Animation Books

Just about every time I need a technical manual, especially software based, I head for the 'Bible' series. I've yet to be disappointed. I'm sure every web developer knows that Macromedia is "the" software to use. Though I use Dreamweaver and Fireworks quite proficiently, I'm a fish out of water when it comes to Flash. This book held my hand and led me thorough the tutorials I needed to understand the workings of Flash MX and gave me a great feel for the intricacies of the software. The financial and time investments in this book are well worth it. I've paid for the book and software many times over in the lessons learned. As with the many other Bible series books, they're an arms length away on a shelf for quick reference, with post-it stickers marking the many places I refer to on a regular basis!

I am the type of person who likes to have a gigantic book. If I will have a study book, might as well have the biggest one, especially for technical ones. Of course, some gigantic books absolutely make no sense to me and I will fall asleep even before a chapter ends but this book kept me going. I already finished a third of the book and learned along the way. Also, I have no design or Flash experience at all so this is all new to me but this book does not make me struggle too much. With enough time and effort to do the exercises and study the examples that come with the book and CD, you will definitely learn Flash. This is a very helpful book. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn Flash and to those who want to know as much of the interface as possible.

Everyone in my office has a copy on their desk (if not multiple copies). I saw Snow Dowd talk at Flash In The Can. She is extremely knowledgeable in all matters flash related. I did not get a chance to attend Mr. Reinhardt's seminars, but I can only imagine the interesting concepts he had to share. The support website (http://www.flashsupport.com/) is also a resource of immeasurable value. All in all, when it comes to Flash and Action Script I would say Snow and Robert are the place to go for up to date cutting edge info (although I'm not sure I agree with Robert's anti-tween stance).

I've used this book for my Web Animation class and while it doesn't tell you every little thing you need to know about Flash. It's a great book to get started, especially if you need to work off of real examples then the cd-rom files included would really help. Although I wished that this book covered certain subjects in more detail and included more tutorials . . . This book would be good for beginners and maybe even intermediate users could use this as a reference. It gives you a nice balance of Flash animation and web design. However, after reading this book, you'll probably end up buying more books on Flash like me. If you're going to be focusing more on Flash web design, you might want to buy the Flash MX 2004 ActionScript Bible as well.

I buy every Flash Bible because they are the most comprehensive guides to Flash. This is a great book for people just starting out in flash because it will take your from beginner to intermediate Flash designer. It is also an excellent reference guide for the more experienced users.

As I am doing research into the American Dream and the lifestyle in the mid century, I found this book usefull for citations in my thesis. It is also an enjoyable read for fans of Walt Disney and the effect that he and his products have had on our cultural society.

I've read the Gabler, Thomas, and Manheim (Quest for Community) books, and about 3 other books on Walt, and this was the best. Fantastic!

I have read 4 biographies about this man ("An American Original," "The Disney Version," Mosley's "Disney's World: A biography," Eliot's "Hollywood's Dark Prince") and now I realize that I should have acquired this book before, so I wouldn't need to read all of the above stated books.
This book provides Walt's personal story, studio development, good and bad critics, Disney's place in history and his shaping of American culture. It is not biased, but gives a balanced view on a man and his company. It made me believe in this book, since I was very sceptical towards "truths" written in other Walt Disney biographies. In those, Walt was portrayed as either a perfect person, or a villain of the 20th century.
The Magic Kingdom is the balanced truth and the best biography of a man that shaped American culture without a doubt.

Easily the best biography out there on Walt Disney hands down. It will never be topped. It neither kisses his hiney as Bob Thomas' studio sanctioned biography does, nor does it discount him as merely a low brow populist (as Richard Schickel did), nor lies about him as some sort of communist spy in order to sell books. Not only is this biography even handed, but Mr. Watts makes brilliant connections between Walt and his time that no other biographer had the insight to do. This is a fair, balanced, well organized, incredibly entertaining biography that really brings the real Walt Disney to life. Steven Watts is a genius biographer.

far and away the most in-depth biography ever written about a truly great great man. While reading it, you get the sense that you are there, shoulder to shoulder with Walt Disney while he and his brother, and his employees build an amazing company. Also provides the context wherein the company was being formed, and the trials and trevails that preceded building this great company. Any Disney fan would NOT be disappointed.

