Animation Books

I am taking Web design and Animation. My professor suggested that i review this book. She is right the animation is wonderful and i would recommend it to anyone that is inspired by animation and perhaps want to make it a career.

hmm i think its the best book for learning to draw and animate cartoon characters
, complete with guided and many2 example and illustration.

It was like reading a comic book, only I was learning a lot reading this one. An artist cant help but appreciate the art work by Mr Blair present in the book. I went through the alligator and hippo sequences like a million times. Masterpieces !
Just by examining the brush strokes and stuff you get to know so much, the discussions on character building etc are a bonus. I wont be able to agree with anyone saying there are hard and fast rules for character building but yes what I read in the book WORKS, like a character with no chin does look like a screwball.
Later the discussions on sequencing became a little monotonous and its then that I realized I wasn't reading a comic book but they really were redundant at two three places. Animation techniques discussions are simply great. So are drawing and scene building ones. All in all I learnt a LOT ! Could be because I didn't know a lot but I'm really happy that I bought this book, I couldn't afford to not have this masterpiece.

This book is a must for all would be animators. I have dabbled with cartoons for years but this book helped me bring them to life, I used the walk sequences as templates and dressed them with my own characters, thus enabling me to focus on the character and not worry about the position of the legs.
There is plenty of help and advice on character building, movement, mouth shaping for speech, hands, expressions, I could go on but I won't.
If there is nothing in this book to help you.........then you should be working for DISNEY.

I bought this book several years ago, around 1999, and for its price (or whatever) it's the best book an animator can begin with. Along with The Illusion of Life, it is a must have book for all animators. It taught me the differences between the "cute" types and the "screwball" types, showed how the stopwatch and metronome are used, and even a few things about clean-up. If you love cartoons, by all means GET THIS BOOK!

I never did any character modeling before reading this book,and it got me going on. It was a great introduction to the whole world of modeling and animation and to the world of Blender. The text is easy to follow and understand. It is heavily supported by step-by-step screen shots and very well guided through. At the end of the modeling part, the author gives tips and solutions to common modeling "mistakes", like faces facing in the wrong direction etc. That was great, as there was no need to use Google. So what I'm saying here is that the author was expecting a newbie like me to read the book :).

My only regret is that the author decided to model a cartoon character and not a real human; perhaps he could've got a little more realistic and put a bit more emphasis into human muscles and structure. On the other hand, as the title says, this is an "Introduction to character animation", so that's the reason why he picked a cartoon character and focused more on the animation part.

Conclusion: great book !

I have only made it through the first two chapters (intro and modeling) and have found it to be thorough and informative. I purchased the book to get good at rigging and animating, and it looks like it does a good job of that too. High quality book, good references. good for beginners and intermediates.

Not just the writing is extremely clear. This book has the most awesome DVD I have ever gotten with a book. There is just an incredible amount of clearly-written, helpful information in the book. You will have no regrets whatsoever when you buy this book.
I am a professional freelance 3d artist, and I am switching from LightWave to blender, and have spent 2 months studying Blender. It is probably best if you have spent a similar amount of time before diving into this book, especially if you are new to 3d. Character animation is an advanced tool set and requires a thoroughly grounded understanding of basic 3d skills and concepts. That said, this is the best written tome on the subject I have ever owned.

Bought this for my teenage son who's interested in animation. 1st copy arrived with no DVD. Returned it for a 2nd copy, which arrived with a DVD cracked & fused into the binding, as another reviewer experienced. The 3rd copy arrived defect-free, and has lived up to expectations, providing enough guidance to keep my son glued to the PC for hours on end.

This book is the sort of thing that takes time to get through and really gives you a sense of the skills you need to build. It is essentially for someone already intermediate in skill in Blender 3D and especially important for anyone who is particularly interested in animating 3D. The included files are helpful and the process of making Blenderman shows you how to do all the bits and parts to make a complex character with rigging and hair and clothes and all. Because it is open source the program comes on the disk with the book. In fact one of the best ways you can support blender.org is to buy this book.

This is absolutely the first book on Maya anyone should have. It is aimed toward the beginner with many practical exercises. The DVD contains all the material you will need to complete the projects as well as sketch pad software. The book assumes you know how to navigate the Maya user interface. I would recommend working though the tutorials that come with the software first.

