The Art of 'Pulse' is an eight-chapter set of videos (or DVD) that intends to focus on -- and this is directly from the product website -- A) Searching for inspiration, and B) Modeling a vehicle in 3D. However, it must be stated up front that there is very little to do with either of these topics... to the point of sheer disappointment.
While I don't want to take away from the artistry of Harald Belker and his accomplishments in the industry, this set of videos was unfortunately lacking in quality and contained of a bunch of uninspiring filler. From the start, the audio quality was noticeably recorded using equipment that was sub-par and hollow-sounding. In fact, there's even a point in the set where you'll be able to hear sirens in the background that you, too, may find more intriguing than the video itself. In addition, the voiceover pickups where audio was corrected or covered up were sometimes distractingly bad.
The amount of modeling and inspirational motivations was minimal compared with the fact that the videos totaled nearly two hours in length. When the modeling was being screen-captured, in fact, showing real down and dirty insider techniques was glazed over for the most part, with a lot of skipping ahead to finished models instead of showing the full process and thoughts behind the motivation for creating these concept vehicles.
Throughout the videos, the artist hops around between different programs to display his techniques for creating three-dimensional concept art. Using Modo, KeyShot, Google Sketchup, and Adobe Photoshop, he uses very basic modeling and rendering techniques to output imagery that can then be painted over in Photoshop, but really doesn't get that deep into the entire process. Once in Photoshop, he'll show very quick techniques with color correction, adding decals and pin striping, and highlights to simulate the sun against the hull of the vehicle. Again, these techniques are displayed, but lack the depth that I would have liked to see from an industry expert.
I understand that Mr. Belker has other videos for sale, and maybe the combination would help fill in the blanks, but alone The Art of 'Pulse' just isn't worth the fifty-dollar price tag. The lack of true content caused me to lose interest from the beginning. While things picked up a bit in the later chapters when getting into Photoshop, these same techniques (and many, many more) can easily be found online for free.
I'm sure that there are viewers out there who will certainly find a few positive takeaways from The Art of 'Pulse' -- possibly newbies in the industry -- but the overall content was too basic in nature for anyone else. While I certainly do not have the professional credits that featured artist Harald Belker has acquired over the years, it should be said that I am also both an industry professional and a teacher within the 3D entertainment industry. It is with this experience that I watched The Art of 'Pulse' and was unfortunately very disappointed with the production of this training session, and would not be able to justify recommending this to anyone.
