Maya 2008 Character Modeling & Animation: Principles and Practices

EBook Description: Are you ready to take on the challenge of animating realistic and compelling characters using the latest version of Maya, the powerful 3D graphics and modeling software? "Maya? 2008 Character Modeling and Animation: Principles and Practices" shows beginner to intermediate animation students and enthusiasts how to create professional-quality characters, explaining the full character animation process from pre-production to final full body and facial animation. Each chapter begins by exploring the ?why? behind the techniques being presented, followed by step-by-step tutorials to apply your new knowledge. Following a series of hands-on projects you?ll learn how to model, rig, and animate, building a comprehensive skill-set as you move progressively through each chapter.You?ll learn to master Maya?s capabilities on both a technical and artistic level as you create incredible animated characters full of emotion and expression.

Improve your character animation with a mastery of traditional principles and processes including weight and balance, timing, walks, birds, fish, snakes, four legged animals, acting and lip-synch. Traditional animation skills and techniques are presented in both 2D and 3D space. The companion CD features demonstration animations and exercises conducted in each of the major animation packages including 3ds Max, LightWave, Maya, and XSI Softimage.
* Readers will achieve improved 3D animation with a practical understanding of foundational animation skills
* Theory is balanced with practical exercises in drawn and 3D animation.

Digital Character Animation

George Maestri broke new ground with his first book, , which quickly became a fixture on the recommended reading list of just about every contemporary digital animator. It demonstrated solid methods for building characters and preparing them for animation, and touched on animation itself, all the while staying away from hardware and software specifics. Maestri explained the "why" of doing something. It was up to you to know "how."
The second volume, Digital Character Animation 2: Advanced Techniques, delves deeper into the art of animation itself without losing its digital perspective and yet while still maintaining some distance from hardware platforms and software applications.

Foundation Flash Cartoon Animation

Whether you are an experienced Flash designer or developer looking for a guide to doing animation in Flash, or a novice to Flash who is looking for an effective way to create and distribute animations, this book will prove invaluable to you.
Covering every aspect of Flash animation, the book is a fast-paced yet thorough review of the Flash animation process. Written by the Emmy-Award winning team at ANIMAX, this book not only reveals the step-by-step process followed by one of today's leading Flash animation studios, it gives you valuable tips and tricks to take your Flash animation to the next level.
Divided into three phases of production (pre-production, animation, post-production) this book breaks the Flash animation process into smaller, more manageable steps. And because the authors approach the animation process from various perspectives (such as producer, animator, and editor) the book balances many of the real-world issues facing today's Flash animators, from artistic to technical to financial.
The book starts off by looking at planning and designing an animation project, including working out your goals, and putting together character libraries and storyboards. Next up we look at the production phase, which includes using plug-ins to make your work more efficient, implementing your animation, and adding special effects. Finally, we look at post-production work, including how After Effects can be used effectively alongside Flash for tasks such as camera mechanics, how to make Flash not look like Flash, and tips and tricks from the experts.
Whatever the reason, like millions of others around the world you've become interested in Flash animation. And you've come to the right place to learn more. This book is compatible with pretty much any fairly recent version of Flash.
* Covers the full process of Flash animation, through preproduction, production, and post production
* Covers many practical techniques, including creating character libraries, using plugins, and camera mechanics with After Effects.
* Written by the Emmy award winning ANIMAX studios team
What you'll learn
* How to effectively plan an animation project
* How to put together storyboards
* How to create elegant character libraries
* How to set up your .fla file, ready for animation to commence
* How to make more efficient use of your time with plugins, where to find good plugins, and how to create your own
* How to animate, frame by frame, or using tweens
* Why After Effects can be better than Flash for some tasks.
* Effective After Effects Techniques, such as camera mechanics
* How to make Flash not look like Flash

How to Cheat in Flash CS5: The Art of Design and Animation

Need to solve problems quickly to develop creative projects to time and to budget? Want to hone your Flash skills so you can concentrate on your animation? Then How to Cheat in Flash is for you! Chris Georgenes shows how to work from the problem to the solution - from the viewpoint of an animator who has been commissioned to create a job and is working to a deadline and to a budget.

With his in-depth knowledge of the little-known secrets used by the pros to produce creative, professional animations, Chris is the go-to guru for designers and animators who want to create great animation, applications or motion design with Flash. Fully updated for CS5, How to Cheat in Flash CS5, is a goldmine of artistic inspiration, timesaving practical tips, tricks and step-by-step workthroughs that you'll wonder how you survived without it.

