Customer Reviews

Inside Rhinoceros

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

 

 

This book goes a long way to bridging the gap between mechanics-only references (such as the typical user manual) and workflow/theory offerings that try to be software independant. The author presents more information about the underlying mathematics of curve and surface generation than I'm used to seeing in an application-oriented reference, and I wish more authors would follow suit. The portions of the book that could be called simple re-hashing of the user manual still presented the information in a useful workflow-oriented manner which I feel is value added when coupled with the program documentation and included tutorials.

I have two main criticisms, one mechanical and one conceptual.

1. The graphics weren't proofed very well. Many illustrations feature 'selected' shapes which, in the grey scale pattern used, can be seen with great difficulty against the grid -- if they can be seen at all. I consider that simple sloppy editing. I also believe more care should have been taken in placing illustrations closer to the associated text. Modern word processing allows easy linkage to figure numbers and dynamic updates, but did the editor(s) go back and take a good look at where some of the illustrations ended up vis-a-vis the text? Too much page-flipping, in my opinion.

2. The author often instructs the reader to make specific shapes, with precise co-ordinates, but then defers an explanation of why that curve was needed. I believe the tutorials would have more impact if they were less mechanical and more tied to the thought processes of the designer when choosing to make a particular curve as part of a framework. I have no desire to 'shut up and color' and trust the 'whys' will come later; in keeping with the (well-chosen) narrative style of the book the author should have pursued individual design steps to a much deeper level at the time they were introduced.

Despite its flaws I would recommend this book to anyone who uses Rhinoceros. Even the most experienced designer can benefit from insight into how others approach a task. For the beginner I would consider this an especially valuable purchase.

Cheers!
Mark

This is NOT the book you should buy if you are looking for a concise teaching of Rhino from beginner to advance. It is more of a reference book that explores the tools of Rhino further. It more or less compliments the user guide that comes with the software. Very technical, not the book for any organic modeling tips.

This book mainly covers all the tools inside Rhino, and teaches you what it does. What you do with it, is up to you. You are better off sticking to the tutorials on the Rhino CD, or via their website.

The best thing about this book is it's colorful cover; the contents disappoint. When compared with a top-tier technical book such as the excellent "AutoCAD Bible", it is poorly organized, it's examples are confusing, and many explanations are downright befuddling. One example: one draws in viewports similar to AutoCAD's. The default layout is the standard Top, Front, Side (left or right), and perspective. The actual drawing entities are either established with the pointing device or entered as X,Y,Z coordinates via the command line. So far, so good. However, using the mouse to add entities to an existing object in 3D space yields unexpected results because Mr. Cheng has neglected to tell you that unless you pick the object using OBJECT SNAP, your entities will be drawn on the viewport's default construction plane which is at the origin. You overcome this by moving the construction plane through space to the location where you want to draw, but this crucial bit of information is inexplicably withheld until page 437!
Most readers will move to a 3D drawing program having at least a passing familiarity with a 2D product, and will want to become productive quickly. If you're on of these, if you are a professional and want to build on your 2D knowledge to create, render and present 3D objects quickly without having to wade through the sort of droll presentations typical of high school drafting classes, then you should look elsewhere.

As some of the other reviewers mentioned, this book is lacking in some critical details. I am only about 120 pages into it and have found some parts to be very confusing, particularly when it comes to the sequence of operations. Unfortunatly there are not many books about Rhino so I felt cornered into buying it. Do not pay full price to get a new one. I paid $8.00

I bought the book a couple of weeks ago. It is really amazing that I can now make pretty good free form objects by following the tutorials and using the trial version Rhino. If you want to learn making 3D quickly. I strongly recommend you to get this book. Good value.

Have been using this book for about 6 hours now. I notice a few ommissions in the directions, a couple of typos, too. But basicaly this is a great book. The CD comes with a demo version of Rhino 2 which allows for 25 saves. I do not know what happens after you use the 25 saves.

There are good step by step instructions for making a couple of items like a VW beetle, a joystick for game control, and a telephone. I will be ready to move on to another book rather quickly after this, for some more sophisticated stuff. But I forsee this book continuing to be a good reference for operating the commands.

Being a person who does alot of self studying (All Technical materials from networking to 3d)I would say this is one of the best books I've ever read. The explenation matches step by step to the excersizes given to practice. I've finished the book once and will try it one more time because of the volume of the info that has been explained in the book. There are very minor misstakes where a step or two have been droped by the author and makes the reader a little confuse ( the result of the excersize will not match the one in the book). But I have not seen or read any other book without those small misstakes.
Good Job Mr. Cheng.

Very useful reference to figure out how the more arcane basic commands in Rhino work. The text does not provide much in the way of detail about the fine points of the commands and only gives one or two examples of each menu function, leaving much more territory to explore. Many of the functions have huge sub-menus you can muddle through, but you won't find many recommendations on how to achieve your particlar goals. Still, it is a must for beginning Rhino users.

As a student, I find this book informative and is a good bridge between surface modeling theory and Rhino commands.

As a design student, I find this book veryful because it provides me with fundamental computer modeling concepts as well as how and why