When I finshed the first series I was a little dissapointed on the ending. I just knew the series didn't end there. And yeah! CLAMP made rayearth 2! Now the good about rayearth 2 and the bad about rayearth 2.

GOOD: 1. The art! Mokona has some talent!
2. Mokona! Some thing "special" happens to him!
3. The new charaters, I like them a lot!
There names are:
Asuka
Primira
Lantis
Tarta
Tarta (Tarta and Tarta are twins)
San-yun
Chang-yun (I think that's how you spell it)
Zazu
Eagle
Geo
4 The setting. Besides Earth and Cephiro it takes place at:
Chizta
Atuzam
Farhen
5 Less violent when I read the first series I kept on thinking " This is ment for a ten year old?!". Rayearth 2 still is pretty violent, but not as bad as the first book.

BAD: 1 The story line completly changes instead of it being about Princess Emraude needing to be rescuded it becomes more about Hikaru,Umi and Fuu needing to defend Cephiro from destroction.
2. Rayearth becomes a drama practiclly! I mean in the first series has it's cute moments but then all a sudden it becomes some type of drama!
3. Ascot turns into an adult just to impress Umi It's funny but, I like Ascot better as a cute little kid.
4. The ending kind'a dumb I think CLAMP could of done a better job at making the ending.
5. Well the action is less intence I mean when you read the first series your practiclly are out of your seat think " OMG what's going to happen!?" and in the second series it's more like "Oh......the are fighting.".

OVERALL: If you love(or like) rayearth buy this book you will love it ,just not as much as the first books.

After the incredible end of the first story arc, we come back to the world of Cephiro. But since this is the start of a new story arc, almost all of the book is taken up with synopsis of the first three books. For those of us that have read those books and know the story, that is boring. But, we do meet some new characters and join up with some old friends. And this story promises to be just as astonishing as the last arc was.

Geez this manga was really good for the first three books. I read them awhile ago but after being distracted by about a hundred other titles I just recentlty returned to it. I really did enjoy the other volumes but I don't really like this book of the series.

Volume four continues where three left off, their mission completed and now the world's left without a ruler in chaos. What happened to all the light hearted humour? This volume was seriously depressing. There are lots of other manga and anime I can turn to if I want a sad meaningful story but it just didn't seem to fit with this series. Augh why did they have to start turning the series into a freakin' drama. Everyone mopes around and acually APOLOGIZES for acting goofy and rude (but, I mean they were just messing around and having fun) in the first three books. I dunno I may or may not continue this series out of curiosity of how it will end.

The first three books of Rayearth were very good in their story arc, but a bit predictable. This 4th book kicks off another arc of story - and what a great arc it is! This second part delves much more into the three girls' psyches, especially Hikaru's. Not only that, but we're introduced to several great new characters that seem to appear fully fleshed-out and ready for action. The way two of the male characters react to each other and Hikaru is especially interesting - they can see her potential.
I definitely recommend books 4 - 6, especially if you were disappointed with the sad ending of book 3. This new arc, I have to tell you, does end on a happy note. Quite an INTERESTING note, too, I might add. There are lots of twists and turns, plus some hints of romance, so if you're looking for adventure, slight romance, and intelligent story, you've come to the right manga book. :)
Oh yeah, and you get to see Mokona again. What more could you ask for?

Magic Knight Rayearth is a great manga series. If you like the anime, then you'll love the manga. There are some differences that I have seen from the two. I like the manga better, but others may not feel the same way. Manga #4 starts the beginnig of the second season of Magic Knight Rayearth, so order this manga and get ready to be taken back to Cephiro and witness a new challenge for Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu.

