Customer Reviews

Inside LightWave 6

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lightwave 6 could very well be the most signficant upgrade in the history of the program, so it's hard to imagine that one book could do such a comprehensive job of introducing/explaining this new package. With two previous Lightwave books to his credit, Dan was definitely the author to take on this task. He writes in an interesting and informative manner, injecting personality in to the material and making it so much more than a traditional "how to" book, but a really great read. The human head modeling/mapping/lighting tutorials alone are worth the price of the book. This book is the bread and butter for Lightwave enthusiasts!

If you are a lightwave user and recently have upgraded to version 6, you should read this book. It is complementary to lightwave user manuals, but not redundant or repetitive.

It has great things like examples in using skelegons, weightmaps, uv, radiosity&caustics, expressions, ik, and many other important features of lightwave6. What is more, you will find a huge tutorial in order to model, texture and render that head you see in the cover!

Also, chapters and exercises are not destined to explain a function or button, but they are destined to illustrate common, useful, and complex tasks, like modelling/texturing/rendering of a house in a forest, setting a complete bone structure for a human figure, lip sincronization, creating a broadcast animation, etc...

things i didn't like: there are too many examples and exercises with Relativity plugin (that is really cool, but not shipped with lw6..)..., and other minor stuff..

to resume: if you want to start with lightwave[6] and begin to use all its potencial and marvellous capabilities since now, this practical and useful book will really help you. Sincerely, it worths each penny you pay (and more).

good work, mr.Ablan & his co-writers

I have to say this is the most useful book I've ever seen for Lightwave, and I too have been using LW since the Toaster days. I've learned more in the first 100 pages than I learned in - when did the Toaster come out? - 85? This one takes the confusion out of learning the new interface, and guides you to an understanding of WHY things things are different now.

I have overcome my fear of 6!

Dan Ablan is an extraordinary teacher, and 'Inside Lightwave6' an astonishing achievement. Well laid out, well-organized, intelligent, insightful, and interesting. Dan presents and addresses a range of problems in a matter-of-fact manner with thoughtful, detailed guidance, and there is a good dynamic among degrees of difficulty. One of Dan's much appreciated qualities is his global outlook - he gives a specific answer to a problem but also explains how this method/solution can be applied toward other situations. He consistently explains the 'why' along with the 'how to'. His books seem to read my mind and anticipate questions, responding with clear and logical answers. I am self-taught, having started with Dan's 'Inside Lightwave 3D' (5.6). For anybody just starting out, the 6.0 manuals stink, don't bother with them. Pick up Dan's Inside Lightwave 3D (5.6) for starters, then continue with his 6.0 book. That tangled darkness of confusion and I can't be this dumb, can I? feeling evaporates with Chapter One of either book. Dan is 100% there all the way, and hardworking (VERY hardworking, it's a huge in-depth book), and will teach you the joy of LW knowledge.

My company Click Grafix www.clickgrafix.com is NewTek distributor in Malaysia. We are passionate about what we do from selling to animating. Two weeks ago I bought two copies of Inside LW6. I took one home to read it. The last time I used LW when it was version 5.0. I then concentrated in selling it, and I let the younger generation have all the fun. I know that LW6.0 is a major re-write and redesign. The manuals that came with LW 6 do very little justice to otherwise a wonderful demonstration of art and science. After reading the first few chapters in Inside LW6, I felt the urge to do what I used to do before, animating when I have to. It is almost like being young again. Needless to say when I knew that our local book store have stock, I rushed and bought every copy. The total is 30 copies of Inside LW6. What will I do with 30 copies? I passed it to every customer who bought LW6 from us for FREE. And I sold it for almost half the price for those who upgraded from 5.6 to 6.0. Why, the book does a very good job at explaining what SIX can do for you, or what you can do with SIX. My background, I spent the best years of my life teaching animation, graphics and multimedia, since 1986. Needless to say, we buy every book that is relevant to NewTek products, which means that I bought both books, Inside LW and LW Power Guide. But I must admit, Inside LW 6 is way above anything that has been written about LW. As an ex-teacher (although still teach sometimes), I found this book so well written that it should be bundled with every LW6. I did it here in Malaysia, and I hope other dealers around the world do it. I hope that whoever going to write another book about LW should follow your formula.

