3ds max 6 Animation: CG Filmmaking from Concept to Completion (Consumer)

By Barrett Fox

Explaining how to create 3D graphics and animation, this book aims to put the readers on the fast-track to careers in film or game design. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0072228938
• ISBN13: 9780072228939
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 2.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.1" x 1.0" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

"from Concept to Completion" is TRUE!

This is a great book on completing a project, it helps in every respect, lots of tutorials, references, information, examples etc.... One thing is not mentioned, to complete these projects, you will need more then 3DS Max 6, you will need to have Adobe PREMIER to make/edit the movie, for special effects & more, you will need COMBUSTION 3, even though it is not necessary but it will be essential for a complete animation, you will need to have a sound editing software like Cakewalk's SONIC or something similar and of course Adobe Photoshop. I am very happy with the book, and have already started planning & sketching a storyboard plus modeling the environment I will use, my characters are almost ready, but because of this fantastic book, I didn't know about the sound editing and the movie editing outside of 3DS Max requiered to finish a movie, now with this book I will complete my animation project.

Superior Instructions

This manual may very well be the best available at this time. It will give you high-level skills in all areas of 3D production. To get the most value out of this book, I would reccommend being already well versed in 3DS MAX. This book will not be worthwhile to a complete beginner, so either take a 3D class or two, or read some beginner material first. I liked how this book makes you do alot of the work the pure, no plug-in way. For example, most people(and I assume the author as well)would prefer to use Biped as oppossed to a custom rig, but learning how to build you own custom rig is something a motivated animator SHOULD want to do anyway. Same goes for the custom attributes and paramater wiring of the bones system. Biped already has all that built in, but learning to do it from scratch is invaluable in my opinion. The modeling sections are great, although maybe some NURBS or patch modeling could have been included. Also very unique to this book is the first 100 or so pages that speak only to the planning and creative aspects of the field. Again, very wothwhile. The only complaint I have is simply a logistical one. Unless you have 3DS MAX 6, you cannot open any of the proj files. Many people including me still have version 5. Maybe retro 5 files could have been burned on the cd as well. Don't get me wrong, if your motivated you can still do everything without opening any project files. I did. You can still used the texture files, ect... If you buy this book, be prepared to work. Some days, you may spend 3-4 hours working, and only cover 5-10 pages of the book, that usually means you are learning this stuff the right way. This is because unless you have already worked in a high-end production facility, even if you know MAX well, most of the methods, techniques, and workflow taught in this book will be new to you. It gives you all the "Big Boy" production styles. Real professional methods. So if you want to go up to the next level, study this book.

Great book, well-written and very helpful.

This is a great book, and considering how any job doing 3d automatically requires a demo reel, it is a crucial book for anyone trying to make a career of this. It is very well written and encouraging, the author is clearly a teacher and not just a guy passing along information. The book follows the author's project while guiding you along with suggestions for your own work. There is detailed coverage of every step of the CG filmaking process. It begins with the all of the skills required for traditional animation: scriptwriting, storyboarding and sound recording. The sections detailing construction, rigging and animation of facial expressions and speech were particularily impressive and useful to me. But really there's a lot of thought put into every section and the depth of information here is staggering. It very cool to see how a quality project like this gets put together, step by step.

The best book by far......

Creating 3D animation is an extremely complicated proposition and Barrett Fox's take on CG filmmaking is the best book by far on this complicated process. "3DS MAX6 Animation-CG Filmaking from Concept to Completion" not only covers the basic step by step process of producing your CG film it also delves into the finer points of how to make your production more successful on an artistic level. This is the best presentation of how to marry the technical and creative sides of your project into a final polished film that I have yet come across. And believe me I have read most of them!Another thing that's sets this book apart is that it goes through the creation of a particular project rather than a grab bag of unrelated scenes that comprise the examples in most CG how-to books. This really clarifies the work flow needed to produce your project in a logical and expedient way. Add to this the 3dmax, image, and animation files that are included on the enclosed CD-ROM and you have a comprehensive window into the CG filmmaking process that is worthwhile to digital artists from beginning to advanced. This is a great book and well worth the price.

tips from an expert

I have been animating for 5 years now and I am pleased to note that the author revealed quite a few new tricks. This is a must read for all animators. Written with humor and expertise!