Guys this book is really something nice to get your hands on .... Will cunningham has done a very nice job, explaining the complexities of the software in a very jolly and entertaining manner..

thank you Will

I am working out of this book right now and am enjoying it. The projects are fun, and the author manages to explain Houdini clearly without being dry. So far, I have been able to complete the lessons with the Houdini Apprentice Versions (a free downloadable version of the package). However, I don't think this book is for beginners to 3D CGI because a lot of information is tossed at the reader. Sometimes I felt that I was taking a drink from a firehose! A little knowledge of Unix and scripting will help the reader understand expressions. Overall, the book is good value for your money.

If there is such a thing as a classic software instruction book, this is it. In my efforts to learn Houdini I have watched the Gnomon DVDs, done all the tutorials that come with the software, and taken a class at Gnomon. Then I got this book. Of all these resources, this book has been the most fun (not that the class and the DVDs aren't great too). I wish I had started with this book. The book is extremely well-written and fun to read. If you are starting out with Houdini, start with this book first. It will give you a solid grasp the basics of Houdini plus a lot more and you'll enjoy reading it!

Really good book, but this book (as of today January 25 2008) is based on Houdini 8, which is not a good thing because the current Houdini 9 interface has been changed *a lot* since this book was written.

Sure, the underlying concepts are much the same, but in my humble opinion you gotta face this truth: when trying to learn a piece of software, the learning is much more efficient if the book you're using matches up closely with what you see on your screen.

Search the internet on "Digital Tutors" for two video-based CD-ROM titles out now that use the Houdini 9 interface. HDRI magazine issues 16 and 17 have some Houdini 9 based tutorials. 3D World magazine Issue 98 has a Houdini 9 tutorial, and the web site 3D Buzz has some tutorials.

Google on Side Effects Software Houdini and download the free edition to try out this amazing software. They even have a $100 version now that relaxes some of the more stringent limits on the free version. I don't work for them or know them, I just like Houdini a lot. I don't work for Digital Tutors or the magazines either, I just read them.

Oh, and while you're at the Side Effects Software site check out the link on Learning Materials to see about other Houdini 9 learning stuff.

Houdini is vast, but easily knowable. I know a chunk of Houdini's capacity, having used it and its predecessor, PRISMS professionally for fifteen years or so. The richness of Houdini always allows for one's eyes to be freshly opened to its potential, however. (Jebus, I *wish* my dog would stop farting! - Man, that's foul!) Sorry... What was I saying? Oh yeah... I left my copy of the book at work, and now I'm trying to find some of its content here at Amazon, so I thought I'd take a moment to say that *this* old FX god finds Will Cunningham's book, "The Magic of Houdini" to be accessibly written, chock full of useful stuff, and right now, inconveniently indespensible. [UPDATE] I went to work just to get the book, and it told me what I needed to know, and now I can model that metacarpal like nobody's business! Yay Will!

***Most tips in this book are OK, but not by any means 'killer'.
I found some great tips, but I also found lots of common sense and not so useful advices - wondering why were they called 'tips' after all.
***The guy is funny and the reading is really entertaining,... but is that really what people should expect from a collection of 'killer tips'?
***I think the book could be more efficient, and less `blah blah blah ha ha ha wasn't this funny?' would help with that.
***It would be nice if the author would cut to the chase and in LESS words and MORE advices (tips), make this book a real killer, and a real must-have on the shelf of any Maya artist.
***Last, but not least, this book can actually be of great help to some...:)

I've been working in computer graphics for about eighteen years and Maya for the last two. I've always read books about CG very reluctantly. Even the most entertaining among them I've found to be a chore. But I have actually been surprised by my inability to put this book down. The information is very valuable and powerful. And the way the information is presented - in short, comprehensive, digestible nuggets - is perfect for creatives like me that have the attention span of a flea.

