Customer Reviews

Digital Character Animation: With CDROM

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I will probably be using this book for a class in 3D animation that I teach. However, as good as it is, and it is excellent, I wish it was just a bit more technical, and perhaps up to date. In an environment that changes constantly, all of the author's concepts are sound and will last forever. However, more technical detail, especially in something like IK, would make this book perfect.

George Maestri have succeded in writing a good explanatory book. It handles the complex matter of character animation well, and it is also application independent all the way. The best part , according to me, is the chapter that explains how the character design makes a character believable. A plus is all the pictures that goes with the examples and the explanations about the differences between different modelling techniques. Keep up the good work, George!

I felt that this book not only was excellently written and organized but also offered many tips and tricks to anyone in the field. The subject matter is easily inderstood and can be followed and used in many different situations. I myself do not have the hardware or software capable of anything higher than free form modelling-(limited) with Ray Dream Studio 4.0, however I now have the knowledge and the understanding of how the different tools work when I do work with the higher end software and hardware. Overall this book makes for an excellent reference and should be on everyone's desk if they plan on working in this field.

This book is a complete joy to read. The author explains things in plain, easy to understand terms, and when i'm done reading a chapter, i fully retain everything i've read. He covers just about every aspect of character animation, which no other book does as well. It's full of color photos that explain his techniques, which are invaluable. I am never left confused. Although the book uses a variety of software, the majority of screenshots seem to be Softimage, and 3D Studio MAX a close second.

When I bought this book one year ago, I was completely amazed of it because it gives you the very basics of Character Animation especially due to 3D Graphics. But dont expect George Maestri to tell you how to claim the highest jobs in the industry - to be a character animator requires hard training, work, endurance and - most important - enthusiasm. See this book as a guide but not as the key to be a good character animator. Apart of that George Maestri has done an exciting job - buy this book, if you want to understand how to start learning the "royal class" of animation.

This book isn't as good as I thought it would be, it's one very difficult object to describe. It would have been better to write more on how to use easily a computer for animation; devices, shortcuts, tablets, rotoscoping and explaining how to use these techniques for modelling and animating characters. Great to see an explication of traditionnal animation techniques transfered to 3D, but it's far from complete. A good exercise on 'what's a function-curve and what can I do with it in all those packages is missing. Even that there's a big chapter trying to explain this. (most, simillary, typically, most, most, broadley etc...); (In SI, a motion-graph is called a Fcurve..., In lightwave, it is called a Motion Graph and looks like this). The CD coming with the book is not complete by what the book says, and very small of content. Positive: The staging and posing chapter is important and does need a lot of pictures. There aren't a lot of books covering digital character animation and as all the big packages are upgrading and even changing names now, I can't advise you this book, sorry

It's a good introduction to creating and using 3D animated characters. Although I love doing 3D art, 3D animation isn't a hobby I plan to start any time soon. I just don't have the time or money! So this book that I got about five years ago needs to be set free.

George Maestri does a wonderful job. I personally recommend "Digital Character Animation" to anyone interested in the ART of character animation. Finally one of our own (traditional cel animator) writes a practical guide to digital animation. As an added bonus the book is richly illustrated in full color. This book is a work of art.

I purchased this book to learn how to animate realistic characters and this book is excellent for that purpose. The full color pages are excellent and the explanations are easy to understand. The book is not geared toward any animation package in particular, so I think it is applicable to many platforms. All in all, a pleasure to read.

This book is a goldmine of information for anyone interested in character animation. I must say that Mr. Maestri has done a wonderful job with this book. The topics covered are not platform/software specific and so can easily be adapted to any 3D software. Renji Mathews,rmatt@emirates.net.ae, Dubai, United Arab Emirates