Customer Reviews

Inside LightWave v9

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My biggest complaint: you can't always tell what's "selected" from the images in the book. It's difficult to tell the difference between selected and unselected edges in the wireframe views. Also, some of the pages aren't fully inked, and the images on those pages aren't at all helpful. However, the DVD contains hi-rez, full-color versions. Either I never knew that or I forgot by the time I got to chapter ten, because I couldn't follow the penguin tutorial with the book images. Having discovered the DVD images, I'll re-read that chapter.

Also of value on the DVD, the videos extend the tutorials in the book. They aren't just a recap of the book tutorials; they're additional content, and they're quite good. There's so much video content, in fact, he couldn't fit it all on the DVD. There's additional free material on the author's website, though. As of August 2007 there are no videos available for chapters 15 and 16, though the chapter 14 video seems to indicate that there are. Also, there are objects and scenes missing from the DVD that are supposed to be used in the chapters 15 and 16 tutorials.

For many of the chapters I felt the book tutorials didn't go far enough, like they had ended too soon. The videos are necessary to continue the tutorial. While I gave credit for this additional material above, this is also a drawback to this book. I bought a book because I like that format. The videos are nice, but I prefer printed tutorials. As the book is already a hefty 700 pages, I'll just have to conclude that LightWave tutorials of this depth just don't fit in one book.

Also of note, this is very much a learn-by-example book. It is comprised almost entirely of tutorials. Remember that you have LightWave's manual as a reference, and Mr. Ablan reminds you of that throughout this book.

LightWave is a very deep program and this book doesn't cover every option available. It does cover a great deal of material, though. You'll get more than just a taste of what the program can do. The tutorials are easy to follow, and perhaps credit to the LightWave program itself, when Mr. Ablan tells you to do something you've done before, without explaining it again, you'll usually not cry out, "I don't remember how to do that!" Things that need to be explained are explained.

The Node Editor is a huge new addition to LightWave. Mr. Ablan does a fine job explaining how to use it, but in just one book he can only scratch the surface in explaining how to achieve specific effects. I hope the lighting and texturing books I've ordered cover this in more detail. If Mr. Ablan wrote a whole book about the Node Editor I'd surely get a copy.

This is my third Inside LightWave 3D book by Dan that I have purchased (started with Inside LW 7). He continues to re-invent his teaching style which makes these books invaluable for any LW user. This lengthy book (over 700 pages) also contains almost 6 hours of instructional videos on the DVD to continue where the tutorials in the book left off. A brilliant move that keeps this book thinner than previous editions but yet provides more "meat". I also purchased Dan's LightWave v9 Signature courseware (over 17 hours) which greatly enhances the LW learning experience. Thank god for people like Dan who can teach 3D in a very unintimidating and friendly fashion. He makes you feel like you can create anything you want with LW.

The Inside LightWave books have constantly been the most comprehensive books written on LightWave 3D by NewTek, Inc. This reincarnation of Inside LightWave covers the new release of version 9 and the author Dan Ablan has done a great job again. As with previous editions, each chapter is more or less self-contained allowing the reader to study a chapter out of order as needed. In this latest edition, he does more than just dedicate one chapter to discussing the new tools and enhancements for version 9. Throughout the book, he offers several tutorials that incorporate these new features, thus giving the reader hands-on practice. The Getting Started chapter found in previous editions has been transformed into a video tutorial on the book's DVD which saves space in the book.

My favorite part of working in 3D graphics is modeling 3D objects and Ablan has always covered this area thoroughly. In this edition, he does the same with some new modeling tutorials. However, he takes a more artistic approach and emphasizes using LightWave as an artistic tool. He begins modeling still life objects. First you use box modeling to create a banana and then he introduces the Multishift and Magnet tools while modeling an orange. The Clone and Magic Bevel tools come into play with a bunch of grapes. Finally, you use the Spline Draw and Lathe tools to create the fruit bowl. The intermediate modeling tutorials emphasize modeling intricate details. As you would expect, advanced modeling techniques are covered in character modeling as you model a cute penguin character to which you will eventually add weight maps and rigging for animation.

Next, Ablan discusses the new Node-based texturing and improved particle animation techniques. LightWave comes with some new cameras and a new rendering engine and the author covers these new options for setting up your scenes. He also covers single and multi-computer rendering and the new ScreamerNet network rendering engine.

One of the most difficult tasks when working in 3D is blending a 3D object into an existing project. Ablan discusses how to add a 3D object to a still background image. But a still background is only half the challenge. He also covers how to track the LightWave cameras to match prerecorded footage.

The DVD contains project files, full color graphics of the figures from the book, free textures and several tutorials from the author's 3D Garage.com website. Dan Ablan has been a pioneer in 3D animation since 1989 and has his own business, AGA Digital Studios. He has authored many books and magazine articles.