I could not more highly recommend a book then this one, "Maya 5 Killer Tips." It truly is a killer book. I am very new to Maya, but with this book I have been able to work with some of the more powerful features of Maya 5 with greater ease thanks to this book. It is books like this one that greatly shortens the learning curve of powerful programs like Maya as well as enabling new users to enjoy the learning process at the same time. For the price of admission for two to a movie and a couple soft drinks you can have this excellent book.

This book is great for unleashing new ideas on how to use Maya. Great at showing easier ways to accomplish common task. Best all around book ever on Maya with a catch. These are tips only, without detailed explanations. But that's okay, because once you can look online or in reference manuals for more details on the tools. This book is must for any Maya artist. One other negative is there is no CD. It was frustrating when you wanted to see for yourself how the steps were all put together.

Book Review "Maya 5 Killer Tips!" BY WEYERT DE BOER

In most books you can find little boxes with Tips and Truces, in my opinion it is the most interesting subtexts available in books.
This "Killer Tips!" (An idea of Scott Kelly) series consists of a little book with around 180-200pages with wide collection of useful tips. "Maya 5 Killer Tips!" includes tips and trucks for Alias|Wavefront Maya 5. The book is written by Eric Hanson visual effects artist worked on movies like Spider-Man, Hollow Man and Fantasia 2000.

The book consists of several chapters who are:

1. Deciphering the Hieroglyphics;
2. Taming the Beast;
3. The Glamorous World Of Modelling;
4. Embracing the Revolution;
5. Rags to Rendering
6. From Home Movies to Hollywood;
7. Building Character (Animation That is)
8. Dangerous Effects Animation;
9. Getting Under the Hood;
10. Real World Production Methods

Maya 5 Killer Tips! Is a great book of resources to enhance and pepper up your knowledge about Alias|Wavefront Maya in general, a book from the beginner and the experts.The book includes tips and trucks you might never have found, if you had to find it yourself. It's a great resource for saving time when working with Maya 5. Especially the tips about (speeding) rendering and modelling were of big value for me.

This book should be on every desk who is serious Maya 5 user. The Killer Tips! Editions for other 3d applications are also in the works for example Lightwave Killer Tips!

This is one of the best effects books I've purchased. It's not intended for people that just start out with effects, it's meant for people that want to learn to do actually work. I like the realworld format of the book, with projects that are similar to what you would get in actual production. Great Book!

While containing some interesting ideas, I strongly wished it had been more in-depth and advanced. Many of the techniques used are rather simple and obvious. Unless this is one of the first Maya books you read, you'll probably know at least half of the contents.

There is some good material here: Keller shows the readers how to use things in some unobvious ways and challenges them to look for solutions in unexpected (and fast) ways. If you're a beginner, some of these techniques may help ingrain things you've learned, but haven't had much cause to use, making you a better vfx person.

I'd recommend this to self-learners who are looking to extend their knowledge, but aren't ready for more technical material. If you're already comfortable with visual effects, this book probably isn't for you.

not really worth the money I spent, there a few things that are worth taking note, but not what you would expect with a title like that, the online forums and tutorials are one's best bet to learn neat fx.

Its not as boring as other manuals, and it explains how to accomplish things, while bringing the ideas of how to use them in better situations. I really enjoy the reality of client speak that is presented in it.

This book is a must have for Maya users who are interest in becoming VFX artists or Generalists.
I've bought many Maya books and I must say that I feel I've gotten the biggest bang for my buck with one.
Looking forward to Eric Keller's next book.
Rudy Sarzo

There are almost no books out there that explain how to use the interface of a 3D app that dont leave you scratching your head even after youve gone through all the button pushing instructions. This book is a major exception to that, without any effort at all you will get a well grounded understanding of the Modo interface. The reason I only gave it 4 stars is that I felt the modeling in the book was low quality, for example just a bunch of extruding and beveling to make a lego block, and the stop light was just softselect extruding. I quickly canceled my order for Dan Albans modeling videos when I saw the modeling in this book.

