For a much better choice, consider getting "Digital Lighting & Rendering" by Jeremy Birn. Birn's new book is an amazing resource for any 3D artist, and I reviewed it on amazon with 5 stars.

Alternately, you might just pick up a first-rate book on lighting for cinematography, such as "The Technique of Lighting for Television and Film" by Gerald Millerson or "Matters of Light & Depth" by Ross Lowell (although these cimematography books don't cover any techniques that are unique to digital graphics production.)

16 of 17 found the following review helpful:


Promising Title, Very Disappointing Book  Aug 01, 1998
"Digital Cinematography" is a hot-sounding, promising title. It's a shame that title was wasted on this book.

We are all eager to see a good book on cinematic lighting and texturing techniques, so buying this failed attempt was a great disappointment. Crude, childish 3D renderings were shown, with no subtlety of lighting, certainly no evidence of "cinematic" techniques. The cheap black-and-white printing of the author's own beginner-level 3D work, and vague writing that seemed to do little more than rehash highlights from an old cinematography textbook, do not deliver a book that lives up to its description.

The author doesn't seem to have a lot of artistic talent, or professional graphics production experience, and these deficits show in his writing and illustrations.

Despite being the first product cranked out last year that promised to explain cinematic graphics techniques, the book itself is a cheap, incomplete, and uninformative attempt! . The author may be making money because of the title, but when you open the book, he doesn't seem to have much to say.

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:


useful for all users of 3D graphics program  Jan 26, 1998 By Timothy G. Buchman "critical care surgeon"
This is a highly practical book outlining the use of lights in 3D graphics software. The ideas and applications are independent of any particular package. The explanations are lucid, and the ideas can be put to immediate use. The black-and-white illustrations are poorly reproduced, so the real appreciation comes from applying the techniques to your own images.

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:


Maybe not the best, but has some basics...  Feb 09, 1998 By N. Dufort
After finishing the book, I have to downgrade my rating. Like others, I agree the title is promising, but the content is not "top." And I also agree with two other readers about the fact that all those basics can be found in any good cinematography book. As for the digital part, now we have other books that deal with the subject better (see Digital Lighting, J. Birn).

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:


I needed this.  Jan 06, 1998
This book is just great. You'll learn all the things to make your 3D graphics complete. After the firsts lessons I could see an improvement in my work. The section about how to use lights is just what I needed. Digital Cinematography is a book for people who want's to improved their already great 3D-graphics. You'll learn all the basics the photographers went to years of school to learn. Definitely needed for the pro's.

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