3 comments about Autodesk Inventor 8 Essentials Plus.

1. Excelent material to start to learn Inventor, is easy to undestend.
   
   Luis Villa



2. An excellent book, yes it may have some info that can be accessed from the help, but it goes far beyond that, and the advanced section of the book does a great job in exploring the details of the features particular to Inventor, don't forget the tutorial CD that comes with the book, it is another complete training manual in itself. I read the whole book and I did all the tutorials, I am including it in the curriculum of my students, and I recommend it to anyone serious about learning Inventor.



3. The main material of this book is a rehash/dryrun and listing of what the Inventor user interface and menus do in each chapter. There is not much content on how to actually use the concepts and techniques of Inventor to do real stuff. The authors have decided to put all that stuff on the CD. They have some kind of a compiled html file that walks you thru the techniques of each chapter with busted exercises. The CD is very poorly made with lots of chapters entirely missing and incomplete exercises in many other chapters. The program constantly crashes. I am surprised that a respected name like Autodesk would put out a book like this. That is my two cents worth.

5 comments about Color Rendering: A Guide for Interior Designers and Architects.

1. I can't say enough about this book--and I can be a pretty tough critic when it comes to Interior Design resources. Are you an absolute beginner at rendering interiors? Intimidated to start? No problem. Wei Dong walks you through the process from beginning to end, starting with step-by-step instructions on how to render various, common materials like wood, metals, and even marble with different media, including markers, pencil, watercolor, and gouache. There are several pages featuring a table of the different techniques, so you can see what the same material looks like when expertly rendered in different media. I found this helpful in deciding which media I want to try. The techniques offered work with other media as well; I used oil pastel with great success using Dong's techniques.
   
   I also found it helpful that in the beginning of the book, you work on rendering materials in very simple shapes, like cylinders and cubes. This allows one to begin to understand how the shape of an item informs how it is rendered, and also works as a lesson on how light and shadow affect rendering. As the book progresses, you see more complex examples (i.e. plans and elevations), and an extra neat feature is that many of these images are reproduced in the back of the book without the rendering applied to them, so you can photocopy them and use them for practice.
   
   Although this book would be especially helpful for beginners, I think it would be helpful to others who want to try different media or who want to work on rendering a specific material with greater flair and confidence.



2. I am a senior interior design student and this book was recommended by one of my instructors. It gives good, very basic step-by-step instructions for rendering common building materials with different mediums (watercolor, color pencil, and markers). One issue that I did find was that some of the illustrations don't exactly follow the written instructions, but because of the format, that's a pretty small issue. This is a book that I'd recommend for beginning design students, but more advanced students may find this book a little too basic.



3. I was introduced to Wei Dong's book in an Interior Design class on Presentation Techniques. It is an excellent book for all but the most experienced Interior Renderer. It focuses on the use of color markers and comes complete with practice exercises that help build your skill and confidence. I highly recommend it!



4. i recieved this book this book in the mail and had been eagerly awaiting its arrival. i don't know how else to express it other than i was very dissapointed. i have see Michael Doyle's fist edition of his Color Drawing and my original intent was to buy the second edition of that, but when i saw this book with its raving editorial review i decided to try this one instead. i mean who could turn down a book with a review like "the most complete guide and study of color rendering of interiors ever compiled" and "exhaustive in its coverage" i thought that this book was going to be wonderful. i think that i might have found it useful if i had never even picked up colored pencils and markers before. There was very little rendering of total interiors just objects or things that might go in an interior. If you are really looking for a complete source then i really wouldn't recomend this book, only a just starting out beginner might find it useful.



5. An excellent reference book for all designers. It gives great advise and tips for all forms of rendering both interiors and exteriors. The step by step instructions were not as informative as they could have been, but overall an excellent book for any designer.

2 comments about Digital Design and Manufacturing: CAD/CAM Applications in Architecture and Design.

