3D Construction Modeling

Average customer rating:

Incredably helpful

Outstanding.....................

Great Way to Learn SketchUp

I'd like to learn

Good book for beginners

3D Construction Modeling
Dennis Fukai
Manufacturer: Insitebuilders
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

CAD | Graphic Design | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Graphic Design | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
Modelling | Drawing & Modelling | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
General | Drawing & Modelling | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0976274108

Book Description

3D Construction Modeling is a user friendly book that walks you through the construction process for a small house. It is not only practical but the only guide that shows you step-by-step how to build a construction model using SketchUp 4.0. The book and CD-ROM feature a trial version of the modeling software, video tutorials and real-world construction details in ten easy graphic lessons. This unique narrative is designed to introduce novices to key features of construction modeling as well as inform advanced users of the advantages of preconstruction visualization. 3D Construction Modeling uses an innovative, simple comic format to bring busy professionals and students up to speed and enhance productivity in a very short period of time.

Customer Reviews:

Incredably helpful.......2007-05-12

When the book/CD came I had problems getting the CD to work Didn't know if it was me or the CD or my PC. I contacted Mr.Fukai and he e-mailed me back immediatly. He stayed with me through a dozen Emails trying to help me.
The CD was bad BTW and he had his wife send me out a new one that worked just fine.
I was a bit exhausted from it all by the time the CD came but stuff happens to the best of us.
The CD is incredably helpful along with the book of illustrations. I haven't gotten through even half of it due to my work load but I'm sure when I continue with it I won't have much trouble in spite of being PC challenged.
Mr.Fukai I think has this book geared for people like myself as well as hard core PC users.
He seems to be doing his best to take you through it one step at a time slowly and deliberate.
I highly recommend this book/CD

Outstanding............................2007-01-16

The book is awsome! The instructions are so detailed and outlined. I plan on building my own family home, this is the Book!

As for the author, a master of his craft!

Mr. Fukai and Mrs. Babara Fukai, You have both left a wonderful lasting memory in my mind!

Thanks You

Michael in San Antonio Texas

Great Way to Learn SketchUp.......2006-07-05

I am sure if you are a Google fan you now know that they offer SketchUp for free. Dr. Fukai's book assumed you had a limited amount of time (480 minutes) using the SketchUp 4.0 trial version included with his book. I can say that his book is truly one fantastic way to learn a lot about the details of modeling with SketchUp. Dr. Fukai's interactive "shorties" allows you to go over as often as needed to learn the details of this 3D software. I was having some difficulty part way through the tutorials and emailed Dr. Fukai and received detailed instructions on how to proceed. He is an excellent teacher and his book is highly recommended.

I'd like to learn .......2005-09-23

I study architecture in Havana, Cuba. I'd like to learn more about this matter specially 3d Architectural Working Drawings but, I can not have possibilities to buy any of yor books. Can you help me out? thanks, Roany.

Good book for beginners.......2005-07-21

This book provide a good foundation for a beginning Sketchup user. The combination of video and print addresses the needs of different types of learning. Professional narration would help the videos. This is not the book for 3D organic modeling or advanced architecture users.

Caligari Truespace 2 3d Modeling Construction Kit: Create Your Own Worlds With Caligari Truespace2

Average customer rating:

Impossible to put down
A helping hand to 'true' novices

Caligari Truespace 2 3d Modeling Construction Kit: Create Your Own Worlds With Caligari Truespace2
David Duberman
Manufacturer: Waite Group Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Graphic Design | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

trueSpace F/X Creations (Graphics Series)

ASIN: 1571690298

Customer Reviews:

Impossible to put down.......1998-09-09

This book is great, it has everything for the beginner wanting to start in the 3D modelling world. It explains all the tools and gives you tasks to complete with screen shots of how it should look, and most of all Really enjoyable.

A helping hand to 'true' novices.......1997-04-18

Having read this book and completed the tutorials, it has enabled me to take my first step into the world of 3D modelling. The author's style is entertaining and practical at the same time, which makes it quite accessible and relatively easy to digest. However, I feel that in some areas, the content was simply too brief and 'rushed'. As a result, I feel that it is a bit too expensive for what it has to offer. I could have got a Truespace 'bible' for the same price!

