Reviews (1)

This book is nicely laid out!
I have been publishing 2-d and flash games for a bit, and now need to hit DirectX for 3d again (stopped at v8) and need to catch up.There were several things I needed for the new game project starting and it was easy to find all of them right off the bat.I checked first in the index.e.g. I need landscape/terrain generation, .x file loading, and concepts described in pure mathematics (not pseudo code) before showing the actual code. Don't be afraid of matrix math/calculus and get this book.It is a total re-write from the ground up of a previous book.I like this guy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer Programming    5. Computer games    6. Computers    7. DirectX    8. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    9. General    10. Programming    11. Video & Electronic - General    12. Computers / General   

Reviews (7)

Perfect
This is exactly what i was looking for, i think this is an amazing book if you want to learn....you have to get it.

needs more depth
after using this book for a while I find it needs to go into more detail on how tools work and common errors.For example the birail and curve editing tool are give about 4 sentencs but are used alot.
Horrible book
Too many steps in this book are vague and don't account for the fact that Maya doesn't always give you the results you are aiming for. The author will explain 2 or 3 steps very well then he seems to give you very little info for the next step, as if rushing through it like "well you should know all this." He assumes too much and in the end I found myself frustrated and lost. I mean if you get the end results but didn't understand the process you did to get there, then did you really learn anything? I go tired of spending 15 minutes staring and 2 pictures and trying to figure out what he did, since he didn't have the brains to tell me in print. Feels like yet another pro trying to teach when he can't remember what its like to be on the level of those he is teaching. If this were a class I'd have to raise my hand every minute and ask him to slow down. Oh, and NO I am not totally new to Maya and I've had very good luck with other books, so its not just some total noob venting. I've tried for weeks now to get into this book, there is just no way to do so as I see it.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Animation    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer Graphics - General    5. Computers    6. Computers - Other Applications    7. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    8. Image processing: computer animation   

Reviews (50)

The best handbook in the world!!
It has all the pokemon you need and know about. My favorite parts are the pokemon you see in the book. If you want to buy it, just buy it. You won't regret it.-- from my 8year-old son.

It's a BIG hit!
It's a great guide to Pokemon facts and statistics.If you're a Pokemon fan, you'll love it and find it very useful.If you want to know about Pokemon, you should get this book!

information
This book is helpful if you like to reserch pokemon.It also has a lot of intereasting facts about pokemon.The book lists the first 151 pokemon including Togepi.The book also lists the pokemon's techniques (atacks),pokemon they're good and bad against,also it shows their pronunciation, element, type, height, weight, evolution (if you need to do somthing other than batle to evolve) and the level the pokemon evolves at. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    2. Children: Grades 3-4    3. Games & Activities - Video & Electronic Games    4. Juvenile Fiction    5. Juvenile literature    6. Movie Tie - In    7. Pokemon (Game)    8. Pokâemon (Game)    9. Video games    10. Computer games   

Reviews (28)

Get It But Expect Some Disappointment
The main goal in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is not to actually complete the game, but to get 100 percent in the process, and that is a difficult thing to do without a guide. Problem is, this guide isn't perfect and there really aren't many out there that are perfect, so this is the best there is.
buy or not to buy
I found the book for the most part useful.The breakdowns of the missions are very handy.some of the hints they offer slow the mission down if you use them.the main reason i bought it was for the maps for the oysters and other little goodies that need to be found.And this is where it gets a little weak. They use big dots on the map to show where each location is.well that makes it a little bit of guess work.it gives you a general location.the photos they use are also very tiny and sometimes of little use.but overall the book is good and helpful!