Sometime ago I had 3D Maya 8 classes, but then after finishing it, my mistake, I didn't go on with practice and happened to forget lots of things (95% of all, I bet). Then I bought this book and now I can say I'm truly learning it properly, the book is complete, step by step you can feel you're making some very good progress (and it's really fast). It comes with a DVD which you can also have video classes about all lessons and interviews with 2 Sony Pictures' professionals who worked in the feature film "Open Season". Really great.

I have purchased this book about three weeks ago, and so far I have read and done almost the whole first chapter. I must say I am pleased with it thus far. The book is well written, with the examples being simple and clear. One more thing I liked about it is that they guide you through a step (say creating a box) and then whenever there is a step which you are supposed to know how to do, they expect you to figure it out, thus making you learn better (the step you are supposed to do on your own are not complicated).
I once started to learn MAYA 4 FUNDAMENTALS by Jim Lammers and Lee Gooding, and I have to say this one is much better for a beginner.
Enjoy,
Shai

This is a very easy to read book. The step by step instructions are very good. Great way to start Maya.

After reading numerous reviews for beginners books for Maya, I chose to try this Foundation book, and I am glad I did. This book covers all the basics to get started in Maya, with numerous examples for you to build. The DVD includes all the completed examples so that you can see how well you are doing.
By the time you finish this book, you should have a complete working knowledge on how to create an animation scene from start to finish.
When I say 'advance topics', they were advanced to me since I did not have any prior experience with Maya. One example is the chapter on the Maya Embedded Language (MEL) and scripting.

If you have a good working knowledge of the basics of Maya, this book will probably bore you. Instead, I would recommend "Mastering Maya 8.5", which I also purchased. That book covers the more advance topics without boring you with basic Maya functionality.

Good source for the beginner or advanced student involved in 3D Animation -- b-spline, rendering, etc. Comes with clear illustrations of every anatomical configuration used in modeling.

A word of warning. . .computer graphics books age like milk, not wine. The graphics here are considerably _worse_ than what you'd get out of a consumer grade product like Metacreations Poser-- not to mention 3D Studio or Softimage.

At the time this was written, it may have been useful, but you can spend your time and money more productively now.

3-D Human Modeling and Animation is a great guide for beginners and a solid reference manual for those with art and 3-D modeling backgrounds. It presents the basic knowledge that is essential in creating the human form. For those looking just for a reference manual, the book provides examples and presents ideas on how to utilize and improve on the techniques given.

I was looking for a book on Human nurbs modeling & This was supposed to be exactly what I needed - Although it is very easy to read & great for beginners, I expected more refinement. my greatest disappontment was from the really lame looking model examples displayed in the book.

3-D Human Modeling and Animation is a great book for beginners starting in the 3-D field. It gives step by step instructions to model every body part, even down to the finger nail. This book involves spline modeling which is a great tool for modeling organic objects, especially humans. Best is the generality of the book; the book is not software dependant and is very usefull with any software that uses spline modeling.

The reasons that the other reviewers found as cause for complaint about this book are the very qualities that I needed: Bite-sized lessons and lots of explanation. These are the things that were missing in my other Flash MX tutorial book (Flash MX Training from the source) that got me really stumped!

I don't mind this humble approach at all. I didn't expect Foundation Flash MX to take me to the details of Action Script or other technical stuff or turn me into a guru like some of your guys. (In my dreams!) That would be work enough for other books and very propitious events like the next ice Age. Just like in baseball, I just needed to swing my bat, hit the ball right, get on the first base and be ready for the next run. Exactly what Foundation Flash MX does for me.

I recommend this book to those who are learning on their own and can't seem to come to grips with the software.

This book is relatively inexpensive (as compared to other similar books) because the files are for download (as opposed to including a CD).

If you are trying to learn Flash this book, in my opinion, is the best tutorial because it doesn't just give you an exercise that you learn a technique by wrote memory...this book explains the feature how it works...so you end up understanding the basics of Flash. Once doing the tutorials in this book, the reader will probably be able to do, or figure out how to do, many things not included in the book, simply because they will understand how Flash works.

