Dan Ablan’s Inside LightWave books are the acknowledged reference for professional users of NewTek’s 3-D modelling and animation software. Inside LightWave 7 has been virtually rewritten from the ground up, the only survivor from Inside LightWave 6 being Stuart Aitken’s updated chapter, "Organic Modelling" (the one where you create the female head featured on the cover). All of the other tutorials are brand spanking new.

The first section includes an overview of new features and interface modifications introduced in versions 6 and 7. The bulk of the book’s 1,000 plus pages is taken up with two sections-"A Project-Based Approach to Creating and Building 3-D Scenes" and "A Project-based Approach to Animating Scenes"--followed by a shorter section devoted to post-processing effects and output.

These projects are not the stuff of an afternoon’s dabbling. "Creating and Building 3-D Scenes" contains five project-based chapters each of which, rather than concentrate on a specific technique or feature or detailing the construction of a specific object, covers every aspect from modelling and texturing to lighting and environment.

This approach requires a high level of commitment from the reader, but the benefits are a much broader understanding of how the whole thing fits together, as well as the importance of attention to detail in creating realism. Smaller chapters, like Lighting and Atmospheres, Realistic Lighting Environments, Nonlinear Animation and Motion Designer help to break the monotony.

It looks forbidding, but if you start at the beginning there’s nothing that will be beyond the grasp of anyone who puts in some time with the software manual and completes a few basic projects. The lack of colour illustrations means it’s not as eye-grabbing as some other books on 3-D CG, but there’s more to achieving LightWave mastery than looking at pretty pictures and much of it is to be found in Inside LightWave 7. Ken McMahon

Inside LightWave 7 is designed for the intermediate to advanced 3D artist/animator who is looking to improve his or her skills and efficiency using LightWave.

Inside LightWave 7 takes the reader beyond their basic knowledge of the features of LW to learn how to apply their knowledge to create professional-level scenes and animations. Inspirational graphics combined with real-world tutorials and insider tips make Inside LightWave 7 a must-have for every LightWave user.

Inside LightWave 7 is designed for the intermediate to advanced 3D artist/animator who is looking to improve his or her skills and efficiency using LightWave. Inside LightWave 7 takes the reader beyond their basic knowledge of the features of LW to learn how to apply their knowledge to create professional-level scenes and animations. Inspirational graphics combined with real-world tutorials and insider tips make Inside LightWave 7 a must-have for every LightWave user.

Dan Ablan, award-winning animator and LightWave author brings you his best book yet. Inside LightWave 7 has been written to bring you up-to-speed and enhance your productivity with NewTek’s LightWave 3D software version 7.0. No other book brings you as much comprehensive information. Work through clear step-by-step tutorials and pick up helpful tips along the way. As the most comprehensive book on NewTek’s latest technology, this book teaches you how to enhance your skill set and utilize all of LightWave’s functions.

Dan Ablan is president of AGA Digital Studios, Inc., a 3D animation company in the Chicago area. AGA has produced 3D animation for broadcast, corporate, and architectural clients since 1994, as well as post-production services. Dan holds a B.A. in broadcast journalism from Valparaiso University, with a minor concentration in photojournalism. He is the author of four best-selling international LightWave 3D books from New Riders Publishing: LightWave Power Guide (v5.0), Inside LightWave 3D (v5.5), Inside LightWave 6, and LightWave 6.5 Effects Magic. He has released an on-going series of LightWave training videos through Christie Entertainment (http://www.classondemand.net) and has written columns and articles for LightWave Pro magazine, Video Toaster User magazine, 3D Design magazine, 3D World magazine, and NewTek Pro magazine. In addition, Dan was Technical Editor for Jeremy Birn’s Digital Lighting & Rendering from New Riders Publishing. Dan has been teaching LightWave seminars across the country, since 1995 including at AGA Digital Studios, Inc., an authorized NewTek LightWave training facility. Visit http://www.danablan.com and http://www.agadigital.com.

Dan authored Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 (revisions for LightWave 7), 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and the appendixes.

