LightWave 3D Advanced Modeling: Project Viper

LightWave 3D Advanced Modeling, Project Viper is sure to be a best seller just like our Vehicle modeling series. This video from Kevin Phillips contains more than 6 hours of training on modeling that will improve your workflow and show you easy ways to model advanced objects. Kevin walks you though modeling a Battlestar Galactica Viper showing you various tools or methods that he uses as he creates ship, details, and complex objects. Kevin's methods will show you faster more efficient methods of modeling. Whether your a beginner or an intermediate modeler, this video has something for everyone.

The Essential Blender: The Official Guide to Blender

No Starch Press releases The Essential Blender: The official guide to Blender, the powerful, cross-platform, and free 3D design and animation tool.
No Starch Press has a long-standing relationship with the Blender Foundation, the non-profit organization behind the Blender software. The Essential Blender (No Starch Press, Oct 2007, $44.95, ISBN 978-1-59327-166-4) is the most recent product of that cooperation. "I've always been amazed by the Blender community's base of knowledge and desire to teach," said No Starch Press Publisher Bill Pollock. "They wowed us with their Blender 2.3 Guide and they've done it again with The Essential Blender. This is without a doubt the comprehensive and definitive guide to using the latest version of Blender."Blender is a free and open source 3D design and animation tool that is a real alternative to commercially available 3D design software. A cross-platform software package with millions of downloads annually, Blender is now one of the world's most popular 3D design tools. And although Blender is free, it's serious software--intended for design professionals and others motivated to become 3D artists. That also means that Blender can be just a bit more complex than your basic image editor.
As with prior Blender Foundation publications, amateurs and professionals alike will find that The Essential Blender provides them with the hands-on knowledge they need to help integrate Blender into their work and begin to master its powerful creation tools. Those new to 3D design will find an introductory chapter with relevant terminology and concepts. Then, following a tour of Blender's 3D modeling, animation, and rendering capabilities, readers will learn how best to use Blender for:
- Object manipulation and animation
- Mesh and sculpt modeling and shape animation
- Materials and texturing (including UV unwrapping)
- Lighting and rendering
- Particle animation
- Character rigging and animation
- Node-based composition
The Essential Blender is the product of the combined expertise of key members of the Blender community, including Blender's founder Ton Roosendaal, coupled with the experience of editor Roland Hess. The information in The Essential Blender is sure to help readers at all levels unlock their artistic potential and get the most out of this seriously powerful--and fun--software.

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Maya Visual Effects: The Innovator's Guide

If you need to create stunning effects on a tight deadline for finicky clients and demanding art directors, this book is for you. Go from Post-it Notes to positively dazzling with the unique insights and practical advice in this innovative guide from a working professional Maya artist. Need to create plasmatic energy by lunch? Animate a field of sprouting daisies before tomorrow’s meeting? Fashion a force field by Friday? With Maya’s flexible toolset and the unique tutorials in this book, you’ll learn how to solve real-world problems, improvise, and finish your professional assignments on time and with flair.

- Animate a zombie hand transformation, UFO glow, and streaking energy with textures
- Make a tentacle shake and slither using expressions and joints
- Use Paint Effects to create twitching nerves and bacterial hair
- Split crystals with Rigid Body Dynamics
- Animate a collapsing rope bridge using Maya Hair
- Master particle instancing and collision effects
- Get a handle on scripting with MEL

Advanced Maya Texturing and Lighting

The art of texturing and lighting is a crucial aspect of any movie, game, or other animation project. Now you can learn the secrets of professional animators, mine powerful and often hidden features in Maya, and achieve amazing results with the detailed information you'll find in Advanced Maya Texturing and Lighting.
Written by an industry veteran whose texturing and lighting has been featured in such films as Mortal Kombat, Antz, Shrek, and many others, this in-depth book focuses on advanced techniques used in real-world production environments. You'll find out how to add complexity to your work with custom shaders, high-level texture mapping, a full understanding of lighting concepts, and an unparalleled exploration of Maya's Hypershade window. The book takes a detailed look at rendering in Maya, including everything from batch rendering to global illumination workflow and HDRI techniques. In gorgeous full color and full of tips, techniques, and workflow ideas straight from the studio, this valuable guide doesn't just teach, it shows you how to achieve the same dazzling and rapid results as the pros.
The enclosed CD features exclusive content, including two bonus chapters, Maya scene files, custom shading networks, textures, the Maya Personal Learning Edition, and files for the practical tutorials, which were designed from an industry perspective and refined in the classroom.