This book is a VERY GOOD BOOK for those needing solid grounding in Macromedia Flash MX. It's so good that buying this one book replaces all the other books on the shelf to get solid grounding with how to use Flash. The language is easy to understand, without jargon that clogs your brain and tire you out before they get to the point.

If you're like me, you probably suffer from attention deficit disorder that is the trademark of the digital generation. Things come at you so fast, technologies popping up at you at speed of thought, and before you know it a new version of the software that promises miracles is out.

You will learn all you need to build a website in Flash MX and have a new career waiting for you, if you're any talented in aesthetic design, but there is a catch; If and only if you are patient enough to sit through the entire thing. It took me months to get to Chapter 11, and that's not even the end yet. The first 6 chapters went through easily, but then I always have stamina problems going through really thick, technical books. I probably have about 6 more chapters to go, and although it has taken me this long and will take a bit more of my time, I found some Flash MX books a waste of my money.

I have about 10 books on Flash MX in various forms, and this one is by far the best investment. Most books out there are robbing you in broad daylight, giving you a shaky foundation with so much jargon that it confuses you. Don't bother with the other beginner's books and buy this one instead. It will give you real skills, a real case study, and even some real-world Flash MX web development extras.

I used this book as a classroom manual and was exceptionally pleased with it. The pace was exactly right. The project approach helped the students master a bit at a time. The only complaint was that the Case Study could be confusing at times, but the book is basically error free. I would recommend this book to the person who needs a step-by-step, tutorial-oriented approach done right. Thanks to Friends of Ed for a job well done.

The foundation books feel like my sons preschool class. Very fluffy, project oriented reading, but useless as a reference. Just get to the point and show me how to do it! There's a balance between example and reference that make tutorial books valuable, this book and other "Foundation" or "Friends of Ed" books I've bought or looked at weigh in too heavy on the example side and the "how do I do this" part is mucked up in the mire of examples.

If you have NO flash experience what so ever, then this might (might) be for you, but if you've decided to finally get to learning the details of flash and start getting something out of it, then perhaps the Flash MX Bible would be a better choice, that was my choice and I'm much happier with it. My choice for ActionScript is Macromedias' Advanced Flash MX Actionscripting. It's not really advanced, but it is very clear and gets to the point.

After making a few home movies with iMovie, I decided I wanted to have more options for transitions, compositing, and titling. Final Cut Express has been a great upgrade from iMovie. The controls were quite daunting at first, so I purchased a training DVD that didn't work well for me. I then purchased Final Cut Express For Dummies and that was great for learning the basics. Wanting to do more I ordered the FCE 2 Editing Workshop. Tom Wolsky does a fine job of explaining all the nuances of this great program. It's nice when the authors and experts explain things in a way that assumes you know little of terminology and compression and all the computer skills that they have. I've already used many of the techniques to improve my movies. When I upgrade to Final Cut Pro, I will be buying his book for that program as well.

Except for the little chat (on the DVD included) about how FCE differs from iMovie, there is not much quality in this book. The video footage included is awful. There are many typos, and the index is VERY poor. (Look up "Sequence.") This book was so bad, I purchased another title -- "Final Cut Expess Solutions" by Jason and David Teague to learn FCE. It's a much better book. I wish someone like Wolsky and/or the Teagues would make a good video about using FCE -- similar to the tutorial that came with my copy of FCE.

I'm posting this review after making it through the first 4 chapters, as I think that this is usually the point of no return when you decide if you can stick with a software book or toss it on the pile of good intentions. The reading can be a bit tedious at times since the author mentions many items at the start that you will get to "later." Part of this stems from the fact that FCE is a very complex program with a million functions so I can understand the difficulty of trying to reduce the complexity.

However, be forewarned that the book is lacking a good glossary and the author throws in jargon in many spots without a thorough explanation. A good example is in a tip box in the third chapter that describes the different ways to break up your video. Just as the author is describing how to cut video, he throws in a blurb about using a ripple delete without telling the reader what this is. Ironically, the term is in bold text, leading one to think that it could be a good glossary entry or should be listed in the index in the back when unfortunately neither is the case. Be ready to Google a lot of terms as you work through this book and hit the Apple discussion boards. My other critical point at this stage in the book is that several steps are re-hased too often as if the author assumes you have closed down windows between lessons and are starting over again.

