Daniel Tal's new book "Rendering in Sketchup"
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On the subject of mastery -- over the years I have learned alot from the most rank amateurs... likewise I have been astounded at the idiocy of the most well tenured "masters".
The problem as I see it has several layers. But being a "Master" (or "Expert") is essentially a meaningless position... mostly because it is based on 2 things which have little value in the rapidly shifting world of technology. Which is to say "Mastery" is basically an opinion others form about you, and that opinion is based on past performance.
What I would say is past performance only indicates what you knew then -- but in today's world what you know today is rapidly becoming obsolete... if you are not constantly gaining new knowledge/skill you are actually loosing ground. So past performance is really not a very good indicator of the value of an instructor in any type of technological setting.
This is made worse by the fact that many people choose to "rest on their laurels" once they achieve a certain amount of success -- choosing to "stick with what got you here" is a common mindset. That mindset will ultimately lead to mental stagnation and eventual putrification... and in today's world that can happen in just a few years.
I think a wiser course of action is to listen to everybody equally, and approach all who offer advice with an equal amounts of gratitude and skepticism.
Another thing to consider in this instance is successful teaching is its own distinct skillset -- one which is not insignificant in value. If somebody can successfully teach others even the most basic of tasks, then it is of much more value than a person with high level of personal output that cannot successfully explain how he arrived at the result.
However, it should be said I have no particular opinion (favorable or otherwise) on this book or author.
Best,
Jason. -
Hi Adam
I think you can find some of Daniels's work here...I think
http://www.ambit-3d.com/gallery.html -
I've got nothing against Daniel. He does great urban planning work. Rendering....
I think everyday there are new hordes of contractors, architects and designers who are feeling pressured into taking up 3D modeling and rendering. Most aren't doing it for love as most here are. I've done some teaching and on site training and I see a lot of the same false perceptions. No one wants to give up time to get where they want to go. They want a shortcut....a magic portal....a guru.....a master. They think that must be how others got where they want to be. Hell, it's all done on a computer so there must be a way to make the computer just magically do the work for you....if you know where the secrete buttons are.
My point is that I think there is a market there for people who are looking for help. I don't see any issue with capitalizing on that market of new users or new aspiring render artists. I still think it's a lot of false expectation. It's either you are born with artistic vision, high aptitude, massive memory and technical inclination, or you are not. The majority of people are not. The unique thing about 3D rendering in my opinion is that it takes a lot of both left and right sides of your brain. Most people only possess one or the other. Either good with the technical or good with the visual. Still it takes a ton of perseverance, dedication and peer review before you can realize if you have "it" or not. Most who have "it" don't worry too much about seeking out masters. They spend time on forums instead.
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Hello all,
I would like to thank Brian for the review. I was not invovled with the post being a promo in anyway. To address the question of ‘master renderer’ that Brian included in the review, while I appreciate the compliment, I would say that I in no way claim such a title. I would agree fully with Mike Lucy about Solo - simply some of the best work I have ever seen - that is an expert rendering artist.If anything, in the book I say do not expect to hyper-realistic results or becoming an expert renderer. The book is intended for people who are brand new to rendering or have been rendering and struggling with trying to get rendering working for them.
In fact, I am trying to address what Adam Hailsis saying in his post: “It's either you are born with artistic vision, high aptitude, massive memory and technical inclination, or you are not. The majority of people are not. The unique thing about 3D rendering in my opinion is that it takes a lot of both left and right sides of your brain”
That is a very valid point. Spend enough time teaching people SketchUp and you see an interesting spread - of 10 people in a class, 1 to 2 people will not get it all, 2 to 3 people will run with whatever you teach them and the remainder (5 to 6 people) will need to work at learning how to model on their own and with diligence.
So the book provides specific settings and approaches to help the 5 to 6 people that need more specific approaches.In terms of making an income on books, well, honestly its a labor of love. The return comes from intangibles, getting more work, speaking and teaching related to it then the book itself.
Thanks
Daniel Tal -
@Mike, thank you for your vote of confidence, however flattering I do not consider myself a master by any means, I still ask noob questions on Render forums, I also forget basic stuff if I do not use an app consistently.
Regarding Daniel Tal, who is a friend and a hell of a nice guy, I have his previous book 'A Guide to Modeling Site Plans, Terrain and Architecture' which is a great informative book which I learned a lot from, Daniel is a landscape architect and that book plays well into his strengths.
