Model, Rig, Animate with 3ds max 7 [Paperback]

Michele Bousquet (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321321782 | ISBN-13: 978-0321321787 | Publication Date: February 12, 2005

3ds max 7 provides unparalleled character animation functionality, and in this book you will learn how to take advantage of all of these tools. Simple step-by-step tutorials, glorious full-color examples, and an easy-to-understand approach to tricky concepts will have you creating and animating your own characters within hours! Author and award-winning animator Michele Bousquet answers all your questions about character modeling, rigging, and animating in 3ds max -- in the process illuminating the techniques used by game developers, broadcast and film companies, industrial designers, and more. As you complete the book’s projects and exercises -- using the files contained on the companion CD -- you’ll learn the fundamentals of character modeling, character rigging, creating rigs with custom controls, skinning, character animation, and more.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

3ds max 7 provides unparalleled character animation functionality, and in this book you will learn how to take advantage of all of these tools. Simple step-by-step tutorials, glorious full-color examples, and an easy-to-understand approach to tricky concepts will have you creating and animating your own characters within hours! Author and award-winning animator Michele Bousquet answers all your questions about character modeling, rigging, and animating in 3ds max -- in the process illuminating the techniques used by game developers, broadcast and film companies, industrial designers, and more. As you complete the book’s projects and exercises -- using the files contained on the companion CD -- you’ll learn the fundamentals of character modeling, character rigging, creating rigs with custom controls, skinning, character animation, and more.

About the Author

Michele Bousquet, technical writer at Discreet and award-winning animator, has been writing about 3ds max since its first release. Michele's recent publications include Harnessing 3ds max 5 and Mastering the Art of Production with 3ds max 4.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Press (February 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321321782
• ISBN-13: 978-0321321787
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,492,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No meat on these bones., February 25, 2005

By 

Michael D. Kelley "Ex-Genius" (Leesburg, Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Model, Rig, Animate with 3ds max 7 (Paperback)

I love Michele dearly -- she is a sweet person who has contributed a lot to the Max training scene -- but this book really misses the boat for all except those who are complete beginners to character animation with Max.

For those folks it will suit as an outline to the concepts needed for character animation, but for anyone who has even slightly worked with Max this book is as much of a skeleton as that needed to rig your creatures. There is a halfway decent chapter on using Meshsmooth and box modeling techniques for those unfamiliar with this, but that's about it.

The biggest omission is due to the nature of Max 7 itself -- now that Max ships with Character Studio just about every aspect of rigging your own bones from scratch (and not using Physique but the Skin that came with Max 6) is just plain obsolete.

It is clear this is just a rehash of her previous Max 6 edition, but the rules of the game have changed, and anyone not using Character Studio nowadays is just working way behind the times.

What's really odd about this is Michele knows Character Studio very well indeed, having written a book on release 3. That she did not follow up with a book on release 4 or, more to the point, included that within this tome is just plain unfantomable (her CS 3 book is out of print but worth seeking out).

Pass on this disaster and save your pennies for the character animation book coming out in the fall that promises to cover CS 4 along with Max 7.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super Book for new Character Animators, April 2, 2005

By 

Mike - See all my reviews

This review is from: Model, Rig, Animate with 3ds max 7 (Paperback)

This is a great book for people that are new to character modeling and rigging. There is 80 pages on building a rig step by step. The rig is fully equipped with toe rolls, finger curls, and custom attributes. I highly recommend it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It does exactly what it says on the cover!!, June 15, 2007

By 

Mr. J. Baja "Jordan Baja" (Basingstoke, England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Model, Rig, Animate with 3ds max 7 (Paperback)

This book has helped me significantly in creating characters for my final degree animation short.

The step by step guides were very clear and concise.

I was using 3ds max 8, and before I found this book, I had problems rigging fingers, in the book it will help you rig fingers with two bones, but you can adapt the method to apply three bones if need be.

The method of modelling your character in the book helped me tailor my own characters human and animal, which is crucial for the skinning to bones. I also had problems with the morpher modifier to help me animate facial expressions and lip-sync when I was using 3ds max tutorials, this book dealt with this because you are using the same model through out the book and the steps were simpler to understand.

The only problem I had with the book was trying to get looped animation for your character to travel along a direction.