Piece of advice (about animation books)
Pjotter
Posts: 274
Buy the "Carrara 1 Bible".
Very cheap on Amazon (a few dollars). Learning a lot from this book. I think it covers 80-90% of todays Carrara. In a better way. I thought it was outdated and useless, but it is not.
Because of that, just ordered "Carrara 1 For Dummies" for 1 cent + shipping. No idea if it is also that good.
It is more informative as the Carrara manual.
Post edited by Pjotter on
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Comments
Really? I was wondering about that one. Carrara 1? Holy Sh... I mean... Sockratea... I mean Cow! Holy Cow!
I love information from other sources. Thanks for this tip. I still have a couple that Jay_Nola told me I need on my "To Buy" list but I keep forgetting to until after I've spent the lot on cool new DAZ goodies.
Do you have any of the other Carrara books from Amazon?
You'll be surprised how much is covered from todays Carrara. Modifiers for instance were in v 1. For the first time I am starting to understand layering textures. Did you know you can add a video or sequenced images in a image channel or any other channel? Maybe it is in the manual, but probably missed it.
Not much there for Carrara. Besides the 2 books mentioned, I only found a Carrara 5 book. Also have a very thick Bryce 4 book. Also 1 cent + shipping at Amazon. But haven't had time to study it.
One more tip, but this could get start expensive. There are many very good books about animation (at Amazon). Most are general and some are software specific, but still very usable. Believe me I have many dozens. They are the core of my animation knowledge. Not going to list them, because there are too many. And that would be too easy. Maybe others could list there favorite books. If so, let this be a "good book only" thread. But I think not many are reading animation books. But maybe I am wrong.
Just search at Amazon. Search in books for just animation, or 3d modeling or whatever related. Most books can be looked inside before purchase. Also many books outside the animation range, like script writing, using cameras (there are no books about camera for animation), etc.
Thanks for the tip. I've had Carrara and other 3D software for along time, but never did much with it (just a hobbyist). Recently, I've had more time to play around and am just amazed at what Carrara can do.
I am working my way through two sets of video tutorials. One is by PhilW because Infinite Skills had a big sale for the IPad app - not sure if that price is still in effect. Extremely helpful. I also got the online subscription to VTC, which has tutorials by Mark Bremmer. The two sets complement each other very well. I feared it might be repetitive, but so far I am learning something from each. I'd recommend either of them if anyone can get them on sale.
I'll definitely look for the Carrara 1 Bible. Training books sometimes have a cd rom with additional content. If you get it used on Amazon, does it still have the content CD?
I have the Learning Carrara 8 videos (downloaded version)....I didn't realise it was PhilW's dulcet northern tones I was hearing? Great tuts. Thanks, Phil if you are visiting the forum. I bought your Sidelong Hair as well to help get my head around doing hair (LOL). Your explanation on creating hair is great but the tool seems to have a mind of its own!
xx SileneUK
IS there any BOOK on Amazon or otherwise that the people running DAZ could read Like "HOW TO RUN A BUSINESS" or 'HOW NOT TO IGNORE and ALIENATE YOUR CLIENTELE"
Want to blow your mind? Many of the things you're talking about are hold-overs from before Carrara. The modifiers are a great example! The place where they appear in the interface is different, but the controls for adjusting most of the modifiers are the same as they were in Raydream Studio 5. The control panel for the DOF is virtually unchanged except for where it's found. The 3D Aura is also nearly the same, except in Raydream it was a global setting, whereas now you can set it up for individual objects.
Using video in a shader? Did it in Raydream! Maybe that's why I felt really comfortable with Carrara when I bought it and learned it's lineage. The interface was this weird melding of Raydream and Bryce that was similar, but different from either of them.
I hope that Bryce book isn't from Shamms Mortier.
His books are notoriously useless.
I don't know too many people who got anything from his books (including me).
Here are some books you might find useful for Filmmaking, animation and screenwriting...
http://www.amazon.com/Film-Directing-Shot-Visualizing-Productions/dp/0941188108/
http://www.amazon.com/Lew-Hunters-Screenwriting-434-Successful/dp/0399529861/
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Movies-Sidney-Lumet/dp/0679756604/
http://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit--Revised-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X/
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Lighting-Rendering-Jeremy-Birn/dp/1562059548/
Mine has the CD but haven't used it yet. It includes content files for the tutorials, some shareware (probably outdated) and some highly detailed 3D models. But sometimes the CD is not there. Sometimes this is mentioned at the seller info at Amazon. Maybe you can contact the seller. But Amazon also has the new versions starting at $8.-
Find your book and because of the bad reviews at Amazon, you are probably right. It looks bad.
But mine is this one (This is not an affiliate link).
It looks good to me (But my CD is missing). The difference between manuals and books is, books use examples instead of plain explaining the tools.
For instance, one of my Carrara books (not sure which one) has dozens of pages for creating an underwater scene. These are very helpful to me by the time I need this.
Find your book and because of the bad reviews at Amazon, you are probably right. It looks bad.
But mine is this one (This is not an affiliate link).
It looks good to me (But my CD is missing). The difference between manuals and books is, books use examples instead of plain explaining the tools.
For instance, one of my Carrara books (not sure which one) has dozens of pages for creating an underwater scene. These are very helpful to me by the time I need this.
Oh okay. The book you bought is a good one.
My cousin used it and she found it very useful to help her with Bryce 5.5 (I'm not sure how much help it will be for Bryce 7).