I do not own his new book and can only comment based on what I read on Amazon. To me it looks like a great book for beginners to intermediate to learn the basics and learn some of the easier to use Render apps available, I'm guessing it covers more than just the rendering and also talks about modeling with the goal of rendering. I also see a very large mention of Shaderlight, which I believe is Daniels choice of engine and one he has been vocal about recently. I understand that he could not possibly cover all render options as there are just too many, however I believe Vue could have been mentioned (cannot confirm that it is not as I have not read the book) as it hands down is the best landscape package available.All in all I think this will be another informative book and if his last book is an example of his work then this book will also be well written and easy to follow. Regarding him being a master, I do not believe he considers himself one, but does offer the process of rendering, where a master will not only know the process but also have an artistic element which is something one possesses and cannot be taught IMO.
As for me writing a book, that will not happen as even I know my limitations and writing is one of them.
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All great points. I should have used "in my opinion" an error on my part that yielded some great comments and further reference material to learn more. Bottom line though the book is a good read and Tal knows what he teaching. He is giving you the tools to succeed, but success it up to your talent. I wish more people would write longer potsings here on Sketchucation, because there are so many good topics that also give you the tools to succeed.
Incidentally, I am a sketchup junky that has been using it since day one, but not for income generation. I use it for 3D powder printing, another hobby, and a subject sorely missing in this site. "I hope someone is listening out there, as there is no site on 3D printing that contains any wealth of knowledge from a design standpoint". 3D printing is definitely a left and right brain to. If you like machines and modeling wait until you are 14 hours into a print and learn that one type of molding does not print and read well and the other does. Attached is a simple non creative model, 4 hours to clean up the file to print, 8 hours to print. 3 hours to post process.
Bottom line for me is I learn alot from this website to feed my hobby, thanks to all who make Sketchucation a great website.
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@solo said:
@Mike, thank you for your vote of confidence, however flattering I do not consider myself a master by any means, I still ask noob questions on Render forums, I also forget basic stuff if I do not use an app consistently.
Regarding Daniel Tal, who is a friend and a hell of a nice guy, I have his previous book 'A Guide to Modeling Site Plans, Terrain and Architecture' which is a great informative book which I learned a lot from, Daniel is a landscape architect and that book plays well into his strengths.
I do not own his new book and can only comment based on what I read on Amazon. To me it looks like a great book for beginners to intermediate to learn the basics and learn some of the easier to use Render apps available, I'm guessing it covers more than just the rendering and also talks about modeling with the goal of rendering. I also see a very large mention of Shaderlight, which I believe is Daniels choice of engine and one he has been vocal about recently. I understand that he could not possibly cover all render options as there are just too many, however I believe Vue could have been mentioned (cannot confirm that it is not as I have not read the book) as it hands down is the best landscape package available.All in all I think this will be another informative book and if his last book is an example of his work then this book will also be well written and easy to follow. Regarding him being a master, I do not believe he considers himself one, but does offer the process of rendering, where a master will not only know the process but also have an artistic element which is something one possesses and cannot be taught IMO.
As for me writing a book, that will not happen as even I know my limitations and writing is one of them.
Hey Pete,
Thank you for the kind words and endorsement. I really appreciate that. Writing is hard but once a book is out and your out in the open its like walking around with your pants down. I know this book will take some lumps but its about rendering so its to be expected.VUE and other external rendering programs are not part of this book. The publisher wanted a reference manual and it became a big project. 41 chapters with another 7 chapters online for free to download - so over 700 pages of material. Thankfully itdfoes not need to be ingested all at once, mostly for reference. Trying to tackle studio-rendering programs would have been really hard.
And to endorse you in return - I am not sure I know anyone as talented and with the type of skill set you have. Your work is amazing and I show people your website, renders and models in workshops and presentations. If you are ever interested in writing a book, I have some suggestions. You would add a great deal of value to SketchUp community beyond what you have already done. Your product modeling alone would be worth tutorials and there are ways to publish these days and make income out of it (take a different path than the one I took for sure).
Thanks
Daniel Tal -
Dan has some great products and deserves attention but rendering requires 1000's of hours at the helm and that he does not have.
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Below are 2 books which are invaluable to me:
Color and Light - James Gurney
This is primarily a painting and light tutorial but looking at some of the pages available on line,its remarkable how simple it makes things(Ive purchased it on line from amazon and its been a revelation)LIGHT - a detailed tutorial - part available at site below
http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/light.htm -
Hey, I've just bought this book and I'm about to dive in but it recommends downloading some companion chapters from a website that no longer exists - is there an updated web address to accompany the book? http://www.ambit-3d.com is now just an advert for domain purchasing.
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I've recently purchased the book and the website containing the companion chapters no longer exists. Is there a new site? I have a MAC and really need those chapters.
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@mike lucey said:
I think Solo (Pete Stoppel) is a Master Renderer in my humble opinion. Now if only he would do a series of Mini Publications for SketchUcation we could make him Rich and Famous!
I also go for that!
Always Solo has been a source of inspiration to me!
Also there is a great potential of masters that may brings energy to our forum more than ago..
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