Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I've seen the light and it goes well with the wall paper!, 7 Dec 2002
This review is from: Essential CG Lighting Techniques (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation) (Paperback)
This book is fantastic! The author has obviously thought long and hard about how to include information which will not only encourage complete beginners, but also has enough substance to keep even professionals informed. As with anything learning the basics is always the best way to start, and this book from the outset is simple to understand without being patronising, and provides the basics necessary for a good start in CG Lighting. I found that this book enabled me to make informed and personalised decisions about lighting my scene in a professional manner. Lighting needs to be understood as a real world phenomenon in order for it to be translated in to Computer environments. I have many other books on every aspect of CG, and this is one of the few that left me with a feeling that the subject has been masterfully covered. Buy this book! It does exactly what it says on the tin!!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you're into CG, then you need this, 15 Aug 2003
This review is from: Essential CG Lighting Techniques (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation) (Paperback)
As someone with more than a passing interest in the advancement of animation and rendering, I thought mr. brooker's book was outstanding. I tend to look at things from the perspective of design visualisation, rather than the more mainstream DCC market, but still, the creation of photorealistic images is core to many projects, whatever the specific market. I've looked at a lot of the current range of publications focussing on 3D modelling, rendering and animation, but very few provide as much theory combined with practical advice on one of the key aspects influencing the success on any scene - lighting. If you're into any form of 3D computer generated imagery, then this is a must for your bookshelf...
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Another Magician, 25 April 2003
By Christopher - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Essential CG Lighting Techniques (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation) (Paperback)
I have been searching for a book on real-world lighting solutions/techniques that can be applied to the CG world for quite some time. Other books have 'grazed' the subject but have never fully explored it. I fear that this book is no different. Like many other books of the genre, it begins with the all too common basic introduction to the behaviour of light, including its characteristics and how the human eye percieves it. This is by no means a bad thing but I must stress that only a beginner will find value in this, as any seasoned 3D artist already knows this, and then some. This book illustrates your basic 3 point lighting setup, a few mid-range techniques and only generalises and hints at the more advanced techniques such as setting up realistic dome lighting rigs, soft shadow/light rigs and simulating bounced light. Coupled with software specific tutorials on non-realistic glows and lastly, 60 pages on composition and camera techniques that has no business, given the subject, being in this kind of book. Lastly, the front cover of the book is misleading in that similar pictures in the book do exist, but no explanation is given as to how they were created. Much more advanced information on lighting can be found on the internet for free.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not as useful or accurate as you'd hope, 25 Jun 2006
By a reviewer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Essential CG Lighting Techniques (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation) (Paperback)
I was hoping for more from "Essential CG Lighting Techniques", especially after hearing one reviewer compare it to "Digital Lighting & Rendering". Instead, I found coverage of theory which seemed to be paraphrased almost line by line from the aformentioned source, spruced up with generalizations that sometimes ranged from unhelpful to downright wrong. I don't know where the author got the idea that no light should ever have an intensity higher than 1, and that it's better to add multiple lights than turn up the brightness of any single source, but that kind of misleading generalization appears in the book without any qualification or justification. I cannot recommend this book as a first choice to anyone.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential CG Lighting Techniques, 21 Mar 2003
By Neil Murray - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Essential CG Lighting Techniques (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation) (Paperback)
This is an outstanding book, possibly the best on a specialised 3D discipline yet written. ...It is far more useful than the previous classic in this field... If you like me expected lighting in 3D to be a minor event and are annoyed by the effort and skill required to obtain realistic lighting in your scenes, this is the book for you. It will equip you to speed through the process and get on to more interesting phases. It covers everything from basic 3 point lighting to lighting arrays for large subjects, dome arrays for realistic skylight and radiosity simulation, internal lighting for large and small spaces and a host of specialised problems like fire, moonlight, underwater scenes and the usual fog and light beams all with clear and succinct theoretical explanations backed up with step by step tutorials to help you make the knowledge your own. And, thankfully the book is illustrated with decent quality examples rather than the simplistic and crude models that stare from the pages of so many 3D books. After you have mastered the basic operation of your 3d program this should be the first book you buy on the art of 3D work. Well done Mr.Demers - what about a similar treatment for "Essential CG Materials" ?
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