 |
|---|
| PUBLISHER |
|
Charles River Media
Publishers Quote: Ken Brilliant (California) is an award-winning artist, sculptor, 3D character modeler, animator and instructor. He works in Hollywood in the film and television industry. His work can be seen in a variety of movies and television series, including Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World, X-Files: The Movie, Interview with a Vampire, Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles, and a variety of other films. To view more of his work, visit
Brilliant-Creations.com.
|
| ABOUT |
|
This book explores the design and creation of digital dinosaurs through a step-by-step approach, and explains how to combine technical skill with artistic talent seamlessly
Covers every detail of the process from researching the animals to model construction, texturing, and final rendering
Techniques are written from a non-software specific approach, providing a useful guide regardless of your software preferences
Explores the various subtleties and challenges of each dinosaur type, including wrinkles, wings, scales, frills, etc.
ON THE CD-ROM.
AUTHOR Ken Brilliant
ISBN 1-58450-209-6
PRICE $49.95
PUB DATE June 2002
FORMAT Book/CD 375pp
|
| SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS |
|
To perform the techniques discussed in the book you need the following:
Windows 95, ME, 2000, XP, NT or Mac OS based operation systems, QuickTime 4 or higher, and a 3D modeling program that has a strong polygonal tool set. Some examples include: LightWave 3D, Maya, SoftImage XSI, Cinema 4D, Amapi, trueSpace 5, and 3ds max. In addition, an image editing and painting program that supports layers such as Adobe Photoshop or Procreate Painter is required.
|
|
|
|
| MODELING DIGITAL DINOSAURS |
 |
| FIRST IMPRESSIONS |
|
Being new to Lightwave ( and having struggled with it for months) I have been buying as many books as possible to lessen the learning curve. The massive volume that is the Lightwave manual, whilst having all the great features listed, does not help a new user actually model very much. Enter Ken Brilliants new (and first) book. A 370 page romp through his very own Jurassic Park.
|
|
|
| NO SOFTWARE SPECIFIC |
|
The book is not software specific and Ken gives a list of software that can be used in conjunction with the tutorials and these include Lightwave, Maya, C4D, Amapi, 3DSmax etc. Any software, if fact, that has a polygon based set of tools. He even gives away a free copy of Amapi version 1.5 on the CD so anyone with a computer can join in with this one.
He covers modeling, UVmapping and texturing and manages to help you create an Apatosauras, Dimetrodon, Pteranodon, Triceratops and of course the ubiquitous T-Rex. The tutorials start with very basic instructions and are written in a clear, logical manner. I found that I learnt more about my software of choice in one afternoon than I had done in the previous three weeks.
There is no information about bones, IK or character rigging in any way but Ken makes it clear from the start that he is teaching you to model and texture only. He makes good reference to animation in several place mainly because the model he builds will be boned later and the geometry need to be ready for this.
|
| ABOUT KEN |
|
Ken works in Hollywood in the film and television industry. His work can be seen in a variety of movies and television series including Jurassic Park 2: the lost World, X-Files the movie, Interview with a Vampire, The Starship Troopers Chronicles and a variety of others. With a list like that it gives you an idea of the quality that is to be found in Modeling Digital Dinosaurs.
His site (Brilliant Creations) is packed with a multitude of amazing images from the real-world models he has made to the latest work he is producing with ZBrush.
|
|
|
|
