I have been using Lightwave since the very first release. It can be difficult to keep up with Lightwave's features but this book will help keep you up to date. Dan has a way of explaining things that makes it easy to understand. I have been a fan of his books since the old Amiga computer days.

Pretty much everything you need to learn Lightwave is in this book. Also Lightwave pros will still be able to use it for reference. I refer to it a few times a week and I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about Lightwave.

In conclusion, if you use Lightwave you need this book. Enough said!

The book Lightwave v9 is not only illistrated in a most professional way
it offers a high level of education in animation. Offering follow up Web
Resourses and a great list of learning resourses. The Author Dan Ablan
has made it easy to follow his tutorials for quick learning.

This is my third Inside LightWave 3D book by Dan that I have purchased (started with Inside LW 7). He continues to re-invent his teaching style which makes these books invaluable for any LW user. This lengthy book (over 700 pages) also contains almost 6 hours of instructional videos on the DVD to continue where the tutorials in the book left off. A brilliant move that keeps this book thinner than previous editions but yet provides more "meat". I also purchased Dan's LightWave v9 Signature courseware (over 17 hours) which greatly enhances the LW learning experience. Thank god for people like Dan who can teach 3D in a very unintimidating and friendly fashion. He makes you feel like you can create anything you want with LW.

What can I say? I can say that this book, although 700 pages versus the usual 900, is just as good and perhaps better than Dan's previous endeavours. The text is comprehensive and informative. LightWave is a complex program and Dan understands that which is evident in his writing style and approach to this book. The projects are great for a beginner like me, even though I've used LightWave for 5 years now. What I like is that Dan puts a lot of hours of extra videos on the books disc to help you learn more. This is a great concept that I wish all publishers would do. All in all, for $40 you won't find a more valuable text on LightWave 9 (and now 9.2)!

The Inside LightWave books have constantly been the most comprehensive books written on LightWave 3D by NewTek, Inc. This reincarnation of Inside LightWave covers the new release of version 9 and the author Dan Ablan has done a great job again. As with previous editions, each chapter is more or less self-contained allowing the reader to study a chapter out of order as needed. In this latest edition, he does more than just dedicate one chapter to discussing the new tools and enhancements for version 9. Throughout the book, he offers several tutorials that incorporate these new features, thus giving the reader hands-on practice. The Getting Started chapter found in previous editions has been transformed into a video tutorial on the book's DVD which saves space in the book.

My favorite part of working in 3D graphics is modeling 3D objects and Ablan has always covered this area thoroughly. In this edition, he does the same with some new modeling tutorials. However, he takes a more artistic approach and emphasizes using LightWave as an artistic tool. He begins modeling still life objects. First you use box modeling to create a banana and then he introduces the Multishift and Magnet tools while modeling an orange. The Clone and Magic Bevel tools come into play with a bunch of grapes. Finally, you use the Spline Draw and Lathe tools to create the fruit bowl. The intermediate modeling tutorials emphasize modeling intricate details. As you would expect, advanced modeling techniques are covered in character modeling as you model a cute penguin character to which you will eventually add weight maps and rigging for animation.

Next, Ablan discusses the new Node-based texturing and improved particle animation techniques. LightWave comes with some new cameras and a new rendering engine and the author covers these new options for setting up your scenes. He also covers single and multi-computer rendering and the new ScreamerNet network rendering engine.

One of the most difficult tasks when working in 3D is blending a 3D object into an existing project. Ablan discusses how to add a 3D object to a still background image. But a still background is only half the challenge. He also covers how to track the LightWave cameras to match prerecorded footage.

The DVD contains project files, full color graphics of the figures from the book, free textures and several tutorials from the author's 3D Garage.com website. Dan Ablan has been a pioneer in 3D animation since 1989 and has his own business, AGA Digital Studios. He has authored many books and magazine articles.