Provides eleven tutorials demonstrating core animation techniques, including texturing effects, architectural modeling, flight simulation, and lighting.

Written for users of all skill levels, this tutorial teaches animators how to master LightWave 6.5 through the development of actual projects. With more than 600 images, users will be treated to in-depth tutorials on using the software’s features to build detailed and realistic objects like buildings, cars, and mountains. From showing basic functions of Modeler and Layout to creating an entire architecture landscape with camera fly-through, this book gives in-depth coverage to techniques critical for animation success. Also included is a CD-ROM containing objects, figures, and bonus material such as an updated version of Breaking into Hollywood.

Excellent collection of Lightwave tutorials

First off, this book is worth the price alone for the massive coverage of the surface editor. Two full chapters are devoted to surfacing and the author includes some very useful tips involving the surface editor. The chapter on architecture is excellent, you will truly become a master of beveling after completing the tutorials in this chapter.

The title is somewhat misleading though. The majority of the book focuses on LW6.5, only the last chapter is devoted to version 7.0. The last chapter moves very quickly through a couple of the new features in 7.0 and the coverage of these topics is very light. Saslite is briefly mentioned in this chapter, as are a few other notable differences in the version.

However, due to the vast similarity in the 6.5/7.0/7.5 interface, you’ll have little if any problems working through the tutorials in the book.

This is a definite must-have for any Lightwave user. The book may be difficult to find these days, but you may get lucky like I did and find it for a bargain through one of the used book resellers.

Excellent collection of Lightwave tutorials

First off, this book is worth the price alone for the massive coverage of the surface editor. Two full chapters are devoted to surfacing and the author includes some very useful tips involving the surface editor. The chapter on architecture is excellent, you will truly become a master of beveling after completing the tutorials in this chapter.

The title is somewhat misleading though. The majority of the book focuses on LW6.5, only the last chapter is devoted to version 7.0. The last chapter moves very quickly through a couple of the new features in 7.0 and the coverage of these topics is very light. Saslite is briefly mentioned in this chapter, as are a few other notable differences in the version.

However, due to the vast similarity in the 6.5/7.0/7.5 interface, you’ll have little if any problems working through the tutorials in the book.

This is a definite must-have for any Lightwave user. The book may be difficult to find these days, but you may get lucky like I did and find it for a bargain through one of the used book resellers.

Flawed Gem

As an intermediate level user of Lightwave, I have to rely on books such as this to help increase my knowledge and understanding of this practically limitless rendering program. Merely reading and understanding the manual do not make you an excellent animator, you also need help through situations and tutorials such as those provided by Lightwave Applied.

The book takes you from basic model making and rendering through to starting your own company, a steep learning curve even for a book this think! It tries it’s best to be helpful and give explanations, but you can never completely cover all the newbie questions you might encounter. It tries to give you interesting ’real-ife’ situations and shows you how the authors tackled it, but just how interesting is a building flyaround?

The information on the rendering package is comprehensive and useful, even if full explanations of what’s happening are a bit thin on the ground. Surfacing is gone into in a great deal of depth, with several chapters devoted to it throughout the book, but the modeling program is rarely even mentioned. The biggest gripe however has to be the lack of colour photographs, and the book constantly refers to colours and effects in the photos which you will never see. Looks like someone decided to cut a corner in that department to cut down on the sale price, to the detriment of the book.

Overall, if you want to learn more about animating, surfacing and character setup, this book is for you. If you’re looking to learn how to make models, you’re going to be dissapointed. This is reflected on the CD, which comes with some lovely images and animations but is woefully short on models and scenes for your use. As I was pimarily interested in surfacing and animating, this book worked wonders for me. It’s just lucky I learnt my modelling elsewhere.

Lightwave Applied, Version 6.5 & 7

I am a totally new user to Lightwave so this may help some newbies. This book is excellent for getting your feet wet and exploring a lot of what Lightwave is capable of. The reason I did not rate it five stars is because I would have like the authors to provide more instruction on the more advanced modeling tools like subpatching and metaforming. But, in all,
a well done book worth every penny.

Lightwave Applied, Version 6.5 & 7

I am a totally new user to Lightwave so this may help some newbies. This book is excellent for getting your feet wet and exploring a lot of what Lightwave is capable of. The reason I did not rate it five stars is because I would have like the authors to provide more instruction on the more advanced modeling tools like subpatching and metaforming. But, in all,
a well done book worth every penny.