Lastly, whoever was lead editor on this book needs a thorough lashing, as there are many silly mistakes (e.g. pointing out a feature on the far left of a screen when it is in fact on the far right) that should have been caught before this book went to press.

I bought this book on the basis of the positive reviews, and boy, do I regret it. This was very little help and is written in a schizophrenic, haphazard form that is maddening. Example: right after he has you load up the first lesson, he goes off on long explanations of functions that he then says will be used in later chapters, not that one. Then he gets back to the lesson - supposedly - and goes off explaining other controls. Finally, the chapter ends and YOU'VE NEVER EVEN USED THE LESSON! He tells you to close it up and start importing your own material.

And, as stated before, there are many typos, or worse, errors like telling you to use the button on the right when he really means to say left, so it's confusing and frustrating. I used to tutor English at university level and if this had come across my desk I would have considered it a rough draft. Even from a pure logic standpoint, it's a jumble. If you're a beginner to Final Cut Express, stay away from this one!

Not only is this one of the best titles on the market for getting you into the nitty gritty of Final Cut Express, it is written by a man who is clearly devoted to teaching the product. Just today I was on Apple's help forum trying to solve a problem that I couldn't find the answer for in his or any of the other books I have. It turned out the solution was simple, but it was such a nice surprise that Tom Wolsky himself (author of this book) was the one to respond!! Looking through Apple's and other web based forums on video editing I found that he devotes quite a bit of time to selflessly helping out people with questions that range from the simple (mine) to the very complex and particular solutions. Combine this with the online expertise from Wolsky and many others who are incredibly helpful, and you are off to an excellent start editing!

In a short period of time this book has given me the tools I need to know to use Vegas effectively.

I recommend this book to any person using this program. Douglas does a good job of balancing the audio and video aspect of creating a project with Vegas. The book is easy to read and I found his examples helpful.

Great Book!

I've had the privilage of attending two of Douglas Spotted Eagle's seminars, in particular with Vegas. This book carries many of the topics he covered, but with greater detail. One of the great things is the fact he points out issues in hardware that you need to be aware of, for an optimal setup. He also points out preference settings that normally would be missed or never thought of, for new NLE / Vegas users.
All in all you will find lots of great tips and general details on how to use Vegas.
Douglas has always been consistantly generous with his time and knowledge of the NLE and Audio world of software and hardware products by being active on various forums, answering simplest of questions to the noggin buster questions.
I heartily recommend this book!

This is a poorly written book. The exercises supposedly on the CD are not there. The book gives a flavour of the app. but concentrates too much on the audio aspects of Vegas. There is better information avaialble online.

I bought this book because I knew of Douglas' knowledge from visiting the forums he hosts. Not only is he very knowledgeable about video editing in general, and Vegas 4 in particular, but he has a gift for sharing his knowledge in a way that is clear and concise. His writing is easy to follow and the book holds true to its "workshop" spirit. Even though I was experienced with Vegas and understood a lot of the topics in this book already, I was not let down because I gained a lot of insight into why things work the way they do, and learned new tricks and ways of doing things from someone who has been at this many more years than I have. It was refreshing to have a chapter dedicated to audio because other books on video often overlook this. Douglas understands that audio is a big part of the video experience and Vegas has audio tools that are second to none.

One of the great things about this book is the accompanying CD with all the examples. I followed through each chapter by playing with the accompanying examples and spent several hours experimenting with what I had just learned before moving on to the next chapter. This is the ultimate way to get the most of this book. Read it at your PC and try things as Douglas explains them. Just like you would be doing hands-on exercises in a real workshop/classroom setting. This book is packed with information from setting up your system, through multi-track compositing. If you'd rather watch Douglas teach some of what's in the book, you can always buy his 4 DVD set. (I have it and it's outstanding too)

As you might expect, a book rated beginner-intermediate has a lot of ground to cover. This book shows you some of the basics of how to capture and edit on a timeline, add titles and effects, through topics like chroma key (green screen), multi-track compositing, bump mapping, etc. It's a lot to cover but Douglas does a great job of it. If you're an absolute beginner and feel a bit lost, I would suggest also getting a book like "The Little Digital Video Book by Michael Rubin" to get you started understanding the basics of digital video in general. Then use Douglas' book to apply that to Vegas. He will take you step-by-step along the way.

