Digital Lighting & Rendering

Rating:
Summary: A missing manual
Review: A very good book that bridges the gap between technical 3d graphics skill and the development of artistic technique. Not application specific and helpful for more than just computer 3d graphics, much of the information applies to all types of traditional lighting as well.

Rating:
Summary: A missing manual
Review: A very good book that bridges the gap between technical 3d graphics skill and the development of artistic technique. Not application specific and helpful for more than just computer 3d graphics, much of the information applies to all types of traditional lighting as well.

Rating:
Summary: Lights...Camera.... REALISM!!!
Review: An in-depth look on the principles behind CG lighting, cinematography, rendering etc...This book covers almost all the technicalities in 3D graphics. Not only does it concentrate on developing 3D skills, but also the enhancement of one's artistic abilities and precepts. Really, this book is a must have, or might as well say, a necessity for all 3D beginners and enthusiasts. HAPPY RENDERING!!!

Rating:
Summary: All the basics of lighting &most of the tips known to date
Review: An interesting book.Covers every aspect of 3D lighting, how to position lights, adjust colors and power, shadows, compositing and materials...It's actually the opposite of Foley&Van Dam "Introduction to Computer graphics" : not much theory, a lot of handy stuff. Perfect (really) for beginners or wannabe 3D artists, it may be a bit disappointing for professionals, because they already know all the information contained. A bit disappointing, but still a nice reference book to have, and it may prove helpful when you've been working overnight on this shot due yesterday, and so tired that you just can't get the good atmosphere. Otherwise, colors are a bit pale to my taste, but nice illustrations all through the book. Delivered in 2 plain days from the US to Paris, France. Good job, Amazon, DHL, and Jeremy !

Rating:
Summary: Lighting & Rendering for the rest of us
Review: At my college the graduates are required to take lighting and rendering class. For the rest of us, we have this wonderful book that explains how light reacts to all surfaces by showing with color pictures of each senario. This book has improved my look and feel of my thesis without the need for paying a high tuition fee. I would definately, recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Lighting & Rendering for the rest of us
Review: At my college the graduates are required to take lighting and rendering class. For the rest of us, we have this wonderful book that explains how light reacts to all surfaces by showing with color pictures of each senario. This book has improved my look and feel of my thesis without the need for paying a high tuition fee. I would definately, recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: BUY THIS BOOK!
Review: BRILLIANT! I bought your video tape called "The Secrets of Softimage" a couple of years ago and it was great. Thankyou Jeremy for taking the time to write a book that delivers what it promises unlike many of the books on 3D out there. You should be comended on your ability to provide detailed information in a way that does'nt make you want to pull your hair out. Please write more books about modeling and setting up characters especially in Maya, thankyou.

Rating:
Summary: Required reading for any 3d artist...
Review: Digital L&R is one of the best publications available for aspiring and seasoned 3d artists alike. The topics range from imaging fundamentals to advanced issues like HDRI, and all the content spanned is explained in such skill as to make even a process like proofing with a histogram seem like child's play. What few questions I had that weren't made completely clear by "DL&R" I was able to address in a discussion group hosted by the author's web site. It truly complements the [digital] line of 3d books, and I only wish that professional users of software like Maya & Houdini would write publications of equal caliber. It is extremely fast reading, and the actual book itself is wonderfully done, with every page a full-colour glossed stock, and loaded to the hilt with sample images to help elucidate the book's contents. The only reason I didn't give it the best rating is that the book does not come with a CD, and I had to visit Birn's site every so often for sample files referenced (but not required) in his text. A couple of the files referenced were MOV's, so it was annoying to be in the middle of a [paragraph] and then have to wait for a download to complete, especially with a dial-up connection. It's unfortunate that a lot of the valuable content on Birn's site, the beautiful step-by-step multi-passed rendering of the ant, for example, is not readily available on a companion CD. If "DL&R" included a disc even half as good as the book, it would raise the bar for CGI literature.

Rating:
Summary: Good Art Book + A Masterpiece of Technical Writing
Review: Digital Lighting & Rendering is a terrific art book, the advice on designing lighting schemes and camera work are first rate - even to someone who has already read several of the texts on cinematography. But it is also one of the best-written books I've seen for explaining technical issues and rendering algorithms. Even the beginning chapters, on issues with which I was very familiar, had new things to say and were surprisingly informative (and non-condescending - there's less filler material here than in most of these books.) As an advanced user of Lightwave and (more recently) Maya with Renderman, I felt like I really hit pay-dirt in the last two chapters, with lots of useful advice on multi-pass compositing techniques, including some tricks I hadn't thought of. Shaders and global illumination techniques were defined and illustrated in a way that cleared-up a lot of the ambiguities of what I had seen in the software manuals and web postings on the approaches. All-around, this is the best book-buy I've made all year. I HIGHLY recommend Digital Lighting & Rendering to anyone (at almost any skill-level) who wants to make better renderings - It's helping me already, and I've only owned it for a week! Great Book, Mr.Birn!

Rating:
Summary: In a word, Wow.
Review: Digital Lighting & Rendering exceeds my expectations for a 'computer book' - Mr. Birn has written the first true 'art book' in the field of 3D production. The writing is crisp & insightful, and in addition to the how-to, there is enough coverage of when-to and why-to do everything to make the techniques useful in almost any project. The pics in this book are inspirational - I'm glad they did the whole thing in colour - although I had already seen a few of the scenes on Mr. Birn's wonderful web site. Really beautiful work - people who see the copy on my desk can't seem to put it down without checking all the pages. If everyone working in 3D could read this book, it would change the industry.