of the book.

Link to the article: http://www.xsibase.com/articles.php?detail=51