Animation Books

Many training CD's are poorly conceived and I had bad experiences with some in the past. Of course, just one useful model can cover the cost of a CD, so I decided to give this one a try. I was pleasantly surprised to find an HTML-based training course that serves the needs of beginning to advanced users.

The authors appear to really know MAX and organized the training material so that it can be worked through either sequentially or in order of your current interest. I was able to view two tutorials of immediate use without having to wade through prior material. The tutorial on rendering multiple camera views in VP was interesting. So far, there have been no bad experiences with this product.

Models and materials on the CD alone make it worth the cost. The tutorial information is icing on the cake.

On the downside, the product does require obtaining an authorization code. I received the CD on a Friday, but was not able to use it until late Monday nite. You ! should call in to get the code (do not send e-mail). Fortunately, it was worth the wait.

If anybody can help me get or buy these books please mail me at nmeijnen@hotmail.com

Thanks for any respons! :-)

I found this book about a month ago while browsing the animation titles at my local bookstore. What initially drew my attention to it was the extremely familiar dog character on its cover (I believe it's name is Dennis, but don't quote me); I was especially pleased to see that Steve and Raf Anzovin, its creators, listed as the book's authors. Steve, the founder of Anzovin Studios, his son Raf, and the team at Anzovin Studios are extraordinarily talented artists, animators, and programmers, with extensive knowledge in all aspects of commercial 3D animation production. Based on my experience with several of their products (use their last name dot com to find their website), I took it straight to the cashier and purchased it without bothering to look through it first. I don't often get excited about a book, but this one lived up to my expectations, it's excellent. Steve and Raf have done it again! Their writing is accessible, clear, and direct; and the visual examples used in each section are contextually appropriate throughout the book.

NB My personal peeve with far too many writers and publishers of technical manuals and textbooks, where specific tables, figures, or photos referenced within a text don't enhance the reader's understanding of the material (add to, support, or clarify its meaning), and their locations are not immediately apparent (whereby its location is logically correlated both visually and contextually, or hopefully more simply stated, referenced visuals are on or near the same page[s] as, the text that references them!).

3d Toons Creative 3D Design For Cartoonists and Animators is a powerhouse of information that focuses on artistic choices in explaining to its readers how 3D cartoonists reach their goals. As mentioned in the inside flap of the book, "3D cartoons are becoming the hottest thing in Hollywood, and they are also taking over TV."

The book is written by authors who have an enormous and intimate knowledge of 3D cartoons. Steve Anzovin is the CEO of Anzovin Studio, a computer-generated character animation that he co-founded with his son Raf.

Their objective in putting together this book was to deemphasize the teaching of techniques and focus on the "nitty-gritty" inner workings of the creative process.
It is amazing how much effort and talent is required in the making of an animation. Readers are informed how 3D characters and sets are brought to life in cartoons, graphic novels, and computer-animated short films. It thus is more than a "fresh look" at 3D animation but rather a fresh attempt to appreciate the immense creative process that is required.

The examination of this creative process is neatly organized into seven sections that are in turn sub-divided. The authors examine and explore 3DToonstyle, Toon Evolution, Anatomy of a Toon, Animated Toons, Shooting Toons, Toon Media, and 3dToon Gallery.
Each section is prefaced with a succinct overview and thoughtful queries prompting reflection and discussion. For example, when you look at the chapter dealing with toonstyle, readers are asked, what makes a cartoon character? From this point of reference the authors analyze why they look, act, and sound the way they do.

The book does not necessarily have to be read in a particular order and the newcomer to animation as well as the novice can easily open it to any section and garner useful information.
Spectacular and easy to follow illustrations enhance the book's informative as well as its aesthetic appeal. Each image contains sidebar explanations as to how and why they were created in a particular manner. To illustrate, if you refer to the section pertaining to Cartoony Toons, there is an example of three images that are stripped-down cartoon faces without bodies and we are informed that is all a character needs. As explained, these bodiless characters were designed for medical animation aimed at children of cancer patients.

The final chapter exposes the best of 3D Toon Art. It is here where we have a glance at the work of some of the giants in the field such as Jimmy Maidens, Robert J. Tiess, Yves Dalbiez, Sebastian Schoellhammer, Avalanche Software (Video Game Animation), Victor Navone, David Maas & Tatjana Herrmann-Maas, Shaun Freeman, Michael Sormann, Reel FX Creative Studios, and Patrick Beaulieu.

As well as explaining at appropriate points within the various sections' key concepts, the authors provide a glossary of quick definitions of the 3D Toon Terms used in the book, as well as suggestions for further reading. There is also a very helpful index.