Find your book and because of the bad reviews at Amazon, you are probably right. It looks bad.
But mine is this one (This is not an affiliate link).
It looks good to me (But my CD is missing). The difference between manuals and books is, books use examples instead of plain explaining the tools.
For instance, one of my Carrara books (not sure which one) has dozens of pages for creating an underwater scene. These are very helpful to me by the time I need this.
That book is one of, if not the best, book that has ever been written about Bryce. Susan Kitchens was involved with writing the original Bryce manuals when Bryce was still with MetaCreations. Real World Bryce 4 is much, much better than the original manuals in most Bryce users opinions, and many of us still have our original copies, and we recommend the book still for New Users, although it doesn't cover anything added to Bryce since Br4, it does give a very good basis on which to learn Bryce, even now
Very cool!
I love this topic - and I love books! I don't even care if the cd is missing, really. If I had the choice, I'd likely pay extra to have it - but all of the ideas/software mentioned so far are that which it's good to dive in and build stuff/write stuff yourself. Yeah... I love how you can use animation sequences or avi in many areas of Carrara. It took me quite a while before I could sit behind a computer screen for long. Sensitive eyes, maybe? So I got into the (somewhat expensive) habit of printing out my manuals and pdf books so that I could read them from paper. The Carrara Manual is a beautiful tome. I often bring it to hospitals for waiting room entertainment.
Anyways, thanks to all whom share book titles and other cool info in this thread. I need to organize a good old fashioned book delivery in this digital age of downloads and clouds!
Here are some books you might find useful for Filmmaking, animation and screenwriting...
http://www.amazon.com/Film-Directing-Shot-Visualizing-Productions/dp/0941188108/
http://www.amazon.com/Lew-Hunters-Screenwriting-434-Successful/dp/0399529861/
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Movies-Sidney-Lumet/dp/0679756604/
http://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit--Revised-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X/
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Lighting-Rendering-Jeremy-Birn/dp/1562059548/
Nice list thank you very much!
I am curious what ones were on the To Buy List
I can't believe it.
I have been thinking about learning Bryce (which would be nice since I have owned a copy since Bryce 2).
I went looking for the book, "Real World Bryce" and can you believe my cousin had absconded with my copy.
She was nice enough to leave me with my copy of R. Shamms Mortier's book though.
Oh well, I'm too busy now anyway.
I can't believe it.
I have been thinking about learning Bryce (which would be nice since I have owned a copy since Bryce 2).
I went looking for the book, "Real World Bryce" and can you believe my cousin had absconded with my copy.
She was nice enough to leave me with my copy of R. Shamms Mortier's book though.
Oh well, I'm too busy now anyway.
Well you could always sell the Shamm book for the same price that Pjotter paid for his copy of Real world Br 4 It may be over charging for it, but Caveat Emptor and all that. :)
LOL!!!
Yeah, it drives me nuts to see how cheaply we can by good books these days. Reminds me when I bought Figures Characters and Avatars to get my first copy of Carrara Pro with a twenty dollar (USD) book purchase! At that time, we were still on version 7, but 8 beta was already started and free to anyone owning 7. So I bought the upgrade to 7 Pro and got 8 Pro for free, once that came out!
Anyways... the book is still a fun read, and well worth the twenty bucks. D&D books are like $50 or there about now.
I've got the C1 book and the C3 & C5 ones.
The C1 book covers a lot but I had to fix some stuff with regards to the sample files and some things have changed. I got it cause it was very cheap.
The Carrara 3 Pro Book has sections in it that require a program called Amapi which was included with Carrara back then to do some of the lessons, and you are better off getting the C5 Pro version. It did have some DCG tutorials that didn't get reprinted in the 5 book that are still valid. You could get this book for about $3 at one point.
The Carrara 5 Pro book is my favorite of the 3 and everything in it still applies to C8.
When I did the section for DCG in the plugins list on this forum or the information manual. I mentioned in the FAQ what DCG plugin tutorials are in each book.
The Bryce 4 book that got mention does have some corrected files for the materials on the disk you can get from the Susan Kitchens home page.
The printing images chapter for it was going to be her home page and never was published. It most likely would have just been a minor up dated version of that chapter from the Bryce 2 book she worked on.
The Digital Lighting book is the most recommended book that shows up on the forums for 3D work and is the single most used and referenced 3D book I own.
The Survival Kit book was one that got mentioned was one of the 3 books that 3D World recommended in an article in which they gave 3 books you want to have on your shelf.
Jay,
That plugins FAQ that you made is amazing! Thanks a million again for making that! Fairly soon I am expecting to have three stonework jobs completed - so hopefully I can expend some revenue towards some reading material via Amazon - or wherever.
Carrara 5 Essential Training, a video lesson series at Lynda.com, is taught by Jack Whitney, whom helped write both Carrara 3 Pro and Carrara 5 Pro books - and is very knowledgeable about the whole of Carrara. It's fun to see the "What's new?" from those periods, too! Our wonderful authoring suite sure has grown over the years, hasn't it?
Thanks again to everybody contributing titles in here. This will be most useful when I get the chance to expand my library.
When I get home, I'll have to pull out my digital animation bible so I can reference it's title and author here as well - it taught me how to model the human figure - and it has instructions for both box modeling (extrusion - this is how I model) and spline modeling side by side - which is incredibly useful for the Carrara artist, having both to choose from.