I must say that we’re very satisfied with the content of the book, in that it covers loads of stuff, related to many different aspects of the engine. Some of the topics have been discussed a lot within the community, such as loading external models and applying materials. However, as the available information is quite fragmented, it was about time for an extensive introduction. Other topics, such as effects, particles and vector text, may have been somewhat underexposed in the past, and also have found their well-deserved place in the book, because they are so much fun to work with!
I guess the strength of the book is its comprehensiveness. During the writing process I told myself more than once: man, I wish I had a book like this about a year ago. It’s so nice to be able to look things up in one document, instead of searching the web for articles, of which many are outdated. Mind you, all the available tutorials and blog posts definitely have been an important source of information, along with the posts on the mailing list. And hopefully, it will stay that way. I have no worries there though, as the Papervision3D community seems to be highly committed and eager to learn and share.
All by all, Paul and I had a great time in exploring the inner working of the Papervision3D engine, finding out about hidden gems, obscure methods and cool tricks. I guess my new teaching motto is: ‘If you want to learn something, don’t read a book, write one!’ Don’t take this advice too seriously though :-).
You can find more information about the content and level of the book on the publisher’s site, which is right here.
Download sample chapter 8 - External Models - here.
Read excerpts from the book - 3D vector drawing and text, and Lines3D - here.
Congratulations, Jeff, Paul and all others involved.
ReplyDeleteAs a member of the core team for the Papervision3D project, I can honestly say, we are all very happy to see a book come out on the project.
Although I haven't been able to review the book yet, based on the free chapter, I can say it looks very good! Looking forward to see the rest!
great stuff! Already pre-ordered my copy - looking forward to digging into it.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Jeff & Paul. Looking forward to seeing the final copy!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!!
ReplyDeleteJeff and Paul congratulations! From working with the both of you I trust the quality will be great.
ReplyDeletegreat i always wanted to have some book as refrence
ReplyDeletethnx a lot
Congrats Jeff!
ReplyDeleteI bought the book from the publishers site but reding through it, it seems like it comes with a CD. Are the example files online to download?
ReplyDeleteSorry it was the e-book that I bought by the way. I look forward to you posting a comment here.
ReplyDeletethank you, everyone, for your kind words :-).
ReplyDeleteThere is no CD with the book, but a zip file with examples and appendices (mentioned in the preface of the book, but yes, easily overlooked). You can find it on the publisher's site on the support page:
http://www.packtpub.com/support
Jeff.
I have just bought this ebook. :).
ReplyDeleteKudos to both you and Paul for helping to make sense of it all, which is the title of the Amazon review I did for your book. Recommending it to all my colleagues who are also struggling with PVP3D.
ReplyDeletehi Chuck,
ReplyDeletethanks for the Amazon review,
highly appreciated :-).
Jeff.