Fledgling 3D animators, students, dreamers, and those who want to learn more about this fascinating topic will have a great deal of fun with this accessible book. It will most certainly become part of the required reading of many a course on animation, as it will prove to be quite an asset.

Norm Goldman, Editor Bookpleasures

The DVD is excellent & easy to understand & on the contrary i liked it so much I went ahead and bought the rest of the cd's included in the series. By the time I finish this tytorials I will be doing Inventor like pro.

This course is the fastest and best way to learn Inventor. I've been contemplating the move from AutoCAD to Inventor, but I didn't have the time to learn it. I had no idea that Autodesk has training like this for Inventor. I've only been working with it for a week and I'm ready to make the transition! Way to go TEDCF!

I bought this book sight unseen hoping that it would provide some nice pictures of action poses that I could use in game art. But I am happy to say that this book proved to be much much more.

The first half of the book breaks down the human body, piece by piece, with lots of pictures and discussion in a friendly non-clinical way. Then the book goes into things like proportions and different body shapes depending on age, fitness, gender etc,. Then it goes into the "action" poses. There are stop-motion pictures of walking, running, sitting, standing, walking up and down stairs, jumping, throwing, and others.

This book is a really tremendous all-around reference for drawing/modelling/animating the human body.

i got this book for my boyfriend who is going into video game design because i think it is very important to understand how the human body looks and works if you are going to be drawing people. the book provides great basic knowledge on how to create people and includes chapters on movement, facial expressions, different body parts, etc. while this book focuses mainly on women (it seems that nearly all books of this type do), male design is also appropriately discussed. great pictures and examples as well as explanation; not step-by-step, but a general how-to. i would definetely reccomend this book if you know someone who is starting out in a design/graphic field.

This is one of those books that I use all the time. Because this is the first book I've given 5 stars, I'd better explain.

First, I like the way the book organized itself along the lines that the ActionScript editor or toolbox lists the different ActionScript terms. The parallel makes things easy to find. Second, I like the way the examples are used. For instance, the author explains the geometry behind the cosine of an angle explaining the Math.cos() method and then provides an example that draws a perfect circle. That's a lot better than I get in just about any other book. (Maybe that's more than some need, but I appreciated it.) Third, I like the level range. The beginning of the book is only 2 chapters, but it's a good 2 chapters that provide a quick explanation of ActionScript and scripting. However, further on in the book, it also covers more complex things like registerClass() with a detailed examples. The same is true for all of the new objects like LoadVars().

Finally, I have found myself using the last several chapters covering UI components. Before I got this book, I really didn't use UI Components very much, and now I use them constantly. In fact, those chapters (Pt IV, Chs 14-21)are what I find myself using the most. If this book had nothing but Part IV, the book would have been more than worth it to me.

I think the book is worth 6 stars -- 5 for the first 3 parts and an additional one for the last part covering UI Components.

After Flash 5 ActionScript, I didn't think that it would get much bigger. Flash MX ActionScript is huge, and this book makes it available. The author spends only the first two chapters with the basics of writing ActionScript in the context of Flash MX and makes a nice transition from Flash 5 to Flash MX.

Then, from Chapter 3 to the end of the book's 21 chapters, the author decided to follow the order of actions in the Actions toolbox in the Actions Panel. That makes it very easy to find stuff because it's organized along the same logical patterns as the toolbox. Even so I found myself going to both the detailed TOC and appendix to look up terms, and I never had problems finding what I needed.

Anyone can explain the easy stuff like the old gotoAndPlay() actions, and so I went to the new OOP materials and XML socket section. The OOP stuff was mixed with non-OOP throughout the book, and OOP-related methods like registerClass() were explained in detail and supported with a good example using something that made sense in the context of Flash MX. In fact, the whole book was filled with good examples. Some examples extended over several pages and others were little ones that gave you a quick insight. Sanders is an ace with examples. As for the XML socket material, not only did the explanation explain to me for the first time ever what the blazes a socket server was, it provided a URL where I could download a free socket server, which I did. Then I worked the example, and now I have my own mini-chat in XMLSocket. I'm happy.

The last several chapters were in-depth explanations of the different ActionScript terms used with the new UI Components. Each component got its own chapter, and I found it invaluable for designing with the components. It does not cover re-skinning, but I was able to get the look I wanted by changing every element in the components and I am a big user of UI components. (You can change all the little parts of components like highlight, higlight3D, face, darkshadow, etc. without re-skinning.)

There were a lot of little details I liked in the book. The examples were mixed, interesting, and clarifying. Undocumented terms, like onData with LoadVars(), were included, and I found what I needed. One suggestion for people getting this book: buy some of those little colored tab stickem things to bookmark all of the part of this book you'll need to reference again and again.

