Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Digital Lighting & Rendering
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book

Digital Lighting & Rendering [Paperback]

Jeremy Birn (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


There is a newer edition of this item:
Digital Lighting and Rendering Digital Lighting and Rendering
Currently unavailable

Product Details

Product Description

From Amazon

New Riders' [digital] series is performing a tremendous service to the computer animation and graphics community. The newest addition to this family is [digital] Lighting & Rendering. Author Jeremy Birn has long been regarded as a talented computer graphics artist and generous writer, and he has been sharing his techniques and discoveries for years.

Using computer graphic and 3-D tools to create accurate images is easy; using them to produce beautiful, inviting, memorable images requires more than technical skill. Lighting & Rendering introduces reasons and techniques for using light, shadow, texture and composition. The book is not software-specific, but demonstrates techniques that are applicable to almost any 3-D graphics application. It is assumed, however, that your 3-D software of choice supports such basic rendering features as soft shadows, light maps, coloured gels, depth-of-field blur, motion blur and so on.

The first half of the book discusses lighting and shadow--not just how to use various lighting techniques, but why. An outstanding chapter on colour and its use through composition and lighting offers insight into how colours are perceived and how colour affects a scene. Additional chapters cover exposure, composition and staging, materials and textures, and compositing. There is no accompanying CD-ROM, but the platform-generic nature of the book (and of the subject matter itself) makes it unnecessary. The book is designed to educate and inform; it is up to readers to apply what they learn to their own projects.

Although fewer than 300 pages long, Lighting & Rendering is an informative and important book, useful to any computer graphics artist. Each page is filled with fascinating, immediately helpful information about the craft. Mr Birn's experience and insight are not to be underestimated, and this book is not to be missed. --Mike Caputo

Book Description

Digital Lighting contains strategies for lighting design that are relevant to any digital artist. It presents an awareness of computer lighting models, how they differ from real-world lighting effects, and how to approach 3D lighting projects differently from practical light. Topics covered include- What good lighting can do for you; Light sources; Shading; Shadows; Exposure and content; Color- temperature, correction, mood; Qualities of light; 3-point lighting; Indirect illumination; Multipass rendering and compositing; Lighting in production; and Case studies- natural lighting, interior lighting, character lighting, and effects lighting.
See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
TO HELP YOU MAKE better 3D renderings, this book fuses information from several fields. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

33 Reviews
5 star:
 (26)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (33 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most helpful customer reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing - The Most Useful, In-Depth CG Book I've Bought, Oct 6 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Digital Lighting & Rendering (Paperback)
Jeremy Birn puts everything together in one book that you need to produce professional quality photo-real renderings. Overall the skill-level is fairly advanced and non-condescending - although the beginning of each section seems to start with basic definitions that most readers probably already know, most sections pick up to a more professional level a few pages later and strike a good balance between being useful and being readable.

I'd say that about 10% of the contents of this book are unique "golden nuggets" - original tips and explanations that I hadn't seen anywhere else - stuff that doesn't appear in software manuals, is skipped in other books, and is worth the price of the book by itself (thanks to Mr. Birn for a new approach to making shadows-only lights, and a technique luminance-equalizing tiling maps I was just using today!).

30% of the info in this book is what you'd expect to find in any good cinematography text, only Birn explains it all along with useful translations into 3D- this is the main guts of the book, and it's beautifully executed.

Maybe another 30% is art theory, color theory, and other tips on what makes a better-looking final rendering - any good artist should know this stuff, and this is one of the best-written overviews of the material I've seen.

Another 30% is info from the computer science, image processing, compositing techniques and other technical info - here the book really shines for explaining & illustrating advanced algorithms in non-nerdy terms. Web sites that discuss some of the topics the book covers (such as Photon Mapping as an alternative to conventional Radiosity) require really hardcore math, whereas Birn explains it all clearly with production-oriented pros and cons of the techniques.

This book is a real find - one of the few books that has actually improved my 3D work in meaningful ways. I highly recommend it, and extend my thanks to Jeremy Birn for sharing his knowledge with other artists.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


5.0 out of 5 stars Lights...Camera.... REALISM!!!, Mar 8 2004
By 
Maria Theresa DJ Jumarang (Imus, Cavite, Philippines) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Digital Lighting & Rendering (Paperback)
An in-depth look on the principles behind CG lighting, cinematography, rendering etc...This book covers almost all the technicalities in 3D graphics. Not only does it concentrate on developing 3D skills, but also the enhancement of one's artistic abilities and precepts. Really, this book is a must have, or might as well say, a necessity for all 3D beginners and enthusiasts. HAPPY RENDERING!!!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


5.0 out of 5 stars A missing manual, Sep 26 2003
By 
James Cho - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Digital Lighting & Rendering (Paperback)
A very good book that bridges the gap between technical 3d graphics skill and the development of artistic technique. Not application specific and helpful for more than just computer 3d graphics, much of the information applies to all types of traditional lighting as well.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
› Go to Amazon.com to see all 40 reviews  4.8 out of 5 stars 
 
 		 Most recent customer reviews











Only search this product's reviews


Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject























i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?