Its sad really...
I, like so many other's, was stupid enough to buy this guide not realising the mystery's within. I still havnt got %100 thanks to this guide and can say now that i will never buy a Bradly guide again.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Games    3. Computers    4. Computers - Games    5. Entertainment & Games - General    6. Games/Puzzles    7. Video & Electronic - Sony PlayStation 2    8. Video games    9. Games / Video & Electronic   

Reviews (8)

Flawed, but still worth a look
This book could have really been excellent with a little more work.It contains all the elements you'd want.A programming overview, a Torque overview, sections on the architecture of Torque, sections on torque script, really nice large reference sections, a step by step game project in torque, and lots more.Sounds great right?Well, it would be, except for the really poor organization of the book. Fully half of the book is not in the bound softcover book, but rather on the cdrom that accompanies it. To me this largely defeats the purpose of buying a book, since if I wanted to rely on online references I could always just go to the garagegames website.
"The Game Programmer's Guide to Torque" is invaluable
"The Game Programmer's Guide to Torque" is, in my opinion, far superior to any other Torque book available, including "3D Game Programming All In One". I own both books and definitely prefer the newer book (GPGT). It not only helps you to learn Torque and understand various concepts (datablocks for example), but also acts as a great reference document as well (I found myself skimming through sections that go into great detail on setting up sun/water/other things that weren't immediately important to me during my first read through and referencing them later).
Great Reference for TGE Programmers
If you are planning to start writing games in TGE (Torque Game Engine), it would be beneficial to you to start picking up a book on TGE since the documentation on the website regarding tutorials and references require sometime to find and some may be alittle outdated.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    3. Computer games    4. Computers    5. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    6. Programming    7. Video & Electronic - General   

Reviews (4)

Essential For Enjoyable Gameplay !!!
First, let me say this is one of most thorough game guides I have ever used. If you purchase the Morrowind Game Of The Year Edition for PC or XBox, this guide is essential.The detail & description of the maps is phenomenal.There is no way you could ever find all this stuff playing on your own.And although the walk-throughs are not the step by step, hold your hand type, there is more than enough information to solve nearly every quest in the game.The best part is I can reference the guide while playing the game.I don't have to log off the game then log onto the net and search for the answers.Having this guide to reference when appropriate has made playing Morrowind a pleasure instead of a frustration.If you get the game, ya' gotta get this guide!

Gotta Give This Guy Props
It's not normally like me to write a review for a game guide. I mean come on...it's not as if there are many options out there (in old fashioned paper form). You don't see any other Morrowind guide books out there do ya? So, I see it as one of those things that people are gonna buy without much care for reviews.
Very Thorough
This guide is immense. However, immenseness is neccesary for an equally immense game like Morrowind.
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Reviews (2)

great rendering and dynamics for maya7
A great book for beginners of maya7.It is basicaly the "Rendering" and "Dynamics" books of the Learning Maya6 Book Series all in one.There are over 600 pgs of color diagrams and simple text discriptions.It is very clear and covers many very important aspects of image quality.Unfortunately for me, I already have the Learning Maya6 Book series so there is a lot of redundant information.Though there is enough new info to keep me happy.

The best it gets!
These books are a spectacular edition. Alias has been good about teaching in their books, but these books actually have FUN projects! I have enough books that will tell me how to do something (and these are VERY easy to understand) but the only ones that I can actually have fun working with are the ones contained in this new series. Not for the advanced user though. If you want advanced, go for the Maya Tecniques series, not the Learning Maya series. Great books! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Animation    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer Graphics - General    5. Computers    6. Computers - Other Applications    7. Non-Classifiable    8. Nonfiction    9. Computer graphics software    10. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    11. Image processing: computer animation   

Editorial Review

Digital compositing, defined here as "the digitally manipulated combination of at least two source images to produce an integrated result," is a huge field incorporating 2-D and 3-D still and animated artwork. Read more

Reviews (21)

Must Have for compositors and digital artists
This book is a in depth study of the techniques and technologies involved in the art of compositing. Not sooo technical that no one will understand it, but technical enough that it even explains in detail the algorithms and math used for antialiasing, blurs, the transfer operators like multiply, screen overlay., etc... I am a professional cg artist and highly recommend this book.

Just Great
I use Fusion 5 and this book has been of great help understanding not just how the different operators work within Fusion, but also, how a good composite has to be done. The final section shows different real world examples of compositions made for films like Titanic, an invaluable resource if you are a begginer and a point of reference if you have more experience.

