effect

This book presents a good overview of the CG industry, with a few topics I've not found elsewhere. However, it is discouraging to work through a book that is filled with cheesey looking renderings. That's right, horrible. I don't mean to flame or be destructive in my criticism, but if you could only see the color plates contained in this book, you would treat the author with skepticism at best. I still can't understand how someone who obviously knows the tools he uses very well, i.e. MAX and Combustion, can turn out such B-rated models and renderings. This book is a good example that no matter how much technical knowledge you have, computer software, no matter how advanced, will never make up for an utter lack of artistic talent. Sanford Kennedy is very technically knowledgeable but his artistic skills are virtually noexistant. Try checking his website for an example of the 'great' renderings you can aspire to if you buy this book. 90% of the pages aren't even up, or have been under construction since 2001. www.sanfordkennedy.com

This book actually told me how to build an entire scene, including the characters and buildings. It was fun and informative. Exactly what I was looking for.

I love this book! It makes sense of things in 3ds Max that I couldn't quite grasp before. I'm finally getting over the learning curve for lots of stuff in Max! Ya, this book is was made for more experienced people but I'm mostly a novice and it all seems to make perfect sense for me. I would have to recommend this book for anyone who likes animation and modeling.

If your going to Fairleigh Dickinson University you will need this book if your taking Digital Video and Animation Price is GOOD

As a very experienced Final Cut Pro editor, I realized my need to master Adobe After FX to fill in where FCP can't create what I need it to. I've looked at several books, and for a beginner, this book must be the best. With a very clear illustration, CD exercise files, and explanations for every step, it's hard to get lost in the program with this book by your side. I've almost finished the book in less than two weeks and I am already creating motion graphics that would have blown me away 2 weeks ago. For the beginner that wants to learn ALL the basics, you can't go wrong with this book.

Want a straight-forward, lesson oriented, explain-why-you-are-doing-it-this-way-with-the-alternatives-listed method to learn After Effects 5.5? I am experienced with Photoshop and Premiere but new to After Effects. This book is thorough but very easy. It includes ALL the steps so even I can't get lost. The book grounded me in all the basics. When my son returned from snowboarding with video, I used it to produce a wonderfully professional 20 second introduction from scratch and imported it into Premiere. Much better than the Adobe book that came with the program. CD-ROM is included with book.

"Marvel Masterworks, Volume 8" brings together the six issue-run of the original run of "The Incredible Hulk," before ol' Greenskin was sent off to "Tales to Astonish" to share with first Giant-Man and Wasp before the Sub-Mariner took over the other half. This explains why this is a relatively slim volume in the Marvel Masterworks series, which usually covers ten issues in the run of one of Marvel's comic book titles from the Sixties.

The Hulk was what Stan Lee and Jack Kirby came up with after the success of "The Fantastic Four" gave birth to the Marvel Universe. Trying to build on the success of the F.F. Lee wanted to come up with a character with superhuman strength, which was not exactly an original idea (i.e., see Superman), but Lee wanted to take the cliché concept and make it exciting and relevant. Lee knew that the Thing was the most popular member of the F.F. and had always had a soft spot in his heart for the Frankenstein monster, who never wanted to hurt anybody and was just trying to come to terms with those who wanted to destroy him. Borrowing from the story of Jekyll and Hyde as well, Lee and Kirby came up with a scientist who was accidentally transformed into by a nuclear accident into a raging gray behemoth. That is right: originally the Hulk was gray, but the coloring was inconsistent in that first issue and so Lee decided to go with green because (drum role) no one green characters were running around in comic books.

With the six issues of "The Incredible Hulk" reprinted in color in this volume you get the following: #1 "The Hulk," in which scientist Bruce Banner is hit by mysterious gamma rays when he saves the life of young Rick Jones, who was trespassing on the test site. We are also introduced to General Thunderbolt Ross and his daughter, Betty, who is just getting on a first name basis with the Doc, and the fact that only Rick Jones knows the secret of the Hulk. The villain is the Gargoyle, a mutated monster created by the evil Soviets (remember, the Cold War? It was in the newspapers back them); #2 "The Terror of the Toad Men" is another one of the early Marvel stories that Lee and Kirby did that has weird monsters, just like the stories they were doing for Timely. This is also the issue where the Frankenstein monster resemblance is the strongest.

