This practical and easy?to?follow book showa you how to transform your 3D projects with your own digital photographs and enhance your 3D animation by adding photographs that you?ve composed, lit, and shot. The featured tips and ideas will quickly have you creating quality photographs for use throughout the 3D workflow. From the mechanics of megapixels to the tricks of lighting to the art of finding the best images to shoot, you?ll learn valuable techniques that will transform your designs.

Note: CD?ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

This practical and easy to follow book shows you how to transform your 3D projects with your own digital photographs and enhance your 3D animation by adding photographs that you’ve composed, lit, and shot. The featured tips and ideas will quickly have you creating quality photographs for use throughout the 3D workflow. From the mechanics of megapixels to the tricks of lighting to the art of finding the best images to shoot, you’ll learn valuable techniques that will transform your designs. Note: CD ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Transform Your 3D Projects with Your Own Digital Photographs

Enhance your 3D animation by adding photographs that you?ve composed, lit, and shot specifically for use in your 3D projects. This practical and easy?to?follow book will show you how. Even if you have limited experience, the tips and ideas you?ll find will soon have you creating quality photographs for use throughout the 3D workflow. From the mechanics of megapixels to the tricks of lighting to the art of finding the best images to shoot, you?ll gain control and learn valuable professional techniques that will transform your designs.

• Explore camera angles, lighting, and more from a 3D perspective
• Create textures, backgrounds, and 3D image models with your photographs
• Notice details, find the right subjects, and learn photographic best practices
• Master the mechanics of f?stops, apertures, and lenses for 3D
• Apply digital photographic quality to your rendered 3D images
• Use high?dynamic?range (HDR) imaging for advanced 3D lighting

No special software required. The instructions in this book apply to most popular 3D applications.

Recognize useful real?world scenes and photographs with 3D in mind

Use stills more effectively for texture, background, and reference

Shoot and assemble complete 3D environments

Companion DVD with Video Training!

See how to incorporate photographs into your 3D projects with more than two hours of video training provided on DVD. You?ll also find valuable tools, including:

• Over a hundred digital images for your use, royalty?free, from the author
• Valuable software including LightWave 3D® demo version, Maya® 7 Personal Learning Edition, 3ds Max® 9 evaluation version, Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 tryout version, and photo?to?3D plug?ins

Dan Ablan is president of AGA Digital Studios, Inc., a 3D animation and visual effects company. He is also founder of 3D Garage.com, a Web site dedicated to 3D training. Dan has been involved in the visual arts since 1982 and is the author of ten books on computer graphics and animation.

This practical and easy-to-follow book showa you how to transform your 3D projects with your own digital photographs and enhance your 3D animation by adding photographs that you’ve composed, lit, and shot. The featured tips and ideas will quickly have you creating quality photographs for use throughout the 3D workflow. From the mechanics of megapixels to the tricks of lighting to the art of finding the best images to shoot, you’ll learn valuable techniques that will transform your designs.

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Transform Your 3D Projects with Your Own Digital Photographs

Enhance your 3D animation by adding photographs that you’ve composed, lit, and shot specifically for use in your 3D projects. This practical and easy-to-follow book will show you how. Even if you have limited experience, the tips and ideas you’ll find will soon have you creating quality photographs for use throughout the 3D workflow. From the mechanics of megapixels to the tricks of lighting to the art of finding the best images to shoot, you’ll gain control and learn valuable professional techniques that will transform your designs.

• Explore camera angles, lighting, and more from a 3D perspective
• Create textures, backgrounds, and 3D image models with your photographs
• Notice details, find the right subjects, and learn photographic best practices
• Master the mechanics of f-stops, apertures, and lenses for 3D
• Apply digital photographic quality to your rendered 3D images
• Use high-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging for advanced 3D lighting

No special software required. The instructions in this book apply to most popular 3D applications.

• Recognize useful real-world scenes and photographs with 3D in mind
• Use stills more effectively for texture, background, and reference
• Shoot and assemble complete 3D environments

Companion DVD with Video Training!