Book Description

There's no better way to add interest to any piece of artwork than with reflections, textures and backgrounds. This unique photo reference helps both fine and decorative artists tackle these subjects with ease. Readers will find stunning photos of a wide variety of scenes and objects, including: -The textures of nature, such as autumn leaves, stones, fruits, weathered wood and sand -Man-made textures like rusty metal, bricks and pottery -Breathtaking settings from deserts to meadows and mountains -Reflections in calm, rough and rippling water -Scenes featuring waves, clouds, snow and forests

There are also painting demonstrations in all the major mediums that show readers exactly how to get the most out of reference photos. Artists of all levels will appreciate this inspiring guide!

Customer Reviews:

Great photography.......2007-03-07

There are so many photos to choose from. It has texture, but there is also, sky, water, trees, etc. A bit of everything, because everything has texture. It a very good reference to have if you don't have your own photo collection started yet.

More than a collection of beautiful reference photographs.......2004-06-19

Photographer and artist Gary Greene has assembled a collection of reference photographs that has something for every artist. As reflected in the title, this book has a useful mixture of photos subdivided into the three categories: Reflections, Textures and Backgrounds. Here is a sampling of what you will find.

Reflections
- Subjects reflected from water such as buildings, bridges, daylight, sunset and artificial light
- Water in motion
- Light reflected from man-made objects such as metal and glass

Textures
- Natural subjects such as tree bark, weathered wood, mosses, autumn and winter trees
- Man-made subjects such as rusted metal, old buildings, fabrics, pots and baskets

Backgrounds
- Mountains, deserts, barns and fields, seascapes, autumn and winter scenes

This book has more than a collection of beautiful reference photographs. Greene has included some very useful information. For those who wish to take their own reference photos he discusses the timely topic of digital versus film photography. Next he covers in detail the different equipment and techniques for photographing reflections, textures and backgrounds. Throughout the book Greene discusses how he used the Adobe Photoshop software to digitally enhance his photographs. Finally he and five other artists demonstrate how they interpreted reference photos in various artistic media.

The first demonstration was a photorealistic interpretation by watercolor artist Beverly Fortheringham. Her painting strongly resembled the reference photo of a boat reflected in water.

In the second demonstration watercolorist Pia Messina took a different approach. In an impressionistic style, Messina chose to emphasize certain elements and omit others from a reference photo of antique items.

For the third demonstration Greene used Adobe Photoshop to create a better reference photo. He combined major elements from two photos to make the third reference photo of a tree trunk in a bed of flowers. Multi-media artist Liana Bennett used this photo for her demonstration.

In the fourth demonstration Greene used Photoshop to rearrange elements in the reference photo of "the perfect door". The artist Steve Whitney interpreted this photo in acrylic and molding paste.

Greene painted the fifth demonstration. First he used Photoshop to remove the distracting shadows from his reference photo of a wagon wheel which he then interpreted in colored pencil.

For the last demonstration Greene used Photoshop to add a vibrant colored background to silhouetted trees. He called this technique "sandwiching". This reference photo was interpreted by the pastel artist Paulette Johnson.

The major attraction of this book is the collection of beautiful reference photos and by including the additional information Greene has not attempted to write a complete how-to for photographers or a Photoshop manual. However he does offer suggestions for taking good reference photos and digital enhancing those photos.

Gary Green is an accomplished artist and photographer. He has written many other books including Creating Radiant Flowers in Colored Pencil, Painting with Water-Soluble Colored Pencils, Creating Textures in Colored Pencil, Artists Photo Reference: Landscapes, Artists Photo Reference: Buildings & Barns, Artist's Photo Reference: Flowers, and Artist's Photo Reference: Boats & Nautical Scenes.