Very good book! helped me prepare for my career
This is a great book. I wanted to really get deeper into graphics and film and out of all the many-many books I have bought this is the grand daddy of them all.Ron Brinmann gives you a wonderful understanding of film and graphic language and really helps to prepare you to be equipped
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books And Software    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics    4. Computer Graphics - Design    5. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    6. Computers    7. Computers - Desktop Publishing    8. Digital Image Processing    9. Digital techniques    10. Image processing    11. Computer graphics software    12. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    13. Internet   

Reviews (23)

A very solid basis for game design
I'll start with the bad aspects of the book first. It is very repetitious at times.It also tends to overanalyze some aspects of gaming and game design.That being said. I have no other ill comments about this book.
An Academic who claims to be a designer. . .and then writes a book
Having used this book for a few semesters, I offer you this: Avoid this book, unless you too are an academic who has nothing real to offer the world of video games in terms of game design or actual game production.
INTRODUCTION to Game Design Fundamentals
Rules of Play is an elaborate promotion for SiSSY FiGHT 2000.Though the cover art is cleverly composed of images from Street Fighter II and Super Mario Bros, I had the feelng of being mislead by the end of the book.Everything comes back to SiSSY FiGHT 2000.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Design    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer games    5. Computers    6. Computers - Games    7. Design    8. Interactive & Multimedia    9. Programming    10. Computers / Computer Graphics / Game Programming    11. General Theory of Computing    12. Multimedia   

Reviews (9)

Game Development praise
Jeannie Novak's book Game Development Essentials is an excellent text covering the scope of today's gaming environment. Everything from story development, marketing, character development and audience demographics is covered in this text. She uses highly appropriate first person narratives from industry professionals and has excellent study guide questions at the conclusion of each chapter. The CD included also has great game demos and trials as well as excellent links to web sites that add enrichment to the reading. I look forward to her other upcoming titles.

Not BAD!
I've been making games for 19 years and I couldn't disagree more with Mark Baldwin's criticisms of this book. Jeannie Novak has written a fresh, all-encompassing book on the subject of game development. The industry is rapidly evolving and this is one of the few texts to keep up with current thinking and present it in a manner that is easy to digest.
Excellent introduction to the industry
This book is a great introduction to the game industry in general. It doesn't delve deeply, but does a flyover of what is becoming an increasing complex medium. It hits the points someone seeking to enter the industry needs to know - everything from features of the companies creating games to current styles of development.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - General    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. Reference - General    6. Art / Graphic Arts    7. Computer Programming    8. Computer games   

Reviews (9)

What they mean by "Art"
I think some readers may be confused by the title, "The Art of Maya."This is not a coffe tale book showing some art made by Maya users.The title is a play on Sun Tzu's book, "The Art of War."That is exactly what this book is, it is a soup to nuts explaination of the "art" of using Maya.
On The Money
My Book arrived in great condition and on time.
Very good overall Maya book
It's a very good book if you knew how to use Maya.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Animation    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer Graphics - General    5. Computers    6. Computers - Other Applications    7. Desktop Publishing - General    8. Three-dimensional display systems    9. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    10. Computing and Information Technology   

Editorial Review

One would think that the title of Tomas Moller's and Eric Haines's book, Read more

Reviews (32)

Everything I was looking for
I acually read this book cover to cover theres alot of information in the book and its a great book to refer back to. Its really good as a companion with OpenGL. theres some directx stuff in it too but there seems to be more with OpenGL references.

High level presentation of rendering techniques
This is not a book of algorithms on computer graphics methods. Instead, it is a comprehensive high-level survey of rendering techniques for making the graphics appear to occur in real time. This book has a very academic tone to it, and with the exception of chapter 3 which is on matrix transforms, it has precious few implementation details. Some reviewers have called it a successor to Foley and Van Dam's classic text, but I find this misleading. That book is primarily about computer graphics techniques, and is not that concerned with real-time issues. The bibliography of this book is extensive and impressive, and if you are doing research on the subject it is probably essential, especially if you are interested in the subject of virtual reality where real-time presentation is a must. However, if you are just looking for pseudocode or more "cool effects" to insert into a game or graphics program you are writing/programming you would do best to look elsewhere.