You should also understand that this book only scratches the surface of what Vegas can do so I hope Douglas gets the opportunity to make a follow-on book that covers more advanced topics. The best part is that Douglas is very approachable and you can always ask him questions on the DMN forums (he goes by the nickname SPOT). If you don't understand something in the book, just ask him on the forum. How many books offer that kind of support? I highly recommend this book to anyone who is using Vegas as their NLE and want to get the most out of it.

I wouldn't have bought this book if I hadn't been to a few of the author's seminars and seen him as an exceptional teacher. He gave as much in those seminars as it was possible for anybody to do in a seminar format, and it was all based on working experience.

Even after using Vegas for more than a year, I found a lot to learn in this book. The author is very thorough, and he gives a thorough knowledge and real understanding of each area. This saves a lot of time in the end for both the novice and the professional.

As has been noted by many, people will rate a video or film with "bad picture quality but good sound" far higher than one with "great picture but bad audio". The people in a movie theatre are called an "audience" for a reason, and Douglas covers the sound aspects of video post production really well from a long background also in professional audio (in 64 pages out of 404).

The author's superior teaching skills combined with his long term experience as both a video and audio producer make this book a must-have for anybody using Vegas regardless of skill level.

I would even recommend this book to those who use other NLEs, as many of the explanations and tips in this book apply also to them and aren't available in easily understandable form anywhere else.

Each area in the book is illustrated with many photographs and sample files, so you can really understand what is going on.

Importantly, the author also offers a good editing workflow to get the best quality from your source materials with minimal effort.

I consider this to be a must-have resource for anybody using Vegas.

Even the seasoned user can learn a lot, and any reader new to video editing gets a solid base for working with this very powerful and very "addictive" software.

No book does everything, I've learned that over the last few years, which is why this book can't be a 5 star book, but let me start by saying that this is a great book for beginners. Not absolute virgin beginners, but relatively new beginners. Yes, there are many typos, which is really frustrating, but if you read through the Visual Quickstart Guide (separate book), and have half a brain you can make it work. In a way it makes you have to figure a few things on your own which is important. When I finished the final animated scene, in comparison to the animation shot Duane provides on the cd, my models were a little different in size than his, my lights were placed differently, etc, but basically I had the same thing. I learned a lot from this book. To me the single best thing about this book is that it shows you how to complete something from beginning to end. When you are just beginning, it's important to complete something, even if it is simple. Duane's introduction to Video Post is great, his examples of animation and the use of controllers are a great intro to those new to computer animation, and he proves that you can make a lot out simple modeling techniques. He also provides a lot of art theory, which makes the book a good read. My only real complaints are the typos, which you can deal with, and that I would like to see the discussion of art principles and the step by step instructions more separated. As one reviewer noted, the text is a bit hard on the eyes, and you can get lost when reading directions in paragraph form. Also, when I finish a project, I like to go back and quickly rebuild everything again by just following the step by step, without reading the theory. Overall though, a great beginner book, when read with something like the Quick Start Guide.

As a beginner, I found this to be a great book. Its a legnthy tutorial that takes you through all the crucial steps of building and animating a scene. A very cute scene too! The author even gives some valuable advice on creating a reel. However, the missing files were a distraction, especially a missing camera that was required at the beginning.

Spectacular! This is perect for the new MAX user. A comprehensive step-by-step tutorial demonstrating modeling, texuring, lighting, effects and animation. After reading this book you will have a strong understanding of all the capabillities of 3DS MAX. If you want to learn Max but are intimidated by MAX this is the book for you. The best software book I have ever bought.

The content of the book is actually not too bad. It covers the interface farely well and the project is a good idea that allows you to cover a great deal of the application. The problem I have with this book is all the typos. The book can confuse someone that is not familiar with the interface. (Not to mention the missing files.)

