Rhino NURBS 3D Modeling
by Margaret Becker, Pascal Golay
Rhino NURBS 3D Modeling is an excellent book not only on building models with this popular modeling tool but on computer modeling in general. Many of the techniques described here, such as Boolean operations and trimming surfaces, can be applied to building models in other programs.
Many chapters adeptly demonstrate Rhino's power as a NURBS modeler (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines). NURBS is a computer modeling paradigm that makes it easy to build curved surfaces and organic shapes. Certain chapters go into detail on building shapes such as a dragonfly (based on a photographic template), a coffeepot with a lid, and a cartoon-style boy character.
The most interesting chapter covers the process of modeling a human face based on a plaster casting, and it offers numerous photos documenting the process of creating the plaster mold from someone's face, filling it to get the cast, and digitizing it into Rhino using a digitizing scribe.
The accompanying CD-ROM contains all the models discussed in the book, plus a quasi-demo version of Rhino that has all features enabled. ("Quasi" because saving things from the program becomes disabled after the 15th time.) Rhino NURBS 3D Modeling works well for new Rhino users and for artists new to computer modeling interested in learning how a dedicated NURBS modeler works.
