The first portion of the book covers mainly a broad perspective of how Blender can be integrated into real world production pipelines and applications. As someone who is not natively-trained in the area of movie-making and animation, this book offers a fresh and informative perspective into that particular industry and field.

Nodes compositing and video editing come later in the second half of the book’s content.  The Nodes section provides  examples of Node compositions that are very useful. Much tips and techniques for creating special efforts are covered within the book.

Unlike many Blender Books, this one is fully in colour. However, the paper quality is not of high resolution gloss. I guess, this help in reducing the cost of production. I can certainly live with that. Notwithstanding the paper quality, the coloured screenshots are very helpful and indispensable for the delivery of information.

In all, I find Foundation Blender Compositing very useful. This 400+ page book is loaded with much information on the Compositing aspect of Blender. It fills an unique niche in the market with regards to Blender Books.

Official Guide To Using DAZ Studio To Create Beautiful Art comes in colour and is of good paper quality. Geared towards beginner and intermediate users of DAZ Studio, the book contains many explanatory pictures and renderings. This helps in making the content easy to read and understand.

This book is more than a technical manual. It teaches the reader techniques for creating compelling artwork using the free DAZ Studio software. This includes methods of getting the right poses and portraying the intended emotion of the 3D character.  There is also a section on working with non-human characters.

The content on the included CD is worth the entire value of the book alone. The CD content contains full 3D applications and digital contents. Beside DAZ Studio, the full version of Carrara 6 Pro and Hexagon 2.5 are included on the CD. How amazing ! These are powerful 3D apps with the combined value of hundreds of dollars ! Carrara is a full 3D modelling, rendering and animation package, while Hexagon is a dedicated 3D modeller.

To buy the book or get more info, click the Book Cover below.

For Mac users, the range of Computer Aided Industrial Design and Product Design tools are much more limited. One tool that runs natively on the Mac is Amapi Pro.

As I do not have a Mac, I am testing Amapi Pro 7.5 on my desktop PC. However, the results should be the same.

Amapi has a rather pretty interface that share some similarity with Carrara. Most of the standard tools that one will expect of a NURBS modeller are available on the Amapi Pro.

Tools for creating NURBS curves and surfaces are available. The equivalent of Rhino and Studiotools trims seems to be something call the ‘manifold’. Like Rhino and Studiotools, Project COS is also included in Amapi Pro.

Surface matching capability is also available. It’s equivalent for Rhino’s Match Surface is the Match Tangent tool. The two surfaces below are matched using the Match Tangent.

Besides surfacing tools, Amapi also has boolean commands. To ease the modelling process, there are productivity tools such as symmetry modelling and measurement aids.

The application comes with video tutorials which help in reducing the learning curve. However, personally, I am not too comfortable with its interface. Perhaps, I am simply being too used to Rhino and Studiotools-type interfaces.

The fact that Amapi Pro allows import and export of IGES and STEP formats, set its apart as a dedicated product design tools for the Mac environment.

There is also STL file support which enable its models to be used for Rapid prototyping too.

As of this writing, Amapi Pro is cheaper than Rhino4. Features-wise, both 3D programs should be roughly comparable, with Rhino probably having slightly more tools.

Please note that Amapi is not the same as the Amapi Pro version. For dedicated product and inustrial design, Amapi Pro version must be used.

In conclusion, I think Amapi Pro can be a good software program for Computer Aided Industrial Design. All the tools to get the job done is in the program. My only problem is its rather unconventional interface. But, I guess, once that particular hurdle is overcomed, Amapi Pro is no less powerful that other dedicated CAID programs.

Click box below for more details on Amapi Pro

Yes Gifts at www.yesgifts.co.uk is an online store that goes the extra mile to be eco and environmentally friendly. It specialises in promotional products. What’s so significant about such a store is that promotion and selling of products can go entirely paperless.

Yes Gift’s product range is inclusive of Business Corporate and Promotional Gifts items. The online store sells more than 8000 types of products. The product range is too wide to be adequately described.  Products as different and diverse as Bottle Openers are to Frisbees can be found there.

The site have several implementations that are advantageous of the eco-friendly movement. For example, Yes Gifts has a Promotional Enviro Gifts section that sells environmentally friendly gift items. This section has much recyclable products. There you can find stuffs such as organic bags and clothings, recycled stationery and more.

The slogan on the site is ‘We are paperless, no printed catalogues, no direct mailing’.  Yes Gifts is certainly living up to the cause.

A wide range of furniture can be found there. This includes indoor type stuffs such as sofas, bedroom sets, coffee tables and office chair. Additionally, it also has a range of outdoor patio furniture. There, you can purchase designer patio chairs such as the synthetically weaved Sydney chair and the Cabo Chair, both of which are from Zuo Modern. The Cabo Chair is as shown below. Most of the furnitures within Modern 2 Modern are designed by Italian, European or American designers.

Personally, I thought the website can do with better graphic and aesthetic treatment. As of this writing, the layout is a bit too clinical and does not exudes a much-needed designerish flair.

On the other hand, the prices of the products on sale are very reasonable. Additionally, you can also seek consultation from within the website with regards to the appropriate matching of product choices to interiors.