Very good introduction to Modo 201/202/203. A must have. Comes with DVD with professional training.

modo was hard to learn. I got this book and damn! Dan Ablan makes it look really really easy. Once I got into it, I couldn't stop. Within a few hours, I was modeling on my own, texturing and rendering. I finally understand how the action centers work and how to navigate the interface. I especially like the bonus videos on the DVD that comes with the book. I hope he writes another one but for now I got myself the 3D [...]. There's so much I've learned that I might write the next one!

This book is a great help in learning Modo. It is well illustrated and the instruction is very clear. It does not repeat the help system and reference guide as some books do. The DVD that comes with it is also great.

In short: even as a beginner, you'll barely get as much out of this as you'd get from watching the free tutorials that come with Modo. Page layout isn't very good for connecting concepts with with illustrations. Description of processes is too lengthy and not to the point. I don't want to hear useless banter, I want to know what the tools do and how to use them. Fast. The book doesn't cover even 1% of the tools/functionality of Modo. This book didn't prepare me for making things on my own, just for making the objects described in the book.

The build quality of the book is the worst I've ever experienced. Pages literally fall out of the book as you turn the pages.

This book has lots of great pictures, full color, and info on episodes and the creators. One of the best books on the Panther.

This is a fun guide for anyone interested in the Pink Panther movies, cartoons, and all the DePatie-Freleng cartoons that came after the cool cat. It has at least two full pages on each of the cartoons--and there are A LOT of them. Some I remember seeing from my youth (The Pink Panther, of course, The Inspector, The Ant and the Aardvark), others I've never heard of.

The book follows the Pink Panther and his friends through the decades with history, all sorts of tidbits of information, full color screen shots of cartoons & the inspector movies, and photos of period memorabilia. My favorite part of the book is at the back where it offers an episode guide, including release dates and brief synopses of all the cartoons--which is even more useful as they are starting to release some of these cartoons on DVD. The cartoons featured are:
The Pink Panther
The Inspector
The Ant and the Aardvark
Roland and Rattfink
The Tijuana Toads
The Blue Racer
Hoot Kloot
The Dogfather
Misterjaw
Crazy Legs Crane
A great book to curl up with and admire all the wonderful photos and illustrations celebrating the history of "the coolest cat in town." If you like The Pink Panther and those charming classic cartoons (as well as the inspector movies), this book is a must! It is 144 pages beautifully put together with tons of photos, episode guide, and index.

I bought it after groing up going to the theater and watching all of the Pink Panther cartoons brfore the main attraction. As a fan of animation just loved watching all these cartoons and laughing all over again.

This book tells of much information about The Pink Panther. It gives many historical information and how The Pink Panther cartoon/movies progressed, and it is VERY detailed. I think you should buy this book if you're a Pink Panther lover. He is definitely an all-time favorite and classic.

While many recall "The Ant and the Aardvark", few may remember "Roland and Rattfink" or "Super President" as parts of the DFE animation canon. "R and R" were an ill-advised Jay Ward ripoff and "S P" played like 'what if JFK had been an indestructible superhero who didn't resemble or sound like himself?' Jerry Beck unearths just about everything one needs to know on the now near-forgotten but once highly regarded DFE studio's output. IMO, the shocking crudity of the DFE house design comes as a rude re-awakening to the low standard of animation in the 1960's. Even the design work in the wretched early 1990's talking Pink Panther series looks more polished, though those cartoons remain utterly unwatchable. Yes, it's indeed a pity that the book doesn't have legal rights to the stellar images and adroit animation poses by Ken Harris at the Richard Williams Studio done for the main title of 1975's "The Return of the Pink Panther" but that movie can still be found on DVD in remaindered bargain bins for around eleven bucks. It's a Universal DVD release, despite having been originally made for United Artists. That particular title sequence puts everything else in this book (and I mean everything) to shame, including Shag's whole career as a too hip for the room postapocalyptic pseudo cartoon designer mostly getting Ed Benedict wrong for overpriced, volume marketed cocktail napkins. Forget that [...] Buy Jerry's fine Pink Panther book and learn a few hard animation facts that should be etched onto your brainpan.