Decent survey/reference book
I was greatly disappointed with the first edition of this book. There is nothing new herein that cannot be culled from the latest presentations/whitepapers posted on NVIDIA/ATI websites, from the standpoint of real time graphics.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Animation    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computer Graphics - General    5. Computer graphics    6. Computers    7. Computers - Desktop Publishing    8. Programming - General    9. Real-time data processing    10. Image processing: computer animation    11. Image processing: graphics (static images)    12. Image processing: video   

Reviews (7)

George DeWolfe's Digital Photography Fine Print Workshop
Excellent book. I have many books on digital photography and this book ranks very high. Excellent work flow recommendations and clearly written. This book will also be used as a reference text in a photography course I will be taking. I have almost completed reading the entire book and making notes.

Yes, photography can be an art
Too much emphasis is being made on the technology of digital photography, and even on the mechanics of taking pictures.Just as important is the artistic factor, which is often not even addressed in books that teach Photoshop.This book is an exception.You'll learn how to adjust the feeling and artistic approach of an image to create photographic art out of a simple digital photograph.If you want to learn more about the aesthetics of creating a digital image, this book is for you.

Having taken the workshop...
...I can recommend this book to anyone wishing to simplify CS2 and achieve great results. Yes, the book does have a few problems as outlined by another reviewer and I will leave it at that. There are many, many tools available to the photographer in PS - too many in my opinion. George will guide the reader through adjustments in RAW, the usual histogram changes, etc. and then will detail the history brush. If you have never used this tool then the book is worth the money. In many cases when trying to dodge and burn you can damage the original image if not careful. Using the history brush changes all that with more precise corrections and more control over the results. If you are not shooting RAW, you will be and you'll know why after reading this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Design    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computers    5. Computers - Other Applications    6. Techniques - Digital    7. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    8. Photographic equipment & techniques    9. Special kinds of photography   

Reviews (6)

Indispensable for game developers
Glen Rhodes' Macromedia Flash Professional 8 Game Development is for those who have the basics down and want to learn to produce professional-quality games. The latest enhancements to Flash are taught to programmers and web developers who want to get up and running quickly. From producing fast 3D effects to the hidden powers of Flash Pro 8, this book provides methods for understanding advanced techniques and getting up to speed: indispensable for game developers.
Window into Flash game creation
With Flash 8 Game Development by Glen Rhodes I expected to get a step by step process on how to develop games in Flash in the form of Actionscript examples and tutorials.I didn't expect much in terms of the other processes of game design, but was pleasantly surprised when Glen related the importance of all game components.While the book doesn't go into as much detail with other processes as it does the code (and as it is a game development book it shouldn't), it describes the importance of each part, and gives several extra items beyond what I expected.There is a section on sound, optimization, game physics, portable games and 3D simulation as well as a section by Chris Hildenbrand about game graphics.And you make some fun games as well as explore more complicated versions which are included on the CD that comes with the book.
Superb tutorial-style guide
Don't believe the negative reviews of those who don't understand what a second, or revised edition is.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    3. Computer animation    4. Computer games    5. Computers    6. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    7. Programming    8. Video & Electronic - General    9. Computers / Entertainment & Games / General   

Reviews (14)

Adobe Camera Raw For Digital Photographers
I recently ordered and recieved this volume and also "Outdoor Photographer Landscape and Nature Photography with Photoshop CS2", both by Rob Sheppard.Let me start by saying I don't like to read that much; I usually get sleepy reading.I am interested in learning more about these two subjects.These two books caught me eye while browsing one night so I ordered them on a spur of the moment decision.Well I can highly recommend both of these volumes, because all I have done so far is page through them from front to back reading highlights and a few paragraphs here and there.Now I can't wait until I can sit down each evening and read some new material in these books.They are written for everyone to easily understand what the Author is explaining; and they really hold my attention and interest.Great books that should be in every Photographers library if they really want to understand more and get better at photography.Rob Sheppard; thank you for taking the interest and the time to write these books.I will certainly be looking for more of your work. C. A. Parrish

