Customer Reviews

Rhino Nurbs 3d Modeling

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

 

 

I really wanted to like this book. I purchased Rhino and worked through the tutorials. I was hoping to gain new insights into using the tool.

I found this book does a good job of showing where the various tools are located and describes how they differ from each other adequately. But you already get a feel for that by using the program and working through tutorials.

What the book is lacking is context, some explnation of why you would want to choose one tool or technique over a different one. While the early chapters show you how to manipulate point objects, polylines and surfaces, it is never really explained why this is useful.

The book would have been stronger if it had started by working with simple models and simple techniques and then built up to advanced modeling in the later chapters. Instead you are stuck wading through a command reference, and you leave the book with little more understanding of the product and techniques of modeling than you had prior to reading it.

This book can't seem to decide if it is for an advanced user, or a beginner. The first half of the book gives very brief explanations of the major features of the program. An a fairly experienced user, i understand what is written, but i feel that beginners would be confused. The explanations seem to be too simple, as if to not scare new users, but then not enough is written, which will leave new users asking questions. So in this respect, the first half of the book is neither adequate for beginners or pros. The second half of the book are tutorials. The dragon fly tutorial is appropriate for this book, because it is easy to follow, and teaches some essential modeling techniques. The camera tutorial was challenging, and might be too complex to follow for a new user, even if he/she read and understands the first half of the book. The coffee pot tutorial is EXTREMELY complex, and i feel is WAY too advanced for people reading this book. It just seems out of place with most of the book, which seems to assume that you're a novice. So in summary, i have mixed feelings about this book. The explanations of the features are too skimpy/simplistic, which left me unchallenged, but then some of the tutorials went over my head. But i still have to recommend it because it's the only retail book for Rhino available.

"Momma says if you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all." So, I'm going to try to stick by that old saying and keep this brief.

The tutorials are no more than rehashes of what is in the Rhino manual already. The book does not go into much detail with respect to advance techniques.

For what it's worth - save your money and buy the Rhino Training Manual, or just about anything else.

The title to this review says it all. I basically have had to "teach" myself in order to learn ANYTHING in Rhino. This book (which I recieved as a gift, THANK GOODNESS because if I had paid for it I would have felt the hole in my wallet) starts out ok in the first few chapters but then falls short dramatically of the intended goal. Later on it crudely shows you how to create a poorly designed figure of a boy and a skateboard that's laughably nothing more than just basic shapes slapped together. As for the section on creating a detailed human face/head from a plaster caste, let's be real here - HOW many people actually a)own a Microscribe digitizing tool at home, and b)have the time to smother a friend in Plaster to create a caste for digitizing a face? If this book had been set up properly it would have taught people how to create the face straight in Rhino with Nurbs or whatever else (again I'm lacking the proper terminology since this book has failed to even teach me THAT, so forgive me if I use the wrong terms) like other books teach people in HALF the time it would take to go through the digitizing process which seems more awkward than anything else.

Now I'm giving this book 2 stars but again it's merely because it DID help me get a knowledge of what the tools where for in the tool bars - but rest assured that's NOTHING you couldn't get from the Manuals. In short: The manuals which are vague to begin with (to this DAY I've yet to find someone who can admit to knowing how to apply the UV coordinates and texture map an object in Rhino entirely - and I've even asked this of the PRO's in the forums with no answer) are BETTER than this book and that's not saying much in it's defense.

Sorry to the author but this should have been written better instead of rushed to market. Now if we can get a RHINO BIBLE from the people that brought us the 3DS Max 4 bible...now ya talking!! :)

This book is nothing more than a rip off.

I am a moderate to advanced user of Rhino and I've found that the users manual acompanying Rhino is more than sufficient for a beginner, but lacks real substance on advanced techinque.

Thats where this book should come in, however it does not. This is a bad copy of what already came with Rhino.

Save your time and money for the better guides on their way.

This book is just for begginners or Beta users of Rhinoceros 3D program. Tutorials are too much easy to do and some tutorials are the same of the Program manual. Yes , it's well written but i'd prefer some tutorials more interesting.

This book is a joke, it shows hundreds of pages of worthless technical information with no reference to any practical modeling. Margaret should read 3d studio workshop by Duane Loose to see how a tutorial should be written. Save your cash.

I think that this book was great help for any beginner. I started with previous of Autocad and 3D Studio Max, so this book was easy to learn from. Easy to follow tutorials helped as well as an understanding of basic design. This book functions twofold as manual and tutorial. To those that wrote reviews saying it was difficult, like anything else in life understanding and knowledge doesn't fall in you laps. Trust me, only a fool with no patience couldn't understand this book. EASY. I look forward to a second edition that deals with more advanced modelling techniques and features of this great program.

Aside from the manual, I believe this to be the first book on Rhino and therefore, by necessity, addressing the casual user of Rhino. Therefore it has given the impression of being little more than the manual but this is ok.... P>The Rhino Literature is on its way. Quality of the Product warrants it.

I am personally tempted to sit down and produce a handbook for Rhino Programmers. If a little bit encouraged,... being of lazy disposition.