Maya 2 Character Animation [With CDROM]

I have found this book to be a well rounded introduction to the character animation process. It is comprehensive and outlines an abundance of techniques to use for every step from start to finish. It can be a little confusing at times, as maya often can be to beginners, but it has succeeded in considerably expanding my knowledge of techniques and processes in Maya. Maya is an incredibly sophisticated piece of software and there are several methods of accomplishing similar results within the environment. It would be impossible to cover every method or teach every technique and tool in a single book. This is *not* the "How to do Everything in Maya in a Day" book, if that's what you're looking for. Instead, as the cover does indicate, it is a guide through a tried and true process of character development and animation written by award winning artists who have graciously recorded their knowledge to share with aspiring 3d hackers.

This book is a great instructional piece not only for designing digital characters with Maya, but the entire process from concept to completion. It isn't for novice Maya users though, it helps having a familiarity with the software first.

Phenomenal. I teach CG modeling and animation at university, and I highly recommend this book to all my students. This book is full of the essentials that one needs to know for CG character animation and much more. Not only does it cover character rigging and development, but also other important points such as character modeling and texturing. It's good to know that there's a comprehensive book out there that covers just about everything you need to know about CG character animation. Bare in mind that the only way one can learn timing and animation is through experience (and lot's of it) but this book does go a long way to freeing one's creativity and overcoming technical challenges. A must buy!

Maya 2 Character Animation is the best tool for Maya2. Is better that Learning Maya and other books of maya (Digital Effects Animation using Maya) Is THE BOOK of Maya and the ANIMATION because you will learn Maya and Animation in the same book. BUY NOW THIS BOOK !

Good question regarding the background of the authors.Here's hoping "The Skeptic" will live up to his/her promise to give the book and its authors the benefit of the doubt. I worked on this book and the project team's (much-abbreviated) credentials are as follow:Nate Vogel (principal co-author): 3D Special Effects Director at Minds Eye Media, San Francisco; certified Maya Character Animation Instructor; co-created a 3D-fantasy game, and several original 3D-animated TV and film projects; received the 1998 World Animation Celebration Best Animated Music Video Award.Sherri Sheridan (principal co-author): Creative Director/co-founder, Minds Eye Media; currently working on a series of 2D and 3D animations for the web, film and TV, including the animated Web show 'Goth Grrls', the independent feature film 'The Sundial Solution', the upcoming children's HDTV show 'Sassafrass the Psychic Warrior', and a series of 3D meditation videos. Teaches at the Academy of Art College among other instructional gigs.Tim Coleman (principal co-author): Extensive 3D CG work with TV commerical, video game, and software development; certified Maya instructor; teaches at undergrad and graduate levels at the Academy of Art College (SF). Co-principal of Supergenius Animation, where he just finished the short film 'Bowling Fer Souls', (3-minutes, completed using Maya) which can/could be seen at Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation 1999.Alex Alvarez (contributor): Director of Gnomon, Inc., School of Visual Effects for Film, Television, and Games (Los Angeles), and generally considered to be one of the premier experts on Maya in the world. Writes for 3D Magazine and teaches seminars regularly when on the road. Creator of Lanker, the winsome dude on the cover of the book and CG-super-model in his own right.Jesse Andrewartha (contributor): Alias|Wavefront Certified Instructor; taught classes in animation and VFX for the Ex'pressions Center for New Media. Writes regularly for SIGGRAPH and 3D Magazine.Kevin Cain (contributor): Creative Director at the Pelleas Design Studios and director of the SGI/PC Computer Education Center at the Academy of Art in San Francisco.Matt Ontiveros (contributor): Lab manager and principal Alias|Wavefront Maya instructor at Mesmer Animation Labs (SF & Seattle).David Tart (contributor): His most recent work has been at Pixar Animation Studios on several projects, including Toy Story and A Bug's Life.