Book Description

Plato said God invented dice. This we learn from one of Ricky Jay's fascinating essays in a delightful small volume that takes us from the earliest forms (astragali—the heel bones of hoofed quadrupeds, four of whose six sides were used for gaming) to the myriad types of "loading" and other means of cheating with dice in the modern era. Along the way we discover that Augustus, Caligula, and Nero were all inveterate players, that Queen Elizabeth issued a search and seizure order against the manufacture of false dice in 1598, and that dice made from celluloid, invented in 1869, remained stable for decades, and then—in a flash—began to decompose. These are the dice of Rosamond Purcell's luminous and seductive photographs, images which transform entropy to an art form. Jay and Purcell give us a dual meditation on dice that will educate us and amuse us at the same time. 13 color photographs.

Customer Reviews:

Monograph of Dying Dice and Their Colorful History. .......2007-03-10

"Dice: Deception, Fate & Rotten Luck" is a collaboration between master slight-of-hand artist and scholar of peculiar human endeavor Ricky Jay and photographer Rosamond Purcell, whom Jay called upon to photograph his decaying dice collection. There are 21 photographs of dying dice, most full page, interspersed with Jay's spare text recounting the history of dice, from ancient civilization to the 20th century, through anecdotes about gamblers, the games they played, and, more often than not, how they cheated. From Jay's account, you might get the impression that historically more dice have been loaded than not. That is probably because the discussion is of the dice themselves, upon which cheating relies.

From the Persian woman who won the right to kill her enemy in a roll of the dice, to the 11th century King of Norway who won an island by a die that split in two mid-roll, through many an execution and suicide along the way, it's clear that dice have often been a matter of life and death. Now their own death is documented in Rosamond Purcell's strikingly beautiful photographs of misshapen, cracked, crystallized, and crumbling dice. As Jay explains in his final chapter "When a Die Dies", from the late 19th to mid-20th century, dice were typically made of cellulose nitrate, which decays rapidly after being stable for decades. These dice are more fascinating in their demise than in their prime. "Dice" is an intriguing little volume for fans of Ricky Jay, lovers of the game, and admirers of exquisite close-up photography.

Good Table Top Book.......2005-10-28

This is a fun and unusual Coffee Table Book, but I would really have like it to have a better (any) bibliography. My interest in history is such that I would have liked to know more then just the small amount of information this book provided.

[...]

A pleasant appetizer.......2003-05-13

This is a thin hardbound volume, a collection of photographs and short
discourses about various aspects of dice, gambling, and fraud. Each
chapter is very short (just a few pages) and the entire book can be
read in less than thirty minutes. Both the photographs and the text
are fascinating, and left this reader wanting more. I hope that Mr.
Jay will be writing more books to share his voluminous and interesting
knowledge of magic, gaming, and cons with the world. (Jay's other
books: Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women and Jay's
Journal of Anomalies are also highly recommended.)

Dying Dice.......2003-02-05

Though they may have passed the peak of their fad, fuzzy dice can still be seen hanging from the rear view mirrors of favored cars. They are an amusing bit of American folk surrealism, recalling the more official artworks of the fur-lined cup and saucer or the lobster telephone. The furry dice don't clack the way real dice do, and they are too huge and too rotund ever to be useful as mechanisms in games of chance. Yet they look strange enough that many people fancy them, and assembly lines somewhere are tuned up to produce them for enthusiasts. Conversely, there are real dice depicted in _Dice: Deception, Fate, & Rotten Luck_ (Quantuck Lane Press) by Ricky Jay, with photographs by Rosamond Purcell. But some of them are startlingly furry, and all of them are dying.

Ricky Jay is a magician, and a historian of magic, in addition to being a stage and movie actor. He has produced a couple of large books having to do with the history of magic and showmanship, but this is a small book, square like a face of a die, as are the color close-ups of the afflicted dice. "In the attempt to acquire empirical knowledge, I have accumulated thousands of dice over a period of decades," Jay explains. They are of all sorts of colors and patterns, but most of them are made of celluloid, the same celluloid whose decay has robbed us of countless early movies. Rosamond Purcell specializes in photographing the entropy that overcomes inanimate objects, like a book eaten by termites or rusting objects from the junkyard. Most of the large photographs here show the dice larger than life. The styles of their degeneration are diverse. The transparent ones show cracks through their mass, as if they have been dropped from a height. Some of the faces have crystallized, so that they look as if they have been sugared. Greenish mold seems to grow on some of them, while others seem to be bubbling from inside. Some of them have become as floppy as Dali's pocket watches, while others cleave crisply, leaving cubic fracture lines. Sometimes the spots are preserved, and sometimes it is the spots that have been attacked by time. They are certainly more interesting and more photogenic than they would have been when they were first manufactured.