Each techniques is designed as a double-page spread so you can prop the book up behind your keyboard or next to your monitor as a visual reference while working alongside it. Many of these workthroughs are real-world client projects, with the source files supplied for you to open and explore. With these real-life professional projects you'll discover how to: bring objects to life with cool motion effects, make it rain, snow or set your world ablaze, develop flash mobile applications and many more tips and tricks not found anywhere else!

* Work over the shoulder of Chris Georgenes, renowned Flash expert, and apply the practical techniques, tips and tricks to your own projects with downloadable Flash source files, examples and tutorials, available at www.howtocheatinflash.com.
* Bestselling How to Cheat coverage of Flash CS5 - proven format for successful learning
* Learn a myriad of tips and tricks based on real-life working methods to help you work faster and more efficiently and to budget!
* Work from the problem to the solution, to gain the best possible results from Flash CS5!

Real-time 3D Character Animation with Visual C plus

Do you have some experience and a reasonable knowledge of C++ and want to write your own computer games? Have you ever looked at a PC or Playstation � game with characters running and leaping through an exciting landscape and wondered how it was done? If so then this book will give you all the information you need to achieve this goal, whether you are a hobby programmer, student or even a professional wanting to add that third dimension to your website.

PW: misterdanger

Core Animation: Simplified Animation Techniques for Mac and iPhone Development

Apple�s Core Animation framework enables Mac OS X, iPhone, and iPod touch developers to create richer, more visual applications�more easily than ever and with far less code. Now, there�s a comprehensive, example-rich, full-color reference to Core Animation for experienced OS X and iPhone developers who want to make the most of this powerful framework.

Marcus Zarra and Matt Long reveal exactly what Core Animation can and can�t do, how to use it most effectively�and how to avoid misusing it. Building on your existing knowledge of Objective-C, Cocoa, and Xcode, they present expert techniques, insights, and downloadable code for all aspects of Core Animation programming, from keyframing to movie playback.


Zarra and Long thoroughly review similarities and differences between Core Animation on the Mac and iPhone, helping you write code that can easily move between platforms. They also present a full chapter of innovative techniques and proven �rules of thumb� for optimizing Core Animation�s real-world performance.

Animation with Scripting for Flash Professional CS5 Studio

The definitive guide to creating animation for the web and mobile devices with top animation designer Chris Georgenes and designer/developer Justin Putney. They reveal how to create and successfully animate characters in Adobe Flash Professional CS5 and how to push the limits of timeline animation with stunning visual effects using ActionScript® 3.0.
This Studio Techniques book is designed for intermediate or advanced users who understand the basics of Flash and want to create a more immersive
interactive experience. The book includes coverage of storyboarding, 2D character design and rigging, character animation, visual FX with code, workflow automation, and publishing your animation on the web and to mobile devices.

Introduction to Textures, Animation Audio and Sculpting in Second Life

Introduction to Textures, Animation Audio and Sculpting in Second Life /by Jeff Heaton. Users of the Second Life online world create a rich three dimensional world around them. Much of this creation is done inside of the actual Second Life world. However, it is necessary to use third party programs to create compelling content for Second Life. Through rich full-color images this book guides the beginning Second Life content creator through third party programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Avimator, GIMP, Audacity and Sculptypaint. Topics such as transparent images, alpha channels, audio editing, three dimensional animation and sculpting are covered. This book presents a quick start guide to each of these programs, from a Second Life perspective.

Core Animation for Mac OS X and the iPhone: Creating Compelling Dynamic User Interfaces

Mac OS X Leopard introduces a fantastic new technology that makes writing applications with animated and cinematic user interfaces much easier. We�ll explore this new technology by starting with the familiar concepts you already know from the pre-Leopard development kits.Then we�ll see how they apply to the new frameworks and APIs. We�ll build on your existing knowledge of Cocoa and bring you efficiently up to speed on what Core Animation is all about.

With this book in hand, you can add Core Animation to your Cocoa applications, and make stunning user interfaces that your user�s will be showing off to their friends.

Basics Animation: Digital Animation

Digital technology has made animation simpler, faster, and easier than ever before. New tools have broadened the palette available to both beginners and experienced animators. Basics Animation: Digital Animation looks at the history of the medium, charting its progress by looking at specific examples that document the growth and development of the form over the past fifty years. With contributions from pioneers of the medium as well as today�s leading animators in movies, games, and television, Digital Animation is an animated look at animation yesterday and today.
* Explores key principles and processes of animation.

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