Brian Smith Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 (edited) Hi everyone, We are just in the planning stages right now, but myself and a few others are putting together a plan for a third book entitled 3ds Max XXXX Architectural Visualization - Advanced to Expert to compliment our other two. This would be planned for release 2 years from now, but as you can imagine, books aren't put together overnight. We are asking for topics that would be suitable for advanced to expert level discussion. Some examples that we are thinking of are: Render to TextureLinear Work FlowColor ManagementAdvanced UnwrappingReactorForces and DeflectorsNormal MappingMaxscript There will be 15-20 topics/chapters and each will be approximately 15-20 pages in length. The topics should be self-contained chapters that do not require the reader to read in any particular order. They should also be the some of the most complex topics available. There will be equal coverage of mental ray and V-Ray, so topics from either would be suitable. We are also open to the idea of including a few chapters on non-Max programs that are so critical in advanced workflow, such as compositing software or vegetation plugins. If you have any ideas that you think would be suitable, please post them here. Thanks! Edited June 22, 2008 by Brian Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandmanNinja Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 Great idea - can I pre-order? I'm thinking Mental Ray proxies (for trees, etc) would be good. Not many people seem that switched on with the proper way to set up and use mental ray proxies. Really looking forward to the 2nd book shipping. Thanks for seeking input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alrawli Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 Have been waiting for something like this. A few people in our office would be very interested as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chutti Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 Great!!! cant wait for my copy.... we need a chapter dedicated to advanced rendering settings for animations like the distributed rendering systems, rendering methods for moving objects like adding characters in our scenes and material optimizations for vray users. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gods418 Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 will it include modeling techniques???? might be more better if it had.. i find it important though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Smith Posted June 22, 2008 Author Share Posted June 22, 2008 will it include modeling techniques???? might be more better if it had.. i find it important though. if it's difficult subject matter then it is just as suitable as any other area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lyca Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 What about a topic on elements rendering and how to post-product them in photoshop and after-effects ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandmanNinja Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 Yes, Post (photoshop, after effects) would be a good chapter. Cleaning up, adding backgrounds through the alpha channel, inserting people... would be very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Smith Posted June 22, 2008 Author Share Posted June 22, 2008 What about a topic on elements rendering and how to post-product them in photoshop and after-effects ? that's covered pretty well in the intermediate to advanced book, although we could certainly expand on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lyca Posted June 22, 2008 Share Posted June 22, 2008 (edited) that's covered pretty well in the intermediate to advanced book, although we could certainly expand on it. oh, i got your first book, but not yet this one. so if it covers this topic, consider that you've sold one more exemplar than an other idea is a topic over the real time visualization engines as a continuation of the texture baking chapter. Edited June 22, 2008 by lyca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ky Lane Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 Out of interest, what are the other 2 books? Amazon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brightlight Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 The biggest attraction for me would be to have an included CD/DVD with exterior and interior scenes, but simpler (ie simple boxes?). These could range through various times of day and include in the text of the book complete explanations of lighting, cameras, environment and render settings (maybe the same scene could have optional settings for preview and final renders) for each of these scenes. I'd want a book that I could use on a daily basis with everything easy to find and graphically well designed. Like a handbook, I'd love that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianzajac Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 Out of interest, what are the other 2 books? Amazon? 3ds Max 2008 Architectural Visualization - Beginner to Intermediate 3ds Max 2009 Architectural Visualization - Intermediate to Advanced All that info on both of these books can be found at http://www.3dats.com/products.asp. You can find a sample chapter, Table of Contents for each book, and order the books there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ky Lane Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 $30US postage? For a book? Hmmm.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Mottle Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 $30US postage? For a book? Hmmm.... One of the draw backs of self publishing is that you don't get the benefit of the discount someone like Amazon is able to provide. The cost that Brian ships his books for is a direct cost and he does not make profit there. Expensive, yes, but worth it to get one of his books...definetly. If you look at it as $30 to gain thousands of dollars in knowledge, it's a pretty good return on investment. So you might ask why does he not just ship through Amazon? Because they take 55% of the book value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ky Lane Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 I realise that - but Ive been a fan of Brian since being a member of CGArch... so Im ordering it - and starting from scratch so I can eliminate any bad habits Ive taught myself. Still, US$30 is steep for posting a book; and will put me over our customs flagfall for import duties, so I may be up for even more when/if it arrives. Heres hoping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Smith Posted June 23, 2008 Author Share Posted June 23, 2008 $30US postage? For a book? Hmmm.... Postage for the 1st is $30 and postage for the 2nd is $40 except for Canada and Mexico which is a bit less. The 2nd book will actually costs us $38 to send not including $7.50 we pay to a shipping company. This doesn't include reshipments that we have to make for lost or damaged books, fraudulent orders, or late books held at customs that require a new shipment. Trust me, we're loosing money on shipping. If you know a cheaper way to get it overseas, let me know, because this is cheaper than FedEx, DHL, and UPS. We're not Amazon with our own overseas distribution houses. I wish it were cheaper but we don't make the rules Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ky Lane Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 Well, I order alot off ebay (usually motorcycle parts) and recently got an exhaust pipe (1m x 0.5m x 0.5m x 8kg) and paid US$12 using Fedex. The book is SO worth the $60US, but the postage is just a bit rough I guess. It made me baulk; thats all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Smith Posted June 23, 2008 Author Share Posted June 23, 2008 Well, I order alot off ebay (usually motorcycle parts) and recently got an exhaust pipe (1m x 0.5m x 0.5m x 8kg) and paid US$12 using Fedex. The book is SO worth the $60US, but the postage is just a bit rough I guess. It made me baulk; thats all. Well I dont know how ebay can do it, but I just went to the FedEx website and got a quote on a 1in x 1in x 1in package weighing 2 lbs from the U.S. to Austrailia. Regardless of the cities selected, it returned a quote of $97. I'm sure ebay has ways around this, but I certainly don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ky Lane Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 (edited) Not so much ebay as the seller. I just did a calc on our Austpost site to send a up to a 20kg parcel for Air mail AU$25.45 Sea mail AU$17.65 You guys must get seriously ripped off for postage (FedEx are shocking sometimes!), or maybe we're just lucky here in Aussie? Who knows Cant wait to get the book though! Edited June 23, 2008 by Ky Lane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandmanNinja Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 And that's why I stopped buying books mail order except for this one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nelpiper Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 I don't know if that wood be cool but, it could have some vray stuff. I know the book is about MAX but since we use vray a lot, I think it could be a good idea. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Smith Posted June 23, 2008 Author Share Posted June 23, 2008 I don't know if that wood be cool but, it could have some vray stuff. I know the book is about MAX but since we use vray a lot, I think it could be a good idea. Thanks. it will have equal coverage of mental ray and vray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tassel Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 Hi, I have already one book and looking forward to this book too I hope this book will have alot of good info about Render to Texture, Linear Work Flow and Color Management, since that is one area i want to evolve my skills. What about workflow covering animation-Visualization and render settings in this book? Hope to se more books in the future also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Smith Posted June 23, 2008 Author Share Posted June 23, 2008 What about workflow covering animation-Visualization and render settings in this book? the int/adv book already covers test and production render settings for mental ray and vray pretty well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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