Camera Raw - certainly good for a beginner
I'm relatively new to PS. In the last 8 months I've worked through most of Photoshop CS2 for Digital Photographers and Photoshop CS2 One on One and thoroughly processed about 50 (not a lot) photos out of the thousand or so I've shot.
Another Winner from Rob Sheppard
Rob Sheppard has done it again!Mr. Sheppards ability to make sense out of all the confusion is worth the price of admission alone.He offers sage advice with out all the hype.His non judgemental style offers you choices and explains why. He does not exploit popular myths, rather he unfolds the layers cloaked over what many have ascribed as trueisms.The book is definitely a how to and not a "do this."
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Graphics - Design    3. Computer Graphics - Game Programming    4. Computers    5. Computers - Other Applications    6. Digital techniques    7. Image processing    8. Photography    9. Raw file formats (Digital photography)    10. Techniques - Digital    11. Computers / Computer Graphics / Design    12. Image processing: graphics (static images)    13. Photographic equipment & techniques   

Reviews (1)

Not DoubleJumps best, but not bad either
This guide is probably the guide that most people will consider to be one of DoubleJumps worst. Not because it is bad, but because it is, well, different. We are all used to DoubleJump guides being small and crammed to the brink with detail. This one is distributed through Prima so it is a full sized guide and as far as the detail, there isn't nearly as much to include. Almost all other DoubleJump guides are for epic RPGs and Tactical RPGs, games where there is so much stats and details that they will be huge guides. Since Devil Summoner is an action RPG, there simply isn't nearly the same amount of things to include to create a huge guide. What this one does have though, is sufficient. Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Games    2. Games    3. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    4. Games/Puzzles    5. Video & Electronic - General    6. Games / Video & Electronic   

Reviews (21)

another cracker from Josh ...
Disclaimer: the fact that I have known and worked with Josh on and off for around 10 years now has little bearing on my review of this book.
Great book
This is really another excellent book I've seen on Java. Authors try to model/abstract real-world senarios into some "silly trivia" puzzles. You may say they are "Not puzzles, just silly trivia", but if you are experienced Java developer, you will figure out what they really mean and then smile on them. I have to say I was lost in some of those puzzles before in my real-world programming history...
Unique book finds pitfalls in both programs and the language itself
This book is filled with brainteasers about the Java programming language and its core libraries. Anyone with a working knowledge of Java can understand these puzzles, but many of them are tough enough to challenge even the most experienced programmer. Puzzlers are groupedaccording to the features they use, but you cannot assume that the trick to a puzzle is related to its chapter heading.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Indoor Games    5. Java (Computer program language)    6. Programming Languages - Java    7. Puzzles    8. Computers / Programming Languages / Java    9. Java & variants   

Reviews (56)

lvl60 hunter says...
The first thing to keep in mind is that this strategy guide was written for the beta version of WoW.MMO's being what they are, have changed drastically from the earlier version that this guide was written for.Also, be aware that to get the "updated" material you must purchase a WoW binder from the publisher.Finally, before my review, this guide has more typos than any other publication I have ever seen.
All I can say is WoW WhatA Guide!!
This is by far the best guide I have ever owned and I have a feeling it will be the best guide i ever own. It has everything u can think of and more!! along with the game manual you will never be stumped again which is saying alot for a game like World of Warcraft!!

World of Warcraft Strategy Guide
You can thank my son for this purchase.He told me to buy the guide to help me thru this maze of a game.It's been great because now we can talk online together thru the game and the guide has been very helpful. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computer Games    3. Computers - Games    4. Games    5. Games/Puzzles    6. Video & Electronic - General    7. Computers / Entertainment & Games / General    8. Games / Video & Electronic