Ready-to-Run Java 3D

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Summary: Those that can do, those that can't teach-These Guys Do!
Review: After 4 yerars of programming, I have to say that this book is the strangest programming book I have ever come accross. It is a VERY difficult read for someone not familiar with the Java 3-D API (As I was), and if that person is not familiar with Java, Forget about it. This is definitely not the book to learn from. It often reads like a sales pitch/ego trip from someone who has been around the technology since the beginning, and as such offers very little educational benefit. I wish somebody (Sun Maybe? ) would get it together and come out with something useful on this subject. The bad stuff having now been said, I really have to say the Code Samples were great, demonstrating as I said above--Those that can do, Those that can't teach. These guys are great Java 3D Programmers, but horrible teachers!

Rating:
Summary: No Help
Review: As someone unfamiliar with the Java 3D API this book was no help. Its very focused on creating Java 3D applets and doesn't go a lot into helping me understand the concepts behind the 3D API. I returned it.

Rating:
Summary: Ready to Run Java3d
Review: I was so unimpressed with this book that I returned it. It's nothing more than a rehash of stuff available from Sun's web site and various places on the internet.

Rating:
Summary: Terribly written with some ok examples
Review: I've been doing 3D programming for over 2 decades and just wanted to get a leg up on the new Java 3D stuff. I believe that had I not had extensive experience with 3D before, I would have found it impossible to follow the content of this book. I found myself constantly astounded that this book made it past the copy editors. Besides the scores of typos, it reads like it was translated from Russian to English by a newly arrived Chinese Math TA. There are some good examples although they don't demonstrate all of the features of Java3D. I learned more from the online javadoc pages and the online tutorial. There may be some useful snippets of code to use as inspiration for your own programs but there is nothing in here that couldn't be easily generated by yourself. Who's writing a good Java3D book? If noone volunteers, I'd be happy to write one that's better than this one.

Rating:
Summary: No Help
Review: If all you want are some java applets that you can adapt to your own use without ever understanding the API, then this is the book for you. It glazes over huge issues, while spending page after page explaining how to adapt their own examples in vain hopes you might actually be able to use them. If you want to learn how to program Java3D - don't buy this book, you're better off with the docs. If you just want to swipe existing applets - still don't buy this book, you can probably find some online and save yourself $45.

Rating:
Summary: Ready-to-Run, provided you don't want to know how
Review: If all you want are some java applets that you can adapt to your own use without ever understanding the API, then this is the book for you. It glazes over huge issues, while spending page after page explaining how to adapt their own examples in vain hopes you might actually be able to use them. If you want to learn how to program Java3D - don't buy this book, you're better off with the docs. If you just want to swipe existing applets - still don't buy this book, you can probably find some online and save yourself $45.

Rating:
Summary: a hasty treatment
Review: The authors seemed like they knew what they were talking about, but rushed through the material. Whether it was their fault, or pressure from editors, I don't know. I do know that the subject needed a more thorough treatment. Excessive listings made me feel like they were trying to pad the length (try changing the margins- worked for me in college), and the writing style struggled to stay focused at times. I learned a lot from the book, but most of it was from dissecting the listings- something I could have done, and ended up doing, on my own with the java 3d demos. I think it would have been better if they had taken one concept at a time, discussed it in depth with examples, and used each of these sections as blocks to build on throughout the book.

Rating:
Summary: On The Tight Rope
Review: This book is not so good. I've read plenty of good references in my day, and this isn't one. It reads at times like a sales pitch for the technology. Sometimes it's overly elementary and sometimes it's completely bewildering. Perhaps future versions of Java 3D will have the good fortune to be documented by better materials.