It is to be expected that the text, in twelve small chapters numbered by pips on the dice, reflects Jay's wit and erudition. Here you can learn a lot of dice history, tales of loaded dice found in Pompeii, or of the conjuring dwarf who had no arms or legs, but manipulated dice in subtle ways. You can read about how God has struck down sacrilegious gamesters. Here is the legend of the Scandinavian kings throwing dice for territory, each throwing repeated boxcars until a surprising stroke (consistent with these pictures) gives a throw that beats a twelve. These are all good stories of the importance which many have felt for dice and their outcomes, and they are made poignant by the handsome photographs of just how chance and time have overtaken these humble cubes.

Another curious masterpiece from Ricky Jay.......2002-11-23

Ricky Jay, that connoisseur of all things shady, arcane, and marvelously odd, brings us yet another trip into the history of man's less than (ahem) socially respectable obsessions. With "Dice", he, in his ever unique style, tantalizes us with tales of one of the oldest gambling accessories known to man. And like the great magician and (very respectable) confidence artist that he is, he does it with smooth patter here, a bit of flashy historical anecdote there, while still never quite giving you all there is to know. Of course he keeps something hidden and to himself. It's in his blood and it makes you finish this slim volume wanting more, but in a good way. You'll go through this book in one sitting, but won't hesitate to reach back for it again and again -- or perhaps, to pick up a pair of dice and see what all this fuss over the centuries has been all about. Face it, pal, you've been sucked in, and you're in good (and bad) company.

Rosamund Wolff Purcell's beautiful color photographs of Jay's dice collection punctuate the text with amazing views and perspectives of the small and very much decaying bits of man's folly. They appear as ancient ruins, crumbling away with time, much in the manner of many a gentleman's fortune once he has found himself enticed by these small, six -sided devils. Marvelous art.

Book Description

A classic small celebration and meditation on dice through the ages; both brilliant and beautiful.

"Jay's writing is exactly what one would expect from the extremely erudite, witty and decent author of Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women and Jay's Journal of Anomalies. There is an explanation of the etymology of "craps," and there are various tales of armless dicers, ingenious hustlers, and Scandinavian kings of the Middle Ages who diced for islands. Dice turn out to be rich subjects for Purcell's photography. She presents them as, in a way, monumental ruins on a Stonehenge-type of scale relative to the book. Their forms are enriched by their disintegration and are bathed in light that their varying translucence seems to contain for a moment before releasing it to the lens . . . The book itself is, like a die, a modest object, small for a book of photography and, with a short text, casually organized."—Crispin Sartwell, Los Angeles Times 21 color photographs.

Book Description

Bitchy Butch (Bitchy Bitch's lesbian cousin) takes over the fifth and most fiercely funny of the "Naughty Bits" collections. Most of this book did not appear in "NB" but in "Gay Comix" and more obscure mags, so Gregory fans will be delighted at some of the surprises, including a new story!

Customer Reviews:

Hilarious.......2003-05-20

This is an excellent book. Anyone who has ever been politically active in any organization will appreciate this send-up of ideologues. What's shocking is how this book deals with the lesbian community of the early nineties but is still too timely today.

The "world's angriest dyke" is also one of the funniest!.......2002-09-14

"Bitchy Butch: World's Angriest Dyke," by Roberta Gregory, collects both long and short comic strip stories about the outrageous title character. The book contains pieces published between 1991 and 1998, as well as new material. It opens with a preface (done in comic strip format!) in which author Gregory appears as a comic strip character to directly address the reader; the cartoon Gregory is also confronted by Bitchy Butch herself!

BB is a really over-the-top character. She's a short-tempered, acid-tongued, middle-aged lesbian who directs her frequent angry tirades against many targets: men, straight women, bisexual women, "femmey" lesbians, drag queens, promiscuous gay men, the religious right, and more. But BB does occasionally show her softer side (usually with her two cats). Annoyed at the heterosexist, male-dominated world she's stuck in, she longs for the good old days of emergent 1970's lesbian culture.

