Animation Books

These books were exactly what I expected. Great condition, packaged correctly and priced better then the stores.

my son loves school buses, and he loves caillou so this book is great, colorful pages!

I've bought a lot of books on 3D animation over the years and most of them are either full of information that I don't need (how to build sky scrapers or how to spin my name in letters) or don't have anywhere near enough information on how to animate (usually only one chapter).
This book has everything I need to learn how to animate!
It starts by showing how to do an exercise using 2D traditional skills and then goes on to do the same exercise in 3D (if you want to skip the 2D bit and just do the 3D, that seems to work fine). Most employers today want to see evidence of traditional animation training and this book gives you all that!
It covers everything; weight and balance, timing, walks, birds, fish, snakes, four legged animals, acting and lip-synch.
I'd rate this book with Richard Williams' The Animator's Survival kit. In other words one of those books that every animator should have.

So if you want to learn how to animate or if you want to improve your 3D skills, buy this book!

The book has all the things i need to know for a beginner.I find this book easy to read, very helpful with lot's of illustrations/examples and the computer models are useful to practice the animation after reading it.

I found this book to be one of the best intermediate books out there for both Maya and Z-Brush. Be sure to read the recommendations at the beginning of the book. Great stuff with easy to read tips that can be applied immediately. There are lots of things about this book that I like better than the Autodesk books. This gets to the point quicker, instead of spinning you around with overview or "Before you begin.." or "Conventions used in this book.." type of junk. If you've made it through one of the beginning Autodesk books and want to expand out a little, this book works great.

This is the first book I found that deals with ZBrush. As a new user of the program, I found this book invaluable in getting started with ZBrush. The tutorials are well laid out and there are tons of supplemental videos to help, too. I've been using Maya for a while, mainly for vehicle modeling, and I found this foray into organic character modeling to be very helpful in building my skills.

This was my first ever book/kit in the area of cartooning. After a few weeks of study and practice I had already written and illustrated my first children's book! Some of the categories include: how to draw the cartoon head, how to draw the cartoon body, the cartoon animal, marrying expression to dialogue, advanced techniques, original comic strep jokes and character suggestions, draw your own comic strip sample grids, and animation, (plus many sub-categories) this book will keep you interested, busy, and will turn even the coldest of hearts soft for cartooning fun! I highly recommend this!

christopher hart is a person to admire!!! his kit is very good and essential for every cartoonist.

I highly recommend this book, and not just because I'm in it. (I highly easily finagled a telephone interview with Chuck Jones in 1988--not the greatest interview in the book, but surely one of the highlights of my life.)

If you're a fan of the legendary animation director, this book is the Holy Grail of interview books. It includes interviews by Richard Thompson and Greg Ford (who later did his own Looney Tunes cartoon, THE DUXORCIST) from Film Comment's legendary 1975 issue devoted to animation; an interview by film-buff supreme Joe Adamson (who also did his own Bugs Bunny cartoon, A POLITICAL CARTOON--geez, when do I get to do *my* Looney Tunes??); and several other great and extensive interviews with the master. An invaluable look into the mind of one of the great popular artists of our time.

Here are the list of authors that appear in this book:

The Fantasy Makers: A Conversation with Ray Bradbury and Chuck Jones
Mary Harrington Hall/1968
From Psychology Today, April 1968

An Interview with Chuck Jones
Michael Barrier and Bill Spicer/1969
From Funnyworld 13, 1971

Witty Birds and Well-Drawn Cats: An Interview with Chuck Jones
Joe Adamson/1971
Combined interviews from March and December 1971, partly published in edited form within Gerald Peary and Danny Peary, The American Animated Cartoon (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1980)

Chuck Jones
Greg Ford and Richard Thompson/1972
From Film Comment, January/February 1975

The Art of Chuck Jones
John Lewell/1982
From Films and Filming 336, September 1982

Live from Trumps
Charles Solomon/1985
Radio broadcast, KUSC-FM, April 16, 1985

Interview with Chuck Jones, 1988
Steven Bailey/1988

Chuck Jones and the Daffy World of Cartoons: The Warner's Legend Remembering the Glory Days in an Animated Autobiography
Tom Shales/1989
From The Washington Post, November 26, 1989

Chuck Jones: Animation Pioneer
Academy of Achievement/1993
From the Academy of Achievement website, online at http://www.achievement.org

Interview with Chuck Jones
Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps/1996
From the "Mark & Brian" radio show, KLOS-FM, April 1996

The Inner Daffy: Chuck Jones and the Creative Process
Jo Jürgens/1996

Chuck Jones
Stephen Thompson/1998
From The Onion, online at http://www.theonionavclub.com

Chuck Jones, in his own words
Ron Barbagallo/1999

iMovie2 does not come with an instruction book, and the iMac booklet helps precious little, so I was pleased to find Brad Miser's Idiot Guide (which is a series I like anyway). The book is both imformative and insightful, plus a lot of fun to read. It got me going with iMovie in very short order, and when I emailed Mr. Miser to clarify a point, I got a prompt and effective answer. Highly recommended.