Good tutorials, but it’s missing too much!

The book is divided into 10 tutorials. Each tutorial covers its section well, but I felt that there is A LOT of important topics it doesn’t discuss AT ALL!

It goes over BASIC polygon modeling, a lot on textures lighting, creating landscapes, BASIC animation, and bones.

It has no, or very little info on advanced modeling tools (splines, meatballs, etc), more useful animation techniques, and image mapping. Each chapter starts by havinf you load a pre-made model off the CD-ROM, but it never tells you how you would go about making the model!! The chapter on animation is extremelely basic.

I would only recommend this book to someone looking for a book on special topics in Lightwave. It’s missing too much stuff.

Good tutorials, but it’s missing too much!

The book is divided into 10 tutorials. Each tutorial covers its section well, but I felt that there is A LOT of important topics it doesn’t discuss AT ALL!

It goes over BASIC polygon modeling, a lot on textures lighting, creating landscapes, BASIC animation, and bones.

It has no, or very little info on advanced modeling tools (splines, meatballs, etc), more useful animation techniques, and image mapping. Each chapter starts by havinf you load a pre-made model off the CD-ROM, but it never tells you how you would go about making the model!! The chapter on animation is extremelely basic.

I would only recommend this book to someone looking for a book on special topics in Lightwave. It’s missing too much stuff.

Wonderful Extras!

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.

Wonderful Extras!

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.

Hits the high spots(really well) skips a few.

Well, being a some what regular user of lightwave the first chapter was useless to me, Dave Jerrard did a wonderful job explaining all there is to know about texturing. Half the book is using Gradients and layer textures, just what I was after. Plus he goes into great detail when it comes to bones and ways to get them to morph the object just right. However he barely touches weight maps, Sasquatch(oh come on its a hair generator next time give a tuto on the best ways to render and model human hair.) and there is very little on lightwave 7.0. Very little.

But this book is wonderful for n00b’s. They will find it very helpful. I myself have found it to be helpful but lacking in a few areas...

Hits the high spots(really well) skips a few.

Well, being a some what regular user of lightwave the first chapter was useless to me, Dave Jerrard did a wonderful job explaining all there is to know about texturing. Half the book is using Gradients and layer textures, just what I was after. Plus he goes into great detail when it comes to bones and ways to get them to morph the object just right. However he barely touches weight maps, Sasquatch(oh come on its a hair generator next time give a tuto on the best ways to render and model human hair.) and there is very little on lightwave 7.0. Very little.

But this book is wonderful for n00b’s. They will find it very helpful. I myself have found it to be helpful but lacking in a few areas...

An extensive tutorial, but quality is patchy

I bought this book to help me get over the initial learning hump with LW 6.5. I’d had LW for a few months, and could do basic modelling and surfacing. I now needed to learn the principles behind more advanced techniques with actual examples to play with. Lightwave Applied certainly aims to cover that ground, and (gripes aside) achieved that aim for me.

If there one thing that irritates me about tutorials, it’s when they give a prescriptive button by button description without explaining first why each button is being pressed - this does not lead to understanding, simply learning by rote.

Unfortunately this book is guilty (in part) of that approach. To be fair, there are many places where the authors are careful to explain what’s going to happen and why. And buried in there are some gems about how LW works (did you know the basic glossiness setting doesn’t work properly with the BRDF shader?) But they are not able to keep this up consistently. Within a couple of pages we are frequently back copying the instructions and hoping it will work out.

Having said that, this book does have some very extensive tutorials building quite advanced models and surfaces that I certainly had no idea how to set about beforehand. And it gives a lot of insight into how to create multilayer surfaces emulating different materials - it’s worth its price for this alone.

It is unfortunately in black and white. I’m not sure this was always intended - the text and picture captions refer to colour, as if the booked was planned to be in colour but became black and white at the last instant.

More editing of the supplied CD is needed. I spent several hours trying to recreate the Planet Earth tutorial using the source material from the CD before I twigged that what was actually on the CD was not the same as the text said was on the CD. A little more care here would have been very valuable - after all this is an instructional book and it can be safely assumed the reader is a learner.

All in all a very ambitious book, sadly showing some symptoms of being rushed to press.

Not in the league of (say) the Meyers’ After Effects book, but good enough to be useful (well, I learned a lot from it, even if I was swearing at it from time to time).