For the past seven years, Jarrod Davis has spent almost every waking moment slaving away at the computer, constantly trying to improve his skills in 3D animation and effects. And what has it gotten him? A fantastic job at Foundation Imaging working on shows, such as Roughnecks, Max Steel, and Dan Dare, nationwide commercials, and the fulfillment of his dream to work on Star Trek. With the support of his wonderful fiancée¿herself an aspiring animator¿he intends to proceed with his plans to conquer the world...when he gets some free time. Jarrod Davis is affectionately known as J-Rod. Jarrod authored Chapters 14, "Expression Applications," and 15, "Animation with Expression."

Stuart Aitken is currently head of 3D at Axis animation¿a company he co-founded along with several colleagues in 1999 with the aim of eventual total world domination of the 3D CG industry. Although often plagued by the lingering notion he really should be somewhere else by now, he still lives and works amid the gritty iron and sandstone landscape of Glasgow, Scotland. Stuart has been using LightWave for nigh on seven years now and amazingly still isn’t bored. His particular emphasis is on organic 3D modeling, texturing, character setup, and expanding waistlines. Stuart created the cover image for Inside LightWave 6 and 7, and he authored Chapter 10, "Organic Modeling," for Inside LightWave 6. That chapter has been updated for LightWave 7.

Randy Sharp is currently a 3D animator at Digital Domain in California. He spent two and a half years at Foundation Imaging working on a number of productions, and was a supervising modeler for his last year there. Prior to working at Foundation Imaging, Randy worked at Applied Materials for 10 years, leaving as a manufacturing engineer. Randy authored Chapter 8, "Architectural Environments." There are many people that Randy could thank for the opportunities he’s been given, but none of it would have happened without the love and support of his wife, Kathleen. Spending countless hours behind a computer monitor is hard, but having someone that supports him in every way imaginable is what gives him the strength to do it. Without her, Randy says, he would never have had the success and opportunities he has enjoyed. Randy would like to say thanks to Kathleen for helping him realize a dream.

Bob Cazzell holds a degree in electronic engineering and is the chief information officer for REZN8 Productions, Inc., an Emmy Award-winning graphic design, animation, and visual effects studio in Hollywood. Bob has been fooling around with computer graphics since the early 1990s and joined REZN8 in 1997 when he decided that the healthcare industry was not a fun and exciting career choice. He also thinks Bugs and Daffy are the greatest comedy duo in history. Bob supplied the technical references located at the end of Appendix B, "Lightwave 7 Plug-in, Tool, and Technical List.

Dan Ablan’s Inside LightWave books are the acknowledged reference for professional users of NewTek’s 3-D modelling and animation software. Inside LightWave 7 has been virtually rewritten from the ground up, the only survivor from Inside LightWave 6 being Stuart Aitken’s updated chapter, "Organic Modelling" (the one where you create the female head featured on the cover). All of the other tutorials are brand spanking new.

The first section includes an overview of new features and interface modifications introduced in versions 6 and 7. The bulk of the book’s 1,000 plus pages is taken up with two sections-"A Project-Based Approach to Creating and Building 3-D Scenes" and "A Project-based Approach to Animating Scenes"--followed by a shorter section devoted to post-processing effects and output.

These projects are not the stuff of an afternoon’s dabbling. "Creating and Building 3-D Scenes" contains five project-based chapters each of which, rather than concentrate on a specific technique or feature or detailing the construction of a specific object, covers every aspect from modelling and texturing to lighting and environment.

This approach requires a high level of commitment from the reader, but the benefits are a much broader understanding of how the whole thing fits together, as well as the importance of attention to detail in creating realism. Smaller chapters, like Lighting and Atmospheres, Realistic Lighting Environments, Nonlinear Animation and Motion Designer help to break the monotony.

