Maya Studio Projects Texturing and Lighting (Wiley Desktop Editions)

Maya Studio Projects Texturing and Lighting (Wiley Desktop Editions) Review

Learn to create realistic digital assets for film and games with this project-based guide

Focused entirely on practical projects, this hands-on guide shows you how to use Maya's texturing and lighting tools in real-world situations. Whether you need to sharpen your skills or you're looking to break into the field for the first time, you'll learn top industry techniques for this important skill as you follow the instructions for several specific projects. You can even create your own version, using final Maya scene files to validate results. The companion DVD includes supplemental videos, project support files, textures, tools, professional shaders, and more.

• Lighting and texturing projects are often an excellent way for new animators to break into the business
• This is the only project-based book dedicated to understanding and implementing Maya's texturing and lighting tools for creating realistic digital assets for film, video, and games
• Walks you step by step through lighting and texturing objects, characters, and locations
• Written by a professional CG artist who has worked on high-profile films including Antz and Shrek
• Includes a DVD with supplemental video instruction, additional tools, and more

Practical, project-based instruction in this guide will help you perfect your skill with Maya's texturing and lighting tools.

Photoshop Filter Effects Encyclopedia: The Hands-On Desktop Reference for Digital Photographers (O'Reilly Digital Studio)

Photoshop Filter Effects Encyclopedia: The Hands-On Desktop Reference for Digital Photographers (O'Reilly Digital Studio) Review

Adobe Photoshop has become the tool of choice for professional photographers, designers, and amateur enthusiasts. But it's a complex application with many features-and scant information on how to use them to best advantage. A case in point: there are 100 built-in filters in Photoshop, designed to enable the user to easily make subtle or dramatic image adjustments, and there is very little online help available with the application, and no printed manual. Users can spend hours trying to use filters effectively-an inefficient and often frustrating way to work.

In Photoshop Filter Effects Encyclopedia, author and educator Roger Pring explains and decodes the settings of every filter that Photoshop CS2 has to offer, from Artistic filters such as Colored Pencil, Cutout, and Watercolor to Stylize filters like Bevel, Emboss, and Extrude. And, unlike many reference books that give you a lot of information you'll never need, it is filled with easy-to-follow, step-by-step, practical recipes for creating truly amazing effects, such as:

• Creating selective focus
• Simulating motion blur
• Adding special lens and filter effects
• Working with tone and color
• Creating dramatic solarized and posterized images
• Working with artificial lighting
• Simulating textures
• Creating multi-layered images and photomontages
• Reproducing graphic arts effects

and much more.

The best part is that you don't have to be a Photoshop expert to create sophisticated, professional-looking results-the recipes take the guesswork out of the process, so you can work quickly and efficiently. Packed with hundreds of full-color photographs, clearly written instructions, and practical tips, this book is the ultimate, no-nonsense Photoshop CS2 Filters reference for creative photographers, designers, and artists.