Customer Reviews:
 Frustrating read due to missing information February 27, 2007
J. J. Long (London United Kingdom)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was quite impressed with this book until I got to the section where you have to model the legs and feet of Boog. The book fails to tell you that you need to turn off 'Keep Faces Together' when extending the legs (this I discovered after a couple of hours of 'playing around' with the software). By this time I had already saved, so it seems there is no turning back without rebuilding the model from scratch (or mirroring one half of the geometry).
There is also mention of an orb as if you are modelling it during the tutorial, although it actually only refers to an example illustration.
In general I feel that its not bad, but should have been tested a little more thoroughly, it can be very vague in places and misleading in others.
Ive not completed it yet, and although ive definately learned alot thus far, its not been without some pretty frustrating times spent surfing the web or help files for information that should have been made clearer in this book.
 a godsend November 10, 2006
N. Holmes (UK)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
possibly the single most useful book i've read as part of my course, i'm doing some 3d modelling and this book is well.. a godsend, goes over everything i need to get my work done and help my lecturer out with his phd
Open Season on CGI manual tie-ins November 10, 2006
Mr. Edmund F. Brown (London UK)
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
I didn't realise that everything you learn in this book is based upon the movie Open Season and some of its models.
I'm a 3D animator making the switch from Blender to Maya, so I downloaded the latest version of Maya Personal Learning Edition. This is basically Maya 7 with less features, so it is NOT compatible with this book fully.
My needs for a Maya book were that it shouldn't be too hard or too easy - it should get more and more tech as it goes along. Well, in this book you'll be learning to model the garage Boog the bear sleeps in - and that's pretty much it. There are no forest scenes, no McSquizzy, and the most idiotic thing, there's no fur tutorials! WTF!
It is obvious that the authors of this book have stretched out all of what they deem 'basic' 3D and Maya knowledge, just so they can sell 2 or 3 books instead of just the one. If you're looking for tidbits on how Open Season was made, you're looking in the wrong place. Boog is the only model you get to look inside.
Where they could have written an excellent manual with hints and tricks from Open Season's animation team, they've been lazy and made a manual which is under-nourishing and under-stimulating. Even the techniques taught aren't the most intuitive (well neither is Maya) but I have the feeling that using this book, it would take a longer time to become an intermediate user (and buy the next book up in ability level).
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