If you are curious about the state of international animation, purchase of copy of "2D and Beyond". It was through this book that I first learned about the likes of Michel Ocelot, Daniel Greaves, Wendy Tilby, Koji Morimoto and others. The still frames are marvelous, the production sketches are fantastic, and the articles really bring the reader closer to the featured animators.

These fabulous animators deserve greater exposure. Since I've read this book, I've sought out every opportunity to see the work of these artists. The introduction mentions that this book is the first in a series. If that's so, I eagerly await the upcoming volumes. My only request: please include a DVD of the short films!

If you purchase and enjoy the book as much as I did, check out "Animation Now!" - a more recent text which does include a DVD with brief clips of a few of these works.

This first book of new series bring me a fresh new world about animation. The artists introduced in this book must be the most creative ones. Under this impression,I will highly expect the next book of this series.

I collect and sell vintage Disney animation art, and this book is a great resource for seeing what pieces have sold for what, and for helping to determine what pieces have been available.

Mr. Lotmans book is an essential for anyone thinking of buying vintage animation art. Clearly this is one tool that you should have at your side when purchasing at auction or doing provenance work of any kind. Very informative with tonnes of great photographs, this book chronicles auction results from all the major houses over the last decade. Do not get caught without one!!!! P.S. Watch for the next ecition in the series to be published soon. Good Collecting

I love this book and I want to become a Disney Animator too! Inside the book said that i can creating my own characters and stories. I hope my dreams will come true.

I am 14 years old and am hoping to become a Disney Animator. This book comes from a very reliable source, Don Hahn (producer of many Disney Films). This book gave me very useful information about what to do to prepare myself to become an animator, and also very interesting facts about what goes into making a genuine Disney Animated Feature Film. I would recommend this book to any Disney fan or future animator

I have spent the last two years learning and improving my editing skills, but I have always been a little (a lot) intimidated and in the dark (no pun intended) when it came to color correction. I'm still working in FC Express, and thought that this book may be pointless, since Express lacks many of the tools discussed. But I started reading the color correction section today and have devoured every bit of it. Although I don't have the scopes to work with, I have really appreciated the clear, concise, methodical way that the book explains the concepts and procedures behind color correction. The subject is now demystified for me, and I feel confident in applying what I'm learning to the tools that are available in Express. I will eventually upgrade to Pro and purchase a monitor as well, and when I do, I'll be well prepared to take on the color correction process.

Now I am an advanced Final Cut Pro user who has made a living with it for going on 5 years now, but still this book gives me new tips and tricks that I hadn't realized, and an excellent section on color correction which is really why I got the book in the first place.

DigitalFilm Tree's text, "Advanced Editing and Finishing Techniques in Final Cut Pro HD", is part of the Apple Pro Training Series--the curriculum for professionals studying to become an Apple Certified Pro. And that makes perfect sense, since the book mimics Apple's famous dedication to user-friendliness. The text is clear and concise, and the pages are filled with full color photos that mirror your computer screen. In fact, the learning process glides so seamlessly that the advanced techniques you learn feel like kid stuff.

You don't just read about how to edit, you cut and modify and apply effects to the footage supplied on the DVD-ROM included with the book. You actually key out a green screen, you actually color correct poorly-lit shots to match, you actually create a piece of music with Soundtrack and animate titles with LiveType. And in the bonus lessons included exclusively on the DVD-ROM, you actually perform a batch reverse telecine with Cinema Tools and output cut lists so that if you ever edit a project that was shot on film, you're fully prepared.

What's more, the book doesn't just teach you the how, it teaches you the why. You don't just learn the 3 way color corrector filter, you learn about the basics of color itself, how the color wheel works, how hue is different than saturation, and what complementary colors are. And then you take this knowledge into various primary and secondary color correction exercises. The book even teaches you how to calibrate your monitor.

Within the steps of the longer lessons, the book also interjects small, time-saving tricks and alternate ways of performing simple tasks. So while you're discovering new and advanced techniques, you're also honing your speed and comfort with the techniques you already know.

Because of its depth of knowledge and superb presentation, "Advanced Editing and Finishing Techniques in Final Cut Pro HD" is an essential book for any self-taught editor wanting to take his or her editing to the next level.

Note the words in the title Advanced Editing. This is a book written by professional video editors for professionals or at least advanced amateurs. This is actually the same as the book Advanced Editing and Finishing Techniques in Final Cut Pro 4. If you purchased the earlier book, you don't need this one.

This book is the official advanced training course for Final Cut Pro HD. It is a detailed guide to advanced editing and finishing techniques using Final Cut Pro, as well as the three programs that come bundled with it: Soundtrack, LiveType and Compressor. The premise of this book is to build upon the base of knowledge that the reader has by providing practical, professional techniques that will be used on a daily basis.