There are few things as satisfying and fun to the videographer as making professional movies - videos that you actually want to watch a second time or more - and Apple's iMovie software is THE tool to do just that. You get superb results from an inexpensive piece of software - IF you can use it. While the program is exceptionally simple, there is only an on screen "Help Menu," and we all know how those work: everything but the question you need answered, it seems. Into the void has rushed Brad Miser with wit and wisdom, and with all the answers and instruction you need and then some. His Idiot's Guide is a marvelous introduction to video/movie making, and he walks you through composition, editing, mixing, enhancing, titling, effects, and stuff you never thought possible when you bought that video camera (or even thought about buying it). Miser is one of those very few authors that are effectively "high tech" and "high touch," he writes with clarity, and with an obvious love of his subject. If Amazon would allow it, I'd give this six stars.

By way of illustrations and in-depth explanations, this book took me through the process of creating animated characters from hand-drawn sketches -- all the way to adding interactivity to them. The book says "without code" which doesn't exactly mean without programming. One criticism I have is that I needed to go to the companion website to understand the navigation of some of the demos. (Answers were all found there -- just an illustration of page limitations vs. the web.) Definitely worthwhile to get for the amount of information included.

Just a quick note to report that this book is very promising, as we discover new techniques (specially the use of Virtools Dev) that revolutionize the creation of interactivity within 3D contents, for the internet and offline. Definitely worth for all newbees and students who want to have a first introduction to realtime 3D. The only drawback is that the graphical quality of the examples is very poor compared to what can be achieved with the tools. However, the most important is the way the interactivity is developed, which is absolutely stunning. Read it!

I enjoyed reading the book which gave me several options.

I purchased the book before obtaining the software. Software is needed because it doesn't have a CD-Rom.

I would highly recommend it!!

Linda

George Maestri's Digital Character Animation 3 provides new artwork to pair with animator and writer George Maestri's insights on the theory and basic techniques of rigging, walk-cycles, lip-synch and more: all the elements which bring an animation to life. You don't have to have a prior background in digital animation to appreciate this guide, either: chapters offer both the basics of modeling and animation and progress to more advanced levels of applications and characterization, so all levels of users gain insights.

Ms. Carlson's book, Digital Media in the Classroom is a breath of fresh air in this world of techno-babble and deliberately dense teaching materials. Taking the students (and their instructor!) on a step by step journey through the world of digital tools and applications, Ms. Carlson has provided the classroom teacher with a clear, concise, and easy to follow map through the maze that has come to be known as Technology Education. Without making the reader feel like a complete techno-idiot, concepts are clarified, techniques demonstrated, and student efforts are validated in a relaxed yet efficent manner. Brava Ms. Carlson! Many Thanks!

Digital Media in the Classroom should be in the hands of every teacher in every subject K-12. We are in the 21st century and to connect with students today it is critical we engage students with digital tools. Technology should not exist in isolation from the core courses and Gigi Carlson clearly outlines how we can bring content "alive" in every subject. The book provides a wealth of examples which can be easily implemented in any classroom. Digital Media in the Classroom will bring a bit of magic into any class by taking any static national or state standard and making it "interactive" for you and your students.

Disney: The Ultimate Visual Guide will make the perfect family Christmas present for families already interested in Disney's wonders. Disney has touched lives for decades: Disney: The Ultimate Visual Guide provides an excellent visual survey of the extent of the animated creator's works and the logical progression of Disney talents and creations. A fine oversized picture book the entire family will enjoy.

How did the DK staff manage to condense a century of Disney into 124 pages? This is a great coffee table book. It has enough colorful pictures to keep a preschooler occupied, and enough text to satisfy adult fans. I liked the index in the back--makes referencing quick and easy. Well done, Russell Schroeder! Disney television, Disney theme parks, Disney cruises, Disney stage productions, and of course Disney movies and merchandise fill this image-rich book. If you had to purchase each image on postcards, they would be smaller--and cost a whole lot more.