It looks forbidding, but if you start at the beginning there’s nothing that will be beyond the grasp of anyone who puts in some time with the software manual and completes a few basic projects. The lack of colour illustrations means it’s not as eye-grabbing as some other books on 3-D CG, but there’s more to achieving LightWave mastery than looking at pretty pictures and much of it is to be found in Inside LightWave 7. --Ken McMahon

Inside LightWave 7 is designed for the intermediate to advanced 3D artist/animator who is looking to improve his or her skills and efficiency using LightWave.

Inside LightWave 7 takes the reader beyond their basic knowledge of the features of LW to learn how to apply their knowledge to create professional-level scenes and animations. Inspirational graphics combined with real-world tutorials and insider tips make Inside LightWave 7 a must-have for every LightWave user.

debe de tener tiempo suficiente para leerlo

Tomese tiempo, mucho tiempo si desea comprarlo para leerlo.
Dan Ablan es sinonimo de detalles importantes para hacer 3D, este libro aunque es transitorio es muy detallado para conocer y reforzar la informacion que ya dispone de LW

debe de tener tiempo suficiente para leerlo

Tomese tiempo, mucho tiempo si desea comprarlo para leerlo.

Dan Ablan es sinonimo de detalles importantes para hacer 3D, este libro aunque es transitorio es muy detallado para conocer y reforzar la informacion que ya dispone de LW

Forefront of 3-D Animation Design

From 2004’s ’The Incredibles’ to the great 2006’s ’Monster House’ & ’Happy Feet’ knowledge of LightWave is at the forefront for how-to in spell-binding 3-D Animation. And this book takes you from a basic start to accelerating your own imagination to new heights. Ablan is able to make quite complicated procedures simple and step-by-step understandable. Those who complain may just want results without the time taken to learn. If you have thorough grounding in Photoshop you can do this! Once you follow Ablan’s direction you discover your own. A fantastic book, excellent resource as part of your digital design library.

Definetly not for the beginner

I purchased this book in the hopes that I’d be able to learn LightWave 7. Sadly this book is definetly not for beginners. Early on I realized something was wrong when the book jumped straight into the Suface Editor. The chapters on modeling could hardly be described as tutorials. One modeling chapter dove straight into modeling a large skyscraper without teaching you many of the fundamentals of modeling. I felt like I was following a cook book. Step after step of ’type the following into the numeric window, check this option, uncheck that option.’. This is not how you learn. I had no understanding of why I was using the specified values and most of the time the author didn’t go into any detail regarding it. The chapter on modeling a human face was both exciting and a let down. Hours upon hours of work and I still felt like the fundamentals escaped me, yet I had a decent looking model.

I went out and brought Inside Lightwave 8 soon after. I have to say, it is many many times better. It’s written by the same author, but the pacing and examples are greatly improved. Even not having LightWave 8, I learned more in chapter 1-3 of that book then I did reading Inside Lightwave 7. Unfortunetly, for those without Lightwave 8, that book has limited usefulness.

I would not recommend this book to a beginner or newbie looking to learn Lightwave 7 from scratch.

Definetly not for the beginner

I purchased this book in the hopes that I’d be able to learn LightWave 7. Sadly this book is definetly not for beginners. Early on I realized something was wrong when the book jumped straight into the Suface Editor. The chapters on modeling could hardly be described as tutorials. One modeling chapter dove straight into modeling a large skyscraper without teaching you many of the fundamentals of modeling. I felt like I was following a cook book. Step after step of ’type the following into the numeric window, check this option, uncheck that option.’. This is not how you learn. I had no understanding of why I was using the specified values and most of the time the author didn’t go into any detail regarding it. The chapter on modeling a human face was both exciting and a let down. Hours upon hours of work and I still felt like the fundamentals escaped me, yet I had a decent looking model.

I went out and brought Inside Lightwave 8 soon after. I have to say, it is many many times better. It’s written by the same author, but the pacing and examples are greatly improved. Even not having LightWave 8, I learned more in chapter 1-3 of that book then I did reading Inside Lightwave 7. Unfortunetly, for those without Lightwave 8, that book has limited usefulness.

I would not recommend this book to a beginner or newbie looking to learn Lightwave 7 from scratch.

