Product Description

Every scenic artist and designer deals with the relationship of form and function - turning ideas and concepts into something solid, whether the medium is plaster, wood, steel or paper. Central to such work is the compilation of photographs of different materials that can be used for future reference. This book is a comprehensive collection of photographs with chapters on each material. It covers hundreds of varieties of wood, stone, marble, brick, plaster, glass, metal and tile look in exterior and interior settings. The pictures are of two varieties, either for the purpose of identifying a surface, or depicting materials in different settings, showing how they can be used architecturally, what their visual effect is, and how they weather. Tailored to research needs in scope and focus, the images offer models and scanning materials for everyone working in this field, and advice is offered in the form of interviews with professionals in the fields of design and architecture, who describe how they gather and use visual research in their work.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42167 in Books
• Published on: 1996-11-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Customer Reviews

Additional Note
I think I was a little hard on Judy Juracek with reference to the included CD. What Ms. Juracek has done in the way of cataloguing is nothing short of miraculous and one should not expect that every image on the CD would be photographed dead on and shadow-perfect. I was just really irked by the image quality of a CD I had such high hopes for. I purchased this book when it first came out for a Hundred Dollars retail but the price I now see listed online seems almost a steal for the treasure trove contained within.

In any case, A recent search reveals that even more books in the series have been written by the author and I'm excited to purchase these as well--let's hope the image quality has improved on the included CDs for the new millenium we're in. I guess you could still expect "middlin'" quality for an image CD produced back in the "stoneage" of the 90's. The book is GREAT!

GREAT BOOK but the CD leaves something to be desired...
I have found this book to be very useful for many years. It is sensational and I feel very possessive about it as it has become one of my number one resource tools--I turn to it often and it rarely leaves my library! It's worth every dollar for sheer volume and the sound aesthetic choices Ms. Juracek made in archiving.

However the other two posters were correct about the CD. The images are of dismally low quality and the shadow problems do come up and haunt you time and again. The resolution should have been at least 300 to 355 dpi for each and each photo taken dead on square. There's an awful lot of work to be done if you need to use these as image maps (I like to use them in 3d environments as texture maps to preview large outdoor sculptures I'm developing). I can't understand for the life of me why the images are of such low quality--there's still plenty of disk space available on the CD. The CD was one of the main reasons I just had to buy the book. Otherwise, the full cover price seemed just a little steep--just a little. But I gladly would have paid more if the CD had been up to snuff. I'm hoping that the CD will be upgraded to include high-rez images for any revisions in the near future but I'm not holding my breath.

Otherwise, the book is a gold mine. Irregardless of what creative industry one might be in, it is a wonderful resource tool. And at the very least, a great coffee table book one will often turn to.

great reference
This is one of the best color, texture reference books I've ever seen. It is definatly a must for all visual artists. The addition of the cd-rom is also a big asset.