Product Description: This amazing title unites all four Incredible Cross-Sections books in one volume, enlarged and updated with brand-new illustrations-including the TIE bomber, Imperial shuttle, A-wing, and B-wing-along with revised technical introductions, behind-the-scenes pages, glossary, and index. (c) 2006 Lucasfilm Ltd. and TM AUTHOR BIO: Hans Jenssen Hans Jenssen has spent the last nine years in a galaxy far, far away, co-illustrating a total of ten Star Wars books with Richard Chasemore, with whom he has developed a close friendship. They have traveled across three continents, sampled exotic beverages with Boba Fett, and partied with R2-D2. He now lives a quiet life in Devon, England, with his partner and young son. RICHARD CHASEMORE Richard Chasemore has worked as an illustrator and 3-D computer artist in the United States and Europe, most notably on DK's Star Wars: Incredible Cross-Sections and, Inside the Worlds of the Star Wars series. Lately he has written educational books for budding digital artists. He lives on the south coast of England, where he enjoys sports involving boards and high speeds!
am ultimate guide It is amazing how the creators of the SW universe were able to think about every single detail. Even if you are not a fan, you will be impressed of the masterful drawings and detailed descriptions of the vast range of different vehicles. This is the ultimate guide for the SW vehicles definitely. Must have!
Details, details, details... Take one look at the oversized "cross-sections" books on the shelf at the bookstore, and you're likely to move on. Don't; each huge, intricately-detailed drawing is breathtaking. The Herculean labor required for these works is obvious on each page. Illustrators Hans Jenssen and Richard Chasemore paid their dues for the privilege of working on the project: "We illustrated boring stuff, like plumbing and water pumps..." Jenssen recalled ruefully. The result? You find yourself staring deeper and deeper into the layers of detail on each design. It rewards you with additional insights with each viewing.
By the way, the Cross-Sections books were originally sold separately for Episodes I-III and IV-VI respectively. Buying the Complete Cross-Sections compendium here is a better buy.
Great contents - poor print quality My son loves it and I thought it was interesting as well. Too bad the print quality is bad on a few pages such that the type is illegible and the drawings smeared.
Like Where's Waldo for Star Wars Geeks The absolutely byzantine level of detail in these illustrations is remarkable to view in such a large format. Just like how Lucas wanted his vehicles to look "used" and "worn out" for his first 3 films these drawings have plenty of that "lived in" look that draw your eyes over all the little doodads behind the metal skins.
As an engineer I love technical drawings and I really get a kick out of seeing how these fictional craft can have their internals look so "purposeful". The real life technical illustration field is tough enough when working from real objects and so I am impressed by the amount of creativity required to invert so much "how and why" detail. You can see how the form and function were intertwined to give these designs plausible suspension of disbelief. For example, even though there are no shields in our real world, the way the emitters are located and shaped in these drawings causes you to envision how they "work" in an intuitive way. You can see the power conduits feeding them and see how they outline the profile of the ships.
The section at the end of the book where the illustrators show how the drawings go from pencil sketch to painting is fascinating and awe inspiring in this age of overwhelming CGI.
I only had one of the previous cross section books so for me the value of this title was a no-brainer. If you already own the others then it boils down to having them in a single volume and if that is worth it for you.
My only gripe is on the fold out illustrations. They are really almost too wide to allow easy use. I'd rather see the folds be vertical where the two open pages are joined across the top and fold upwards into more of a square. There have been a few books on NASA and spaceflight done this way and the result was better in my opinion because the folded out section supported itself. This landscape style foldout, while allowing a very wide image make the pages flop around more than I'd like for such thin paper.
Beautiful masterpiece!!! The books is great and any star wars fan will love the intricate designs and detail on the ships. It covers most of the ships and is a great purchase. The texts are informative and tell some secrets about the ships and races that pilot them. It has some very detailed info on the ships and its purposes. Its one of the Best Star Wars books ever. Wait till you get to the middle of the book and you'll see what I'm talking about. Some images span completely through 4 pages making it a viewers delight. Cool book and the cover looks fantastic too.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