A fairly good book, but shouldn’t be the only one you have

While still trying to appreciate the huge task that the author undertook, I must say for those who consider buying the book to be aware that there are quite a few errors in the exercises that take some time to figure out (trial and error) for a LW newbie like me. At least I couldn’t understand quite clearly how to get around LW’s user interface just by following the explanations in the book.

The explanations about Lighting and Rendering are good, I didn’t find any satisfactory coverage regarding texturing though. The best that I could do in that regard is just following the examples without knowing the "why" and consequently I don’t think I have a thorough understanding to do any original texturing. Maybe there’s assumptions that the target audience already know about texturing and the author just provided additional tips.

I would recommend to buy the DVD tutorial "Get Into Seven" to help you get started, some of the explanations there are much better to understand and can be combined with this book to help you learn LW. And with the basic skill from the DVD, the material in the book is making much more sense and you would even be able to spot the errors and correct them.

I hope all the errors are fixed and more explanations would be included in the "Inside Lightwave 8" edition.

A fairly good book, but shouldn’t be the only one you have

While still trying to appreciate the huge task that the author undertook, I must say for those who consider buying the book to be aware that there are quite a few errors in the exercises that take some time to figure out (trial and error) for a LW newbie like me. At least I couldn’t understand quite clearly how to get around LW’s user interface just by following the explanations in the book.

The explanations about Lighting and Rendering are good, I didn’t find any satisfactory coverage regarding texturing though. The best that I could do in that regard is just following the examples without knowing the "why" and consequently I don’t think I have a thorough understanding to do any original texturing. Maybe there’s assumptions that the target audience already know about texturing and the author just provided additional tips.

I would recommend to buy the DVD tutorial "Get Into Seven" to help you get started, some of the explanations there are much better to understand and can be combined with this book to help you learn LW. And with the basic skill from the DVD, the material in the book is making much more sense and you would even be able to spot the errors and correct them.

I hope all the errors are fixed and more explanations would be included in the "Inside Lightwave 8" edition.

Fair book, but not for the beginner

I was new to Lightwave when I purchased this book. On the surface it looked like it covers a good deal of material and it does. However, I take issue with the way some of it is presented. To the beginner, it felt like, "getting a drink from a fire hose." I was looking for a few simple examples to learn the basics from and gradually work to larger tutorials. I didn’t find too much of that here. The first parts of the book jumped into texturing objects, before it really explained how to make the object in the first place. (i.e. modeling) This made it difficult to build objects that you could experiment on using different textures. The modeling section jumped right into designing a large city block or an entire human head at the start. It never really demonstrated how to do "simple" objects from start to finish. The closest it came to that delt with making subsections of skyscrapers that didn’t look like anything until the entire building was completed. It would have been nice to do a few simple models before trying to build complex items like a city or human head. If you worked slowly through every step of the tutorials, you will eventually learn quite a bit. Unfortunately, by that time you’ve spent many, many hours before you have anything to show for the effort. You don’t feel like you accomplish very much in the process. You can skip sections of the tutorials, but if you do, you will miss a trick or key that may not be repeated elsewhere.
The book has a good deal of tricks and information in it, but I still had to keep jumping between it and the Newtek manual before I was able to understand some sections.
Overall, it does cover a very large amount of modeling and texturing. I like that, but I didn’t like how it didn’t ramp up to "large projects." Finally, I would like to have seen a little more information on actually using Lightwave to animate with. It goes into overwhelming detail on modeling and texturing, but very little on making the model actually animate.

