Customer Reviews

LightWave 3D 7.0 Character Animation (With CD-ROM)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Instead of trying to write a book covering every possible feature in Lightwave 7, Timothy Albee focuses on setting up a character rig and animating it. He covers setting up your skeleton, point weighting, and how to pose your character for animation. I have found that there is not enough documentation provided by Newtek or it's Lightwave user base on some of the things that Timothy Albee teaches in this book. I found it incredibly helpful and within a few days I was able to get my characters to do things I hadn't been able to figure out in the year I've owned Lightwave. While this book doesn't cover the range of topics that you'll find in Dan Ablan's Inside Lightwave series, it is incredibly helpful if you want to do character animation. Thanks Timothy!

Timothy Albee's new book fills a void in the world of character animation. Although there are lots of books covering the technical aspects of computer animation, this one focuses on the specific task of bringing a character to life by fusing classical knowledge of traditional animation with years of experience in CG animation. This book is for computer animators who are frustrated by the lack of information available on this topic and perhaps can't afford to go to such schools as Cal-Arts or Sheridan.

Albee takes you, step by step, from inverse kinematics to creating skeletons through to final skinning so thoroughly that it would be hard to fail if you follow directions. Then, having set-up your model , he introduces you to the time-honored techniques that 2-D animators have been using for decades to breathe life into their characters.

What makes this book refreshingly different from others is that it's not written by someone in academia or in software but someone who has worked in the trenches, dealing with the problems that professionals wrestle with every day.

For those who want to dive right into animation the CD-ROM includes a fully-rigged character as well as examples of animation.

This book is not for mid level to experienced animators looking to learn character animation on Lightwave. I am trying to migrate to Lightwave from Maya for charcater animation purposes only. Any animator serious about his/her trade already owns books specifically written for non computer related animation techniques (ie the animators survival kit, disneys illusion of life, etc.) to fill a book called "LIGHTWAVE character animation" with generic animation exercises and mediocre history lessons is deceiving. I was completely dissapointed with the lack of Lightwave specific functions I thought this book would supply, like detailed graph editor information, morphing exercises, etc. About 30 percent of each page in this book is filled with white space, or huge notations in a box that have very little purpose other than to filibuster about some (relevant?) history of how an IK got started... Is this a history book, a techniques book, or a lightwave book? By the end of chapter 2 The only thing the book accomplishes is building a 2 bone ik chain.. thats it.. then, strangely enough, chapter 3 starts out with "You've got your character all ready to go...."... Huh? if i'm missing something, someone please write back and let me know. I have respect for Mr Albee and his efforts to create this book, I know it must have been a daunting task - but i assure you, not as much as trying to go figure it out.. Sorry, but I have to give this book an "F"

In response to the anonymous reviewer with the title "Not For Animators" dated Sept 13 2002 - It's painfully obvious that this reviewer did not read the book thoroughly. He asked if he was "missing something" well he/she missed the entire boat.

Chapter 3 does start of with "You've got your character all ready to go ..." But the reviewer unjustly took this sentence out of context. The paragraph finishes with " ...Before you can animate him, you've got to set him up. And before you can set him up, you've got to prep him for the setup, and that means planning." Ch. 3 is about pre-bending the limbs of the character to help the IK. It is not about suddenly jumping into animating your completed character that the non-reviewer would lead you to believe.

Chapters 3 through 9 go into extensive details about the mechanics of setting up characters in Lightwave 7.x. The first 9 chapters are:

Ch. 1 About this Book

Ch. 2 Inverse Kinematics: It's Strengths and Weaknesses

2.1 IK
2.2 IK's Strengths
2.3 IK's Weaknesses Lightwave-Specific
2.4 IK Setup Basics
2.5 IK Rules

Ch. 3 Prepping Your Character for Setup

3.1 Where is He Going to Bend?
3.2 Pre-bending to Help IK

Ch. 4 Boning Your Character

4.1 Adding Bones to Your Character
4.2 Spinal Controls
4.3 Hand Controls
4.4 Foot Controls
4.5 Fingers
4.6 IK System Skelegons

Ch. 5 Converting, Organizing, and Aligning (Bones)

5.1 Converting Skelegons to Bones
5.2 Organizing the Schematic into Something Helpful
5.3 Aligning the Spine, Pelvis, and Feet
5.4 Bone Hierarchy
5.5 Recording Pivot Rotations
5.6 Recording Bone Rest Information

Ch. 6 Putting IK to Work

6.1 Terminating IK Chains
6.2 Creating Goal Objects
6.3 Activating IK
6.4 Activating Individual Controllers
6.5 Deactivating Individual Manual Controls

Ch. 7 Point Weighting

7.1 Point Weighting Basics
7.2 Beginning the Point Weighting Process
7.3 Swapping Models and Testing Weight Mappings
7.4 The Use Weight Map Only Option
7.5 Finding Stray Points
7.6 Straightening the Feet for Animation
7.7 Putting Him Through the Motions
7.8 Tidying Up

Ch. 8 Using the Controls

8.1 The Model Itself
8.2 Root
8.3 Pelvis
8.4 Spinal Bones
8.5 Head
8.6 Hand Translation Controls
8.7 Hand Rotation Controls
8.8 Shoulder Controls
8.9 Elbow Controls
8.10 Foot Controls
8.11 Toe Controls
8.12 Knee Controls
8.13 The Fingers and Thumb
8.14 Notes on Modifying the Setup

The remaining 10 chapters, except ch. 15, deal with the generic techniques and theory of animation that can be obtained in any non-3d animation book. Ch. 15 briefly goes over the mechanics of digitigrade (quadrupeds,etc...) characters.

As a solo free-lance medical illustrator/animator of 10 years, it's very difficult to come across such useful information without taking classes or working in a large studio with other creative types. I have every imaginable training video/dvd/CD, and book written about Lightwave (by Dan Ablan, Dave Jerrard, Doug Kelly, Patrik Beck, Ken Brilliant, Bill Fleming, Desktop Images, Class on Demand, etc...)

So far, I have not found any other source that comes close to what Timothy Albee has written for the Lighwave community. Kudos!

Animation is not just about moving the character, but adjusting his or her emotions. While I find the book useful, it lacks the full description of walking you through to do a full character animation (including voice, movements, using the cycler, expressions. It should explain how to measure the walk or run sequences, timelines, non-linear animations.

This book fills a big hole in the available Animator's Reference Library in that it breaks down more Advanced Character Rigging
into digestable chunks. Beyond that the Author delves into developing creative "Acting/Directing" practice strategies for the artist, as apposed to cramming additional technical topics. BR>Useful, and Understandable. Can't wait for the sequel

An excellent resource book for any beginning or experienced animator. Timothy Albee makes the difficult possible for even the novice animator. Thanks for writing such a wonderful book to help me with LightWave.

Without a doubt an excellent book for a novice, and informational for an expert. Timothy Albee takes you by the hand and guides you through his process of rigging, pointing out pitfalls and alternate routes along the way.
Then he delves into various animation exercises to get you in shape!
A great addition to any animator's library.

Enjoyed doing the tutorials that made me learn how to do stuff like bone placement and how it works.

I purchased this book over 6 yrs ago. My first lesson in 3d computer animation.
I learned all the techniques and principles of animation in this book. Mr Albee is
a wonderful teacher with a kind spirit. Not just for Lightwave. You'll lay a solid
foundation with this book.

ease in and ease out!