Customer Reviews

Inside LightWave 7 (Inside (New Riders))

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a person resistant to typical classroom learning I hesitated to purchase such a thick reference but within 15 minutes of reading I was navigating Lightwave menus like a veteran. This book guided me through every mouseclick, with screenshots showing me exactly what it was I needed to see while explaining each process in plain English so I could learn the
concepts behind what I was doing.

Honestly, I went from knowing virtually NOTHING about animation to laying out my own artistic concepts in three days,
investing only a couple of hours a day! I got some useful rendered footage after just a week and am confident that Inside Lightwave 7 will keep teaching me as I get further into the application.

Typically I don't write reviews but this book really got me going in a direction I didn't think I could go so quickly.

After the recent lauch of LW 7 I was so pleased to already find the cornerstone of Lightwave books updated. What can I say, Dan Ablan has done it again!

The best word that describes this tome is "comprehensive!" Of all the computer books I have, this one is by far the fattest. It features everything you need: Detailed reference material and tutorials to make it all come together.

I don't know if I can recommend it fully to complete beginners in 3D AND Lightwave, but if you have just a tad of experience in either, this is your manual to learn this awesome and powerful animation package. From my point of view it is all you need.

I was new to Lightwave when I purchased this book. On the surface it looked like it covers a good deal of material and it does. However, I take issue with the way some of it is presented. To the beginner, it felt like, "getting a drink from a fire hose." I was looking for a few simple examples to learn the basics from and gradually work to larger tutorials. I didn't find too much of that here. The first parts of the book jumped into texturing objects, before it really explained how to make the object in the first place. (i.e. modeling) This made it difficult to build objects that you could experiment on using different textures. The modeling section jumped right into designing a large city block or an entire human head at the start. It never really demonstrated how to do "simple" objects from start to finish. The closest it came to that delt with making subsections of skyscrapers that didn't look like anything until the entire building was completed. It would have been nice to do a few simple models before trying to build complex items like a city or human head. If you worked slowly through every step of the tutorials, you will eventually learn quite a bit. Unfortunately, by that time you've spent many, many hours before you have anything to show for the effort. You don't feel like you accomplish very much in the process. You can skip sections of the tutorials, but if you do, you will miss a trick or key that may not be repeated elsewhere.
The book has a good deal of tricks and information in it, but I still had to keep jumping between it and the Newtek manual before I was able to understand some sections.
Overall, it does cover a very large amount of modeling and texturing. I like that, but I didn't like how it didn't ramp up to "large projects." Finally, I would like to have seen a little more information on actually using Lightwave to animate with. It goes into overwhelming detail on modeling and texturing, but very little on making the model actually animate.

This book is great for everything except modelling. It explains lighting, rendering, effects and everything else excellently. But the modelling info is very badly explained indeed. Since modelling is the first thing most users want to know, this is a real handicap.

If anyone says the chapter on organic modelling is worth the price alone that person must already have these skills down(and so it's not the fault of that person).

In fact, the chapter on organic modelling is quite simply useless to anyone but a very advanced Lightwave user.

The first chapters on modelling, which don't deal with specifically human modelling, are a nice introduction but other than that it's half as useless as the organic modelling chapter.

Overall it's definitely worth buying, but because of the pitiful modelling info I deducted two stars. I'm being harsh but if you think you'll learn hardly anything about modelling from this, you couldn't be further from the truth. I really wanted to give it 4 because I hate whining, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

One of the most infuriating excuses people make to these fair complaints is "read the manual". The manual is almost useless for beginner character modellers and anyone who directs TOTALLY INNOCENT newbies to it is being very mean and unfair.

I recommend you buy this book as well as other books on the subject(mostly 10x better) of modelling.

Stay away from "LightWave 3D 7.0 Character Animation", there is insufficient info on the modelling aspect of human animation and the animation info is found in the next books.

I would highly recommend "Digital Character Animation 2: Essential Techniques" it's invaluable for newbies(although it won't show you specific Lightwave guide, it's universal to programs). In fact I would rate it necessary for beginners.

"3-D Human Modeling and Animation" is a great book which excellently explains the full process of modelling especially. I can't recommend it highly enough.

To get straight to the point, this book is fantastic, and an essential resource for all Lightwave 7 users!

