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The Vray Complete Guide Question


3dwannab
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I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that a human did the translation. I think it was mentioned on his website.

 

Yeah I read that too as that was there reason for the length of time that it took to get it translated.

 

I haven't bothered to try reading it cover to cover, I just use it as a spot reference tool. If I wonder what something does I just flip to that specific section and read there. The reading didn't really bother me as I approached the book assuming it would be a sloppy translation. I guess I shouldn't expect such a mediocre job but I was just glad that it got released at all in English.

 

As for the whole searching issue, the book is broken up well, it's just not documented very well. So most of the time I don't have issues finding what I'm looking for, but it definately would have benefited from the indexing that the new 3DATS book has where there's a broad "chapters at a glance" listing of the main topics, then the following dozen or so pages break down every chapter into it's minor parts.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have the book. There is no problem with the translation to English. It is not a factor in the readability or usability of the book. It's an incredibly comprehensive review of the features. Not really a "how to" but more of a reference manual.

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Wow, can't believe I missed all the fun on this post.

 

Any publisher of computer books that hasn't yet figured out that selling pdfs is a very, very bad idea, shouldn't be in the business. It will absolutely destroy sales...period.

 

For those that don't know just how little money there is to be made as an author writing for someone else, the standard author commission is 8% of wholesale. So for my $60 Max 8 book, the wholesale price is $30, and I made a whopping $2.40 per copy sold. Spent around 2000 hours putting it together over 2 years, sold around 2500 copies (which is decent for new authors), so I made around $6k. That's about $3 per hour.

 

I begged the publisher not to release a pdf version and for the first 3 months I enjoyed pretty good sales...around 2000. Then the publisher decided to release a pdf anyway and the sales immediately nosedived. Had an electronic version not been released, I believe the sales would have continued much better, and I might have actually hit minimum wage.

 

So now, I print and distribute my own books and have full control. I wish that I didn't have to hold back an electronic pdf, but that's the hand that I'm forced. To me, releasing a pdf would be about as foolish as giving a new client a non-watermarked final image without receiving so much as a deposit.

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I'm amazed the publisher has enough power to be able to make this decision and disregard your wishes...

 

Publishers have all the control...they foot the bill. Pretty much in any business I guess, the one who pays the bill calls all the shots. You should see the contract...it's like a mortgage, and it all basically says they control everything.

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