Once every while a book is published that makes your jaw drop. Well, this is such a book. Amazing which astonishing effects you can achieve by combining Maya and Photoshop. And the beauty of this Sybex publication is that it will actually teach you how to get there.

Daniel Gray has interviewed a number of Maya and Photoshop artists like Meats Meyer, Michael Elins, and Damon Riesberg. He also interviewed people from guru studios, Meteor Studios, Meshwerks, and IBM. Finally, Mirko Ilic was asked to provide his input. Ilic creates imagery for National Geographic, Rolling Stone and others.

Creating Striking Graphics with Maya & Photoshop is a Maya-certified book. This means it provides the reader with information to start working with Maya himself. In this case, there’s also the Photoshop component. Not that you have to worry about the Photoshop level of skill of the gentlemen and ladies involved: the results are so astonishing that it is hard to imagine them meddling abot somewhat without knowing their Photoshop inside out.

This is one of a few Sybex books that could do double service as coffee table book, but you don’t buy it for taking up space on the table, unread. So, what’s it worth in terms of teaching you how to achieve these astonishing effects? Well, let me put it this way: it will go as far as to teach you how these masters achieved their results. The question then is whether you’re a creative master too, because the creative factor is very high in this book, and creativity cannot be taught.

Which is why I will happily klet this book take up space on my coffee table and gaze at its content once every while --not without a jealous look, mind you.