WITH SCOTT ROBERTSON
Overall Rating: 8¼/10
Reviewed by James Novak
Overview:
This is the second of 3 DVD’s that teach you the
skills needed for rendering 3D forms. This particular DVD focuses on the cylinder,
cone and sphere, combining real-life examples of how the surfaces change under
various lighting conditions with numerous rendered examples produced by
Robertson in front of your eyes. As with the first DVD, you are first shown the
basics of how to cast shadows and calculate rendering values for each form,
before being shown different lighting strategies and more advanced details.
Bonus Features:
- jpg images of the rendered examples used in the
DVD are available if you open the DVD on your computer (many including
notes). Also includes line drawing of the final train so you can practice
rendering a form made up of cylinders, cones and spheres.
- Lecture notes explaining key principles used in
the DVD
- List of companies that provide additional
training, books, news etc.
- Slideshow of some of Scott Robertson’s
professional renders – AMAZING!!!
About Scott Robertson:
Scott Robertson opened his own product design
consulting firm after graduating from the Art Center College of Design, working
for clients such as Nissan, Yamaha, Nike, BMW and Universal Studios. For most
of this time, he has also taught drawing and industrial design around the world,
and more recently, has launched Design Studio Press, a publishing company
dedicated to educational art books and DVD’s.
Relevance to product
designers: 10/10
The knowledge in
this DVD is priceless for all designers. The technical knowledge of how to
create realistic 3D forms and shadows is always going to be necessary, even if
you intend to rely on CAD (as lets face it, the computer doesn’t always get it
looking right). Product design is inherently 3-dimensional, and this DVD will
arm you with the skills to communicate in 3-dimensions.
Is the DVD informative?:
8/10
This DVD
requires that you have seen the first in this series, as it immediately begins
by applying the ‘1,2,3 Shading’ and ‘Halfway to Black’ principles. Without all
the introductory information of the first DVD, there is a lot more time to get
into shading the more complex shapes. However, the last 55 minutes is devoted
to the final train render which combines all the techniques learned previously.
While this is a great example of how easy it is to correctly render a complex
form, it is very time consuming.
Is the DVD enjoyable to watch?: 6/10
Like the first DVD, sequences of Scott drawing are
sped up so you aren’t sitting around for hours while drawings are done in
real-time. The only problem is that it can be difficult to watch 2 hours of
drawing all at once without Scott’s monotone voice making your eyes very heavy!
I recommend a break before watching the final train render.
Value for Money: 9/10
You can easily
pay a lot more for a text on how to render… but then you’d actually have to sit
down and read the whole thing. This DVD shows you a professional (Scott
Robertson) actually drawing and rendering, so you don’t just learn the
technical aspect of how you should render, but you actually SEE the principles
being put into action.
Is it a favourite design
related DVD?: YES
As with the first DVD, this
will arm you with some really important skills you will use throughout your
studies and career. I have found that after watching the DVD, printing out the
jpg’s was really useful to use as references when completing renders for uni. After
watching 1 or 2 times, you’ll find that watching chapters in fast-forward will
refresh your memory, and get you creating the most realistic forms you can,
whether by hand or within your CAD/editing software.
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