LightWave 3D 8 Character Animation [Paperback]

Timothy Albee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 25, 2004 | ISBN-10: 1556220995 | ISBN-13: 978-1556220999

Updating what has been called one of the best books onanimation by top Disney animators, this new book includes even more pre-rigged models, discussion of the new animation tools found in LightWave 3D 8, and the fastest way to do dialogue and facial performance.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Timothy Albee has worked in the entertain-ment industry since 1990 as a writer, director, animator, concept artist, producer, and studio owner/executive. His credits include Walt Disney Feature Animation, Warner Brothers/ Infogrammes, Babylon 5, and numerous video game titles. He has written, produced, and directed three short films in addition to Kaze, Ghost Warrior and is the author of several books including LightWave 3D 7 Character Animation, Essential LightWave 3D 7.5, and CGI Filmmaking: The Creation of Ghost Warrior.

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Wordware Publishing, Inc. (November 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556220995
• ISBN-13: 978-1556220999
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,464,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book. Trust me., April 29, 2005

By 

steve mitchum "steve" (Orlando, Fl. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: LightWave 3D 8 Character Animation (Paperback)

Finally, a comprehensive book on the art of character animation that goes beyond "push this button, now push that one".

With a background of traditional animation (like Brad "incredibles" Byrd and John "Pixar Honcho" Lassiter), Timothy Albee focuses on how to use the tools within Lightwave to create characters with personality. And it's the character's personality that makes an animation memorable. This is the best book on Character animtion using lightwave that I've seen, and a great resource for learning about the art of animation regardless of your tools of choice.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing., September 22, 2006

By 

Sensitive Male Indie-Rock Fan (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: LightWave 3D 8 Character Animation (Paperback)

This book is 482 pages long, and the second half of it is not Lightwave-(or even 3D)-specific: general concepts of animation like follow-through, squash-and-stretch, etc. Everything in this section has been said before, and more eloquently, in many other books on the topic of animation.

The first half (which IS Lightwave-specific) is a step-by-step tutorial for building a rather esoteric IK rig for a humanoid character. I didn't find it helpful--nothing in the exercises seems designed to expand the reader's understanding, it's just a recipe for reconstructing Albee's rig. I suspect any reader without a previous understanding of how bones work in Lightwave will be completely frustrated.

If you're a beginner looking for a technical resource to animating in Lightwave, this is definitely *not* it. Any potential buyers should browse through a copy before buying this.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, February 18, 2006

By 

K. Holmes "Learner" (Miami FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: LightWave 3D 8 Character Animation (Paperback)

This book is very good for learning animation, regardless of the software package you use. The one think I must say is that its hard to just jump to a chapter and start from where you want. From chapter 9 on is what interested me the most, the book didn't make it easy to just pick up from there and run. Well written, and great to practice from.