Fair book, but not for the beginner

I was new to Lightwave when I purchased this book. On the surface it looked like it covers a good deal of material and it does. However, I take issue with the way some of it is presented. To the beginner, it felt like, "getting a drink from a fire hose." I was looking for a few simple examples to learn the basics from and gradually work to larger tutorials. I didn’t find too much of that here. The first parts of the book jumped into texturing objects, before it really explained how to make the object in the first place. (i.e. modeling) This made it difficult to build objects that you could experiment on using different textures. The modeling section jumped right into designing a large city block or an entire human head at the start. It never really demonstrated how to do "simple" objects from start to finish. The closest it came to that delt with making subsections of skyscrapers that didn’t look like anything until the entire building was completed. It would have been nice to do a few simple models before trying to build complex items like a city or human head. If you worked slowly through every step of the tutorials, you will eventually learn quite a bit. Unfortunately, by that time you’ve spent many, many hours before you have anything to show for the effort. You don’t feel like you accomplish very much in the process. You can skip sections of the tutorials, but if you do, you will miss a trick or key that may not be repeated elsewhere.
The book has a good deal of tricks and information in it, but I still had to keep jumping between it and the Newtek manual before I was able to understand some sections.
Overall, it does cover a very large amount of modeling and texturing. I like that, but I didn’t like how it didn’t ramp up to "large projects." Finally, I would like to have seen a little more information on actually using Lightwave to animate with. It goes into overwhelming detail on modeling and texturing, but very little on making the model actually animate.

Best there is for Lightwave. Period

I’ve read several books on various 3d packages. I prefer Lightwave as my tool of choice, and Dan Ablan’s books are my single point for learning and reference on Lightwave. He covers all basics (which was fairly important to me) and then attacks even the advanced features.

Coverage starts with learning the interfaces in Lightwave, he explained it in a way that now makes most of the interface intuitive to me.

The detail he goes into in describing modeling a human head is incredible.

I cannot wait for his latest Lightwave 8 edition.

Highly recommended.

Best there is for Lightwave. Period

I’ve read several books on various 3d packages. I prefer Lightwave as my tool of choice, and Dan Ablan’s books are my single point for learning and reference on Lightwave. He covers all basics (which was fairly important to me) and then attacks even the advanced features.

Coverage starts with learning the interfaces in Lightwave, he explained it in a way that now makes most of the interface intuitive to me.

The detail he goes into in describing modeling a human head is incredible.

I cannot wait for his latest Lightwave 8 edition.

Highly recommended.

the best i’ve ever read

i’ve tried a lot of software specific 3d books in the last time but dan ablan is definitly the best. easy to read and much more easier to understand. together with newteks original manual it a power combination that works perfectly. for me it’s sure that i preorder the forthcoming titles from dan ablan.

the best iıve ever read

iıve tried a lot of software specific 3d books in the last time but dan ablan is definitly the best. easy to read and much more easier to understand. together with newteks original manual it a power combination that works perfectly. for me itıs sure that i preorder the forthcoming titles from dan ablan.

the best i’ve ever read

i’ve tried a lot of software specific 3d books in the last time but dan ablan is definitly the best. easy to read and much more easier to understand. together with newteks original manual it a power combination that works perfectly. for me it’s sure that i preorder the forthcoming titles from dan ablan.

Not that great.

The book assumes detailed knowledge of lightwave 6,
goes to great length explaining the difference between
the two. I came from not knowing lightwave at all, so
not much use for me.

The intro says, dont jump ahead, but read the book from
front to back. After reading about 100 pages and finding
that it still hadn’t got going, but giving out info like
how to add extra functions to the user interface. But not
knowing what the function are, or why I’d want to add them,
again not very useful. Some of the examples again assume
knowledge of lightwave. So rather than saying ’add a box
by clicking on button X or pressing button Y’ it’d say
’add a box’ So *how* do I do that?

One good thing about the book, and worth the 1 star, is the
’’free’’ CD with a demo copy of lightwave. So I can see if
lightwave can run on my laptop before I buy it. Also on the
CD is the manual for lightwave which has the information which
is needed. Maybe once I read the manual and then can use
lightwave, I might come back to this book, but then again, by
that point I’ll know lightwave....

(BTW, one of the best books in context and style for learning
3D in my not so humble opinion are the 2 tutorial books for
blender.(blender.org) However, that’s for blender...)

Not that great.

The book assumes detailed knowledge of lightwave 6,
goes to great length explaining the difference between
the two. I came from not knowing lightwave at all, so
not much use for me.