- Understand lighting theory, history, application, and technique.
- Painlessly raytrace with Maya Software and mental ray.
- Get the most out of Maya shadows and post-process effects.
- Master Global Illumination, Final Gather, mental ray shaders, HDRI, and normal mapping.

Mastering AutoCAD Architecture 2008

This concise manual goes beyond a simple rundown of tools and commands to examine and explain the process of creating professional-quality building design projects using the newest release of AutoCAD Architecture (formally Autodesk Architectural Desktop). Content focuses squarely on the rationale and practicality of the software through life-tested, practical lessons that emphasize the "why" as well as the "how" in order to help professionals complete their projects successfully. Text and lessons combine to deliver a clear sense of the value of the tools introduced as well each tool's potential. The result is a fully up-to-date resource that shortens the learning curve and builds confidence and comfort in using the software as a tool to create architecture.

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SOFTIMAGE | XSI 5: The Official Guide

Softimage XSI Revealed provides a thorough introduction to XSI for the serious 3D animation student. SoftimageXSI offers an awesome rendering system. This book shows readers how they can take advantage of it. It teaches beginning students everything they need to know to render out exceptional frames. It also provides comprehensive information about textures--how they are projected onto models, and how to use them to modulate bump, transparency, reflectivity and other surface properties. Readers will explore lighting and will use caustics, global illumination, and final gathering to add realism and subtle beauty to scenes. They will also learn how the pros use motion blur and field rendering to put the finished touches on animation for TV and film. From using the RenderTree to create a believable metal material, to complex effects using output shaders, this book is a must for all students serious about understanding the formidable rendering power of SoftimageXSI.

Learning Autodesk Maya 2008

Develop out of this world modeling and animation skills with Learning Autodesk Maya 2008 I The Modeling & Animation Handbook. Follow clear, step-by-step tutorials to understand the modeling and animation stages of production using artwork from the LAIKA short film Moongirl. Learn to build models with a variety of surface types and then make them move with a wide range of animation techniques directly from the makers of Autodesk Maya. You'll learn to make sound decisions from the beginning, to save yourself unnecessary challenges further down the pipeline. You'll learn how to model with polygons, NURBS and Subdivision Surfaces; understand skeletons and joint orientation; work with inverse kinematics, skin your characters; animate a complete scene including props, constraints, and characters; and much more. The bonus DVD includes free models from Turbo Squid, Autodesk Maya reference guides, and scene files to help you breathe life into your creations.

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ShaderX3: Advanced Rendering with DirectX and OpenGL (Shaderx Series)

Welcome to the latest volume of ShaderX! This all-new collection is packed with insightful new techniques, innovative approaches to common problems, and practical tools and tricks that will help you in all areas of shader programming. All of the articles evolved from the work and experiences of industry pros, and all of the sections were edited by shader programming experts. With the rapid advances in DirectX, OpenGL, and graphics cards, vertex and pixel shaders are becoming more widely used in high-end graphics and game development. The challenges of mastering these techniques can be daunting for new programmers, but with this comprehensive collection of ready-to-use techniques, they'll get up to speed quickly. And for the more experienced programmers, they'll find insights and tricks that will improve their efficiency and prevent redundancy. If you are involved in shader programming, this is a must-have reference for your collection.

About the AuthorWolfgang is a Senior Graphics Programmer in the core technology group at Rockstar San Diego. He is the editor of the ShaderX book series and the author of Programming Vertex and Pixel Shaders. Wolfgang is a frequent speaker at conferences throughout the world and publishes articles in a variety of journals and on several websites. He is also a speaker at the Game Developer's Conference in March 2007, and is a Microsoft DirectX MVP.