While Mr. O'Rourke's book does a very good job of explaining in depth the terminology of 3d computer graphics, the book is very sparse in illustrations that display how the concepts translate into final rendered imagery. With the exception of the middle of the book, which has glossy reproductions from actual computer generated 3d scenes, the book looks and feels like a high school algebra textbook.

I'm entirely new to 3D modeling and animation. I found this book to be exceptionally well written. The author provides a clear and concise explanation of the principles of 3D computer graphics, with easy-to-understand examples throughout. As stated in other reviews, it is not software specific. If you are looking for an introductory but thorough 3D primer, I recommend this book without reservation. It should provide a solid foundation for those who have little or no prior computer graphics experience.

I agree with prior reviews that this book is well written and provides an excellent introduction to 3D computer graphics. If you're new to the field and want to learn about the general terminology and techniques of 3D computer graphics then this would be a top choice. Just don't expect, however, that after finishing you'll be ready to plunge into creating your own rendering engine or even be up to speed on using an existing engine. If you're looking for technical detail, then you'll have to look elsewhere.

This book is excellent in giving the reader the "big picture" of foundational knowledge needed to learn technical animation. I strongly suggest using this book in introductory courses that teach technical-based animation, looking at techniques, not creativity.

As an instructor in 3D computer animation I find this book to be an excellent text for the classroom. O'Rourke knows his stuff and presents the material in a well-thought out, logical format. The only negative is that it's time for a new release.

I love this book. Initially, when I first bought it, it was for the photography, which is outstanding. But as I would leaf through it, again and again I was struck by the poetic and thoughtful writing. It's become something of an inspiration for me now as I work to remain creative with my own artistic endeavors.

All artists, especially struggling and neophyte screenwriters, owe it to themselves to check out this beautiful work. Another reviewer put it well; it's about time writers got their due.

As a screenwriter myself, I was inspired to explore the worlds of other writers...I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the arts of any kind

It's about time writers receive their 15 minutes of fame. This book has given me the inspiration to start writing again after a long break. Lumme and Manninen capture the screenwriters like no one ever has. I can't wait to see what story their next book brings to life.

Because writers are behind the scenes -- way behind the scenes -- we can only guess what they are trying to tell us with each new screenplay. That's why I loved seeing their faces and hearing their words -- listening to some of them go on and on about their craft and others sum up their reactions to years of hard work in 10 or 20 well-chosen words. I didn't need this book when I bought it -- or at least I didn't think so. Now I turn back to it time and again for inspiration. I don't feel as if I've been talked down to, rather that I got a glimpse deep into the writers' souls.

This is a book for writers. Sure, it's full of pictures, but mostly it's about the pursuit of story. Everybody thinks actors and directors make movies, but it's the writer who creates the characters, dreams up the story, makes us care what happens. These are some of the world's greatest writers and they are incredibly candid here. It's funny to me that every magazine interviews novelists, but who interviews screenwriters other than Variety and, now, these guys? Screenwriters must be the most invisible, hardworking artists on the planet. Lumme and Manninen offer a very unusual glimpse, literally and figuratively, of the idea makers of Hollywood. Manninen achieved the impossible, finding compelling ways to photograph people who must spend 99% of their lives staring at a computer. The common trait in all the portraits is the writer's twinkle in the eye. There's an idea banging around in that head, maybe a couple. I found this a very refreshing take on the creative process. It is puzzling that Screenwriters is apparently the first such book. Personally, I'd like to hear more from the people who are pretty much the acknowledged masters of modern storytelling. Bonus: In addition to a bunch of funny and interesting anecdotes, there are a good many real writing tips divulged. I felt genuinely inspired by this book, and I don't even have an idea for a screenplay. Maybe I'll get one now. Two thumbs way up.