See how to incorporate photographs into your 3D projects with more than two hours of video training provided on DVD. You’ll also find valuable tools, including:

• Over a hundred digital images for your use, royalty-free, from the author
• Valuable software including LightWave 3D(r) demo version, Maya(r) 7 Personal Learning Edition, 3ds Max(r) 9 evaluation version, Adobe(r) Photoshop(r) CS2 tryout version, and photo-to-3D plug-ins

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Transform Your 3D Projects with Your Own Digital Photographs

Enhance your 3D animation by adding photographs that you’ve composed, lit, and shot specifically for use in your 3D projects. This practical and easy-to-follow book will show you how. Even if you have limited experience, the tips and ideas you’ll find will soon have you creating quality photographs for use throughout the 3D workflow. From the mechanics of megapixels to the tricks of lighting to the art of finding the best images to shoot, you’ll gain control and learn valuable professional techniques that will transform your designs.

• Explore camera angles, lighting, and more from a 3D perspective
• Create textures, backgrounds, and 3D image models with your photographs
• Notice details, find the right subjects, and learn photographic best practices
• Master the mechanics of f-stops, apertures, and lenses for 3D
• Apply digital photographic quality to your rendered 3D images
• Use high-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging for advanced 3D lighting

No special software required. The instructions in this book apply to most popular 3D applications.

• Recognize useful real-world scenes and photographs with 3D in mind
• Use stills more effectively for texture, background, and reference
• Shoot and assemble complete 3D environments

Companion DVD with Video Training!

See how to incorporate photographs into your 3D projects with more than two hours of video training provided on DVD. You’ll also find valuable tools, including:

• Over a hundred digital images for your use, royalty-free, from the author
• Valuable software including LightWave 3D(r) demo version, Maya(r) 7 Personal Learning Edition, 3ds Max(r) 9 evaluation version, Adobe(r) Photoshop(r) CS2 tryout version, and photo-to-3D plug-ins

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Transform Your 3D Projects with Your Own Digital Photographs


Enhance your 3D animation by adding photographs that you’ve composed, lit, and shot specifically for use in your 3D projects. This practical and easy-to-follow book will show you how. Even if you have limited experience, the tips and ideas you’ll find will soon have you creating quality photographs for use throughout the 3D workflow. From the mechanics of megapixels to the tricks of lighting to the art of finding the best images to shoot, you’ll gain control and learn valuable professional techniques that will transform your designs.
* Explore camera angles, lighting, and more from a 3D perspective
* Create textures, backgrounds, and 3D image models with your photographs
* Notice details, find the right subjects, and learn photographic best practices
* Master the mechanics of f-stops, apertures, and lenses for 3D
* Apply digital photographic quality to your rendered 3D images
* Use high-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging for advanced 3D lighting

No special software required. The instructions in this book apply to most popular 3D applications.

Recognize useful real-world scenes and photographs with 3D in mind

Use stills more effectively for texture, background, and reference

Shoot and assemble complete 3D environments

Companion DVD with Video Training!

See how to incorporate photographs into your 3D projects with more than two hours of video training provided on DVD. You’ll also find valuable tools, including:
* Over a hundred digital images for your use, royalty-free, from the author
* Valuable software including LightWave 3D(r) demo version, Maya(r) 7 Personal Learning Edition, 3ds Max(r) 9 evaluation version, Adobe(r) Photoshop(r) CS2 tryout version, and photo-to-3D plug-ins

Transform Your 3D Projects with Your Own Digital Photographs

Enhance your 3D animation by adding photographs that you’ve composed, lit, and shot specifically for use in your 3D projects. This practical and easy-to-follow book will show you how. Even if you have limited experience, the tips and ideas you’ll find will soon have you creating quality photographs for use throughout the 3D workflow. From the mechanics of megapixels to the tricks of lighting to the art of finding the best images to shoot, you’ll gain control and learn valuable professional techniques that will transform your designs.
* Explore camera angles, lighting, and more from a 3D perspective
* Create textures, backgrounds, and 3D image models with your photographs
* Notice details, find the right subjects, and learn photographic best practices
* Master the mechanics of f-stops, apertures, and lenses for 3D
* Apply digital photographic quality to your rendered 3D images
* Use high-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging for advanced 3D lighting

No special software required. The instructions in this book apply to most popular 3D applications.

