The Animation:Master Handbook - Softcover

Paries, Jeff

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1886801827 ISBN 13: 9781886801820

Publisher: Charles River Media, 1998

Synopsis

This second edition provides the information needed to harness the power of Animation:Master. All of the new features and interface updates are covered. Building on the ideas and techniques found in the first edition, many new tutorials, examples, and chapters have been added. This reference works with v6 and v7 and provides an extensive guide to using Animation:Master, covering everything from storytelling, modelling, texturing, animating, and rendering, to adding constraints and effects. The book provides: new tutorials covering organic and mechanical modelling; advanced material on types of angles used by AM; new constraint tutorials with more complex examples; a variety of new animation tutorials including Pose Sliders and audio features; and a new chapter on Effects. The CD runs on both PC and Mac and includes many of the models shown in the tutorials as a learning tool, along with a variety of image maps, patch color information, and several example animations. It also provide a demonstration of Animation:Master 98.

About this title

Review

The feature set of Hash's Animation Master 2000 is nothing short of amazing, especially in light of the price of this 3-D animation system, but the manual that ships with the program hasn't matured as quickly as the software. Some features of the software are barely described in the text, and some aren't even listed.

Jeff Paries, a former Hash employee and an Animation Master user extraordinaire, continues to fill in the blanks--and then some--with the third edition of The Animation Master Handbook. The tutorial-based approach and clear, concise writing make the book a priceless asset to new and old users of the software.

This is the new (third) edition of the handbook, and it covers everything from the previous editions, in addition to new material, so you'll stay current with Animation Master v8, aka AM2000. You get the scoop on new texturing options, soft and rigid body dynamics, and flocking/swarming of groups. New information on shag and fur shaders is also included.

For new or intermediate users of Animation Master, this book makes an excellent resource and companion. Full of useful information and tutorials, most users will be able to get up the learning curve reasonably quickly by working through the book. That's the good news.

The bad news is that there are no colour pages. All screen shots are in black and white, and any discussion of lighting and colour is blandly illustrated and somewhat theoretical. Also, coverage of the new features, like the hair materials or Dynamics features, is extremely thin. Dynamics in particular deserves deeper tutorials, especially the new Cloth and Springs features, since they are generally found only in very high-end animation systems.

Lastly, the CD-ROM contains precious few example movies, although it does have all the project files and source material that are discussed in the book. Still, there's nothing like a nicely rendered movie to inspire a new animator, especially if there are also explanations of how it was created. --Mike Caputo, amazon.com

Edition details

• Publisher: Charles River Media
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1886801827
• ISBN 13: 9781886801820
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 564