1. I have been enjoying the breadth and depth of CAD/CAM Applications in Architecture and Design for the past few weeks. This book does an extraordinarily good job at covering not only the current state of the art in CAD/CAM work, but provides a captivating look at the development of various mechanical production solutions dating back from power looms and early machining tools.
   
   As an educator at Carnegie Mellon University, this book provides a remarkably useful overview of most aspects of this field - an area that is sure to define the future of architecture, since 3D imaging is only recently able to be directly fabricated with machines that permit tolerances of complex forms to within thousandths of an inch.
   
   We are surely entering a new era of production with tremendous implications for architecture. Those familiar with the techniques possible will be able to create forms that were hitherto only imagined. This thoughtful book is an excellent introduction to those curious about this phenomenon.



2. I've been waiting for a book like this to come along! Finally a comprehensive report on knowledge of building techniques that exploit digital tools. This textbook will be a required resource for both engineers and designer/architects. Excellent for anyone trying to grasp the creative implications of the new tools. Full of excellent case studies in product development, architectural design and structural engineering that show behind-the-scenes photos and sequential diagrams. In addition to the cutting-edge technologies, this book surveys the more tried and true manufacturing processes too.

3 comments about Autocad Release 14 for Dummies Quick Reference.

1. This is not for Dummies or Beginners. It's a pretty comprehensive list of commands and their use. AutoCAD is too powerful a program to condense down to something this small and have it explain everything on a Beginner's level. I guess I didn't expect it to be for Beginners, and since I'm a power user, that really made me happy with the book. Some of the commands in here aren't very well documented any where else that I have found. I've moved on to the next version of ACAD now, so I'm willing to part with it (see used listings) but I'll be looking for the Dummies book for the next version now.



2. Our architecture instructor advised us of this book to get started in CAD design. Recommend this to new students who wish to dig into the program. Covers fundamental basics to R14 as well as provide a solid foundation to build from. Book does great job of addressing difficult areas such as plotting, layering, and scaling functions.



3. If you do not have sufficient AutoCAD R14 training beforehand, this book is very difficult to access and/or find information. The book needs more graphic representations which show the results-especially the dimension commands. Finally, the pundits in parenthesis were annoying.

No comments about Landscape and Sustainability: Second Edition.

No comments about Computer Graphics for Landscape Architects: An Introduction.

No comments about AutoCAD 2007 Tutorial Second Level 3D Fundamentals: 3D Modeling.

2 comments about Volumetric Three-Dimensional Display Systems.

1. Finally, some solid ground in this subject! This book pulls together a wide range of work done in this area in the past, and establishes a strong conceptual foundation (both of which are essential if this field is to become better established). Overall the difficult balance between historical synthesis, theoretical foundations, mathematical detail, and discussion on future directions is achieved very very well (nice color snaps too!). The definitive work in the field - highly recommended.



2. an excellent publication - well done. The historical section is particularly interesting. Colour photos of images are clear and well presented. Of great interest to me are the proposals for the next generation of volumetric display. The text covers a considerable range of subject matter - this will take some perusal!

3 comments about Harnessing AutoCAD 2004.

1. This book goes very well with the textbook. It's easy to follow and, though rudimentry, it does help one practice the functions of the program. Those just discovering Autocad will appreciate the program so much more by using these simple exercises.



2. The book is way too basic. The exercises are often incorrect/misleading; although, in hindsight, it was a fun challenge to find the errors, but very frustrating at the time.



3. While this book has some good qualities, the exercises are horrible!! Many dimensions are missing, making it impossible to try to do them with any accuracy. I would not recommend it.

1 comments about Cooper, Robertson & Partners: Cities to Gardens (Master Architect).

1. This book features the work of a firm that has excelled at both architecture and urban design throughout its existance. That's no easy task. All of the projects featured show a combination of intellectual rigor (the partners have taught and lectured extensively) as well as the practical aspects of good design (firmness, commidity and delight). To architects who have followed the work of Cooper, Robertson & Partners the book is long overdue but worth the wait.