Recognize useful real-world scenes and photographs with 3D in mind

Use stills more effectively for texture, background, and reference

Shoot and assemble complete 3D environments

Companion DVD with video training!

See how to incorporate photographs into your 3D projects with more than two hours of video training provided on DVD. You’ll also find valuable tools, including:
* Over a hundred digital images for your use, royalty-free, from the author
* Valuable software including LightWave 3D(r) demo version, Maya(r) 7 Personal Learning Edition, 3ds Max(r) 9 evaluation version, Adobe(r) Photoshop(r) CS2 tryout version, and photo-to-3D plug-ins

Transform Your 3D Projects with Your Own Digital Photographs

Enhance your 3D animation by adding photographs that you’ve composed, lit, and shot specifically for use in your 3D projects. This practical and easy-to-follow book will show you how. Even if you have limited experience, the tips and ideas you’ll find will soon have you creating quality photographs for use throughout the 3D workflow. From the mechanics of megapixels to the tricks of lighting to the art of finding the best images to shoot, you’ll gain control and learn valuable professional techniques that will transform your designs.
* Explore camera angles, lighting, and more from a 3D perspective
* Create textures, backgrounds, and 3D image models with your photographs
* Notice details, find the right subjects, and learn photographic best practices
* Master the mechanics of f-stops, apertures, and lenses for 3D
* Apply digital photographic quality to your rendered 3D images
* Use high-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging for advanced 3D lighting

No special software required. The instructions in this book apply to most popular 3D applications.

Recognize useful real-world scenes and photographs with 3D in mind

Use stills more effectively for texture, background, and reference

Shoot and assemble complete 3D environments

Companion DVD with video training!

See how to incorporate photographs into your 3D projects with more than two hours of video training provided on DVD. You’ll also find valuable tools, including:
* Over a hundred digital images for your use, royalty-free, from the author
* Valuable software including LightWave 3D(r) demo version, Maya(r) 7 Personal Learning Edition, 3ds Max(r) 9 evaluation version, Adobe(r) Photoshop(r) CS2 tryout version, and photo-to-3D plug-ins

Transform Your 3D Projects with Your Own Digital Photographs

Enhance your 3D animation by adding photographs that you’ve composed, lit, and shot specifically for use in your 3D projects. This practical and easy-to-follow book will show you how. Even if you have limited experience, the tips and ideas you’ll find will soon have you creating quality photographs for use throughout the 3D workflow. From the mechanics of megapixels to the tricks of lighting to the art of finding the best images to shoot, you’ll gain control and learn valuable professional techniques that will transform your designs.

• Explore camera angles, lighting, and more from a 3D perspective
• Create textures, backgrounds, and 3D image models with your photographs
• Notice details, find the right subjects, and learn photographic best practices
• Master the mechanics of f-stops, apertures, and lenses for 3D
• Apply digital photographic quality to your rendered 3D images
• Use high-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging for advanced 3D lighting

No special software required. The instructions in this book apply to most popular 3D applications.

Recognize useful real-world scenes and photographs with 3D in mind

Use stills more effectively for texture, background, and reference

Shoot and assemble complete 3D environments

Companion DVD with video training!

See how to incorporate photographs into your 3D projects with more than two hours of video training provided on DVD. You’ll also find valuable tools, including:

• Over a hundred digital images for your use, royalty-free, from the author
• Valuable software including LightWave 3D® demo version, Maya® 7 Personal Learning Edition, 3ds Max® 9 evaluation version, Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 tryout version, and photo-to-3D plug-ins

Transform Your 3D Projects with Your Own Digital Photographs

Enhance your 3D animation by adding photographs that you’ve composed, lit, and shot specifically for use in your 3D projects. This practical and easy-to-follow book will show you how. Even if you have limited experience, the tips and ideas you’ll find will soon have you creating quality photographs for use throughout the 3D workflow. From the mechanics of megapixels to the tricks of lighting to the art of finding the best images to shoot, you’ll gain control and learn valuable professional techniques that will transform your designs.

