Inside Softimage 3D (Inside...)

Rating:
Summary: Best you can get... not the best it could be
Review: I have been using Softimage for about 2 years now, and have gone through all sorts of documentation and tutorials trying to unlock its secrets. Inside Softimage 3d gives an overall idea of what the software is about, and has some great tutorials. The problem is that Softimage is famous for offering cryptic and incomplete documentation. I felt that this book touched a lot of places and explained them well to a certain extent, but for a program that comes with, like 15 different manuals, it is spread a little thin. I was very happy that mental ray was covered and meta-clay modelling, but I really longed for some examples on how to use the shaders more effectively and PARTICLE! For more experienced 3D users, unfortunately, there are few other books to turn to, and I can't honestly say that it would be worth your money. If you are a beginner, you should definitely check it out, because with or without the manuals, you are going to need some help understanding the interface, and basic tools, for which this book is key.

Rating:
Summary: Best you can get... not the best it could be
Review: I have been using Softimage for about 2 years now, and have gone through all sorts of documentation and tutorials trying to unlock its secrets. Inside Softimage 3d gives an overall idea of what the software is about, and has some great tutorials. The problem is that Softimage is famous for offering cryptic and incomplete documentation. I felt that this book touched a lot of places and explained them well to a certain extent, but for a program that comes with, like 15 different manuals, it is spread a little thin. I was very happy that mental ray was covered and meta-clay modelling, but I really longed for some examples on how to use the shaders more effectively and PARTICLE! For more experienced 3D users, unfortunately, there are few other books to turn to, and I can't honestly say that it would be worth your money. If you are a beginner, you should definitely check it out, because with or without the manuals, you are going to need some help understanding the interface, and basic tools, for which this book is key.

Rating:
Summary: wanna teks book for softimage 3d ? buy this book...
Review: I'm a multimedia developer, and I'm doing 3d simulations as well, before I get this book, I have own the inside 3d studio max and I've read quater of the book, then I bought this book and started review the contents. Eventhough its a little bit expensive, I found that the book really teach me on "HOW TO USE THE SOFTIMAGE PROGRAM". The explainations are very clear and straightforward, it's like a teks book for the student and it's good for a newcomers. I'm now just stop reading the inside 3d studio max and continue reading this book. It offers a dozen of step by step instructions which are to me much more practical then the inside 3d studio max... I'm here to tell you that, using sofimage is much more easier than i thought before, if you already know about the 3d modeling concept and plan to learn softimage very fast just stop thinking ! buy this book as your reference. I'm now about half way into this book. But one more thing ! the cd-rom is really dissapointing...

Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: If you have a . . . version of Softimage, get this book to learn the mad skills necessary to get a kickin' job in a special effects shop, or to just learn what 3D is all about. The author is an expert on Softimage, and the full color (finally!) book gives you all the insight you need. It even teaches you the basics of 3D! Awesome. I love it. Too bad I'm a computer science major :-)

Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: If you have a . . . version of Softimage, get this book to learn the mad skills necessary to get a kickin' job in a special effects shop, or to just learn what 3D is all about. The author is an expert on Softimage, and the full color (finally!) book gives you all the insight you need. It even teaches you the basics of 3D! Awesome. I love it. Too bad I'm a computer science major :-)

Rating:
Summary: The Softimage beginner's bible. Almost perfect.
Review: Inside Softimage 3D, by anthony Rosano, is great. Rosano is a world class explainer. Step by step he covers almost every facet of the Softimage3D program. Using simple explainations and step by step tutorials, he demystifies Softimage, and shows how to get the most out of it. He covers every aspect of modeling, texturing, rendering, and animation in Softimage. He even covers complex topics like inverse kinematics. Also included in the book are insightful interviews with designers who use Softimage every day. The book is well designed, well bound, and gigantic. It has hundreds of pictures, all in full color, which illustrate the concepts Rosano tackles. When I started using Soft3D I was lost. I bought two videos on softimage that each cost a lot more than this book does. They were no help to me at all. One week after getting this book, however, I was rendereing and animating my own simple scenes. Now more far more experienced with the program, I still refer to the book from time to time. I cannot praise this book enough. Anthony Rosano has created what amounts to the Bible for beginner or intermidiate users of Softimage. The only problem with the book is that it doesn't cover particle systems and only skims the surface the Mental Ray rendering engine. Aside from that, however, this book is perfect.

Rating:
Summary: Great. Simply Great.
Review: This book is very amazing. I would classify this book for the "Novice-beginners". By that, I mean the people who have somewhat of an understanding of the tools already, but wish to increase their knowledge on them. That was the place that I was in when I bought the book, and I can say now that I know so much more! Buy the book, man. Oh, by the way, I also recommend Secrets Of Softimage by Jeremy Birn, and I just purchased "Character Kit" by Cineframe (havn't recieved it yet though)