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Introducing ZBrush

Learn to sculpt detailed, lush, organic models with the hottest tool on the 3D market - ZBrush - and this step-by-step guide. Introducing ZBrush is the ideal initiation to this revolutionary software. Starting with the basics, it builds from the ground up, combining straightforward text with practical examples that make it fun to learn ZBrush's core tools and concepts. Professional animator and ZBrush artist Eric Keller walks you through the hands-on tutorials and teaches you the skills you need to create hyper-realistic digital models like a pro. From creating illustrations in 2.5 dimensions to sculpting with digital clay, you'll master ZBrush's powerful tools for creating fantastic images and 3D models for use in animation programs like 3ds Max and Maya. Whether your new to the ZBrush interface or a CG veteran looking for the latest techniques, Introducing ZBrush will help you fulfill your artistic potential by giving you the power to create stunning digital art with a distinctively fine art feel.

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Essential CG Lighting Techniques with 3ds Max

This book and DVD package, co-branded with Autodesk, presents the concepts and techniques you need to create convincing CG lighting effects with 3ds Max; a vital skill for any 3D artist creating models, characters and CG environments. The stunning color illustrations throughout the book illustrate just what you can achieve, and the tutorial lessons will help you to do so.

Every ounce of theory is backed up with practical tutorials, using the free demo versions of 3ds Max and Combustion supplied on the companion DVD. The tutorials take you from the fundamentals of lighting, right through to advanced techniques. This new edition features new sections on radiosity techniques, rendering with mental ray, and compositing.

* A one-stop master class in CG lighting with 3ds Max co-published with Autodesk
* Discover both the art and the science of lighting CG models and environments
* Companion DVD includes tutorial files and bonus demo software to help you take your skills further

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Building Interactive Worlds in 3D: Virtual Sets and Pre-visualization for Games, Film & the Web

In Building Interactive Worlds in 3D readers will find turnkey tutorials that detail all the steps required to build simulations and interactions, utilize virtual cameras, virtual actors (with self-determined behaviors), and real-time physics including gravity, collision, and topography. With the free software demos included, 3D artists and developers can learn to build a fully functioning prototype. The book is dynamic enough to give both those with a programming background as well as those who are just getting their feet wet challenging and engaging tutorials in virtual set design, using Virtools. Other software discussed is: Lightwave, and Maya. The book is constructed so that, depending on your project and design needs, you can read the text or interviews independently and/or use the book as reference for individual tutorials on a project-by-project basis. Each tutorial is followed by a short interview with a 3D graphics professional in order to provide insight and additional advice on particular interactive 3D techniques?from user, designer, artist, and producer perspectives.

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Deconstructing the Elements with 3ds Max, Second Edition

Get the most realistic effects from 3ds Max without having to spend more on plug-ins!Boost your effects skill-set with this 3ds Max workshop. Tutorial lessons give you hands-on experience in creating realistic fire, earth, air and water effects. Updated to demonstrate production techniques suitable for any version of 3ds Max, this new edition is co-published by Autodesk Media and Entertainment, and includes new tutorials on entering the Earth's atmosphere, glaciers, lava eruptions and a Badlands landscape.Inspirational color images cover every page of the book as the author shares his professional techniques and workflow processes.

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3ds Max 9 Essentials: Autodesk Media and Entertainment Courseware

Bring 3D film effects to the big screen. Generate realistic characters for a top-selling game. Create rich and complex design visualization. Autodesk® 3ds Max® 9 lets you maximize your productivity and tackle challenging animation projects. And this book, developed by Autodesk insiders, lets you master the essential tools and techniques.

Learn how to use 3ds Max 9 confidently in a production environment. Each chapter of this book has a series of theory lessons and one lab. The theory lessons introduce you to the functional areas of 3ds Max and explain these features with short simple examples. The lab demonstrates a practical application of the theory. Combined, each chapter delivers a sound understanding of the functions, features and principles behind 3ds Max 9, and shows you how to apply this knowledge to real-world situations.

