Customer Reviews

Softimage 3D Design Guide with CDROM: Everything You Need to Master 3D Modeling and Animation with Softimage

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

 

 

I rated this what I did because it IS exactly what it says it is- a design guide. If you are a rank amateur, you will get a lot out of this book that you would scratching your head for hours or days trying to figure out using the manuals alone. If you are artistically inclined, you will like the included artwork which will give you an idea of what is possible with the program.

The exercises definitely give you a familiarity with the software which is important if you ever want to be productive. If this was a book full of tutorials, you may very well become an expert on creating a few specific types of things, but what they did here is give you a straightforward explanation of the various functions of the menu items and such, which goes a longer way in making you proficient in the entire package instead of a few select areas. It's like the old saying, "give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day...teach a man how to fish, and he'll eat for a lifetime".

They inspire you to create your own work instead of reproducing someone else's and gaining nothing in the process.

I just wrapped up going through some of the chapters, and this is a very nice resource. The sample databases have some cool Viewpoint models, fully boned and textured, that alone is worth the cost of the book. Some of the basics stuff is fluffy, but the real projects are very cool. Theres alot of hard won workflow info presented that if you're new to Soft you'll greatly appreciate. This isn't ugly ducklings and fake exercises. Each project results in a useful model or animation. The dolphin is great! I would have liked to see more detailed imagery and the CD has some naming inconsistencies, but overall you can't go wrong with this book.

This is an excellent book for Softimage 3D users to own. I think that all of you Softimage 3D users should get it. This is not the type of book you use to learn out of. It is meant to be just as the title says. It is a DESIGN GUIDE. That is the point that too many of you are missing. It 's meant to be an enertaining and informative resource for learning the principles of Softimage 3D design, not a book full of tutorials. The information in this book is invaluable, and will greatly improve your work. So far, the two Softimage 3D books on the market are both must haves. Don't boot up without this book by your side to aid in design!

The title "Softimage 3D Design Guide" shouldn't be taken literally - it's not about design, it's a book for beginners (or newcomers to Softimage who may have used other 3D programs) that teaches you a lot of the basics of the program. The first part of the book is a survey of general information about Softimage, with chapters 1 & 2 covering some basic modelling functions, chapter 3 on materials, chapter 4 on textures, and chapter 5 on lights. Chapter 6, Tools, goes into more detail on several different beveling functions, plus proportional modelling and several plug-ins. Chapter 7 gives a brief overview of Mental Ray, and Chapter 8 gives an overview of Particle. In the center are several pages with color printing, since the rest of the book is black and white. Then the rest of the book, Chapters 9-14, are tutorial projects: Dolphin Animation, Boggle Interface, Ant Walk, Car Walk, and City, which walk a user through a lot of different commands. By the time you've done these, you'll be ready to run a lot of the main features of Softimage, although most of the functions covered seem to also be covered in tutorials that ship with Softimage. The appendix has a number of pointers to sources of Softimage-related information on the net. I haven't looked through the CD-ROM that comes with the book, although the list of contents says "Softimage 3D not included." (Drat!) It seems up-to-date as of version 3.7, although it was not updated for SP1. The book is not without a few minor mistakes, although they would probably not bother the beginning users who will be reading it. Overall, I would recommend this book to beginners who are starting to learn the software by themselves, and want more material to study, or for people getting started with Softimage without their own set of manuals. After 10 years on the market, I think it's great to finally have some books coming out about Softimage, and this book does have a niche to fill.

I bought Softimage 3D Design Guide, because it was the only book (print form) available for Softimage at the time (December, 1997). Reading This book is like reading a novel, and you have to keep reading until you finish the whole book before you can have a general picture of what the book's tutorial is tring to teach. It didn't explain the general interface of Softimage, and hardly mention the concept behind the powerful Softimage. Things are spreading throught out chapters. If you want to find a command that you learned in the previous chapter, you will find yourself in the "twilight zone". For a technical book to explain the magnitute of Softimge- it requires in depth review of Softimage's interface; installation and preparation; concepts and theories; modeling tehniques; animation techniques; textures and materials; lighting and atmospheres; cameras and motion; rendering and post production; script and plug-ins; a list of commands and definitions. This book barely explains half of what I mention in the above. Although Softimage 3D Design Guide has a beautiful cover and in glossy print, it's content is a sharp contrast to it's cover. I don't recommend this book, because I rather read a boring manual.

cd rom is incomplete - much is poorly organized - too basic

i believe basic functions like how to save a file were repeated too often and important steps such as a corrept procedure for model swapping (1 example of many) which doesn't leave out the most important step were frustrating.

many of the files referred to on the cd rom weren't where they were supposed to be or weren't there at all.

over all a really hard to work with book comprised of some good ideas and some good elaboration on a few poorly documented softimage features.

very low rating very much a waste of time and i don't feel like i learned much at all.

i feel like i did waste a certain percentage of that money.

i wrote this review so that someone considering the purchase might hopefully notice a low star rating and read a review to help with the purchase decision.

seriously if you are wanting a book to teach you softimage i just don't think this is going to help at all.

i have no idea who ! this book would be ideal for.

my suggestion = digital char. animation by George M. an attractively simple book on a not so simple subject.

This is a good book if you are after a few new FX to include in you work. There are some simple things in there, such as basic NURBS modelling, but over all this book assumes you know what you are doing and teaches you some new tricks. Once learnt these become very useful in general and can be put to good use in bigger and better projects.

I am rather disappointed... It is as though the authors were in a hurry that they forgot to explain why and how some things work... I guess now I AM really praying that "Inside Softimage 3D" will not disappoint me and that it will explain everythings clearly...

I was really quite disheartened when I got hold of this book, I thought it was going to reveal some of the magic that softimage holds, but it didn't. It covers the basics of softimage and general computer modelling but thats it! If you cannot lay yours hands on the manuals and your a beginner, then give it a go. But if you do then use them and wait for "inside softimage". Oh it has some nice pictures as well.

Much as I would like to give it a score of 9, but I feel that this book is insufficent in explaning some of the things in there. As I read through it, I feel that I have more "why" than the answers this book had for me. However, this book IS wonderful in guiding you through SI. For that, I can say this book is very much like a strategy guide or a hint book for an RPG game for computer or PlayStation. And certainly, that I would give it a score of 9 out of 10.