3D Photorealism Toolkit

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Summary: get [digital] lighting and rendering
Review: ... to sift through 300+ pages of. This book mixes a handful of helpful suggestions for the beginner in with a bunch of other, um, stuff. Not necessarily "wrong," mind you; just simplified to the point where it's no longer quite "right" either. Look closely at the cover before you buy (use Amazon's 'larger photo' link). If you are swept away by the detail in the shot -- the variety of surfaces, the color, the artful disorder -- this book may be for you. If you find yourself wondering where the light source is, why the image drops off into shadow at the top, or why everything still looks like plastic, prepare to be disappointed. The book relies very heavily on scenes like this -- amazingly detailed, but clearly drawn from the author's imaginaton. Many images and examples also suffer from "only-in-3D" artifacts, such as improbable camera placements or "unreal" light behavior. For a technically ept discussion of lighting, cameras, film, reflection, radiosity, and surfacing, I would recommend "[digital] Lighting and Rendering" by Jeremy Birn. For tips on clutter and surface aging I would visit (web site name); while the downloads are heavy, they at least present photorealism using real photographs.

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Summary: The Quest for Reality: A Primer.
Review: Bill Fleming's 3D PHOTOREALISM TOOLKIT is a valuable resource for anyone with a 3D rendering program. The book is a guide to creating realistic images with whatever program you are currently using. I was enticed into buying this from good things I had read elsewhere, and I must say I was not disappointed. The software I use (Caligari's trueSpace) is often ignored by writers of these sorts of books, who tend to focus on 3D Studio Max of Lightwave. Even though Mr. Fleming obviously uses one of these packages (3DSMAX, is my guess), this book is quite usable for people with less expensive packages. Most of the book centers on how to percieve your world and then translate this into your images. This fact, is the most important element that makes the book appropriate for any 3D package: reality isn't platform specific. Along with the many concrete examples and tutorials given, this book absolutely indespensible to anyone wishing to take their images to a new level. Only one thing detracts from the experience of the book: the black-and-white images are less than useful in showing what the author is talking about. Thankfully, all the images are available in the internet to be downloaded in full color (along with sample textures and models for the tutorials). However, considering the download times for some of the zip packages, I would have preferred a CD-Rom of the information. This book is a thorough and engaging primer for those seeking to create more realistic 3D images. The only thing missing from the book is the experience of reality: something no book can offer.

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Summary: Excellent as always from this writer..
Review: Fantastic book. I am an editor with 3dnation and really found this book helpful to me when making my animations. He makes you think about what makes up the image and surrounding enviroment. What I really found valuable in this book is the chart in the back to make objects take on the characteristics in the real world.. want that pager to have a rubber surface..look it up page 316. Other animators usually do not want you to have this information. Bill does..

Rating:
Summary: A must Have
Review: I bought this book over 3 years ago and I keep going back for it for reference. The book covers photorealism as principles and guidelines that establish much more understanding concering producing 3d imagery.
The problem that it's lighting section is a bit weak and it does not have almost any color pages.
If you would like to become a better 3d artist, buy this one.

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Summary: Realism in theory
Review: I found Bill's methods valuable, but his images are not photorealistic enough and may not be too helpful for beginners.
Most annoying thing is that most of images are printed only in grayscale and only few are in color. If reader want's to see color versions, he/she has to download images from writers website. Due to grayscale-problem there were some troubles to compare images properly to see differences in them, and I was not always sure what Bill really meant in his text unless I saw color versions. Writer also keeps repeating same things over and over across different chapters and more tighter writing style would get the job done more easily. I would shorten this book about half and drop price also...and include at least one photorealistic image to see what the subject really is.

Rating:
Summary: Good technique - so so implimentation
Review: I found many useful techniques in the book and I have been able to apply them in a way that makes my work more "photorealistic." Bill's writing style is not for everyone. On the whole it is pretty casual and some chapters lack clarity. The supplied images are ok, but have a certain cartoonish (read not photorealistic) quality to them, mostly because his techniques are overused and the color is overly saturated. The book does supply some valuable information, but it isn't the last word on "photorealism."

Rating:
Summary: Get Jeremy Birn's book first
Review: This book discussed ways to make your 3D images more realistic, using techniques I either hadn't thought of, or had no idea how to implement. The book is in a chatty, humerous style that can sometimes grate on your nerves, but it is easy to understand and learn from, which is the most important point.

The only drawback to this volume is that most of the illustrations are in black and white, which makes seeing the necessary comparisons in texture rather difficult. Color images are available on plates in the middle section (but not all of them) and on a website. While the website is a good idea for distributing the color images, it would have been handier to have a CD, even if the price of the book had been higher.

Rating:
Summary: Reality Redefined!
Review: WOW! I have to admit that I though I had a handle on photorealism but I've realized that I had only scratched the surface. Bill has opened my eyes to the amazing details of reality, that make 3D images pop off the screen. I've read dozens of 3D books and never before has there been one so clearly written, with such stuning and detailed examples. After applying only a few of Bill's principles I can already see an amazing improvement in my images, and I thought they were pretty good to begin with!

If you don't have this book then you probably aren't realizing the full depth of reality you can achieve with 3D graphics.