* A hands-on introduction to 3ds Max 9 from the Autodesk development team
* Tutorials and exercises designed for flexibility and ease of use
* Companion CD with tutorial media including support models, materials, textures, and
animations

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Maya Secrets of the Pros, 2nd Edition

Featuring completely original material from a new team of Maya know-it-alls, this second edition of an award-winning book is sure to inform and inspire even the most seasoned Maya user. In this distinctive Maya Press title, a cadre of professionals led by two acclaimed Maya pros, reveal the precious secrets they’ve learned using Maya on high-profile CG projects such as The Matrix, Shrek 2, and X-Men.

In nine unique and compelling chapters, you’ll get detailed and sophisticated instruction on how to:

-Enhance fluidity and realism by generating complex motion with Maya Cloth
-Apply non-photorealistic rendering styles that mimic the look of comic books and impressionist paintings
-Emulate real-world camera motion, from dolly-and-pan movement to varying levels of camera shake
-Produce natural lighting effects using global illumination and image based lighting
-Ensure smooth and accurate transfer of character data from modeling to rigging to animation to lighting
-Control IK chains, deformers, and surfaces with Maya Hair's dynamic curves
-Use dynamics effectively to create flexible objects and add secondary effects to enhance your animation
-Use Maya’s built-in noise function to produce powerful effects similar to those used in “The Matrix” trilogy
-Create a human face from a conceptual sketch using subdivision surfaces

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Expert CAD Management: The Complete Guide

An Indispensable Resource Packed with Practical, Real-World Advice
Get the strategies you need for successful CAD management in this one-of-a-kind resource. You'll learn the basics—such as how to assign tasks, set budgets, and formulate ROI—and delve into more complex issues. How does one prioritize? How are standards best formulated, written, and introduced? Is the goal to do projects faster or cheaper—or both? What are the common myths of CAD management and how can you debunk them? Full of savvy insights, techniques, strategies, and examples from the field, this practical book will broaden your technical, business, and management skills both in and out of the world of CAD.
* Assess the capabilities of your people and resources
* Formulate, write, and communicate in-house and vendor standards
* Establish a budget, find cost savings, and determine ROI
* Manage intellectual property, file security, and document control
* Get involved with network and IT planning
* Sell your ideas to management and end users

You'll also find configuration tips for specific engineering environments such as manufacturing, AEC, and civil engineering, as well as for specific software applications including AutoCAD®, SolidWorks®, and more.

"You're sure to find helpful techniques within this book to make your CAD management role more effective and productive." —Lynn Allen, Autodesk Technical Evangelist and Cadalyst columnist

"Robert Green draws on many years of real-world experience as a CAD manager and consultant to deliver recommendations that work for any size and type of organization. He's the top resource for CAD managers looking to increase performance and efficiency." —Sara Ferris, technology writer and editor, former editor of Cadalyst

"With over 20 years of experience, Robert Green is an accomplished expert who understands the issues and pressures revolving around CAD management. He has developed a strategy that is clear, concise, and direct in solving those issues." —Matt Murphy, speaker, trainer, and author, ACADventures

"In order to be effective as a CAD Manager, you must stay current and knowledgeable, and Robert Green has the subject covered for you." —Shaan Hurley, Worldwide MyFeedback Programs Manager, Autodesk, Inc.

"His timely tools and ideas have consistently placed him as one of the highest rated instructors and consultants in the Autodesk community, and now, we get a recap of those tools and ideas presented in a book. FINALLY!! Fantastic!!" —Dan Dolan, President, CADLearning by 4D Technologies

"Robert Green has a great combination of philosophy, real life experience, and raw data that can give you the insight and advantage over your competition." —Yoshi Honda, President, Pacific CADD Services, Inc

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Tips and Tricks For Using AutoCAD 2009

Learn how our industry-specific software helps you analyze the real-world performance of your designs. All before you build a thing. Plus, get the chance to ask our experts the questions that directly affect your business and your projects. It's all possible with Autodesk 2009 software and all at Autodesk Live.

