Product Description

An insightful, up–to–date look at creating in the digital environment
In a practical, easy–to–understand format, The Art of 3–D Computer Animation and Effects covers every aspect of creating and outputting fully rendered three–dimensional computer still images or animations, including visual effects for live action. Along with helpful insights into the newest techniques available in the latest software programs and hardware, this new edition provides solid conceptual and critical basics through a combination of technical explanations and creative techniques. Creative vision can be brought to life on the screen through an easy–to–understand, step–by–step approach supported by full–color sample work by such leading companies as Pixar Animation Studios, Square, DreamWorks SKG, Fox, Disney, and many independent artists and studios.
Isaac Victor Kerlow (Los Angeles, CA) is Director of Digital Production at the Walt Disney Company and a longtime active member of SIGGRAPH and the Visual Effects Society.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #430938 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

Review
"Oh man, is this book beautiful! (Gamasutra, 4/20/2004)

“…an excellent technical reference…” (M2 Best Books, May 2004)

"...will take you step–by–step through the process of creating your very own 3D animations, with illustrations from the leading animation houses..." (PC Home, Issue 139, 2003)

"...a must–read book if you’re interested in 3D..." (MacFormat, 30 Octobeer 2003)

“…truly gorgeous looking…detailed, professional and very, very colourful…” (Digital Creative Arts, November 2003)

“…well illustrated…layout is effective…order of topics logical and intuitive…” TechBook Report, November 2003)

"…offers step–by–step guidelines to the entire process of creating a fully rendered 3D computer animation or still image." (Digital Arts, October 2007)

Review
"Oh man, is this book beautiful! (Gamasutra, 4/20/2004)

“…an excellent technical reference…” (M2 Best Books, May 2004)

"...will take you step–by–step through the process of creating your very own 3D animations, with illustrations from the leading animation houses..." (PC Home, Issue 139, 2003)

"...a must–read book if you’re interested in 3D..." (MacFormat, 30 Octobeer 2003)

“…truly gorgeous looking…detailed, professional and very, very colourful…” (Digital Creative Arts, November 2003)

“…well illustrated…layout is effective…order of topics logical and intuitive…” TechBook Report, November 2003)

"…offers step–by–step guidelines to the entire process of creating a fully rendered 3D computer animation or still image." (Digital Arts, October 2007)

Digital Creative Arts, November 2003
"...truly gorgeous looking..detailed, professional and very, very colourful.."

Customer Reviews

"Must Have" for students studying computer animation
this book is a must have for students that are undertaking a course in computer animation at university, it covers everything from the basics to the hard stuff, using simple techniques such as the camera and then advancing to the stages where computer editting, animating and CGI is involved, this book has had many contributions from many leading companies, those such as Pixar, Disney, Squaresoft (known as Square-Enix now) and many more! this book also guides information on everything that a computer animation course will cover from media development, virtual reality, formats of art - storyboards, special effects and the uses of softwares. Following the text along with the pictures gives the reader a more in depth session with learning to cope with animating.
This book is the next best thing to "the animations survivor kit", its also more colourful, visually appealing and teaches you through what has already been created... for example it shows you how they "did it" in Final Fantasy Spirits Within, Monster Inc, Shrek and various other titles, getting you more involved in the course as its using published materials as a visual aid!
This is a worthy investment and a must have if you are lookin to learn animation or even to brush up your skills.
This has been a major help to me in university and still is! 5 Stars!

The best. Pure and simple...
In short, this is the best introduction to any area of CGI/3D animation, no matter where your field of interest lies (games, film etc.). Damn, it is good. It is not software specific, which normally can be a bother, if you are working only in one package, but in this case the book is so well written and structured, that it is just a joy to go through.

Not what I expected...
Wow, I thought this book would be informative and interesting, I found that it was neither. There is one section that explains the timeline of animation and effects, which is completely brilliant, other than that I wouldn't bother. The visual effects side does not interest me anyway, but the animation side was very dull, and went into using curves within graph editors for animations. Sure, it's an important part, but to be honest, was a chore to read through. There are much more informative books out their for character animators, and I advise you to only pick this up if you're interested in some general information on the whole subject. I think I read around 30-40 pages of this, and skipped the rest, if you want to learn anything this is definately not the book to pick up, there are plenty of pretty pictures in there though! Oh, and of course, I know nothing of visual effects, so I can't really comment on that side of things!