Issue #3 has three stories, with "Banished to Outer Space" having the army tricking the Hulk to going into a spaceship that is shot into space, a short recap of "The Origin of the Hulk," and an encounter between the Hulk and "The Ringmaster"; #4 has "The Monster and the Machine," where Rick tries to help cure the Hulk, and "The Gladiator From Outer Space," which has a strong guy from outer space showing up to battle the Hulk, only to be exposed as another commie plot; #5 offers "Beauty and the Beast," where the Bruce and Betty romance is interrupted by Tyrannus; and "The Hordes of General Fang," where the Hulk tangles with Chinese communists; and #6 "The Metal Master" has Steve Ditko taking over as artist as the Hulk battles a real alien menace.

The Cold War aspects are a big part of these early Hulk stories and you can see that even before the move to "Tales to Astonish" the Hulk stories were already getting to be the length of half an issue. These stories are of more interest from a historical perspective, as the stories have to come up with new ways for Banner to change into the Hulk and visa-versa without anybody ever notices issue after issue. Through this limited run the only decent Hulk villain that Lee and Kirby came up with was Thunderbolt Ross and it was not until Marvel paid as much attention to the villains as they did to creating the tortured hero that the Hulk stories started to get a lot better.

Here we have all six issues of the Incredible Hulk's first series. It's a fun series. It holds up pretty well, other than the commie smashing. You can see how they were struggling with how to present the Hulk in the early days. They change his color, his means of transformation, his powers and his personality all within these six issues. The hardcover format with glossy pages is an excellent presentation of this material. If you can afford it, it's a good deal. It's still cheaper than buying the original issues.

My very first encounters with The Incredible Hulk came in my childhood, watching the television series, starring Bill Bixby. As a fan of the show, I thought that the way it was presented, mirrored how Marvel Comics titans Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, had envisioned the character. I had no idea that the comic book origin and mytholgy of the Hulk was completely different. As I started to delve into the world of superheroes, I sought out any book that featured characters I liked, The Hulk was among those heroes. I have to say that as much I liked the show and how it entertained, I prefer the mythology of the comic book, over the show. I see both incarnations as individual entities, very loosely related, like a cousin, 7 times removed.

As the Hulk returns to the spotlight, thanks to the film version, and as an owner of other Marvel Masterworks editions, the Hulk was a natural choice. Volume One reprints the first six issues of the comic book series. Written at a time when fears over nuclear war with the Soviet Union, was an every day reality, the plight of Dr. Bruce Banner struck a chord with readers. Another popular aspect of the character is of course his brute strength, as well as his similarties with Frankenstien-the misunderstood monster. It was great to read these early adventures. It was interesting to see the Hulk as a grey behemouth for the first issue, as opposed to the now famous color green. Stan Lee's stories, in the book, may have a certian 60's feel to them..but they still hold up and are lots of fun to read. The lengendary art from Jack Kirby for issues 1-5 (Spiderman's artist at the time, Steve Ditko, completed the chores on issue #6) is made even bolder, brighter and better (is that even possibe?), thanks to the use of glossy pages in the book

My only real problem with this book is that it's so much shorter than most of the others in the Marvel Masterworks series. What a shame... The book also reprints the original 6 covers, an introduction from Hulk Co-creator Stan Lee, first penned in 1989. The six issue reprint should have been longer though. That said, the 150 page book, is still reommended

The Naked Child: Growing Up Without Shame is a wonderful reference for nudist families and parents, and those who are interested in the subjects of nudity and its effects on children's development. The authors present a lot of academic research study summaries to support their conclusions, and also include a number of anecdotal interviews. I feel that, at times, the anecdotal material is kind of contrived, but, overall, it gives the conclusions drawn (namely, that children's exposure to social nudity is not only not harmful, but is generally beneficial) a more "personal" ring to them. I've owned this book for many years, and I still frequently use it when compiling research on the topic myself.

