Learning Maya | Character Rigging and Animation [Paperback]

Alias|Wavefront (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2002

Learning Maya | Character Rigging and Animation will teach you everything you need to achieve effective character set-up and animation in Maya. Developed by Alias|Wavefront Education Product Specialists, the book focuses on the creation of a human character, and provides both theoretical exploration and practical application - each chapter includes conceptual discussions and step-by-step instructions. Seventeen short presentations delivered by an Alias|Wavefront Certified Instructor are provided on the included cd-rom. The instructor provides additional theory, tips and suggestions on a chapter-by-chapter basis, thus allowing you greater insight into the concepts explored in the book.

With this book you will:
· Use layers and templating
· Connect and parent joints
· Set up IK Single Chain Solvers and group IK handles
· Use Set Driven Key
· Understand and use both Forward and Inverse Kinematics
· Simulate the deformation of clothing using Wire Deformers and Set Driven Key
· Drive joint rotation with a Blendshape Slider to help consolidate your control windows
· Understand the difference between Smooth and Rigid binding
· Export weighting maps from one character, and use for another
· Use Pole Vector constraints as a fast and easy way of achieving realistic motion in arms and legs
· Create complex and subtle character deformations through the use of Clusters and Lattices

What you need to use this book:
· Maya Personal Learning Edition, Maya Complete 4.0 or Maya Unlimited 4.0.
· A CD-ROM drive and Netscape Navigator 4.0 or Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher.

Product Details

• Paperback: 338 pages
• Publisher: Alias|Wavefront (April 2002)
• ISBN-10: 0973005238
• ISBN-13: 978-0973005233
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,549,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lot of great tutorials and concepts., October 28, 2002

By 

Luciano Werhli (Porto Alegre, Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learning Maya | Character Rigging and Animation (Paperback)

I highly recommend this book.
PROS:
*It tries, through tutorials, to introduce you to the concepts, techniques and pipeline of animating a character from start to finish.
*2 CDs included have some great support files and videos
* The videos are very good for learning visually

CONS:
*You'll NOT find here advanced facial setups, or advanced rigging tips. It's not an bible.
*It's expensive

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you're ready for character animation, buy this book, March 13, 2003

By 

zeppocat "Kate" (Saint Paul, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learning Maya | Character Rigging and Animation (Paperback)

The tutorials in this book will not only teach you everything you need to know to rig and animate characters in Maya, it can also serve as a model for a basic (if slightly heavy) rig that you can refine for your own needs as you get more experience. The Melvin character is easy to build and animate because the instructions are so clear. Also, with the included files on the CD, you can start any chapter independently of any other. If, for example, you want to skip rigging and go right to smooth skinning and weighting, you just open the chapter file and there is the character, ready to bind. I rated this book 5 stars because it's the best book out there for learning how to do Maya rigging and animation, not because it is perfect. There are some topics it does not address. There are some discussions in the Appendix on general issues such as the pros and cons of different IK setups in the legs and how to use Quaternion rotations instead of Euler space rotations, but to be fair, the in-depth discussion of options a rigger faces are somewhat out of the scope of a tutorial book. As noted by others, this is not a book for beginners. It assumes you know the Maya GUI, how to use the manipulation tools, navigate in the viewports, etc. I'd been working with Maya on my own for a year and a half before I bought this book, and I found it to be superb in addressing its subject.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good solid Book, November 21, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Learning Maya | Character Rigging and Animation (Paperback)

Im sorry but you shouldn't be reading this book if you cant find the "all components off" toggle, this book is made for a user who is beyond a beginner lever and more familiar with Maya and how it works. It lays down a good foundation on how to rig a character properly, for more advanced rigging I suggest a lot of experimenting on your own, there is no sing resource that will give you everything on a silver platter