Animation: Master A Complete Guide

Description

Animation:Master is an affordable, powerful 3D program easy enough to be used by students, new 3D artists, and hobbyists, yet powerful enough for professional animators. Learning how to use A:M is made easier with the completely updated Animation:Master: A Complete Guide. This is the only book dedicated to A:M and it is the best resource for all levels of users. For those new to 3D graphics or A:M, you'll learn the skills and fundamentals of 3D and discover how to master this incredibly powerful, low-cost program. If you're an experienced user, you'll find insightful tips and explore the newest features.

Using the wide variety of hands-on tutorials throughout the book, you'll put 3D concepts into action while learning the ins-and-outs of A;M. Beginning with a review of the interface, you'll progress through modeling basics, character modeling and rigging, to expressions, animation, lighting, and surfacing. From there you'll move into the more advanced topics of special effects, including hair, cloth, and flocks, and finish up with rendering and compositing. So whether you're a new user or an experienced power user, this is the one resource you'll need to go beyond the basics with Animation:Master!

FEATURES:

* Provides the only detailed guide to using the latest version of Animation:Master
    * Gives new users a comprehensive reference and experienced users a re-introductions to the re-designed tools and techniques of the new A:M
    * Provides tutorials and coverage of the newest features, including Cloth, Hair, Photon Mapping, OpenEXR output with split light buffer elements, compositing, and expressions
    * Includes a companion CD-ROM with all the figures from the book in full color and all the project files needed to complete the exercises in the book
    * On the CD!: Project files for the projects covered in the book; Demo of DarkTree, a Windows-only program for creating dark tree textures for A:M; Figures from the book in color to aid understanding

CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION

PART 1 GETTING AROUND
CHAPTER 1 INTERFACE
CHAPTER 2 MODELING BASICS
CHAPTER 3 BONES BASICS
CHAPTER 4 ACTION BASICS

PART 2 PUTTING IT TOGETHER
CHAPTER 5 CHARACTER MODELING FOR ANIMATION
CHAPTER 6 INORGANIC MODELING
CHAPTER 7 CONSTRAINTS
CHAPTER 8 RELATIONSHIPS
CHAPTER 9 EXPRESSIONS
CHAPTER 10 ANIMATION
CHAPTER 11 LIGHTING
CHAPTER 12 SURFACING

PART 3 ADVANCED TOPICS
CHAPTER 13 F/X
CHAPTER 14 RENDERING AND COMPOSITING
CHAPTER 15 GROUP PROJECTS
CHAPTER 16 MISCELLANY

APPENDIX A KEYBOARD SHORTCUT REFERENCE
APPENDIX B GLOSSARY OF TERMS
APPENDIX C ABOUT THE CD-ROM

INDEX