Customer Reviews

Body Language: Advanced 3D Character Rigging

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The book is an excellent resource. I've done my fair share of rigging, and Allen and Murdock have put together a body of information that not only teaches me new tricks, but polishes and streamlines what I already do. Body Language will be the first place I look when I need to dig around for rigging assistance.

Body Language has me excited to rig again, which is perhaps the greatest aspect of the book. There are a lot of little "aha" moments here, and I'm itching to put them to use. It's an essential component of my reference library.

I have only one complaint with this book: It doesn't cover 3DS Max. It's understandable, what with Maya being dominant in the high end of the field, but some of the principles and techniques here are so good, it just seems a shame to not have Max involved. Ironically, then, it's the excellence of the Maya coverage that leaves me wanting the same for Max. Perhaps there's a sequel in the works.

That minor quibble aside, I still rate this at the full five stars. The book stands on its own merits, and that I wish for more merely testifies to the value of the data.

I was impressed by the in-depth and detailed methods for character rigging described in this book. It's an excellent resource for technically-inclined enthusiasts boost their skillz as well as the experienced professional who wants to hone them.

The book goes through great things that realistic rigs must have! There are a few "bonus" chapters (subjects I didn't expect to be in the book) at the end about UVLayout, Maya Muscle and skinning.

UVLayout FTW!

Great book, and a must-have for the reference library!

This is a great book for the beginning rigger as well as for more advanced artists and technical artists. It's a comprehensive overview of planning, techniques, terminology, and concepts involved in rigging all different types and styles of digital characters. Examples provided are clear and informative; advanced concepts are explained and demonstrated in a way that's intuitive and informative. The authors have years of experience and learned many of these principles the hard way, so you don't have to. You'll be benefitting from a wealth of experience and especially knowing what things do and don't work well- you'll save lots of time by reading and paying attention if you're just starting out!

This is a great book to have in your library as a learning tool and as a reference- I will be keeping it on a nearby shelf for quick access!

A well executed rig can greatly enhance any 3d production. I have seen most of the concepts in this book applied in actual production, and can say that they are good, sound, principles. More than the step-by-step instructions (of which there are plenty), this book discusses key ideas in creating a character rig that work for any software package. Ideas like proper planning, good organization, optimization, uv mapping, and the power of scripting. This book is an excellent resource for those who want to learn more complex approaches to character rigging.

This is a very good book. Large descriptions about rigs.
Portuguese: Esse livro é muito bom. Descreve bastante o processo de criação de rig, entretanto pra quem está começando como eu, aconselho antes olhar alguns tutoriais na internet e estudar junto com o livro.

This book is a wonderful volume for any artist's library. It would serve exceptionally well in the classroom, but it is a worthy purchase for advanced artists in all disciplines of visual effects and animation who want to expand their knowledge and skill sets in rigging. Where far too many books are trite superficial tutorials, Eric and company have written a book as steeped in technique as it is in concept and principle. Wonderful purchase.

This book has many great points! i think mainly i like it because instead of a linear step-by-step abc approach, each chapter explains approaches for a specific bodypart for your standard biped rig. that is a big plus.

on the other hand the directions are unnecessarily verbose, skimming over important considerations and possibly over-stressing minor considerations. that said i would not set down this book for another.

This book along with 'Art of Rigging Vol 1' by CGToolKit are staple books for your rigging library if you are shopping for more than just long discriptive directions for applying IK solvers and naming bones.

Great book. I'm glad I took a chance on it. It provides lots of information for both novice and expert TD's. The industry changes a lot and I like looking for new methods that I may missed while being out of school. This book put me back on track. I gave it 4 stars because I wished they would have included the Maya Muscle plugin on the CD. Otherwise, get this book.

Hey I'm a rigging artist finishing college at sva and this book should help everyone understand how rigging works.

The nature of this book is pretty one sided and that's def not a bad thing. Rigging a body a face or even a hand can be trouble some but here its all explained in depth and goes further beyond that by adding conceptual solutions that just work for any model.

This book provides a lot of useful information, such as
stretch Ik, rivets, UI controls, pipeline.... It expands my knowledge of rigging and improves my rigs a lot.
I keep it as my rigging handbook.
My experience and advice: read it patiently. Tons of details are all about the step-by-step process. They took me a lot of time to get there.