Lynn Allen, Cadalyst columnist and worldwide Autodesk Technical Evangelist, speaks to more than 30,000 users each year. For the past fifteen years she has written a monthly column in Cadalyst magazine called "Circles and Lines" and is the voice behind Cadalyst's "Tips and Tricks Tuesdays".

Lynn started using AutoCAD software with Release 1.4, over 20 years ago, and got her start by teaching at the corporate and collegiate level for 12 years. A sought-after public speaker with a unique comedic style, Lynn has served as the Autodesk University emcee for ten years and is always one of the highest rated speakers. Her latest book is entitled AutoCAD Professional Tips and Techniques.

AutoDesk 2008 ISBN 9780470120491 English 32 pages PDF 5.04 MB

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Better Game Characters by Design: A Psychological Approach

Games are poised for a major evolution, driven by growth in technical sophistication and audience reach. Characters that create powerful social and emotional connections with players throughout the game-play itself (not just in cut scenes) will be essential to next-generation games. However, the principles of sophisticated character design and interaction are not widely understood within the game development community. Further complicating the situation are powerful gender and cultural issues that can influence perception of characters. Katherine Isbister has spent the last 10 years examining what makes interactions with computer characters useful and engaging to different audiences.

This work has revealed that the key to good design is leveraging player psychology: understanding what's memorable, exciting, and useful to a person about real-life social interactions, and applying those insights to character design. Game designers who create great characters often make use of these psychological principles without realizing it. Better Game Characters by Design gives game design professionals and other interactive media designers a framework for understanding how social roles and perceptions affect players' reactions to characters, helping produce stronger designs and better results.

* Includes extensive illustrations, game examples, interviews with game designers, and clips from popular games on the DVD to illustrate concepts and best practices

* Uses a non-technical approach appropriate for artists and designers as well as developers

* Introduces and explains key concepts from psychology and social science, including cultural and gender specific roles and perceptions, and includes design exercises to explore ideas further

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Realistic Architectural Visualization with 3ds Max and mental ray

Bring new realism to your visualizations with a command of the 3ds Max toolset. Three step-by-step tutorials demonstrate exterior and interior, day and night lighting scenes. You learn the nuts and bolts of importing models from CAD programs, lighting, applying mr shaders and materials, and optimizing your renders. Mental ray is made simple with an accessible description of its tools.
* Color reproductions illustrate a wide array of subtle techniques.
* mental ray is made easy with accesible demonstations.

From the Back Cover
Bring new realism to your visualizations with a command of the mental ray toolset in 3ds Max. mental ray is made simple with an accessible description of its tools and workflows. You can learn the nuts and bolts of applying materials, lighting, and optimizing your renders.Step-by-step tutorials lavishly illustrate the processes and techniques required to produce renderings of existing models. Interior and exterior projects demonstrate how to:

*Prepare materials for interior and exterior scenes in light-free enviornments for efficient rendering
* Light a daytime interior scene including indirect illumination, color bleeding, and mr lights
* Light a nighttime interior scene including light decay, lume shaders, exposure controls, and rendering light tests
* Light an exterior scene in daylight with mr Sun and mr Sky objects
* Create a hazy exterior setting with mr Physical Sky and an applied bitmap
* Efficiently work a complex scene to reserve time consuming complete renders for the end
Valuable appendices provide direction on trasnferring CAD files from AutoCAD and Revit to 3ds Max, creating caustics and flash effects, HDRI, Render passes and Bucket rendering, common errors and the process of creating the high resolution image as seen on the front cover.

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Introduction to AutoCAD 2008: 2D and 3D Design

Taking the reader step-by-step through the features of AutoCAD, Alf Yarwood provides a practical, structured course of work matched to the latest release of this software. After introducing first principles and the creation of 2D technical drawings, he goes on to demonstrate the construction of 3D solid and surface model drawings and rendering in the second part. All the new features of the 2008 software release are taken into account, in particular the new workspace for 2D drafting, faster rendering, new rendering methods, more materials, and improved lighting methods. The 2D chapters are also suitable for those learning how to use AutoCAD LT 2008.