From the preface (which I think is very well written):

"Does exposure to nudity cause sexual hang-ups in children? Will an open physical environment have negative effects on the personalities and sexual development of young people? Will seeing their parents nude cause children to develop what some experts call an over-balanced attachment to mother and father, and seduction anxiety? Or, as other experts believe, will nude experiences in the physically open family inevitably lead to incest, create terrible guilts and frustrations, and arouse parent-child rivalries? Will the children in families where nudity is common be the victims of more school failures and posess more sexual obsessions than those reared in families where nudity is not allowed? [...]

"[This] is the report on a study which addresses the questions listed above and gives the reader a chance to compare the opinions of the experts with the real-life experiences of adults who grew up in open physical environments. This book is the result of five years of research and writing plus added years for follow-up on some of the cases. _Growing Up Without Shame_ represents the first systematic attempt at studying the effects of a physically open environment. We know this study is the first. We hope it is not the last."

I found this book an easy, enjoyable read; it appears to give serious consideration to the topic, reviewing experts' opinions and researching the views of people who grew up in open environments. A more technical examination of the data from the research is given in an appendix.

Also contains a number of b&w photos from nudist environments, although these photos seem purely to brighten up the pages, since they have no direct connection to the text where they are placed.

This book was published before the Terror and contains beautiful, uncensored text and photos. There is no similar work available in English on the important subject of nudity and shame. While not as scholarly as Hans Peter Duerr's "Nudity and Shame: the myth of the civilizing process" (in German), this book offers welcome balance to the mass hysteria over child sexuality in the U.S. The fanatics haven't yet targeted this book for burning so read it before books like this are silenced forever.

The writer is on the right track but many of his 'facts' are wrong. Yes, an asteroid did hit but not when he says. Correlation with archaeological evidence, none of which he does, demonstrates a date about 700 years earlier than that which he identifies. Again, archaeological evidence shows that North Africa remained lush and green until about 5-6,000 years ago. Usually cites his conclusions without backing them up with any evidence whatsoever. Needs to rely on ice core samples from Greenland and Antarctica to support his claims about the Ice Age, many of whose particulars are in error. Obvious lack of knowledge about the development of cultures toward civilization 7-3,000 BC.

His writing style is atrocious. Most chapters are only a few pages, and often repeat the same material from previous ones over and over and over. The book is 212 pp. Had he fleshed out his chapters with hard, supporting data and eliminated the redundancy, it would have been a much better effort.

He's openly hostile toward religion. Odd, considering the emphasis placed on religion by Cro Magnon humans, whom he cites as being more intelligent than modern humans owing to their larger brain capacity. What did they know that he doesn't?!

This should be required reading for all high school students.Cogan's book solves a great many questions of the past. An outstanding and interesting book.

Mr. Cogan pierced through the great fog of human history. One can only hope that the world of academia will be open minded enough to give careful and unbiased consideration to every page in his book.

As a new painter I am very disappointed with this book.
I was hoping for detailed illustrations and step by step instruction. Well this is not it. In the product description it had mentioned for the beginner, well it's not for this beginner. Perhaps I'll try a Bob Ross " Joy of Painting"

The most informative exciting sea painting book I have laid my hands on. Very explanatory and easy to follow the demonstrations. I have learnt a lot using this book.

The colour wheel and colours used throughout this book is thoroughly explained. Also the focal point, moving lines and tonal value has helped me create an exciting moving,interesting painting. Very helpful for new beginners.

His exceptional knowledge of the sea and painting it with translucency explaining the use of clear colours and his willingness to share that with others is amazing.

