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This package was
delivered to me in a bubble envelope from France
(I am in Canada). The DVD case is strong and
the case graphics are professionally created and
printed. The DVD was undamaged so it
withstood the mail well. I put the DVD into
my computer and immediately got a blank screen
when the DVD started playing. I tried this
on three different computers, under both Windows
XP and Windows Vista and got the same thing.
I had to use my "show desktop" button on
the keyboard to get the blank white screen to
disappear and the DVD flash menu to show up.
I started the first video and realized that I did
not have any way to pause, rewind or fast forward
the videos so I was afraid that I would have to
watch each from the beginning and rewatch again if
I wanted to see something a second time. I
upgraded my flash player and didn't find anything
different. I realized later that if I
expanded the window that the flash video was
playing in the player controls would show up (they
were simply hidden by the window). This may
be the case for all flash videos (I don't really
know) so I can't fault Elephont for this although
I did find it very annoying initially.
After I got the
kinks worked out I found the navigation menu to be
excellent, I could navigate to any video and start
it up without any problems and it was very
professionally put together. The videos were
good quality and the sound was clear. Originally created in French this english language version has been translated into english and is narrated by Ben Vost. The sound quality is excellent throughout but because of the translation the windows interface used to run LightWave is in French so the Windows requesters and dialogue boxes are shown in french throughout the video series.
I did not find that this posed any problems
understanding the videos.
The videos
are initially split up into two main categories -
videos for the modeler interface and videos for
the layout interface and the progression from one
video to the next was logical. Most individual videos are relatively short (15 to 20 minutes or
shorter) but together add up to a little over 7
hours. The first few videos are basically an introduction to the main interfaces including the hub (a program that allows communication between the two LightWave modules). There is also an introduction to creating a content directory (a set of folders for correctly holding various 3D assetsf such as models, textures and scenes).
The rest of the series of videos is split into two sections. The first set related to the Modeler module and the second set relates to the Layout module.
To start off the modeler videos there are introductions to configuring the interface (menus, shortcuts, etc) and adding plug-ins. The narrator explains how to add a plug-in but never actually adds one for us, instead he shows us a commercial plug-in, in this case LWCAD 2.5, that has already been added. I think it would have been better to show us how to add a plug-in by going through the actual procedure, so we can see it in action. The narrator does configure the LightWave interface to include the plugin. There are other videos that delve further into customizing the interface such as editing keyboard shortcuts and setting up the interface in particular ways but why these changes are being made is never really explained. For the complete beginner these videos might not have much relevance until after they begin to get used to the workflow in the program.
The video dealing with selections is good.
The video that starts explaining layers gets into a variety of concepts, such as parent/child hierarchies, that may be confusing for a beginner. Subdivision surfaces are introduced along with edge weighting. Subpatch and catmull clark subdivision surfaces are introduced but the reason to use one over the other is not explained.
There is a video that describes the rounder plug-in which is a plug-in that is used to round off edges on a mesh. The author quickly creates a simple table but never tells the audience what tools he is using to create the model. A beginner with little to no knowledge of LightWave would be confused. The description of the rounder plug-in is brief but adequate.
Most of the videos are brief and just lightly touch on the various topics. 5 minutes of what a subpatch is may make for a great introduction but it certainly does not teach all the ins and outs of modeling in subpatch mode.
After the introductions to modeler we are given two projects to create objects. The first is a basic chair. The modeling of the chair is quick but some tools are not explained well, there is no surfacing, and certain pitfalls that may be encountered are never discussed. At one point we have to use the merge points tools but are never told how to access the tool. This type of situation also happens with the character modeling video, he uses a set value tool to reposition some points but does not explain the tool at all, what he is actually doing and why and where the tool is located.
The character modeling is very basic, no
face and no details. The character is created in 10 minutes or less and we are told that it takes more time to get it just
right but the videos do not go any further.
After this we are then on to the Layout module of LightWave where texturing, animating and rendering takes place.
For the description of the autokey function the author turns this off and shows us the difference but never actually tells us why someone would turn this feature off or what the pros and cons of having it on or off are.
The chapter and video titled "The Dope Sheet" doesn't even mention the dope sheet, instead it simply states that you can have more than one scene editor open at a time. Huh???
The mini project that explores IK and FK by setting up a typical articulated mechanical robot arm model is basic but provides a good starting point for creating these types of rigs.
The videos also introduce simple expressions and
skelegons. The videos spend a decent amount of time creating skelegons, weight maps, and setting up all the IK options in the bones to create a rig for the character which was
modeled in an earlier video. However, sadly,
after creating the animation rig the video then simply
states, "I have animated a simple walk cycle using our setup so just look at the provided scene
file." and then what??? Try and figure out
how a character is animated into a walk cycle?? Isn't this why I bought the video series? How could the author go so far and then not finish off the simple character animation. Very disappointing!
The videos
introduce the node editor but uses a fairly
complicated surface for a beginner. Overall
I found that the videos gave only basic introductions to the basic tools and
functions and really didn't get into any depth
with anything. This video series states that
it will, "teach you to master the main
functions in LightWave 9.3" and in my opinion
it falls far short of that rather lofty
goal. I doubt that any 7 hour tutorial can
teach anyone to "master" LightWave.
As a set of informational videos that introduces
many of the basic tools in lightWave the videos
are not bad but are too basic to give a beginner
any kind of good foundation towards mastering this
program. I can think of many other titles
out there that are much less expensive that will
do a better job at teaching the basics of
LightWave.
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