Customer Reviews

3D Studio Max Applied

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

 

 

This books has good tutorials and explanations about topics like, methods of object creation/modeling, textures and lights. This is what you have to understand before making a scene or animation. You can also work with animations, if you pc is good enough. This book gives what it takes to start working or work better with 3DSMax fx. By the way, the book is about 3D Studio Max 1, but since the way lights, materials and objects work is the same, it's a good choice.

Go to #3dsmax at Undernet if you need help.

This IS the book to get if you are a biginner with MAX! I bought Inside 3D Studio MAX Vol. 1 about a week ago. I now know that 3D Studio MAX Applied is the book i should have bought. I learned more in the first fifty pages than i did in the two- hundred of Inside 3ds!! Excellent!

This is a 4 stars book, but is outdated.

My old commentary:
With practic examples and tutorials since the beggining, it teaches in a easy way.

I read the book and saw that the book teaches you more of a CAD style MAX than the MAX that an animator would like to see. If you want to design kitchens and bathrooms, this book is for you. If you want to design or animate characters...move on to something else.

More visuals would help, but overall I thought the book was good at re-aquainting an old user with the new layout. I'm not sure how this book would fare for brand new users, however, most books covering this topic can be quite daunting to the new user.

I have been using 3DS since version 2 (5 years now??) and for the past year have been teaching a class on 3D Studio MAX at a local Community College. I chose to use the Applied book as my required text because it was one of the very few tutorial based books on the market. I am firm believer that this is the type of skill that needs to be learned as a hands on experience. Before I critique the book, or its authors, please let me applaud their effort and approach. It's a great concept that needs refinement. My criticisms are: 1. The book dives right into some heavy concepts much too quickly.....I feel that it would have been better to structure the projects to build the readers skills in a logical sequence (IE; 2D, then 3D, then lighting, then materials, etc.) 2. The book sometimes seems to miss a step or two in a process and can leave the reader exceptionally frustrated and/or hopelessly lost. 3. I feel that there should be more "check points"...IE; here's what you screen should look like at this point. 4. Could have given the reader better visual help. Show the reader which icon your refering to ?! I think that you need to assume the lowest common denominator here. 5. As a course text....it doesn't really address the biggest issues an animator faces. Planning and the thought process ?! PROS: 1. You kept the tutorials short in length - which is good for someone trying to learn this in their "free" time. 2. Good use of highlighting terms and definitions. It's tough to teach the language of animation. 3. Good examples - at least they're fun and show a good cross section of uses (Arch, Eng, Legal, Fantasy, etc.

If your like I am, I jumped in and tried to teach myself 3D MAX from scratch. Although, I'm able to do quite a bit, I missed out on some the finer features as well as some basics. This book got me up to speed quickly and can be used a textbook. I highly recommend it! Arthur

Not too bad of a tutoriall for the beginner. I like the implementation of something neat and flashy for the very first lesson. This gives one some confidence to go on. Pretty easy to understand. Would buy another tutorial from authors.