I've had some experience with 3D programs, and decided, based on reviews that this was a book that would not only show me the basics, but also give an inkling of how MAXs' more advanced features worked. The basics? Yep - lots of it. The advanced stuff? Nope. Not even close. My advice is only buy this book if you have no idea what you're doing with [any] 3D program. All topics requiring skills from intermediate and upwards are covered very sparsely (if at all - there's no mention of NURBS!#?!). The featured artists in the book also have questionable 3D skills. ... is a lot of money for a book you're only going to need for 2 or 3 weeks. I recommend Rob Polevoi's '3D Studio Max R3 In Depth' for the beginner-to-intermediate user.

I've only read the first chapter or two, and I'm chompin' at the bit to write this review. I know, that sounds like it's "pretty early in the game here" to write a review on a book, but I think I already see a really good pattern here. I know the basics of Premier Pro 1.5, and have already done several fairly complicated edits with it using multiple audio tracks, multiple video tracks, and so on, but let me tell you, I know I was only scratching the surface, in a sense of this great video editing program.
I recently lost the original manual that came with the program, and figured I needed "something" to back me up in case they quit making the work manuals, so I found Rosenberg's book on Amazon, and read all the reviews on it. I was thoroughly convinced that this guy "has the goods" on Adobe Premier, so I orderd the book. I love the fact that he gives you the DVD with the book that has him discribing some of the more complicated edits visually. That's a real plus, and just the way the guy writes and handles this stuff "get's my blood pumping" (in a good way). He's very detail oriented, but he also gives you practical reasons "why" a certain button is there and/or what it "really" does, so you can understand what's really going on. I can almost "feel" his experience in the way he writes and what he says- (for instance), where he goes into detail how several of the keyboard letters can really help you, time wise, scrubbing through the clips in a seemingly more efficient way than if you "only" used the radial buttons. I know that might be up for debate, because some people aren't "keyboard editing people", like me, but I'll sure give it a shot. He seems to talk to you in a very real, "hands on" kind of way that is so important to me. It can make some things, so much easier to grasp that way. Marc Trainor.

This book is fabulous for just learning how to operate Adobe Premiere.

Whether its the basics you seek or the advanced "insider" tips you need, this is the manual for you. Although Premiere Pro is much different than 6.5 and previous versions, you will soon find that using it will become second nature. This is the best book for Pro users on the market.

Three stars for "user friendly" and five stars for content. The information is quite detailed but needs a lot of interpretation and rereading to understand. The text doesn't always follow your project and one needs to go to the "Help" menu, often. However, if one preservers, the instructions will allow you to use the Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 program to its fullest potential.

great book but now behind the times, wish i'd of waited a bit longer till the release of 2.0 and the subsequent book; however, I believe everything covered in this book carries over to the new version of premiere pro.

This is a wonderful book. I will treasure it for the rest of my life. I am a graphic designer and really appreciate his way of simplifying the most complex things in nature. Charley Harper was one of a kind.

Endless inspiration. This is the work of a true genius. The colors, the presentation, fabulous. The only problem is that the book is so large and wide it's hard to turn the pages. Still I look thru it on a weekly basis.

Finding Charlie Harper was the first delight. Who is this great
unknown artist? He is from the midwest, and well loved by those
who have had the early pleasure of meeting him. This complete
works of Charlie Harper reveals a keen aesthetic sharpened by
a lifetime of working a reduced design aesthetic with fascinating
overlapping rotations. They employ the observations of a biologist
selecting from the beauty of the natural world, then lovingly exploiting
it for design.

The book includes EVERYTHING he did, which is perhaps a flaw, but given
his importance, it is also a joy. The amazing works one wishes to remove
and set into their own collection, or frame and live with thinking along
with Harper how he got there.

I gave this book to my husband for his birthday when I had to ackowledge that I would not find a decent copy of Harper's book on biology that Todd Oldham had when he was a child. This is a more than adequate substitute, since it covers so much more of Harper's career. Here in Cincinnati, his hometown, we all love him. This book is a wonderful retrospective of his life's work. Now all I need to do is find a spot big enough to keep it in!

I saw a feature of this book on The Sunday Morning Show (CBS) and just had to have it! It is so bright and beautiful with a wonderful biography of Charley Harper to go along with his wonderful artwork. How wonderful that Charley got to view a wonderful book chock full of his work before his death. Kudos to Todd Oldham for honoring such a fun/fine artist. Be warned, this is a LARGE book and is deserving of a big coffee table or a place of honor.