From the Back Cover
form*Z COMPLETE -- easygoing workshop style

Relax, pour a cup of coffee, and pull up a chair, because you've just discovered the most enjoyable way to acquire professional skills with form*Z 4.0. Organized just like the author’s workshop courses taught for over 8 years at the University of California at Berkeley, form*Z 4.0 brings Lachmi Khemlani's expert instruction in the world's most popular 3D modeling program right to your desktop.

Work through Khemlani's interesting exercises and assignments at your own pace. Before you know it, you've explored and mastered the full range of form*Z 4.0's capabilities! This hands-on approach -- evolved over many years of instructing architecture, engineering, and design professionals and students, and based on their feedback -- lets you jump right into creating with form*Z. It's a method that's tailor-made to teach you tools and techniques in the order you want to use them, not the arbitrary sequence of program manuals.

Both the book and the convenient CD lead you through an easy-to-follow workshop, showing you how to:

* Create any 2D or 3D objects you can imagine, transform objects into desired configurations, and derive 3D objects from 2D shapes in a number of ways
* Conceptualize dimension and scale, work at multiple topological levels, and create custom textures, reference planes, views, and symbol libraries
* Model free-form shapes with Nurbz, patches, metaballs, and controlled meshes
* Create sketch renderings as well as realistic lighting and rendering effects with multiple light types, radiosity-based rendering, texture mapping, and decals
* Generate walkthroughs, QuickTime VR movies, and animations for interactive presentations of design concepts

form*Z made e-z


About the Author
Lachmi Khemlani, Ph.D., is the author of the earlier to 3D with form•Z, also published by McGraw-Hill. She has taught form•Z workshops and other CAD courses for a number of years at the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned her doctorate in architecture, specializing in computer applications.

She works as an independent consultant and writes extensively on CAD and modeling solutions, including articles, product reviews, tutorials, and a biweekly newsletter. Her credentials include a professional B.Arch. (Honors) degree from the Indian Institute of Technology and an M.Phil. in Architecture from the University of Cambridge, England. She has also worked on numerous design projects as a practicing architect.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Work through Khemlani's exercises and assignments at your own pace. Before you know it, you've explored and mastered the full range of Form Z4's capabilities! This hands-on approach - evolved over many years of instructing architecture, engineering, and design professionals and students, and based on their feedback - lets you jump right into creating with Form Z. It's a method that's tailor-made to teach you tools and techniques in the order you want to use them, not the arbitrary sequence of program manuals.

SYNOPSIS

form*Z COMPLETE — easygoing workshop style

Relax, pour a cup of coffee, and pull up a chair, because you've just discovered the most enjoyable way to acquire professional skills with form*Z 4.0. Organized just like the author's workshop courses taught for over 8 years at the University of California at Berkeley, form*Z 4.0 brings Lachmi Khemlani's expert instruction in the world's most popular 3D modeling program right to your desktop.

Work through Khemlani's interesting exercises and assignments at your own pace. Before you know it, you've explored and mastered the full range of form*Z 4.0's capabilities! This hands-on approach — evolved over many years of instructing architecture, engineering, and design professionals and students, and based on their feedback — lets you jump right into creating with form*Z. It's a method that's tailor-made to teach you tools and techniques in the order you want to use them, not the arbitrary sequence of program manuals.

Both the book and the convenient CD lead you through an easy-to-follow workshop, showing you how to:

* Create any 2D or 3D objects you can imagine, transform objects into desired configurations, and derive 3D objects from 2D shapes in a number of ways
* Conceptualize dimension and scale, work at multiple topological levels, and create custom textures, reference planes, views, and symbol libraries
* Model free-form shapes with Nurbz, patches, metaballs, and controlled meshes
* Create sketch renderings as well as realistic lighting and rendering effects with multiple light types, radiosity-based rendering, texture mapping, and decals
* Generate walkthroughs, QuickTime VR movies, and animations for interactive presentations of design concepts