The intro says, dont jump ahead, but read the book from
front to back. After reading about 100 pages and finding
that it still hadn’t got going, but giving out info like
how to add extra functions to the user interface. But not
knowing what the function are, or why I’d want to add them,
again not very useful. Some of the examples again assume
knowledge of lightwave. So rather than saying ’add a box
by clicking on button X or pressing button Y’ it’d say
’add a box’ So *how* do I do that?

One good thing about the book, and worth the 1 star, is the
’’free’’ CD with a demo copy of lightwave. So I can see if
lightwave can run on my laptop before I buy it. Also on the
CD is the manual for lightwave which has the information which
is needed. Maybe once I read the manual and then can use
lightwave, I might come back to this book, but then again, by
that point I’ll know lightwave....

(BTW, one of the best books in context and style for learning
3D in my not so humble opinion are the 2 tutorial books for
blender.(blender.org) However, that’s for blender...)

Inside Lightwave is the nearest thing to perfect...

What a refreshing change to see a book that delivers it’s contents in such a constructive way. It assumes that you are a computer user and so does not waste a whole chapter, or your time, on teaching you windows.

All you need to know is covered, with ideas of where to get more info on a particular subject should you want to specialise.

If you looked at the price tag and like me thought, I can get it for free on the internet, then think again because this is a priceless resource to add to any 3D artist’s bookshelf.

A kick ass book for a kick ass program.

Inside Lightwave is the nearest thing to perfect...

What a refreshing change to see a book that delivers it’s contents in such a constructive way. It assumes that you are a computer user and so does not waste a whole chapter, or your time, on teaching you windows.

All you need to know is covered, with ideas of where to get more info on a particular subject should you want to specialise.

If you looked at the price tag and like me thought, I can get it for free on the internet, then think again because this is a priceless resource to add to any 3D artist’s bookshelf.

A kick ass book for a kick ass program.

You NEED this book!

To get straight to the point, this book is fantastic, and an essential resource for all Lightwave 7 users!

The book succeeds where the Lightwave User Manuals fall painfully short. The manuals for this mammoth piece of software, although nigh-on exhaustive with regards to explanation of Lightwave’s plethora of tools, lack in detailed tutorials which show the benefits and possibilities of these tools. Inside Lightwave 7 however is jam-packed with lengthy tutorials which span from the very basics of using Layout and Modeller, right through to complex character design tutorials. Even the most basic of these however contain tips and time-saving tricks which will benefit both beginners and seasoned renderers alike.

As a bonus, not only does the book come with a CD with all of the tutorial scenes and models, it’s also crammed with extra textures and demos.

Dan Ablan’s book reaches all possible readers, challenging and imaginative enough to inspire experienced Lightwave users, while being easily accessible to those new to the 3D world.

Absolutely essential!

A MUST have companion for LW.

I was pretty skeptical that a book could improve my LW skills, not that I am an expert. No, I am pretty much a lw beginner, but I’ve read 3D books before and they are a waste of time and money. (not mentioning names to save me from a possible court case ;) - anyway I thought what the hell, I can look at it and if its like the others, then I can send it back.

Well, talk about being pleasantly surprised. I’d not yet got to a tutorial but I learned dozens of things, some small and some that will same me loads of time during modelling/texturing. I am now following the skyscraper tutorial and it is a breeze to follow.

This book is worth its weight in gold! - its worth the money alone, for the small tips it gives you.

a good buy for any serious or hobby Lightwave user.

The Lightwave Bible

I bought Dan Ablans earlier book ’Inside Lightwave 6’ about 9 months ago. My standard in Lightwave back then was down to creating cubes in modeller! - I’m happy to say since I’ve had the book I’m up to animating complex mechanical machinery using Inverse Kinematics set-ups and Expression Animation. - All thanks to the well explained tutorials and supplementry CD-ROM.

If you only buy one reference book this year, make it this one - as if the first book’s anything to go by, you’re in for a treat!!