The Art of 3-D Computer: Animation and Imaging

I am a complete novice to high-end 3D imaging (previous experience - Web3D, Bryce) but after this book don't feel myself as such anymore. Not good if you need a crash course on some software package but for fundamental understanding of general and advanced concepts it is something incredible no less. Being myself a person who prefer to learn software by trying and playing with it rather then by reading books i found it very frustrating when i wanted to do the same with some advanced 3D tools (Lightwave to be exact). After this book i feel that i got enough understanding of the 3D fundamentals to learn any package. At least i know where to begin now. Software-independent approach did not prevent this book from having many examples from the real world packages so a lot of the information is easily applicable but the insider understanding you get of many many aspects involved in 3D art process is what truly invaluable. Finally, all that jargon mambo-jumbo explained!

As a beginner, I have found this book to be extremly helpful in explaning the ideas behind computer graphics modeling and animation. The non-specific software approach makes this book a valuable reference no matter what computing platform you are on. The color pictures are not bad either!

This book is includes excellent resources for the advanced as well as the lower intermediate user. If you already have some knowledge of 3D terminology this book will greatly expand on it. A lot of valuable information written by someone who knows how a student thinks.

This book is a good overview of the central concepts and lingo of CG animation and lighting. Comprehensive without being technical. A good book to have for your CG library.