| Delivery |
|
I
received a bubble pack package via Air Mail
which arrived in just a couple of days (very
quick for the post). The case
was slightly damaged but the CD was fine.
Perhaps a thicker bubble wrap might be in
order. Either that or my postman is
disgruntled! |
4
/ 5 |
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| Packaging |
|
The
CD arrived through the mail in a thick jewel
case. I like this because I can add a
label to the inside spine of the case and I will
be able to actually see what the CD is from the
side. It's too bad that Epic doesn't put a
CD label in the case for you but the Cd itself
has a nice colourful easily read label to
identify it. |
4
/ 5 |
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| Interface |
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The
main interface is Flash animation which takes
over your screen completely. The menu system that they have is great
for getting back to where you left off quickly
and without much fuss.The
interface is kind of cool for the first couple of
times but the "music" and sound
effects get annoying
really fast (you can turn off the sound on the
interface but you can't turn off the annoying
sound effects). The thing with the sound
effects is that even if you are reading a pdf
file and you happen to be moving your mouse
around the sound effects shoot off as if the
mouse where on the main interface page.
This made it practically useless to have
LightWave and the interface up at the same time
unless I turned off my speakers. It also takes forever to shut
down the interface which I found really
annoying. To be honest though I just
read the files right off the CD after a while
and forgot about the interface entirely. |
2
/ 5 |
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| Media
Type |
|
There
are two main types of media used for the
tutorials, flash animations and PDF files.
For the 3D 101 section there is a lot of
different little flash animations that guide you
through various aspects of 3D. I really liked
this section and many parts of the course build
on this informative beginning. After seeing this
section I then proceeded to the rest of the
tutorials to find out that everything else was
simply PDF files. I deducted points
because of my disappointment in seeing just a
bunch of pdf files when the course refers to being
"Interactive". |
3
/ 5 |
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| Clarity |
|
On
the very first tutorial the user is asked to
load up a scene into LightWave to help explain
3D space and the scene file is missing from the
CD. (Epic is looking into the problem and
will provide the scene file on their website). Some of the links
(but very few) on the main menu did
not properly point to the intended files and I
had to search for them manually on the CD.
Things like this should be proofed and checked
before sending the course out. Other
than that I found the course and information to
be well laid out and followed a reasonable
"learning path". The tutorials
do tend to go over information and then assume
that you know the information - very little hand
holding here but then they get to cram in more
information this way. The course is laid
out in "days and weeks" and then
progresses into a few other more detailed tutorials. |
8
/ 10 |
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| Quality |
|
The
course offers a lot for beginners. The
course is basically laid out into "15
weeks" worth of material with each week
having 5 tutorials (5 days). I went
through the tutorials a lot quicker than 15
weeks but then a beginner who really wants to
learn LightWave should be practicing a lot so
the idea of 15 weeks might not be
unrealistic. The tutorials are a bunch of
pdf files that cover the major tools that you
need to know in LightWave. For instance in
one of the early tutorials you are taught all
the aspects of the Boolean tool and use the tool
to create a chess piece. What I liked
about this is that aspects of the tool that
aren't covered in the manual are covered here so
the student gets a good understanding of the
tool. The tutorials are often fairly short
(rarely longer than 6 or 7 pages) but each
tutorial is very focused on specific aspects of
the program.
After the 15
weeks are completed there are still other
tutorials that delve further into LightWave,
this time getting into some of the more complex
aspects of the program such as introducing bones
and displacements. Again, the tutorials
are fairly short but provide a good
introduction.
One of the things
that really impressed me about this course was
the attention spent on basic cinematography (the
art of film-making). The fact that the
authors try to introduce you to both the program
of LightWave and how to apply what you learn
into the art of film-making is the mark of a
well rounded learning environment.
The one area that
the course shys away from is character
animation. There is a lot of emphasis on
basic keyframing and techniques for the creating
motion especially as it pertains to logo
animation but practically nothing for character
animation. I think that the authors
consciously did not attempt to introduce
character animation because really that subject
is more of an intermediate skill set in the art
of LightWave. My guess is to watch out for
more advanced tutorials in the future.
Overall I would
say that this is an excellent guide for those
starting out in LightWave and at a very
reasonable price. I took points away
because the course advertises itself as
Interactive and I personally feel that it is no
more "interactive" than any book
on LightWave. Also there is no forum or
avenue for the student to have their work
critiqued or anywhere for the student to ask
questions to clarify a point. The pdf's
could have been a little longer and perhaps
"common errors" could have been
discussed alongside the proper techniques.
|
44
/50 |
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| Target
Audience |
|
Beginners
are the focus of these tutorials but because of the fast pace
any beginner who
takes this course had better be prepared to have
the manuals at hand to reference. This
course assumes that once they've shown you a
technique that you will know it from that point
on. There is not much hand holding but
that forces the student to practice a technique
before continuing on. The basics of
LightWave are covered. This is not a set
of tutorials for an intermediate user but an
excellent starter course for the beginner who
needs to get the feel for the tools and
interface of the program. |
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| Extras |
|
Lots
of extras here. The 3D 101 section has
lots of information including a brief history of
3D, an exploration of career choices in 3D,
making demo reels, and an explanation of the
animation process. There are also lots of
models that students can play around with in
their own animations. Nothing fancy but
they cover a wide range of subjects. There
are also some games produced using LightWave
which are really lame. If you spend more
than 5 minutes playing these I'll be surprised.
Points deducted for the lame games! |
7
/ 10 |
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| Value |
|
At
a cost of $65.00 US (includes shipping) I would
say that the price is reasonable for what you
get. |
8
/ 10 |
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| Final
Score |
|
Recommended |
80
|
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| Final
Words |
|
I
recommend this product. This is a great
guide to the LightWave beginner. The
tutorials are easy to follow and teach the
basics that every LightWaver needs to
know. It also provides good starting
direction on the art of film making and provides
some good objects to play around with. |
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