Introduction to AutoCAD 2008 includes:
Hundreds of full-colour drawings and screen shots illustrating the stages within the design process

Worked examples and exercises throughout the text, linking the use of AutoCAD to real-world engineering practice

Start of chapter learning outcome summaries and end of chapter revision notes and exercises to check the readers' understanding

Suitable for all new users of AutoCAD, this book is particularly applicable to introductory level undergraduate courses and vocational courses in engineering and construction. Further Education students in the UK will find this an ideal textbook to cater for the relevant CAD units of BTEC National and BTEC Higher National Engineering schemes from Edexcel, and the City & Guilds 4353 and 2303 qualifications.
* Written by a member of the Autodesk Developer Network
* Hundreds of full-colour drawings and screen shots illustrating the stages within the design process
* Accompanying website with worked solutions and AutoCAD drawing files of stages and results for the exercises in the book, as well as further exercises and multiple-choice questions with answers.

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LightWave 3D 8 Cartoon Character Creation, Volume 1: Modeling & Texturing

Character design, modeling, and texturing are the fundamental building blocks of character animation. LightWave 3D [8] Cartoon Character Creation Volume 1: Modeling & Texturing includes both general theory and comprehensive tutorials for every aspect of modeling and texturing 3D characters. Learn how, why, and when to use the most efficient techniques so you can have fun creating your own fantastic 3D characters.
Find out how to configure LightWave 3D for character creation, and learn the necessary steps of the character concept, design, and planning stages.

Discover multiple methods for modeling characters and clothing using subdivision patches.

Understand the techniques for creating complex UV mapping.

Learn about surface attributes and surfacing characters.

Enhance the appearance of your characters through the use of gradients and procedural textures.

Explore a variety of techniques for creating image maps and applying them to your characters.

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3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development

3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development by Fletcher DunnPublisher: Wordware Publishing, Inc. (June 25, 2002) ISBN-10: 1556229119 PDF 11,7 Mb 476 pages

Covers fundamental 3D math concepts that are especially useful for computer game developers and programmers. Illustrates how to put the techniques into practice, and exercises at the end of each chapter help reinforce the concepts.

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AutoCAD: Secrets Every User Should Know

Whether you're designing houses, landscapes, or machines, there are AutoCAD tricks-of-the-trade that even seasoned users don't know—tips that can improve your skills, understanding, and productivity. This practical, in-depth book reveals those secrets. You'll find smart ideas on customization, applying graphics standards, managing symbol libraries, leveraging 3D, and more. It even includes an insider's look at features that are used in the field but often ignored in other books, such as DOS functions, scripts, and AutoLISP® programming. The final chapter, AutoCAD Puzzlers, challenges readers to solve real problems from real AutoCAD users.

Explore real-world solutions and best practices. Is it faster to produce an accurate drawing or an inaccurate one? Find out why you should take technical graphics standards seriously and how to make AutoCAD apply them

Harness information rarely found in other books, such as how to rapidly change thousands of drawings using scripts and batch files, how to use the Visual LISP® editor to produce and debug AutoLISP programs, and more

Take full advantage of AutoCAD's interface to improve your productivity

Enjoy bonus extras, including the AutoLISP programs, other code used in the book, and a review of key features by release

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Maya Professional Tips and Techniques

Maya Professional Tips and TechniquesSybex Pages: 221 2007-03-06 Sales Rank: 19893 ISBN / ASIN: 0470107405 EAN: 9780470107409 12Mb

Get More Out of Maya in Less Time Work better and faster in Maya with the quick-hit tips and techniques in this practical book. Designed for busy Maya users, this guide offers dozens of how-tos, workarounds, and shortcuts culled from years of experience in a fast-paced, deadline-driven production pipeline. You'll discover tricks and timesavers on texturing particles, customizing Paint Effects brushes, modeling polygon faces, creating facial rigs with wire deformers, and much more-while useful, full-color illustrations reinforce the concepts. From modeling, animating, and rigging to texturing and lighting, this book will help you streamline workflow and improve your skills.
* Create simple to complex MEL windows
* Master NURBS modeling tricks
* Clean up imported polygons
* Animate realistic camera moves
* Build easy leg and spine controllers
* Combine simple textures for complex results
* Apply naturalistic and HDR lighting techniques
* Import ZBrush displacement and normal maps
* Prep your animation for video or 35mm film

