review of Experience xsi 4 book by Aaron Sims and Michael Isner

[onemind]

Thanks for the link

Excellent review :)

I love this book

[SheepFactory]

we have a discussion going on about this book and this review here:

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=155216&page=2


and to repost what I said there:

With all due respect to Raffael , who is a great guy and doing a great job with xsi base. but i honestly doubt he read the book when writing that review.

" They have teamed up to explain the production process from start to finish. Sims and Isner together means a collaboration of art and technology knowledge."

hardly. how I wish they tackled and gave us examples from production problems\solutions. but the production process is explained as modeling , texturing , rigging , animating and rendering. which any beginner 3d artist already knows. The problem is the book does not go in depth to any of those chapters. Neither theory wise nor XSI feature wise.


"Initially there is a quick overview of the modeling features where you will start with a sphere to model a basic shape of your creature. Later on you learn how to add lots of detail and gradually the shape turns into a stunning dinosaur."

Where is that add lots of detail part? , my book must be incomplete cause there is absolutely no detail given about modelling. i know free tutorials on the web that go in to much more detail than the books modelling section , which teaches you how to create primitives in xsi , explains what nulls are , has a great tutorial on how to create a loft between two nurbs curves and so on.

"Summary
Experience XSI 4 is a fantastic book. You learn from start to finish how to create a complex character by using advanced features within XSI. It doesn't try to explain every feature that there is, it just focuses on what you need for the specific task. Scripting, that might have been a bit difficult to get into for people with not too much experience in this area, is very well laid out and gets people a quick start who want to dive into it. This book lets you quickly learn new concepts that you can use for your own work. A must have for every enthusiastic XSI user, or experienced users, that want to switch quickly and easily from another package. "

Again this is decieving. you do NOT learn how to create a complex character and you do NOT learn any advanced features other than M.Isners chapters on Scops and Scripting which are painfully small. %90 of the info on the book is already available on the manuals. Its a must have if you have $50 to burn and you want to look at pretty pictures , otherwise save your money for some real training.

So why am I vehemently opposing the review , its because I wrote quite a few reviews myself and i honestly believe its the reviewers DUTY to give a objective review to the reader who will spend his hard earned money on the reviewed item while his decision is mostly based on the reviewers opinion. Sadly most reviews are VERY positive regardless of the quality of the product because it seems some reviewers are afraid to piss off the publisher or the company. this is not to undermine Raffael or any other reviewer , but I for one would like to see more objective reviews in the future.

I personally think investing in the XSI dvd's are a better option than this book.

Ali

[ntmonkey]

I just got the book a few weeks ago. I worked in Maya and was literally dumped into XSI on the scripting side of things. The book is good for looking up where buttons are located on the index. Treat it like a manual, not a tutorial book. It is not by any mean like those Maya Savvy books. I say you get what you pay for.

I know CG well enough to not need a lecture about texturing or how bump maps and displacement maps work. Just show me where the button is and I can figure out the rest. This book is good for beginners and transitioning artists from another package. There's just no conceivable way to incorporate every aspect of a 3D package into one book.

I'm waiting for someone to come up with a "Killer Tips for XSI" book. Those rock.

peace,

Lu

[raffael3d]

---but i honestly doubt he read the book when writing that review.---

I actually read the book several times. What i wrote is my personal opinion about this book. A production process is very complicated, including everything in a book is very difficult. A book has to address a certain audience but still has to be open for a broader base of readers.
the book is for an intermediate to advanced level, and I think that this book pleases exactly this level.
the book covers different aspect from modelng to texturing and great chapter about scripting.
I don't know what your expectations for this book, but I never wrote that it covered ALL aspects of a production.
I think it's a great book, I have read a LOT of 3d books and a lot of them stay in the area of beginner to intermediate and basically teach you all the same. I found this one to be different but also critiszed that some of the "basic features" are explained again.
what I liked is that they didn't try to explain EVERY feature that is in the software as other books, because this is NOT the purpose of this book. It seems we had totally different expectations on the book, I personallyn can recommend it a lot.

[SheepFactory]

Fair enough.

no hard feelings Raffael :D

[raffael3d]

no hard feelings Ali. I appreciate your critisim.

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