Get ready to explore what Autodesk 3ds Max 8 has to offer! Giving you a firm foundation, "Autodesk 3ds Max 8 Revealed" allows you to master animation concepts on both a technical and artistic level. Begin by examining the concept behind each task- the goal and necessary features that are involved. Then go in-depth with the objective of your task as you study examples and learn the steps necessary to complete it. Working your way through comprehensive, step-by-step lessons, you’ll develop the confidence you need to create amazing animations using Autodesk 3ds Max 8.

Part of the Revealed series, this book covers the latest release of Autodesk’s 3ds max, one of the most popular animation software packages on the market.

Lousy

It’s rare I give a book such low marks, but this one really shows what a lousy book is like. This simplistic text doesn’t go into very much detail on any topics, leaving all but the greenest novice looking elsewhere for assistance. This book serves only to annoy me when I look for answers because it has none to give.

The cover is completely deceptive; the author and illustrators have no such talent with 3dsMax. The examples inside are meaningless and tacky, showing only a cursory knowledge of the program itself. This book feels like it was written in haste.

I would not purchase this again, given the chance. Not for the 50 dollars it sold for. Not for the 20 dollars it sells for now. Not for 45 cents. It’s just not worth it.

Response to review

As someone who worked on the editorial side of this book, I was surprised to read in a review that files weren’t available. I checked courseptr.com, downloaded the files, and opened many of them and they worked perfectly, so I’m not sure what that particular reviewer is talking about. If you have an earlier version of 3ds Max (6 or 7), you can’t use the "regular" files because 3ds Max 6 and 7 can’t open 3ds Max 8 files. However, you can use the separate download file called "Data Files for Versions 6 and 7 of 3ds Max."



Also, both old features and features new to 3ds Max 8 are covered at the right level for a beginner-for example, hair and fur (new to 3ds Max 8) are covered in Chapter 10. In Release 6 or 7 you can’t do those paricular tutorials because the hair and fur features didn’t exist in those releases, but the book says "Most material compatible with versions 6 and 7 of 3ds Max" right on the cover.

I hope this helps to clear up any confusion about files.

Very poor! Save your Money!!!

- The files for the tutorials are not available online, I tried many times until I gave up.
- The book covers at a very high level the various areas of 3D modeling with 3D Studio Max but never goes in depth on any of the subjects. As a result by the end of the book I have clicked on many many buttons of 3DS Max but I have not acquired the skills to build a 3D scene.
- In my opinion, there is too much blablabla in between the tutorials and not enough in-depth hands on tutorial.
- The least you would expect from reading such a book is to be self-sufficient in at least some of 3D Studio Max areas.

Very poor! Save your Money!!!

- The files for the tutorials are not available online, I tried many times until I gave up.

- The book covers at a very high level the various areas of 3D modeling with 3D Studio Max but never goes in depth on any of the subjects. As a result by the end of the book I have clicked on many many buttons of 3DS Max but I have not acquired the skills to build a 3D scene.

- In my opinion, there is too much blablabla in between the tutorials and not enough in-depth hands on tutorial.

- The least you would expect from reading such a book is to be self-sufficient in at least some of 3D Studio Max areas.

no good as a max 8 guide

Like a lot of publishers, this one has just repackaged an old max guide as a max 8 one. There is just nothing on the features new to max 8 -- cloth, hair and fur, mental ray, etc. At best this is just deceptive marketing.

The book is still good as a general intro to 3ds max, but I have found New Riders 3ds max fundamentals better.

Autodesk 3ds Max 8 Revealed (Revealed)

This book is very simplistic and it comes with no files. The website that contains the necessary file is slow. And the files are corrupt. I tried three times to download the files and each time they are unreadable.
Save your money and don’t buy this book.