I love the sea, the summers are spent on an small island. I know the sea and I want to capture it, with photography, watercolor and oil. This book is a true gem! It is a must! It is a six star book! I love it almost as much as the sea itself...

The book is filled with illustrations that are of outmost quality, but also with detailed descriptions how to achieve the effects shown. It conveys a thorough understanding of water, how fluids moves, flows, breaks up and crashes, how light radiates through a fluid and how reflections on a stormy surface behaves.

This book is written by a man who loves the sea and who tries to understand it from the bottom up to be able to capture it as art. For anyone painting the sea, in whatever medium, just get it any way you can!

Added 2003-11-27: This is still my absolute favorite book among about hundred watercolor/oil books. I find myself repeatedly returning to it, it is still good! What I want to add is that you shouldn't expect it to be easy, painting sea is not a simple task for the beginner! However, even for beginners the penetrating depth and aim to really teach understanding the sea instead of a how-to-formula is helpful. For the old pro who have painted the sea for 20 years the book will still add a fundamental understanding you can't easily get any other way.

I firmly and warmly recommend this book! It is a timeless gem.
And do yourself a favour, get his watercolor book version also even if you don't use that medium!

This was my first book by Lynn Erickson and I wasn't really impressed by it. It read well but the ending was predictable. This has not discouraged me from reading another of her books, hopefully the next will be better.

Interesting thinly-disguised fictionalization of the OJ Simpson case, following the Bergen (read Brown) family after the not guilty verdict. A Gerry Spence clone is the leading lawyer in the case. The book is reasonably compelling and well written, though the similarities to the real people were a bit too close for me. Unlike when the TV show Law & Order does this sort of thing, there is no real twist away from the real people and case into fiction at any point in the story--thus it lacks a certain degree of suspense. Oddly marketed as a romance novel, it's not. As good or better than a lot of the legal/courtroom books out there

Lynn Erickson joins the ranks of Sandra Brown and Nora Roberts

--The Paperback Forum Review

Dr. Meinig's book is too much like a prophecy and too little like a serious book of science trying to uncover a hidden truth. He does not set up a solid case to support his audacious hypothesis (at least not convincing enough for anyone familiar with science). Instead, his evidence is sketchy and misleading in supporting his idea. It is true that improperly performed, or poorly treated root canals can be a cause of persistent bacteria; but one can use a similar analogy about any botched medical procedure. Of course an improperly replaced heart valve will not do a person good either; but one that is properly done will enhance a person's life. The improper placement of the valve is not the fault of the valve itself, is it? His claim that bacteria persists in treated teeth completely ignores the weight of a reality that millions of Americans have root canal therapy every year and a good percentage of these cases are successful without a persistent infection (I have two of them myself in my mouth!) Surely, all human afflictions cannot be blamed on this universal procedure that saves a large number of teeth. The problem, however, is that over 80% of root canals in U.S. are done by people without much training in this procedure (a good cause for their failure and the horror stories associated with root canals!) People should be guided in finding qualified doctors (specialists) in doing these procedures instead of turning against a procedure that saves teeth. I mean... What's next, dentures for everyone?

Unlike the second reviewer from Boston, who from his comments exposes the fact that he/she probably only glanced through the book without reading it carefully, I think this book is a GREAT SCIENTIFIC ADVANCE. The millions of bacteria living in dental tubules of a root canal treated dead tooth (the tooth without living roots is dead since it has no blood supply) do not cause any external pain symptoms. These bacteria get no oxygen (since blood is absent) and so their adapted metabolism produces very harmful toxins continuously damaging important organs of the body. I would suggest this reviewer to read some politics behind how the dental associations were created in order to eliminate any responsibility dentists had for protecting human body versus protecting dead teeth. Most dentists are trained and paid to be teeth savers and somewhat innocently end up becoming body killers. They don't know what they are doing, just like the pawns of any systematic hierarchy where the leadership defines the agenda, and makes the pawns serve its interests. The words "Science" and "Prophecy" are much abused by the establishment in order to spread fear among the curious population. I found no prophecies in this book. I only found good, responsible, and non-political Science at its best. And finally, I am no high school drop-out inventing conspiracy theories. I have a Ph.D. in my field and I have investigated the dental profession by reading many journal articles, lawsuit information, and books.

