Customer Reviews

Inside 3d Studio MAX 2, Volume III: Animation

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

 

 

This book is by far the best of the Max 2 series. The chapters on Controllers, Video Post and Compositing are invaluable. The knowledge of the authors really show through and the power of Max is appropriatey showcased in this book. Beginners may find it daunting, but it is a must for anyone who is serious about Max.

I totally remember the Walking UFO project that Boss Hog had problems with. It drove my entire class insane, and only 3 people were able to finish it by just throwing the book out. The flow of several of the activites is broken too much... The editors really should have had people test these things out over and over to iron out these hiccups.

All this aside, this book was still helpful to have around. Not perfect, but it makes a good reference and can even give some good inspiration. All in all, it's worth the price and weight of the book (carrying this to and from school is MURDER). Certainly better than some of the other books.

This book is a good reference but not for those who are not proficient already in MAX. As others have stated, the examples often skip steps, assume knowledge of the workings of the program and show "this is what you should end up with" pictures that don't relate at all to what the instructions give. I get the impression also that each chapter was written by a different person because they cover material that has sometimes been discussed or later chapters cover basic material that was left out at the beginning. If you are beginner, don't buy this.

Well, Boss Hog may get confused easily, but don't let him shy you away from an excellent text. I still recommend this book to people learning Max 3. The tutorials in the first several chapters are very intelligently written, and attempt to tackle very complicated concepts in a very concise manner. The text has helped me master more advanced concepts and tools of both Max the program and animation in general. The section on character work, while a regurgitation of what you'll find in Illusion of Life, Timing for Anim, and Foster's works, is still helpful to the beginner. The first third of the book is also an excellent source of principles that any budding animator who's transitioning to 3D would be wise to read. I've been animating professionally for 7 years, and I think that this text is great. If you get lost on the tutorials, then just read the text and LEARN the PRINCIPLES since that's really the important thing that these experts have to share with you!

Hello graphics gurus,

I've got some news for you if this book looks good. I'd like to direct you to the FIRST CHAPTER. This chapter covers simple transformation animation, even though the chapter is titled "ADVANCED Transformation Animation". This is NOT what I wish to squabble about. What really shocked me was the unclear transition between the text, the pictures, and the files on the CD. Following the directions, I labeled, linked, and altered several objects and dummies. Once completed, I continued to the next step, only to discover that the book forgot to mention several objects that needed to be labeled, linked, and altered. Once again, I was able to continue reading without losing respect for the editors ... The next step instructed me to rotate a dummy by its Y-axis in the top viewport, which I did. The comment under this instruction directed me to look at the figure on the next page. The blurb next to the figure stated "Top view of the UFO, with the leg properly positioned." Naturally, I figured that when I looked at the figure, I would see exactly what I had on the screen, but instead, the image was a screenshot from several steps before the rotation instructions, in the FRONT viewport. There is no mention of this image anywhere in the text, and there is no image demonstrating the proper rotation that the text led me to believe.

What should you learn from this little story? Well, I hope the editors are reading this: If you publish something, the consumers would appreciate it if the editors do their job and offer the public a book worth buying. I received Vol. #3 in the mail several hours ago, and I've already downed four aspirin. If the first chapter is any indication of the quality of work put into this book, it's looking to be a LONG weekend.

So long, fellow gurus, And remember, Scum lurks in pretty packaging.

Boss Hogg

This book is Great. It provides an indepth explanation of the concepts and abilities of 3D Studio Max2. It is definately for the more advanced user and is definately a must. The first Vol is like a big encyclopedia that explains the concepts but does not provide real hands on learning methods, This Vol. is by far the best of the 3 and is an important tool in every animators libary.

After grinding through the horrendously written Volume I of this series, I thought that maybe by Volume III things would have improved. Well, they haven't. Written by different authors, this book obviously draws upon the faults of the first Volume, and thus keeps consistent with the faulty scheme of the series.

The examples in this book, while informative, are extremely frustrating, as the authors have obviously not put the time into ensuring that they work. Textures don't ship with the CD, so when you open certain examples you are greeted with "BLAH.TGA" not found error messages. Examples don't work properly, even the ones shipped on the CD, they take extra tweaking to make them do what they were intended to do. For example, in the first chapter there is a certain example in which you are to go to frame 145, but in the .max file on the CD, there are only 130 frames!!!! What?!?!? Do we rescale, or do we assume a typo or just a basic laziness on the part of the authors/publishers.

What a shame, as this topic had potential.

I am writing specifically about volume 3. It would be an excellent book if they had just proofread it first before rushing it for publication. Filled with mistakes and worded very poorly I still recommend this sorry book because it is one of the few 3d max sources that actually attempts to teach animation.

this book is one of the best books if not the best for indepth training in MAX 2, i own the entire set and rate them all 5 stars because I am now an experienced 3D artist thanks to them.

Maestri and New Riders come through in this 3rd book of the Inside 3ds Max series. The book offers highly complex real world animation projects as tutorials which not only stress proper techniques but also the most common mistakes in their application. The most in depth book of its type so far on the subject of Animation in Max.