| What you have in your hands is, quite simply, a collection of tools and techniques that many professional LightWave artists use every single day doing what we do in our various fields. The tools and techniques explored in this book are essential to creating the caliber of imagery that you see on film and television and in print and video games.
While this book contains no “secrets,” per se, it does strip away the techno-babble that plagues so many technical documents and reveals easy-to-follow, industry-proven techniques. These are techniques that you would eventually pick up on your own, as did the rest of us. However, the average learning curve for “discovering” them on your own is estimated at between five and eight years (much less if you find yourself hired into a studio where you are working on actual productions).
The information in this book is designed to get you up and running with the software as quickly as possible. The first few chapters will orient you to LightWave’s unique interface. The next several chapters focus on lighting and surfacing techniques. Subsequent chapters develop your modeling skills and teach you the basics of animation. The final chapters show you how to add “pizzazz” to your work with special effects and dynamics simulations. The files for the tutorials discussed in this book can be found on the companion CD-ROM. When available, both PC and Mac versions have been included. |