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Master Lighting Guide

Time-tested lighting strategies that will improve the quality of a portrait are detailed in this book for beginning photographers. Terminology used by industry pros is explained, the equipment needed to create professional results is outlined, and the unique role that each element of the lighting setup plays in the studio is explored. Photographers learn how color, direction, form, and contrast affect the final portrait. The concise text, photo examples, and lighting diagrams enable photographers to easily achieve traditional lighting styles that have been the basis of good portraiture since the advent of the art.

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LightWave v9 Essential

LightWave v9 Essential by Steve WarnerISBN 1598220241, 992 pages, August 25, 2007 - 54 Mb

Essential LightWave v9 offers an unparalleled guide to LightWave 3D. Written to help users quickly take control of the software, this book is filled with easy-to-understand explanations, time-saving tips and tricks, and detailed tutorials on nearly every aspect of the software, including the new features in LightWave v9.2!

Key features of this book:
- Learn to model, light, surface animate, and render within the first seven chapters!
- Master the LightWave v9 Node Editor for advanced surfacing, texturing, and deformations.
- Learn to model with polygons, Catmull-Clark/Subpatch SubDs, and splines.
- Uncover the secrets of distortion-free UV mapping and high-quality texturing.
- Learn to seamlessly composite 3D objects with real-world images.
- Create professional-quality character animation using FK, IK, and IK Booster.
- Enhance your animations with expressions, particle effects, and dynamics.
- Set up a render farm to rip through complex rendering tasks.

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Mobile 3D Graphics: with OpenGL ES and M3G

Graphics and game developers must learn to program for mobility. This book will teach you how.
"This book - written by some of the key technical experts…provides a comprehensive but practical and easily understood introduction for any software engineer seeking to delight the consumer with rich 3D interactive experiences on their phone. Like the OpenGL ES and M3G standards it covers, this book is destined to become an enduring standard for many years to come."
- Lincoln Wallen, CTO, Electronic Arts, Mobile
This book is an escalator, which takes the field to new levels. This is especially true because the text ensures that the topic is easily accessible to everyone with some background in computer science…The foundations of this book are clear, and the authors are extremely knowledgeable about the subject.
- Tomas Akenine-Möller, bestselling author and Professor of Computer Science at Lund University"
This book is an excellent introduction to M3G. The authors are all experienced M3G users and developers, and they do a great job of conveying that experience, as well as plenty of practical advice that has been proven in the field."
- Sean Ellis, Consultant Graphics Engineer, ARM Ltd
The exploding popularity of mobile computing is undeniable. From cell phones to portable gaming systems, the global demand for multifunctional mobile devices is driving amazing hardware and software developments. 3D graphics are becoming an integral part of these ubiquitous devices, and as a result, Mobile 3D Graphics is arguably the most rapidly advancing area of the computer graphics discipline.
Mobile 3D Graphics is about writing real-time 3D graphics applications for mobile devices. The programming interfaces explained and demonstrated in this must-have reference enable dynamic 3D media on cell phones, GPS systems, portable gaming consoles and media players.
The text begins by providing thorough coverage of background essentials, then presents detailed hands-on examples, including extensive working code in both of the dominant mobile APIs, OpenGL ES and M3G.
C/C++ and Java Developers, graphic artists, students, and enthusiasts would do well to have a programmable mobile phone on hand to try out the techniques described in this book.
The authors, industry experts who helped to develop the OpenGL ES and M3G standards, distill their years of accumulated knowledge within these pages, offering their insights into everything from sound mobile design principles and constraints, to efficient rendering, mixing 2D and 3D, lighting, texture mapping, skinning and morphing.
Along the way, readers will benefit from the hundreds of included tips, tricks and caveats.
*Written by key industry experts who helped develop the standards of the field
*Hands-on code examples are presented throughout the book, and are also offered on the companion website
*Provides examples in the two most popular programing interfaces, OpenGL ES and M3G

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