LightWave 3D 8 Revealed [Paperback]

Kelly L. Murdock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 18, 2005 | ISBN-10: 1592005829 | ISBN-13: 978-1592005826 | Edition: 1

Get ready to explore all that LightWave 3D 8 has to offer! Giving you a firm foundation, "LightWave 3D 8 Revealed" allows you to master concepts on both a technical and artistic level. Begin by examining the concept behind each task-the goal and the necessary features that are involved. Then go in depth with the objective of your task as you study examples and learn the steps necessary to complete it. Working your way through comprehensive, step-by-step lessons, you'll develop the confidence you need to create amazing animation and graphics using LightWave 3D 8.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Course Technology PTR; 1 edition (February 18, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592005829
• ISBN-13: 978-1592005826
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 9.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,665,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Text for my Class, December 13, 2005

By 

Phil Carpenter "freelance animator" (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: LightWave 3D 8 Revealed (Paperback)

I teach a college class in LightWave, and after skimming LightWave 3D 8 Revealed, immediately ordered it for the course. True, there are no in-depth tutorials or color pictures, but I've found that beginning students need more basic exercises. You can't build elaborate models if you can't even select points, and you can't animate if you don't know how to insert keyframes. Just as one has to practice finger excercises on the piano before playing Mozart, one has to learn polygons and layers before creating masterpieces.

LightWave Revealed is crammed with simple excercises demostrating virtually every feature in LightWave, both Modeler and Layout. Accompaning each excercise is a concise explanation of what the tool does. Yet the book is only slightly over 400 pages. How can one cover all the multitude of tools in so little space? The answer is that this book is all meat. There's no pointless fluff. It packs lots of information in the pages, yet there's no sense of cramming. The pacing is easy.

Also, the pictures are some of the best I've ever seen in any graphics manual. Where some books print images that seem blotched, these are crisp and clear. They're actually slightly clearer than the images in the reference manual.

The book is divided into 13 chapters, which breaks down very neatly for a one semester course. There's no CD with sample files - you have to download those from a web site. Still, that keeps the book's price to a very reasonable level.

For some reason, though, books on 3D animation always tend to leave out something. In this case, Inverse Kinematics gets shut out. Still, the book covers so many topics that I even learned something about tools which I rarely use.

If you want descriptions of complete projects in LightWave, you'll have to look elsewhere. But for the beginning student, I haven't found a better introduction.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A little vague...even for a beginner., April 3, 2006

By 

kenneth dyal "kennymcdyal" (Orlando, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: LightWave 3D 8 Revealed (Paperback)

Nothing goes in-depth at all. I know it is intended for beginners but it's still pretty weak in my opinion. I understand the intention is to show you the path and leave the rest to you, but it barely even lets you know there is a path.

I would personally recommend one of Timothy Albee's books for learning lightwave tools from the beginning, as I have read his books as well. As a complete reference as well as slightly more in-depth training, go with Dan Ablan's Inside Lightwave series books.

I honestly feel I have wasted my money in buying this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For Beginners Only, March 26, 2006

By 

GuanoLad (Malvern, VIC Australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: LightWave 3D 8 Revealed (Paperback)

I had no idea this book was really intended for Beginners to Lightwave - and I mean Absolute Beginners. The writer even admits that they have only been using Lightwave for a few months before writing this book, so anything more advanced than telling you what some of the buttons and options available refer to is beyond the scope of the book.

And it's quite misleading - for example, the amazing image of the building that is throughout the book on each chapter heading page would be impossible to create using the information this book provides - you'd need several years more experience and learning before getting to be good enough for that.

A disappointing purchase.