Customer Reviews

C4D 9.5: Real-World 3D Animation Production (Charles River Media Graphics)

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

 

 

I was excited to get this title. For my needs, this book concentrated too much on use with thirdparty software and not enough on the depth of C4d itself and it's own modules. Perhaps that is what was intended. I don't regret adding it to my reference shelf for the odd consultation (books like this are almost always worth even a few great nuggets of knowlege) but it did not live up to my expectations of a definitive C4d reference. That may have had more to do with my expectations then the book itself.

This book has provided me with a hands on guid that I have search for many years. I am new to animation, and I think Mr. Mitchell did a fantastic job of explaining and making his real world application easy to follow. This book has taught me more about professional animation than any other books in my library. To me the CD is an added bonus. I would highly recommend this book to any beginner who is trying Learn 3D animation production. The only negative thing I have to say is, why it took you so long to publish a book that gave someone like me the confidence in learning 3D animation. I was able to create my first animated characters by using this book, by adding this book to your library, you will be gaining a wealth of knowledge. By the way, when is your next book coming out? Simply, this book is GREAT.

After working with Maya for about 3yrs now I would say this book has opened up another way for me to look at animation. It should be about the creative side to get fantastic results not about computer programming (MEL). C4D helps you get great results in no time and my man Larry has demonstrated that very nicely. Maya is so completed and confusing that you really have to be way experience to get a good enough results. I would highly recommend this book to any beginner who is wants to Learn 3D animation (so those people like me out there get, grab this book and make your first big step into the animation world). Larry Mitchell awesome book, no doubt about it, experience users of Cinema 4D you just have to wait for next book perhaps!!

Maya makes your RESUME look good, definitely. But C4D does make your PORTFOLIO look good. Oh Kerry, you discribed my feeling so well... When an experienced artist selects a tool, he picks one depending on how comfortable and convenient to handle it, not depending on just the brand name. I found this book very useful. No matter how good you do, there are always some people who critisize you. They are very good at "critisizing", but not giving "advices". The funny thing is...critical people are louder than supportive people. My opinion is, artistically, the book cover could be more attractive, and I'd like to see color pictures more in the book. The publisher needs to improve those, I guess. Well, Mr. Larry Mitchell, I'm looking forward to more books from you! Please keep moving forward.

The book really should be called "how to cheat with animating C4d by buying lots of expensive addons". The tutorials are interesting, but what is missing is basic animating in C4D with the tools already available. For example, there is no section on animating facial expressions. That is so much used in games and movies that it's omission is curious. Many of the human animations are done with using the BodyStudio plugin to import animations done in Poser. Poser's animation tools are moderately good for things like walking, but lack the sophistication of tools available in C4D. If you like premade animations, his technique is good. There is no mention of the InterPoser plugin which is a stronger way of importing Poser objects in C4D.

Also missing is any section of web based animation: rotating 3D objects in response to user input. But there is a section on modeling with IModeller 3D that really doesn't have anything to do with animation.

This book would be useful to someone who already knows how to animate in C4D but wishes to understand various addins that are useful in importing Poser animations, making games, adding keyed video (like the section on Ultra), etc. So it really a book on how to cheat in C4D and save time by buying other programs.

Larry Mitchell's C4D 9.5: REAL-WORLD 3D ANIMATION PRODUCTION teaches how to produce professional 3D animation results using Cinema 4D. 3D animation pros and advanced students with some prior knowledge will find the software-integrated approach provides a powerful survey of real-world applications and polished results. While beginners will appreciate the descriptions of the entire process, it's the advanced users who will most readily absorb the actual applications.

I found this book to be rather scatter-shod and unfocused. Being an experienced user of Cinema 4D I was honestly looking forward to the release of this book. Given its title that suggests the book will cover animating with Cinema 4D in-depth, I was rather shocked to find it covered the integration of 3rd party apps more then it covered Cinema 4D. Leaving out coverage of the Timeline and F-Curves in Cinema 4D, this book barely scrapes the surface of Cinema 4D. In fact, more than anything it seems to suggest that you can't accomplish a whole lot in Cinema 4D without 3rd party apps. Which any experienced Cinema 4D user will tell you is far from the truth. I would suggest skipping this book altogether.

Don't get this hoping to learn high quality character animation, but if you want to learn quick animation where time & budget is first concern then this good book. Contrary to what some have said its not all about 3rd party apps. He does cover modeling, Expresso scripting & dynamics - I believe Expresso comes with the basic CD4 and dynamics comes with the complete CD4. Even though the book is far from complete he does cover subjects no one else has the nerve to touch.

This was book was extremely helpful and easy to follow. It was used in class to help my students and they found the animation and dynamics information invaluable. I'm always impressed when someone can successfully communicate difficult technical information.

I have several books on Alias Maya. I know it's the software you want to use to make your RESUME look good, but since Maya always feels so clunky and disorganized to me, I thought I'd give C4D a try. I followed Mitchell's book, which quickly took me far beyond being the typical "user", as with Maya, to being the unique "artist" that I want my software to allow me to be. Thanks to Mitchell, I've discovered that Cinema 4D is the software you want to use to make your PORTFOLIO look good. It's about creative freedom, not computer programing!