What can I say? I can say that this book, although 700 pages versus the usual 900, is just as good and perhaps better than Dan's previous endeavours. The text is comprehensive and informative. LightWave is a complex program and Dan understands that which is evident in his writing style and approach to this book. The projects are great for a beginner like me, even though I've used LightWave for 5 years now. What I like is that Dan puts a lot of hours of extra videos on the books disc to help you learn more. This is a great concept that I wish all publishers would do. All in all, for $40 you won't find a more valuable text on LightWave 9 (and now 9.2)!

This is a solid book. Coming in at 722 pages and including a lot of good content on the DVD, Dan Ablan's book covers most everything you need to use Lightwave 9. If you are a beginner, this is a great book. It may or may not be worthwhile if you consider yourself an intermediate, which is what I would consider myself. That said, Dan's workflow is solid. His tutorials are great and I found myself finding many better methods I should use rather than my own. One of the lengthiest and most detailed sections is wrapped around network rendering and setting up Screamernet. If network rendering is something you need and its a new concept to you, this is well worth the price of the book here.

I would say this is a must own if you are a beginner and a not-a-bad buy as an intermediate. Skip it if you consider yourself well versed in Lightwave's ins and outs.

I have been using Lightwave since the very first release. It can be difficult to keep up with Lightwave's features but this book will help keep you up to date. Dan has a way of explaining things that makes it easy to understand. I have been a fan of his books since the old Amiga computer days.

Pretty much everything you need to learn Lightwave is in this book. Also Lightwave pros will still be able to use it for reference. I refer to it a few times a week and I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about Lightwave.

In conclusion, if you use Lightwave you need this book. Enough said!

The book Lightwave v9 is not only illistrated in a most professional way
it offers a high level of education in animation. Offering follow up Web
Resourses and a great list of learning resourses. The Author Dan Ablan
has made it easy to follow his tutorials for quick learning.

As a fresh beginner in LW, this book has been tremendously helpful in getting me oriented, and giving projects to explore the tools in interesting ways. I don't want the criticisms to get in the way of that. This is my only LW book, but it's exactly what I needed.

First, this is good training. Dan rarely skips steps, and is incredibly attentive to pointing out where to find tools and the name of the tool being used. This is a huge relief to an amateur, and almost pushes me into giving this 5 stars. Even using version 9.6, his explanations are clear enough that this book is still relevant (if you're willing to do some extra googling & helpfile lookups to fill in the blanks from 9.2). The projects are interesting, giving you good-looking renders to be proud of. Dan's obviously passionate about what he does, and it's infectious. Each chapter feels energetic and fun.

Of course, I have a few nits to pick. Things that would've made the process quicker & less frustrating. There are editing problems that get increasingly problematic as the chapters progress. By Chapter 11 there are missing steps in the examples, a scene file on the DVD that was never finished (a couple of the scene elements are there, but a lot of work needs to be done to get it to the point assumed by the book), and a general feeling that the author didn't get enough time to finish what was outlined. I'd be happier if I could've found an Errata or Corrections document somewhere to save me time.

Additionally, the author needs to keep in mind that the audience is NOT a classroom. Providing a node review in the CH11a_NodeIntro video - while mentioning that this material was covered in a CH3 video, *then proceeding to review anyway* doesn't make sense. I can open the CH3 video if I want a review. Covering the same material twice is a duplication & waste of the number of hours' video instruction that was claimed to be included with the book.

Minor cons, relative to the pros - but it'd be nice to see better followthrough and organization to match the high quality in the other areas.

I was looking for a book to both refresh my memory on some of the basics, and to teach me some more advanced rigging/modeling/texturing etc techniques. This book is perfect for the beginner trying to get a better grasp on lightwave. However, I was in need of some coaching on better rigging (doesnt even touch on IK), particles, and texturing techniques (mainly rigging). I didn't find very much. The book was good for a quick reference when I had a question about something basic. Again, this book is great for beginners, even intermediates, but if you're a more advanced user, this book is not for you in my opinion. It offers a basic run through of all areas of lightwave and that's it.

I actually really enjoyed this book and thought it was quite helpful. Some reviewers seemed to dislike the fact that the author would continue the lessons with video files on the accompanying DVD, but I actually really enjoyed that way of learning. There were a few places where I wish he would have written more and done video less, but in general reading, watching, and then doing proved to be a very effective way to learn for me. Of course the best way to learn is very much based on personal preference, but this system worked well for me.

My biggest complaint is simply that Ablan omitted a topic that I thought should have been discussed in the book: UV mapping and unwrapping. Basically the art of unwrapping the polygons of a complex model into a flat template so that you can go into an image editor and paint textures on to the model. I know a little bit about this process, but it is one of my biggest problems with any 3d package that I have tried, and Ablan seemed almost completely avoid talking about the process, which was kind of a let down for me, and will probably result in me buying the competing book "essential lightwave 9".

Other than the omitting of that one topic, I thought everything else was covered very thoroughly, and made me a better lightwave user. Lightwave 9.3 has been out for a while now, so anything that the older reviews said about the book having material pertaining to a unreleased or finalized product is no longer valid. Like I said, I just wish he covered UV mapping and unwrapping, other than that, great book, great accompanying DVD, and great way of learning.