Customer Reviews

3D Photorealism Toolkit (Toolkits)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The principles set forth in Bill's book and his in-depth explanations will be invaluable to any 3D artist/creator/animator. Anyone doubting his abilities need only view the very impressive gallery at his Komodo Studios website to be convinced.

That said, I feel compelled to also note that I personally find Bill's prose style extremely annoying. Rather than staying on point and sticking to the technical, he goes out of his way to write in a very conversational style. A lot of "let's take a minute and stretch our legs before we begin on the next chapter, shall we?" type of stuff that I can't stand. And one paragraph in particular stood out. He uses the phrase, "let's take a look" four times within six sentences. Sorry, ex-English major venting.

But worse, if you want color versions of the black & white illustrations in the book, and the accompanying 3D mesh and map files to follow along with his examples, you have to download all 30MB of them from his publisher's website. To NOT include a CD as so many other reference books now do (including some of Bill's other books) is inexcusable, especially considering how visually-oriented his subject matter is.

In the final analysis, I'll not hesitate to buy more (if not all) of Bill's books. Again, the content was phenomenal, I'll just have to grin and bear the way it's presented.

Bill Fleming's 3D PHOTOREALISM TOOLKIT is a valuable resource for anyone with a 3D rendering program. The book is a guide to creating realistic images with whatever program you are currently using. I was enticed into buying this from good things I had read elsewhere, and I must say I was not disappointed. The software I use (Caligari's trueSpace) is often ignored by writers of these sorts of books, who tend to focus on 3D Studio Max of Lightwave. Even though Mr. Fleming obviously uses one of these packages (3DSMAX, is my guess), this book is quite usable for people with less expensive packages. Most of the book centers on how to percieve your world and then translate this into your images. This fact, is the most important element that makes the book appropriate for any 3D package: reality isn't platform specific. Along with the many concrete examples and tutorials given, this book absolutely indespensible to anyone wishing to take their images to a new level. Only one thing detracts from the experience of the book: the black-and-white images are less than useful in showing what the author is talking about. Thankfully, all the images are available in the internet to be downloaded in full color (along with sample textures and models for the tutorials). However, considering the download times for some of the zip packages, I would have preferred a CD-Rom of the information. This book is a thorough and engaging primer for those seeking to create more realistic 3D images. The only thing missing from the book is the experience of reality: something no book can offer.

Before you even think of buying this book, you should first read "Digital Lighting & Rendering" by Jeremy Birn. Birn's book covers many more subjects in much more detail. Fleming's book presents some useful theories about clutter. Other than that, compared to the Jeremy Birn book, "3D Photorealism Toolkit" has little to recommend it.

WOW! I have to admit that I though I had a handle on photorealism but I've realized that I had only scratched the surface. Bill has opened my eyes to the amazing details of reality, that make 3D images pop off the screen. I've read dozens of 3D books and never before has there been one so clearly written, with such stuning and detailed examples. After applying only a few of Bill's principles I can already see an amazing improvement in my images, and I thought they were pretty good to begin with!

If you don't have this book then you probably aren't realizing the full depth of reality you can achieve with 3D graphics.

You'll never look at reality the same way again!

If you think this is just another 3D book you're wrong, dead wrong. Bill takes you farther than anyone had gone before into the world of 3D photorealism. We're not talking a superficial cursory here but rather a thought provoking exploration of the principles behind creating photorealistic images.

I can't express the difference this book has made in my own work. In just a matter of days I was able to break through that barrier between an image that looks 3D and one that looks like a photograph. The irony is that the principles outlined are basically simple common sense - things that I already knew but never paid any attention to. He literally beat the concepts into my head without me knowing it. Bill has done an amazing job of breaking down the complexities of photorealism into an easy to absorb format.

As an example: After reading the book (straight though!) the first time, I went into my son's room to put him to ! bed and immediately started identifying Object Galaxies! It was completely unconscious. I just started looking around and noticing the chaos and order of reality. I'm staring at a pile of toys on his bed and analyzing their relation to each other and breaking down the chaos and order of the scene. Things that were once hidden by the illusion of acceptance were now clear and jumping out at me. Suddenly I'm looking at reality in a whole new light.

It doesn't matter which program you use because Bill has done a masterful job of creating a book that is generic to all programs, yet extraordinarily specific on the topic. It's also a great pleasure to read. This one won't put you to sleep like the typical 3D books. Bill bombards you with a never-ending supply of great trivia, tips and plenty of humorous anecdotes.

This book is an eye-opener and an absolute must for anyone who whishes to mimic reality in their 3D production. Buy it, read it, and apply the principles of 3D photore! alism to your work - you'll be glad you did!

... to sift through 300+ pages of. This book mixes a handful of helpful suggestions for the beginner in with a bunch of other, um, stuff. Not necessarily "wrong," mind you; just simplified to the point where it's no longer quite "right" either. Look closely at the cover before you buy (use Amazon's 'larger photo' link). If you are swept away by the detail in the shot -- the variety of surfaces, the color, the artful disorder -- this book may be for you. If you find yourself wondering where the light source is, why the image drops off into shadow at the top, or why everything still looks like plastic, prepare to be disappointed. The book relies very heavily on scenes like this -- amazingly detailed, but clearly drawn from the author's imaginaton. Many images and examples also suffer from "only-in-3D" artifacts, such as improbable camera placements or "unreal" light behavior. For a technically ept discussion of lighting, cameras, film, reflection, radiosity, and surfacing, I would recommend "[digital] Lighting and Rendering" by Jeremy Birn. For tips on clutter and surface aging I would visit (web site name); while the downloads are heavy, they at least present photorealism using real photographs.

Fantastic book. I am an editor with 3dnation and really found this book helpful to me when making my animations. He makes you think about what makes up the image and surrounding enviroment. What I really found valuable in this book is the chart in the back to make objects take on the characteristics in the real world.. want that pager to have a rubber surface..look it up page 316. Other animators usually do not want you to have this information. Bill does..

This book does indeed contain true insight into creating photorealism, and using Fleming's concepts, it is easy to surpass his own attempts at photorealism. This book would be, however, much more valuable to a 19 year old kid who just got his hands on TrueSpace than to a professional artist. If you are looking for a quick and helpful read about many of the same concepts, but presented more concisely and technically, read [digital] lighting and rendering, or so I believe it to be called.

I've only just started to get into the 3D Photorealism Toolkit book and it has completely changed the way I think about creating my images. I look forward to your next lot of books. Many, many thanks!

Yes, it is good knowledge in this book. Unfortaunally the writer tries to be funny all the time, which makes the book tiresome to read. And in my oppinion he is not funny at all. The tips are repeated several times. The knowledge could be told in a hundred pages instead of threehundred. The pictures often tends to be on another side than the text to it. I gladly excepts the pictures are in b&w though since it would have been too expencive in full color.