I am 38 years, old to be an animator, but Inside LW6 is my Viagra for SIX.

I purchased this book because the manuals that come with Lightwave 6 are not very good for people with low level strengths in 3d. That is me. I have taken a seven hundred dollar course in Lightwave 5 and had classes in Lightwave 2 in film school. 3d is a challenge to say the least. And in spite of my training I am still a baby at it. Dan Ablan's book came highly recommended in the Lighwave newsgroup when it was first released. I have not progressed far in the book so I can not give it a proper review. But I will say that it is far better to learn from than the Lightwave manuals. Dan takes the time to explain what you are doing and why during tutorials. The LW manuals just have you parrot steps and hope you learn from repetition and osmosis. But what probably impressed me most is when I was not getting the result expected in one of the early tutorials, I asked members of the alt.lightwave newsgroup what I might be doing wrong. Dan Ablan wrote me back personally and walked me through the problem. I know I am not the only one. I have seen him write numerous people personally. I have a friend who works in a production house who has also received responses from Dan. And I see reviews here that say the same. What other book could you buy where the guy who wrote the book cares enough to answer your questions? I don't think you should buy the book expecting Dan to write you and be your best friend but I thought I should mention this. I have not gone far in the book because I am easily discouraged (aka. too lazy about) working with 3D. You will not learn from any book if you don't participate with it. However my experience from this book is if you sit down and do the exercises...learn you will.

Over the last decade, I have seen Lightwave grow from a mysterious program attached to the Video Toaster system, to a full-blown Ferrari that takes no prisoners. Most of us were intimidated by the new fangled concepts and modus operandi of this secretive beast. The manuals were detailed, the learning curve steep, but, if you just jumped in, you could actually create a box, or a building, and with supplied objects, voyage into space - all this on an Amiga computer with 16 megs of ram.

Then Lightwave grew into an enormous tool of the Hollywood young guns. They went ballistic - took Lightwave into Quantum Leap, Babylon V, Star Trek, games and MTV. So the learning curve got steeper as new tools were demanded by the trade to do cooler tricks. It was easy to get lost in Lightwave, on many levels.

Dan Ablan loves to teach - I took a seminar with him years ago in California next to Universal Studios at the Newtek Convention. Thankfully, he has written down many words of wisdom in various books. I think this one really takes the cake. I can honestly say I take instructions and suggestions to heart from the in-depth chapters and throw them into commercials and my show on Fox Sports Net [MuscleSport USA]. This is serious training with an honest teacher who knows whereof he speaketh.

He is a Lightwave prophet, and has many friends in the business that collaborate with him to bring the best to the forefront of his writings.

Don't know how the book ends yet, as I am savoring every page every chance I get, to learn the details and techniques and remember them as I work with Lightwave on my own projects.

In the process of teaching myself Lightwave 6, I have found Dan Ablan's book invaluable. His step-by-step tutorials teach you techniques as well as tool use. You'll go far beyond the bland and near-useless descriptions of the tools that your Lightwave manual will teach you, and really explore the way the program's features will affect your models. Reading the book gives you a firm sense of texturing, surfacing, modeling, organic modeling, character animation , and more. On top of all that, when I had problems with completing the tutorials (due to my own lack of experience), I emailed the author and got a personal response within the day! A worthwhile purchase that no Lightwave user should be without. Dan is a Lightwave God.

I see the software with different eyes now, after using it for almost 10 years. Thanks Dan.

Dan Ablan has assembled a well rounded and excellent book of tutorials for Lightwave 6 owners. In addition, he has set up an internet site to immediately provide corrections and other errata that always manage to sneak past. The tutorial for the female head is worth the price of the book alone! Plus, Dan quickly answered any questions I had by email and is always ready to offer assistance to his readers. Highly recommended!