Texturing and Lighting in Discreet 3ds max 6 by George Maestri as published in Computer Graphics World, covers everything needed to texture, light, and render realistic scenes in 3ds max. The title steps you through designing materials, mapping textures, and lighting scenes as well as creating shaders, lights, and cameras for both Mental Ray and Max’s Scanline renderer. Advanced topics include complex mapping, multi-pass rendering, caustics, and global illumination.

GEORGE MAESTRI, as written in rubberbug.com, in which he is president, has worked as a writer, director, and producer in both traditional and computer animation for such companies as Nickelodeon, Warner Brothers, Disney, Comedy Central, Film Roman, Curious Pictures, MGM, ABC, CBS, and Fox, among others. He has written and edited several books and dozens of articles on computer animation for magazines such as Computer Graphics World, DV, Publish, and Digital Magic, among others.

'TANSTAAFL', acronym for 'There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch', may be familiar to those of you who have taken a college economics class or two. Whenever you hear word 'Free' in association with a product or service it's a good idea to keep it in mind because, in truth, nothing is free. Someone, somewhere, somehow, is bearing an economic cost; and so it is with free Wi-Fi hotspots. For most part any of free Wi-Fi hotspots you'll come across will have some sort of quid pro quo associated with them.

If you go to a McDonalds, for example, you can get a bit of free Wi-Fi with purchase of a meal, if you go to Panera Bread or Port City Java, although not explicitly stated, it's implied that you're expected, as you should be, to buy something for privilege of taking up table space while surfing 'net.

Along with businesses several Municipal and International Airport Authorities, as well as a growing number of airline club lounges, are providing free Wi-Fi in an effort to sway travellers, who may have a choice between several carriers or nearby airports, to choose them. Similarly, more and more hotels are offering free Wi-Fi for their guests so, while Wi-Fi hotspot may be advertised as free, it's cost is rolled into room rate or expensed to advertising.