• Explore camera angles, lighting, and more from a 3D perspective
• Create textures, backgrounds, and 3D image models with your photographs
• Notice details, find the right subjects, and learn photographic best practices
• Master the mechanics of f-stops, apertures, and lenses for 3D
• Apply digital photographic quality to your rendered 3D images
• Use high-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging for advanced 3D lighting

No special software required. The instructions in this book apply to most popular 3D applications.

Recognize useful real-world scenes and photographs with 3D in mind

Use stills more effectively for texture, background, and reference

Shoot and assemble complete 3D environments

Companion DVD with video training!

See how to incorporate photographs into your 3D projects with more than two hours of video training provided on DVD. You’ll also find valuable tools, including:

• Over a hundred digital images for your use, royalty-free, from the author
• Valuable software including LightWave 3D® demo version, Maya® 7 Personal Learning Edition, 3ds Max® 9 evaluation version, Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 tryout version, and photo-to-3D plug-ins

• Examines how anyone who works in 3D imaging and animation can greatly improve their creative work by avoiding stock images and taking control of their own digital photography
• Offers complete coverage of every aspect of photographing images for use in 3D animation
• Written in a tutorial-based style accessible to any 3D artist, regardless of software choice, by one of the most recognized names in animation and visual effects
• The DVD includes over two hours of video training on incorporating photography into 3D work, more than 100 royalty-free images, and trial versions of major 3D applications

• Examines how anyone who works in 3D imaging and animation can greatly improve their creative work by avoiding stock images and taking control of their own digital photography
• Offers complete coverage of every aspect of photographing images for use in 3D animation
• Written in a tutorial-based style accessible to any 3D artist, regardless of software choice, by one of the most recognized names in animation and visual effects
• The DVD includes over two hours of video training on incorporating photography into 3D work, more than 100 royalty-free images, and trial versions of major 3D applications

A wealth of information!

Dan Ablan is a great instructor, hands down! His books, courseware and support are far none the best in this industry. This book is truly a reflection of quality, quality that you’d expect Dan to provide.

Some of you might say that some of the chapters in this book are pretty basic. I am not here to bash any of you, I just want to write a review about this book, but... Not everyone will find these chapters "basic." They are what I call, informative!

This book provides a wealth of information. Some of it was information I already knew, but that’s because I have been doing photography since I was a kid. His technique and ideations however, put a whole new spin on how I work with my digital photos. I admire Dan for his creativity and ideas. This book will definately give you a new perspective on how to use digital pictures and how to incorpoate them into 3d.

If you are looking for an excellent book to accompany your library, this book is it! I am an amateur at best when it comes to 3D animation. Owning this book, I see myself advancing past this "amateur" level. :)

If you like Dan’s teaching style and his other books, you truly wont be dissapointed by this one! I would also like to suggest his courseware! Dan’s courseware is just as good, if not better than his books!

There was nothing in this book that I did not enjoy or get bored with. However, if you are a pro working for Pixar or some professional company, this book might seem "basic" to you.. For the other 95% of us, this book is a great investment!

-Justin

An oddball collection of topics

I’m somewhat of a noob in 3d modelling and animation, and so this book really interested me. I was hoping to learn how to better use photography to do things like create effective reference images, textures, normal maps, bump maps, displacement maps, and such.

After reading through most of the book, I’m pretty disappointed. While the book does cover such topics, I feel that it gives those topics a pretty superficial treatment, and the focus of the book seems to be on other, what I’d consider, "oddball topics".

The book devotes a lot of time covering digital photography in general. It does this fairly well, but honestly, a book like "Real World Digital Photography" does that much better.

The book also has large sections where it goes into great detail into how to create a 3d slideshow, and another on how to create a digital collage using After Effects. While these topics are kind of interesting, honestly, how often are you going to do something like that?

The book is kind of an interesting read, but after reading it I’m wondering who the intended audience for it actually is. Certainly not 3d animators or modelers like the title and the description of the book seem to indicate.

