Customer Reviews

3D Studio Max R3 (Visual QuickStart Guide)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is ideal for MAX beginners and intermediate users who need a well-organized and easy-to-understand guide to all aspects of the program. Users who are frustrated with MAX's own cryptic documentation will love this book and will keep it handy for quick answers. As a teacher of the program myself, I know this book will be especially valuable to those who are just beginning to learn MAX.

Prior to buying this book I had absolutely no prior knoledge of the 3D Studio Max Software. So basicly I was an extreme beginner when I started looking for a book. I happened to see this book and just flipping through it my first impression was that it was very straight forward and easy to understand. After buying the book and working my way through it I quickly realized how great this book was. Not only does it show you step by step verbally how to do something, but it also has a screen shot of HOW it should look on the screen. For someone who is trying to understand how the program works and where to go to get the options you are looking for this book is for you. Toward the back of the book it goes into some of the more advanced features so I would suggest this book especialy for the beginner and also for the intermidiate level user. Good Luck.

VERY WELL WRITEN! This book starts with the basics then moves to the more advanced features. It is set up to be used as a reference as well as a learning tool. I must say Michele did a excellent job with this book. The only down fall I can see may be that some of the terminology used could be a bit confusing for beginners, but she takes the time to explain. I recommend this book to beginners and as a reference to more advanced designers. I walked away from this book feeling that I had a good understanding of the program. I did not feel that there was allot of unanswered questions! GOOD JOB!

This book is designed for beginners who want to learn how to use 3DS MAX. It is not the typical feature reference. Structured more like a course, the writing, layout, and instructional design of the book are first rate.

This book is a great resource for self-learners and for classroom use.

Very clear step-by-step instructions. Discretely separates topics and sub-topics.

Basic stuff, but worth EVERY PENNY for a beginner. Everytime I think, "Hmmm, how would I do this?" it is in the book and easy to find.

Look at the price! Buy it!

If you want to begin learning 3d Studio Max, this is THE book. I still reference it now. The examples are short and easy. No long explanations. By the end of the book, you will be able to make terrains, render fog, etc. This will not get you into Character Studio, or advanced topics which you will have to find in another book, but this book will get you more than started. I bought 3d Studio Max r3 Bible and it left me confused. This book started me on my way. There were a few minor mistakes in the book, but not enough to depreciate the quality.

Clear, simple, easy to follow! Will get anyone kickstart the basics of the application in a week or so. However, do remember it's for a beginner's reference. This book does not cover advanced animations or kinematics related animations. Otherwise, still good for beginners.

First of all, you have to love the fact that this book is not some huge 1000+ page user guide that will confuse the heck out of you. This is a well written cocpact user guide that starts you from install. If you are a newbie to 3dsmax, I strongly recommend you to review this book.

I'm a beginning CGI artist who recently purchased 3D Studio Max. I was looking for a basic beginners guide. I expected a good beginners book because I own other peachpit press books and they are wonderful. Taking one look I was disappointed because this book didn't offer very much. Half of the stuff discussed in the book I learned by just playing around in the program. There are several books that are better then this one. I even found the tutorial book that comes with the program more helpful. Your better off spending a few extra bucks and getting something with some substance.

The book itself is well written and does give a VERY general overview of the program, but after reading it, you are left wondering, "Now what?" There are no intermediate to advanced topics discussed in the book such as NURBS and particles, and topics that she does discuss are not explained in detail. At least if she addressed advanced topics, then a novice would know what he CANNOT do based on the information in the book, which is just as important as knowing what you can do.

I've found that I must spend a great deal of time tinkering with functions to get them to work at all, such as boolean functions and rendering animation, because the author does not state critical steps necessary to make them work (such as typing the name of the second object in the entry box for bolean functions, or typing a name to save an animation file in the reder dialogue box BEFORE you render it), but which she maybe taking completely for granted. In the classroom, Ms. Matossian could simply mention this to her students when they ask her these simple questions, but a book on fundamentals should be able to stand on its own. Because of such oversights, the book fails to give a beginner a solid foundation. New users (like myself) will find that you will soon have to buy another book that covers both basic an intermediate topics, which I wish I had done in the first place. I was quite frustrated when I found that, after reading the book, I still cannot create a tree, or bevel a chest properly. (For some people, a tree might pass as being a green ball on top of a brown cylinder, but since I am an artist, I refuse to be satisfied with such a kindergarten interpretation of images in reality.) For the sake of simplicity and speed, the book focuses on creating and modifying objects with the mouse, and as an after thought, mentions keyboard entry. Since this is so, the author does not discuss the variables in the modifier roll-outs, so a novice becomes neither proficient with the mouse (because if its inherent lack of accuracy) or the keyboad entry (since it is covered vaguely). This washed out compromising approach is typical of the entire book which leaves the novice feeling powerless to control or modify simple primitives with any degree of accuracy. She also mentions nothing about the steps or thought process necessary to plan even a simple project.

Realistically, the purpose of such books is to serve as perpetual reference material. The author could have gone two ways with this book: she could have covered all topics--including advanced ones--in a general way, or she could have covered the fundamentals in detail. She does neither. As a result, the book quickly makes itself obsolete and will likely collect dust when I find something more comprehensive in dealing with both fundamental and intermediate functions.

At least it wasn't too expensive.

A final note: customer reviews influence me as to whether or not to buy a book, and because of the high rating, I bought this one. However, for your own protection, I suggest you take reviews by enthusiastic reviewers who have "just started reading" or "haven't yet finished" or "just recieved" a book with a grain of salt. The measure of worth for a reference book is how much you refer to it after you've read it, not how excited you are when it first arrives.

Thanks and good luck to you all!