The book succeeds where the Lightwave User Manuals fall painfully short. The manuals for this mammoth piece of software, although nigh-on exhaustive with regards to explanation of Lightwave's plethora of tools, lack in detailed tutorials which show the benefits and possibilities of these tools. Inside Lightwave 7 however is jam-packed with lengthy tutorials which span from the very basics of using Layout and Modeller, right through to complex character design tutorials. Even the most basic of these however contain tips and time-saving tricks which will benefit both beginners and seasoned renderers alike.

As a bonus, not only does the book come with a CD with all of the tutorial scenes and models, it's also crammed with extra textures and demos.

Dan Ablan's book reaches all possible readers, challenging and imaginative enough to inspire experienced Lightwave users, while being easily accessible to those new to the 3D world.

Absolutely essential!

At first, the book looks intimidating with it's 1000 plus pages, but once you start to do stuff and see results, you won't be able to put it down. This book will take you from simply applying gloss to a surface , to making Mini Movies and building your own models. In my opinion, the best you can get and I guarentee, once you're done with this book, you'll be a Lightwave master.

I purchased this book in the hopes that I'd be able to learn LightWave 7. Sadly this book is definetly not for beginners. Early on I realized something was wrong when the book jumped straight into the Suface Editor. The chapters on modeling could hardly be described as tutorials. One modeling chapter dove straight into modeling a large skyscraper without teaching you many of the fundamentals of modeling. I felt like I was following a cook book. Step after step of 'type the following into the numeric window, check this option, uncheck that option.'. This is not how you learn. I had no understanding of why I was using the specified values and most of the time the author didn't go into any detail regarding it. The chapter on modeling a human face was both exciting and a let down. Hours upon hours of work and I still felt like the fundamentals escaped me, yet I had a decent looking model.

I went out and brought Inside Lightwave 8 soon after. I have to say, it is many many times better. It's written by the same author, but the pacing and examples are greatly improved. Even not having LightWave 8, I learned more in chapter 1-3 of that book then I did reading Inside Lightwave 7. Unfortunetly, for those without Lightwave 8, that book has limited usefulness.

I would not recommend this book to a beginner or newbie looking to learn Lightwave 7 from scratch.

After having just a quick peruse through my new purchase ..Dan Ablan's new book 'Inside Lightwave 7' by New Riders Publishing. ..I've gotta say I'm blown out of the water..
I'm not a newcomer to Dan's books having been an avid follower of 3D software Lightwave since my
early days in television production... (and even before ...when lightwave was "preLightwave" (Videoscape))..
and also an avid reader of Dans Instructional series on Lightwave.. This book, a hefty 1160 pages, is HUGE! ..not only in physical size but also in information ...about a piece of software that has truly joined the ranks of ..'the big boys'..
Inside Lightwave 7 is the book (I should say bible) ...that covers everything that one needs to have a handle on if they are to become reasonably adept in a very powerful 3D animation and visual effects software package.. I'm of the opinion that this book should have been included with the Lightwave package as the tutorial section ..
The book covers the basics from introduction to the 2 interfaces and architecture found within Lightwave 7 (Layout and Modeler).. through to the building , surfacing , texturing , lighting and animating of the worlds that you are now able to create in Lightwave..Guest authors Jarrod Davis, Stuart Aitken, Randy Sharp, and Bob Cazzell also have included chapters in a truly indespensible reference and tutorial that every beginning 3D CG animator an professional alike should have on their workstation... ...Go out and do yourself a favor... ...An excellent book!!

I've read several books on various 3d packages. I prefer Lightwave as my tool of choice, and Dan Ablan's books are my single point for learning and reference on Lightwave. He covers all basics (which was fairly important to me) and then attacks even the advanced features.

Coverage starts with learning the interfaces in Lightwave, he explained it in a way that now makes most of the interface intuitive to me.

The detail he goes into in describing modeling a human head is incredible.

I cannot wait for his latest Lightwave 8 edition.

Highly recommended.

This book deserves 10 stars! I'm not one to praise technical books, but somehow, Dan Ablan has broken through the barrier. He has successfully (and this is not the first time) brought clear and concise examples - real world examples - of a complex 3D application to the user. Plain and simple... that's it. He doesn't take himself too seriously which I think is what brings out the personality of the teacher.

This book is a fooler. Sure, it's big. Sure, it's full of information. It'll make you scratch your head wondering how you can get through it all and learn so much. But then, before you know it - you're using the software. You're creating - not figuring it out. Unbelievable.

I've just signed up for hands-on training at Dan's studio, and now have ordered his "class on demand" training videos. I highly recommend this book (or any of Dan's others) to you.

Sincerely,
Steve