Get the facts straight!

I was considering to buy this book, but saw some glaring errors in the online preview that makes me wonder about the rest of the book. For example on page 2 he says this when discussing the history of photography:

| "Initially, a pinhole opening let a specific amount of light into a dark box ...
| In the twentieth century, lenses replaced pinholes and film was manufactured
| to permanently record the exposed image."

Cameras certainly had lenses well before the start of the 20th century, and although photographic film wasn’t introduced until 1889, photographic images were made permanent as early as the 1820s and ’30s. For example, Matthew Brady made permanent images using cameras with lenses during the US Civil War (1860s).

Hopefully Mr. Abian knows more about Digital Photography than history.

Training for beginners at its best.

While some may mistake this for a masterclass in 3D and digital photography, it is quite clearly geared towards beginners. But, it’s value as a source of professional training does not stop there. What I found most profoundly useful about this book by Dan Ablan is that it not only helps newcomers to 3D and/or digital photography, but that it may also inspire those who may be intimidated by the depth and complexity associated with 3D to now pursue this wonderful medium to enhance their self expression and understanding. I have purchased many training materials written by Dan Ablan, from video tutorial DVD’s to instructional books such as this one, and have always felt the wiser for doing so. I waited until I finished this book before sitting down to write this review. Contrary to other assessments, the techniques taught in this book are accurate for the uses stated in their related topics. If you want to dip your toes into the water of 3D while improving your digital photography skills, then I would highly recommend that you pick up this book. Read it thoroughly. I believe you will find yourself returning to it as a source of reference again and again, as I have. Enjoy.

Excellent & Informative

I was hesitant to get this book after reading the one review posted. But instead I got the book anyway. I have to say that the information is excellent. I’ve worked in 3D for a while, using Maya and Cinema 4D, but had not explored the use of digital photography to the fullest extent. I had emailed Dan Ablan and he replied right away. He told me this book was about ideas and that it helps bridge the gap between photography and 3D, two fields he’s worked in for over a decade. He was right and I found that his example photos were outstanding and use of them even better. This book covers managing files which is a big deal as you start taking more shots such as textures and image maps. It covers how to create panoramas in more than one application, and it covers hdri and as Dan shows, works great in modo. I’m new to modo, but the project was cool. I was surprised that the book even covered image modeling using image modeler from [...]and then there was the after effects tutorial creating a heavily layered, animated montage all from photos using masks and keys and blending. I liked the use of 3D for animated photo slideshows and image mapping ideas.

What really surprised me the most was that even though the tutorial are geared towards beginners it has helped my 3D work immensely. What’s cool is that Dan included hours of video training tutorials on the book’s DVD to help you learn more and there’s tons of sample images to work with and free demo software.

Top notch book!

Bad HDRI coverage, maybe OK for beginners

This is an important topic. The publisher should have found a more experienced author to write this book!

The coverage of HDRI imaging was full of mistakes. In a step-by-step tutorial, the author makes every mistake in the book: he focuses his camera wrong, he changes the f-stop between bracketed exposures even though this will change the camera’s DOF and mess up the alignment of images, in assembling his High Dymanic Range Images with Adobe Photoshop PS2 he advises readers to change modes from HDRI to 16 bit and back, without mentioning that this means he is no longer creating a High Dymanic Range Image. The author doesn’t seem to notice that the series of bungling mistakes he has made hasn’t produced a HDRI map suitable for image based lighting, and instead acts as if he has achieved highly realistic results.

The author’s mis-adventures photographing a Christmas Tree ball in his back yard to make HDRI are only one chapter in this book. He also attempts to make texture maps out of photographs (he gets to the color maps, doesn’t go much further into how to derive bump or specular or other maps based on the color.) The book is also full of "filler" chapters that would only be useful to a beginner first using a computer. There’s a chapter on image management, showing how you can use a program like iPhoto to organize your pictures, and explaining the difference between compressed and uncompressed image files.

Overall there’s not much for a dedicated 3D artist in this book, although some beginners might find some of it useful.