LightWave Applied Version 6.5 [With CDROM]

This book is terrific! I especially loved the extra tutorial of creating a character for celshader found through their website. The tutorials are written with pure exactness. I had no trouble following the steps. Infact, I learned quite abit just by following along. You won't be sorry.

The last LightWave Applied book written by this team was used as a textbook at the University where I was studying 3D animation. I loved it and my skills have vastly improved as a result. I was glad to see another book released by the same group (except Scott Wheeler doesn't seem to have been involved with this edition). Basically this book follows the same methodology which is:1 excellent chapter on the basics (I'd like to see a whole book by Joe that covers the basics for those just starting out as it is well written and there's so much more that can be covered); 8 more advanced tutorials taking up a chapter each; then one chapter that covers the industry (in the last book it was how to break into Hollywood - in this one it is how to start an animation business). Then there's an added chapter that briefly covers some of the newer features of LightWave 7.The screenshots in the first 10 chapters suggest they were written with LightWave 6.5 in mind, however I had no problems executing the same techniques in LightWave 7. There were one or two stumbling blocks, but a quick email to the authors (one thing I love about this team - the personalized interaction) solved the problem. There's a bonus site that also covers some updates and includes a rather large bonus chapter.I haven't seen anyone yet mention the CD. This has got to be the best CD I've ever seen shipped with a technical book and should set the mark on the types of CDs that other LightWave authors create for us. It included several of Dave Jerrard's older tutorials (I think they were for NewTekniques when it existed) and the chapter from the last book on how to break into Hollywood. There are bonus objects, additional tips, links, and (my favorite) the official NewTek LightWave demo reel in QuickTime format!Pros:- Great tutorials that are well written in a step-by-step approach.- Excellent CD-ROM.- Nice bonus Website for readers.Cons:- I found about 6 or 7 aggrevating errors (including a couple of missing files from the CD-ROM). While the errors are each addressed on the bonus Website, those who fail to visit the bonus Website may be stuck.- I would have liked to have seen more on 3D character animation and animating in Layout.I gave this book five stars because I still think that the LightWave Applied books are the best out there for learning (which is why my instructor used the LightWave Applied 5.6 book in his courses two years ago). I like the hands on (versus reference) approach. Most of all, I like the customer service where the authors (at least the ones I've emailed with a problem) promptly respond to my questions so I'm not left hanging as I am with other books where the authors don't want to address problems after the purchase is made. Kudos to Joe, Dave, Jennifer, and Epic. Keep writing!

Of the six bonus tutorials/articles on the CD-ROM for this book, two cover aspects of modeling: "Spline Basics" (taking the mystery out of spline modeling) and "Face-to-Face" (covering the creation of a human head).The "readers-only" section on the website for the book contains a bonus chapter, "Character Modeling and the Super Cel Shader." This chapter teaches you how to build the character model used in the "Character Setup" chapter -- a celshaded elf-girl wearing a tunic, belt, boots and ponytail. The tutorial contains a total of 717 steps and 462 images, but you can begin at any one of 45 starting points, loading the appropriate version of the model from the book's CD-ROM.As for expressions...the subject matter does appear (albeit briefly) on pages 633-639 of Chapter 9 ("Character Setup").

What's great about this book is that yes, as mentioned in another review, most of the tutorial here revolve around tried and true methods, and simple projects. However, they're presented in some very new, very interesting ways. Joe, Dave, and Jen have done an amazing job (again) in teaching how to use "old" ideas to create entirely new effects. And it works like a charm! I read through the book, find several tutorials, and say to myself "That's so simple it just might work!" And, of course, it does.Even though some of these ideas can be considered "old", I wouldn't suggest this book for brand-new users. While anyone can do the tutorials in the book, they do require working knowledge of some of the newer features in 6.5 (plugins, the Gradient, etc) that might overwhelm newbies.The "7" section of the book is very short, comprising only one chapter at the end. It's mainly centered around the new Skytracer2 and SasLite, and doesn't really go into any other new features, or the new layout. But still pretty cool if you just upgraded to 7.0.All in all, I'd suggest this book to any LW user that wants to know how to squeeze a little more out of an already powerful program. If you think you know it all, you just might be surprised. :-)

Having spent a large amount of money on several LightWave books and magazines, I have found this updated text by Joe Tracy, Dave Jerrard, and Jennifer Hachigian to be the best. All of the necessary basics needed for both beginners and experts to master LightWave 6.5 are covered in great detail as well as more advanced subjects needed to refine one's current skills. A word of praise must go to the authors! Great work.