Customer Reviews

Inside Softimage 3D

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Inside Softimage 3D, by anthony Rosano, is great. Rosano is a world class explainer. Step by step he covers almost every facet of the Softimage3D program. Using simple explainations and step by step tutorials, he demystifies Softimage, and shows how to get the most out of it. He covers every aspect of modeling, texturing, rendering, and animation in Softimage. He even covers complex topics like inverse kinematics. Also included in the book are insightful interviews with designers who use Softimage every day. The book is well designed, well bound, and gigantic. It has hundreds of pictures, all in full color, which illustrate the concepts Rosano tackles. When I started using Soft3D I was lost. I bought two videos on softimage that each cost a lot more than this book does. They were no help to me at all. One week after getting this book, however, I was rendereing and animating my own simple scenes. Now more far more experienced with the program, I still refer to the book from time to time. I cannot praise this book enough. Anthony Rosano has created what amounts to the Bible for beginner or intermidiate users of Softimage. The only problem with the book is that it doesn't cover particle systems and only skims the surface the Mental Ray rendering engine. Aside from that, however, this book is perfect.

I have searched all over the internet for books on SoftImage. This is the best one for someone who is just starting to learn from zero with no background in the field. Because SoftImage itself is such a complex software no book that's less than 800 pages can explain every detail in it and every technique step by step. So, I found myself needing much more than what this book could offer me very fast. Some of its modeling tutorials are not extensive enough. (Like how to model a face or a body). Nor does it offer any insight on how to model a tree. Also the particle system is not sufficiently talked about here. He swiftly drifts through the mental ray section in a few pages. In brief, this book will teach you the basics of SoftImage but it will not give you much beyond that.

I recently finished a 11 week hard-as-hell curriculem TAUGHT by Anthony Rossano. The book has an amazing amount of information. But, what he knows personally about this software is incredible! There is NO other book that has half the info that this book does. It's perfect for user's who understand the software and want to go to the next step!

This book is a little bit expensive. It took me a while to decide weither I should buy it or buy a cheaper one. Finally I bought it. I know I will like this book when the first time I open it and start to read it. One thing you should know is this book is in full color, all pictures, all pages. The author is a really experienced 3D artist. You will learn many advices from him, which will help your life easier and work better. This book covers most features of Softimage v3.7 extreme (yes v3.7, so it's pretty new) includes rendering in MentalRay, hierachies, more important, the softimage program interface. This book tells you where the tools are, and what does each part of the program do. Note that this book DOES NOT teach particles. this is a book can compare with the Adobe Classroom series. by the way, I only used Softimage once before I read this book.

This book is a must for the rookies, however, it is a bit weak for experienced 3D guys. In my opinion writers hide some rare knowledge from readers, and it is easy to feel it if you are not a beginner. CD ROM is really dissapointing...

Overall a fairly solid book on the foundations of Softimage. However, if you are looking for a comprehensive source of information on the Animation features of Softimage, be aware. Softimage is known for its powerful Actor and Motion modules and it is a little frustrating to find that the book skims over much detail and explains only the bare basics of IK, Bones, Envelopes, and overall integration of these elements. Expressions and Channels are not discussed at all. Another frustrated thing about this book is the accompanying CD-ROM. Scene Examples on the disc (atleast NT version) seem to be at times missing entire models. Maybe this is a problem inherent with the first few copies of the book. (the 'Models' directory on the CD is not in Uppercase, which Softimage doesn't react to well at all. It could the problem with some of the scenes.)

Despite all of the above-mentioned snags, I felt this is the first usable Softimage book I've bought. Just don't throw away ! your manual and workbook. It might be well organized, with nice full color illustrations and renderings, but another full volume is really needed to cover the Actor and Motion modules.

I've read this book and i learnt Softimage 3D like i was using it from years, it draws a path from the beginning to the advanced tecniques. Thank you Mr. Rossano keep writing this kind of books you're the very best

I'm a multimedia developer, and I'm doing 3d simulations as well, before I get this book, I have own the inside 3d studio max and I've read quater of the book, then I bought this book and started review the contents. Eventhough its a little bit expensive, I found that the book really teach me on "HOW TO USE THE SOFTIMAGE PROGRAM". The explainations are very clear and straightforward, it's like a teks book for the student and it's good for a newcomers. I'm now just stop reading the inside 3d studio max and continue reading this book. It offers a dozen of step by step instructions which are to me much more practical then the inside 3d studio max... I'm here to tell you that, using sofimage is much more easier than i thought before, if you already know about the 3d modeling concept and plan to learn softimage very fast just stop thinking ! buy this book as your reference. I'm now about half way into this book. But one more thing ! the cd-rom is really dissapointing...

I had Softimage for about 3 weeks before I bought this book. Altough I understand a very little about Softimage, after I had read this book I really know much more. But don't expect that you will know the most of this advanced program, it is really all basic. But for me, being a beginner with Softimage, it was almost enough. It would be a more greater book if they had more modeling tips and tricks put in it. But for the animation it was enough to know the basic. So if you are a Softimage beginner and you have the money for this good book, go take a look.

This book is a big dissapointment for those who are looking to go to the next step after reading manuals.