Dr. Meinig's book is first rate in all respects. This information was first brought to light by the genius of Dr. G.V. Black, the dean of the dept. of oral surgery at Northwestern University in Chicago. Dr. Black fully disclosed the conditions that occur involving osteonecrosis of the maxillary and mandibular bones as well as the treatment protocalls needed to correct them in one of his many textbooks titled "A Special Dental Pathology". Black is still touted as the "Father of Modern Dentistry", and many of his texts are still used to this day. The interesting thing is that this work was done in 1915 ! Good doctors such as Black, and Dr. Weston Price, as well as others performed a great deal of excellent and invaluable research work many years ago that should have, and still can save mankind from a myraid of suffering and misdiagosed,mistreated maladies that can often become life threatening. Many actually expire from conditions that began as a result of the irresponsible endodontic, and general improperly performed dental procedures that we all fall victim to by trusting our dental proffesionals. Dr.Rosenow from the Mayo clinic postulated on the "Focal Infection Theory" over half a decade ago that dealt with this situation and his great work has been laid aside as well. I believe our dentists need to take a long hard look in the mirror and ask themselves how many lives they have destroyed. Its time for a major change in the way dentistry is performed in our country. We the people must become informed and educated so we can prevent these abuses by our "trusted" dentists. By all means, buy, and read Georges excellent book, learn all you can about your health and find an open minded, honest, dentist who is willing to "LEARN" to do things properly. YOU, are the final authority regarding your health. Don't forfeit that right by trusting an uninformed, greedy dental person. I nearly died doing so, and will suffer the rest of my life as a result. The Endodontic Society has a great deal of "Flawed" statistics that they have absolutely no back-up research to support.

One of the gravest dangers facing young men today is that they will be trapped in early, loveless marriages and waste the rest of their lives. As this book aptly demonstrates, pornography is probably the strongest countervailing force to the "play for keeps" sexuality taught in many schools. This superb book points the way to a genuine alternative.

Make no mistake, soft porn is a modern day scourge. Today's Playboy reader is tomorrow's slavering porn-hound. My wife and I tried not to be too censorious when our children (our son especially) were growing up and boy did it backfire. Jonathan quickly graduated from softcore to hard, and to our great embarrassment we even caught him "using" a friend's wedding video recently. If only we had read Reisman's well thought-out guide.

An excellent book if you have the impression that pornography is not Ok but don't know how to justify that feeling. The research by author Reisman is very rich, the conclusions appear by themselves, without any need to apply any religious creed.

Extremely disappointed with this. Save yourself the time and just go hang out at www.designinmotion.com. You'll get a lot more insight into making great motion graphics.

Basically, each page of the book has a different design studio, a few pretty pictures of stuff they've done, and a few paragraphs (and sometimes not even that) about why they think they're special... and occasionally, they spend a paragraph talking about their design philosophy.

Very little about why or how they did a certain piece.

It's useful to get the names of design studios so you can go to their web sites and look at some good portfolios, but beyond that I'm not sure what else to do with it. It's mildly inspirational, but with so many web sites offering video clips of great pieces, it's difficult for me to get excited about screenshots. A CD with the pieces shown on the pages, would have enhanced the value of the book.

from the backcover "...this book presents the individuals and designs creating work that is among best motion graphic design for television and film."
Well no technics no tutorials. But inspired book with alot of reallife projects from global companies and individuals with short explanations. Have fun.

The best thing about this book is that it walks the walk. Most books on such an over-hyped subject fill their pages with lots of prattle and jargon but here the possiblities and accomplishments in motion graphics are illustrated, demonstrated and explained. If someone's looking for true information and inspiration, they should get this book.