Book on Modeling Recommendation?

[NewbieAnimator]

Hey guys,

I am currently experimenting with Lightwave 7.5 DE and embarking upon a Visual Arts degree at a local community college. I am looking to purchase LW 8 upon it's release with my educational discount, but in the meantime and really trying to find a good source of modeling info. I have picked up a Lightwave 7.5 Primer (cannot recall the author off of the top of my head) and it was great, but I'd really like to just read up on the modeling process and how to use all of the tools. I am anxious to start making stuff. Any help in the right direction will be greatly appreciated! Thank you very much in advance!

Best Regards - Mike

[BlueCougar]

Check in with Larry aka SplineGod. He's a great resource for getting up to speed on modeling in LW. You can catch him on the LW tour or you can go to his website.
http://www.3dtrainingonline.com/
http://www.splinegod.com/
Hope this helps...

Kenn

[richpr]

Inside Lightwave 7 book

[SplineGod]

Hey Newbie...um..er...ah...yea, what BlueCougar said! :)
I have an Intro to Lightwave course that will get you up to speed fast. Lots of info and unlimited online support. Check HERE (http://www.3dtrainingonline.com/introtolightwave.htm) . I have a great siggraph special going on.
I also have well over an hour of quicktime movies online that you can check out HERE (http://www.3dtrainingonline.com/support/sampler.htm) as well.

Bluecougar,
Thanks! :)

[riki]

I have a list of LW and 3D Related books, DVD's and Videos here

http://www.suture.net/tutorials/books_videos/index.shtml

[NewbieAnimator]

Cool - thanks a lot guys. Looking into all options provided. I also found a guy at work that uses LightWave and he has loaned me his ownders manual. Appreciate all of the feedback. I didn't get any feedback on the General Forum - so this is a nice surprise. I am really chomping at the bit to get into this modeling/animation thing. I can't wait for version 8 to get released so that I can buy this program. Thanks again guys!

Later - Mike

[NewbieAnimator]

richpr,

Cool stuff on your site. I was checking out your Work In Progress section and your Gallery - very cool. Keep up the great work (I know I'm not a pro, but I know when I appreciate something ;-)

Later - Mike

[NewbieAnimator]

riki,

Nice list of books - and your tutorial pages are pretty helpful to. I'll be checking those out as soon as the darn kids will leave me alone LOL Thanks again guys - it's nice to know that I have a great resource of information. I only wish I had gotten interested in this stuff earlier. This whole interest of mine stemmed from wanting to work on a splash screen for my friends' band's web site. I want to model a DNA Double Helix and have it do some really fancy stuff. Once I realized that I would need some heavy duty 3D to handle it, that is when it all started for me. Let me know if you guys are curious of more details or not! I am very excited and am confident I can bring my ideas to life.

Later - Mike

[SplineGod]

Actually there are several ways to model a double helix and theyre all pretty easy. Do you have some more details about what you want? :)

[NewbieAnimator]

Well... Basically, I want the splash screen to come up and be all black. And then:

1) This step ladder looking thing will fade (I believe that diffuse would the proper LW speak) in.

2) Once fully appeared, top half will rotate one way, bottom half will rotate the other to form double helix.

3) Partial undo the rotation and have the two ends meet to form a never ending loop for a ball to roll.

There's more to it, but it just involves making the flash animation interactive and that will be covered in the new Keyframe Mag ;-)


That's my idea for now - I wanna make it look really cool as far as the surfacing goes, but I can work that out later.


Thanks for the interest - Mike

[SplineGod]

Hey Newbie,
Try this link: http://www.3dtrainingonline.com/rigs.htm
Down at the bottom left. :)

[NewbieAnimator]

Thanks a lot - I'll check it out ;-)

You guys are awesome - thanks for the help!

Later - Mike