Digital Modeling 1st Edition

There is no question, Digital Modeling by William Vaughan is a book every 3D modeler (or aspiring modeler) should read. It really captures the essence of what makes a good model, and doesn’t get bogged down with technical details of specific modeling packages. In this review, I will briefly go over why I think everyone with any interest in 3D art should pick up this book.At 432 pages, it’s a pretty light read. The author, William Vaughan, presents the material almost as you’d expect a teacher or a mentor to pass knowledge onto his students. He’s clearly an accomplished artist, and provides some anecdotes on projects he has worked on. I really like the style, and it made for a very comfortable reading.There are a variety of topics covered including: what 3D modeling is, what roles are required in a 3D production, how to prepare before you model, fundamentals of 3D, modeling techniques, tutorials for creating 3D text, a realistic head, and a full stylized character, digital sculpting, game modeling, and 3D printing. Most of the chapters are not very long, and are very approachable for any skill level. I especially enjoyed the realistic head tutorial, as this is one of the hardest things to get right. His technique in this chapter almost made the task seem easy, and I am excited to try this out on a real project. I also very much liked the last chapter, which discussed how to get a job in the industry. This will be a lot of help for college students or other people trying to break into the industry, and he gives some good tips you may or may not learn in school.Overall I was impressed with Digital Modeling by William Vaughan, and cannot give it anything other than a glowing review. What’s great is that he makes no assumptions about what tools you are using. The techniques in this book can be applied to almost any 3D package out there. In this way, I feel the information is more fundamental than other books, which concentrate too much of the specifics of one particular application. In addition, the photos on the Kindle e-book were top notch, large, and high resolution color images (unlike some other books, which skimp out on the quality).If you have even a passing interest in becoming a 3D modeler, you owe it to yourself to pick up this book. Highly recommended.

Although "Proton" is best known for Lightwave, don't be fooled into thinking this book won't help you with Maya, 3Ds Max, Photoshop, and every other tool in your kit! I'm the CTO at Shader Joe's animation studio, and we use all the tools every day. Because of this, I was very skeptical that even the Proton could write a book that was platform independent. I was wrong! Whether you are just starting your career as a digital artist, developer, producer or programmer, or are an old 20+ years fossil like me, this book will change a lot of what you thought about modeling, gaming, film, animation and the entire tradigital industry.I've found over the years that a lot of young artists come into the field with brilliant sketchbooks, and the first time they encounter unfolding a UV map, they freak out and leave the industry! Let's be brutally honest: programs like Poser, Maya, Lightwave, Blender, etc. can take a lifetime to learn: not just the program, but a single plugin! Specialization, for better or worse (Darwin said the price of specialization is death), is the way the industry works now. On the positive side, if you become an expert in only one small area (example: Blastcode for Maya), you can be the worldwide "go to" person in that niche and make a great, fun living!This book is REALLY up to date! Even the "2013" titled bibles don't cover the real world of CGI as well as this book. It's a true career booster, and it is clear that in every sentence Proton's "agenda" is to help the reader's career with inspiration and encouragement. What about the technical side? If this book tried to go through everything it covers in depth (Beziers, NURBS, Polygons, Rigging, those infamous UVs...) it would be 4,000 pages. Instead, Proton gives a THOROUGH CONTEXT for each technology, showing you what works where and why. For more details, you can then reference his own and his recommended tutorials! Example: you have a character you need to create for both a movie and a later appearance in a Unity game. Do you use Maya plus After Effects, Lightwave, Blender, Poser... and what about the web... Flash, PHP, Java??? Where do old fashioned drawing and time tested techniques like Matte Painting fit in? You'll now GET all this!If you only buy one book this year on digital art, and there are many good ones out there, THIS IS THE ONE you should get first! It will put everything else in context, and bring you up to speed on how the best and brightest do things right now. If you've ever seen Proton's tutorials, there is one other positive: he is one of the sweetest guys you'll ever meet-- the "teacher's teacher" and the kind of educator we'd like to send all our kids and grandkids to! Well worth the investment, you'll go back to this book for years to come.

This is a good read. The principles are clearly defined and excellent guidance given for trouble free modelling especially suitable for animation (avoiding distortions and pinching effects). My only disappointment was the lack of access to the DVD material recommended by the author for viewing near the beginning of the book. It is supplied with the printed book version but not with the Kindle version that I purchased. Having twice contacted Amazon i received generic replies but no direct information I contacted the original publishers, Peachpit, who magnanimously provided the URL to a download site even though I had not purchased from them. I would offer this advice to anyone buying the Amazon Kindle version, otherwise I recommend it wholeheartedly.