by Mary Riley Smith (1991)
"Notes Smith, a landscape designer and gardening columnist, the front garden is the "stepchild" of garden design, all too often overlooked as a no-man's-land between street and front door. And since houses today are situated on smaller and smaller lots, and backyards--if present at all--may be unsuited to horticulture, she argues that a front yard is too precious to waste on the tract of lawn and dreary foundation plantings endemic to suburbs from coast to coast. After a brief survey of American front-yard "traditions," she gives trenchant hands-on advice on designing a front garden, covering such practical matters as siting paths, screening unpleasant views, and whether to employ a landscape architect or garden designer. The chapter "A Public or Private Front Yard?" explores how to use man-made structures and plantings to create either type. Nine exemplary gardens across the country are detailed; although some are professionally designed for well-to-do clients, others are, refreshingly, made by the "get dirty" gardeners and not beyond the skills or means--of the average homeowner. Clearly written, elegantly produced, this book is sure to melt the winter doldrums and inspire readers to rework their front gardens at the first hint of spring. Photos. Better Homes and Gardens, Rodale Book Club, and Garden Book Club alternate."--Publishers Weekly.
J. Erik Kinkade
A step-by-step guide for creating a medium size artificial rock waterfall. Includes guidelines for the installation and construction of artificial rock boulders, waterfalls, fountains, and ponds with concept drawings and full-color photographs.
Michael Ingrassia
Maya is one of the top 2 software tools available today for 3D game and film development - 600,000 registered users. This is a MUST-HAVE book for game artists interested in proficiency with Maya. Well-known Maya professional, Michael Ingrassia, takes readers through his unique style of modeling: "Image Based Modeling" where efficient, realistic models can be created very quickly. Ingrassia's techniques allow modelers to create exact replicas of their concept characters or objects. The techniques presented are very efficient and allow game modelers to quickly build out stand alone props to populate environments and game levels. Presented are tried and true techniques that the author has used successfully in game production for the past 10 years. Most, if not all 3D books, focus on basic "box" modeling techniques, which are the basis for proper 3D modeling but not the complete solution. In the author's experience, students who have learned through the Image Based Modeling brand, have quickly excelled into effective modelers. One of the hardest things for any modeler to do is match their model EXACTLY to the concept art or photos they are provided. The insider tips in this book walk artists through this process. Artists begin with basic modeling and advance to a creating a complete scene and set design/game level. Rather than including sporadic models with zero association from to one another, each model in the book becomes an integral part of an overall theme realistic in game development today. The accompanying DVD includes 8 exclusive video tutorials on advanced Maya techniques as bonus tracks for artists providing invaluable modeling, rigging and texturing samples. Also, an in-depth video on assembling a "Killer Demo Reel" showing simple but effective video editing techniques used by the author so that artists can learn how to get their work seen. The book not only teaches effective methodology, but provides the user with impressive content for producing effective demo reels and portfolios. Pros and cons of demo reel, website and artist representation are given, along with insights into the expectations of game studios today. The video tutorials show users the finished product, and then run through the process of step by step creation of that particular technique.Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included.
William J.R. Curtis
Analyzes newly-released archival material to examine the architect's projects as they relate to his philosophy of life, his social visions, and his cultural milieu.
Bill Hubbard, Jr
To speak comprehensively about building today requires that we think about building in three different ways - as an instance of architectural order, as an embodiment of values about living, and as an instrument for bringing about results. With this insight, Bill Hubbard offers architects a useful new way of thinking about the work they do. He looks at all of the groups with an interest in a work of architecture - owners, inhabitants, customers, community groups, critics and historians, architecture schools - and presents a conceptual framework in which those disparate interests are not just given a place but are honored for providing different perspectives on the building. Recalling a time when a building could be encompassed by a single way of thinking, Hubbard reviews how political, economic, and philosophical movements have fostered new roles for buildings and provided new ways of thinking about them. How can these ways of thinking talk to each other, much less have a conversation that can produce a building? To find a language for such conversation is the task Hubbard takes on, through an exploration of the concept of a sense of place. In the book's closing chapters Hubbard describes the varieties of place that we can feel, and proposes a way to characterize such feelings and render them usable by designers. In so doing, he raises a fundamental question about the practice of architecture; he proposes that theory for practice founded on the idea of creating a sense of place is not a radical departure for architects because the acts of creating place are the acts architects do, for themselves, in their daily lives.