In two outrageous stories, BB meets Bitchy Bitch, her heavily-lipsticked hetersexual counterpart; the venom flies when these strong-willed women cross paths! We also see her encounters with the religious right, and flashbacks to her formative high school and college days. Along the way are some surprises.

One of the book's best sections is its conclusion, "Bitchy Butch Has the Last Word," in which the character directly addresses the reader (and takes time to criticize "Ms. Gregory's biased viewpoint"). BB tries to give the reader a little insight into why she is the world's angriest lesbian.

Bitchy Butch is a full-bodied, in-your-face character. Although BB is in one sense a parodic stereotype, Gregory ultimately makes her more than that. The black and white drawings perfectly complement the frequently outrageous dialogue. The art has a crude, sometimes explosive energy. Sometimes surreal, sometimes grotesque, Gregory's visual style is full of satiric bite. I recommend "Bitchy Butch" to fans of lesbian literature, women's studies, graphic novels, and cutting-edge political humor.

Average customer rating:

A Norman Rockwell Childhood

Wonderful Book

I Remember: Growing Up in Texas
Dan Rather , and Peter Wyden
Manufacturer: Little Brown & Co (P)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Journalists | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0316734411

Customer Reviews:

A Norman Rockwell Childhood.......2005-07-22

This pleasant biography relates episodes from Rather's childhood in the 30s and 40s. His life is shaped by his Texas heroes, river rafting like Huck Finn, selling newspapers on a Houston street corner, listening to war news on the radio and being confined for months to bed by rheumatic fever.
I'm surprised that Rather didn't apply his wordsmithing to this, but worked with a co-writer. The result is not of the quality of Angela's Ashes; lacking compelling detail and life or death feelings. Still, it helps define the character building influences of a figure familiar to Americans from their daily TV news. It also gives a slice-of-life view of an era that feels like an old Saturday Evening Post cover by Norman Rockwell.

Wonderful Book.......2004-11-10

This book is a treasure. Dan Rather talks about his admiration for his mother and father, his early struggles in the work world, especially his blue collar labor times in early adulthood. It was neat how he admired his father so much for his strength, honesty and courage.

In this book, we get insights into a very interesting man and one of the best broadcasters in history, Dan Rather. Rather's character shines through in this book...a character full of deep appreciation for life and the lessons it teaches.

Jeffrey McAndrew
author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"

Book Description

Growing up, Bill Holm knew what failure was: “to die in Minneota.” But after returning to his hometown (“a very small dot on an ocean of grass”) after 20 years’ absence, he wasn’t so sure. Finding pleasure in the customs and characters of small-town life, in The Heart Can Be Filled Anywhere on Earth he writes with affection about the town elders, seen by those in the outside world as misfits and losers. “They taught me what to value, what to ignore, what to embrace, and what to resist.” In his trek through the heartland, Holm covers a satisfyingly wide emotional terrain, from scandalous affairs in the 1950s to his aunt’s touching attempts to transcend poverty with perfume and movie-star airs.

Customer Reviews:

Through these pages, Holm's ancestors live again.......2000-02-03

Bill Holm writes very movingly about his parents, ancestors, and the people of the town of Minneota. It made me all the more interested in my own family's history. He writes with humor, understanding and compassion. He doesn't dwell too long on sentimentality; indeed, he warns us against it. He strives to show the character and (dare I say it?) soul of some of the notable people he knew in his youth. He has provided us with a wonderful book of essays.

This book about people in small places opened my heart........1999-08-15

Bill Holm has a gift with words and brings to life people long dead who had a strong impact on his life. As he opens up his past life, the reader's is also opened. Perhaps it was growing up in a small midwestern town that caused this book to strike a deep chord in me. However,I think it is his ability to bring out the gifts he was given by members of the community that helps all of us see similiar gifts in life.

Openings.......1997-09-16

Bill Holm again speaks softly, and humorously. As a sixteen year old whose first wish is to get out of rural Minnesota it is surprisingly nonthreatening. The only disappointing thing about this book is the omission of the author's poem, "Openings,"

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