Customer Reviews

Inside LightWave 8

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

 

 

Having only purchased LightWave 8 a few months back the first thing I did was look for some helpful books to guide my learning process. I purchased two LightWave 8 books at the same time from Amazon (Inside LightWave 8 and another). Both were great books and very helpful, but Dan Ablan's "Inside LightWave 8" definitely was the better buy.

Like most people I read the reviews posted by other buyers on Amazon and now that I have read the entire book cover to cover, I can't understand how some people have given this book a poor rating. The content of the book is excellent covering all aspects of LightWave 8, from static company logos to particle dynamics and animation. I found myself not wanting to put the book down as I progressed through the tutorials. As well as this, even in my early stages of progressing through this book, I found it easy to integrate what I had learnt in the tutorials to my own projects

A great resource and I mean GREAT is the content provided on the DVD which included plug-ins, surfaces, images, hours of video tutorials and other useful tools. I cannot emphasise enough how cool the video tutorials are. You would be amazed how much you can learn sitting back and watching a true master of LightWave work, Dan even manages to crack jokes while doing it!!!!

Also the author of this book (Dan Ablan) has made available on his website additional video tutorials for all to have. Dan even took the time to respond to an email I sent him (within 24 hours I might add) to help me out when I was having problems with a project I was working on.

To put it simply if you are looking to learn LightWave 8 this book is a must have.

Cheers.

Although I have not finished "Inside LightWave 8" (it is a long book), the progress I have made so far has been well worth the price. The information was presented in an orderly and timely fashion, and I think I will prosper for years to come as a result of the instruction that was offered via this resource.

I recommend it for all beginners, but be prepared to spend some time reading it beside your computer. LightWave is a powerful program, and it will not be learned quickly. This reference will speed the process along as well as anything I have encountered.

I got this great book as part of a training class that I took, and it really does provide a solid entry-intermediate level course in Lightwave. The book comes with a ton of extras on the DVD, projects, objects, scenes, textures, etc. My one complaint after working through the book for about a week is that some of the steps in the tutorials are wrong. Things like "you should have 9 polygons selected at this point..." when you really only have seven, the measurements and settings for the corvette backdrop image are off, etc. Nothing major, but it's a little frustrating when you're a newbie, and trying to wrap your head around the concepts.

Ok, so it's only 950 pages over Dan's last book of 1200. But believe it or not, I was surprised to see more information in this new book even with less pages. It's clear that he took users comments to heart and really changed this book - it's well organized from chapter 1 to the end. I have Inside 7 and it's great - but some tutorial chapters are really really long. With Inside LightWave [8] each tutorial chapter is very comfortable but also very informative too. I have not gone through it all because tehre is so much but every possible modeling method is in here. I'm happy to report extra texturing info and the dvdrom and 3dgarage videos make it worth every penny. I feel bad for the other software manufacturers because they don't have a Dan Ablan book!

I would accually give this book a 4.5 if the option were avalible, but it's not. Just the first few pages were enough to get me started. I have only read through the first two chapters and I already have a good idea of what to do with most of the tools. However, no book could replace an actual class in the subject. As for the people who claim that this book sucks, well the book is meant to explain what a tool is "supposed" to do, not teach you how to use it. Half of these so-called "tips & tricks by the pros" are really accidents that look cool. Most of what you modle and animate will be an acident that looks good.

Like many other's I've been waiting for this book to ship, and I am not disappointed. I am pleased with the content and the bonus instructional videos. Excellent work, excellent book, excellent value! Thanks Dan!

I've been anxiously waiting for this book. I bought it direct from the author (signed too) and am thrilled with this new edition. The other lw books out are great - but for a fat book full of tutorials I really like this one. It's almost 1000 pages and I was happy to find great stuff about UV mapping, tons of modeling and lighting and screamernet, rendering. It was very cool that there was a DVD in the book too with color images and a ton of extra video tutorials. Great great purchase for $40! Good job Dan - you did it again!

I have many books on the subject of Lightwave... this one rates at the top of my list... In fact I have every 'Inside Lightwave' book since the origonal ... 'Inside Lightwave 3D that covered Lightwave version 5.6...
This one covering Lightwave version 8 is the best tutorial book one that Dan has done yet...
Very easy to follow style... the tutorials are clear without being dry.. Dan even gives us some advanced information in most of the tutorials that allows you to tap into some of the new features of Lightwave 8... One of the things I find interesting is Dan himself has obviously changed in his way of working in Lightwave as some of the ways he is doing things in this book are completely different approaches than the ways he did them in previous books... such as his modeling of a character using Spline Curves is a different direction than in his previous works... and certainly show some of the benifits to using that method of modeling over other forms...
His tutorial on Partical Dynamics really got me over some hurdles I was having understanding their use ... sometimes you never know where you will pickup that one little explaination that makes it work... Dan had several of those in his this book for me...
Thanks Mr. Ablan!
I certainly am pleased with my purchase of this book and will be using it as a reference for sometime to come...

I admit that I am pleasantly surprised at the out come of this book. This book has by far exceeded my expectations and has been a pleasure to work through. To be honest I was expecting it to be overly technical ala Inside LW7 but its totally different. Dan's approach this time is just what the Doctor ordered and very refreshing, it has me leaning towards his DVD courseware now.
Within 2 days time I have covered over 400+ pages of material and didnt even realize it...I just can't put it down. This book is fabulous and will appeal to the new user right up to expert level users and the pace is excellent.
The LW8 Manual and Inside Lightwave 8 are a lethal combo for sure. And to be honest with you, Dan's new quick start approach in chapter one you will have you hooked gauaranteed.

Nice work Dan, thanks for your hardwork, sharing your knowledge and making Lightwave a tool for the people.

Dan Ablan has set the Gold Standard for Lightwave training manuals. Once again he has jam packed this 984 page book with new material which spans from beginner to advanced techniques - in a style which anyone can follow. If you are serious about learning Lightwave, this IS the manual to learn from. He and the publisher also throw in a CD of animated tutorials. And...the price is very resonable.