VRay 1.5 - The Complete Guide - REVIEW!

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CONCLUSIONS

How many times have we been tricked by the title of a publication? How many times, attracted by shouted promotional slogans, have we bought a manual, sure of finding certain contents inside, only to find that what we have purchased is a series of on-line help tips deprived of many of the important subjects for editorial reasons aimed at reducing the number of pages?In the case of a Complete Guide, one expects no less than such, and expects to be able to satisfy any demand for knowledge on how to use the software in question.

The Complete Guide by Francesco Legrenzi does not betray expectations, and offers a quantity and quality in the organization of information which will make it a precious tool for a wide range of users.

It is a veritable work tool to be treasured and kept next to one's workstation, so that it can be of aid whenever one encounters doubts regarding some parameter configuration or one encounters a so far unknown operative procedure.

The publication is particularly advisable for those who already have a basic knowledge of VRay and other renderers and wishes to gain a higher level of professionality by acquiring a true mastering of the tool, in such a way to be capable of solving every need demanded in the context of the productive stage.

The novice can benefit from the vast theorical preambles which the author has setup for all the most important subjects, so as to offer a learning process aimed at understanding the basic concepts, which is far better than a purely mnemonic approach.

Expert users, who already possess most of the theorical notions contained in the Complete Guide, will be able to benefit from the summarization of contents which makes this volume a fresh novelty, capable of leaving a mark, and not destined to be just another drop of water leaking blandly into a sea of currently available resources.

Best Regards
Arch. Francesco La Trofa
francilive@gmail.com

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VRay 1.5 - THE COMPLETE GUIDE


It would, to say the least, be assuming to attempt to summarize two years of work in a few lines, and thus in actual fact it goes beyond the possibility of any possible general judgement. The field of computing requires manuals to make use of accurate and specific terms, as the speed with which the following versions of the software obliges manuals to use terms of a precise specificity, imposed by the rapid obsolescence of the following software versions. Nevertheless, the Complete Guide by Francesco Legrenzi takes its place on the virtual bookshelves of treddi.com without offering reference points.
It is in fact an editorial product which represents an absolute novelty, and not just as an Italian publication.


Fig. 01

There are many new features introduced by the Guide, but two essential main factors stand out in particular.
As opposed to volumes that one usually encouters in bookshops, Legrenzi does not focus on one single software, but rather decides to thoroughly examine the components of a single rendering engine, V-Ray, which is, moreover, not integrated in any commercial offering.
The decision to describe every single option of every rollout could remind one of a typical guide for an official course. With a browse of the thousand pages under the sobre black bookcover, sealed by the unmistakable logo of this Chaos product, one realises that this is not the case. The Guide does not limit itself to a mechanical scanning of software contents organized in an orderly and accurate index; it also provides detailed explanations and illustrations regarding all the concepts at the base of every single subject. The author finds a compromise between the subject and content, connecting in a sometimes obsessive manner the theory behind each feature with the explanation of the conseguent proper use.
The reasons for the author's choice are easily intuitable. A “command by command” guide would have produced a limiting result, whereas an esclusively practical formulation based on a series of tutorials, would have made it impossible to satisfy all the subjects that each user seeks. Legrenzi introduces color mapping with a vast preamble on colorimetry or presents light sources only after having briefly explained the basics of illuminotechnique, handing over to the reader a series of information organized according to various levels of depth. This treatment of the subjects is thus extremely useful for the novice, who can then learn step by step the key concepts of any renderer, but it is not less useful for a professional, who can look up the single command for a quickly consultable summary in order to quench any doubts about any parameters which require a configuration in multiple steps.