One of those rarest of rare books: An animation tome that is not tied down to a specific package. Instead, expect a hefty dose of mathematics, as the author leads you through a variety of animation techniques, both 2D and 3D, from a formulae and expression based perspective.

An expressive face is a work of art. Constantly moving and changing. Lips, brows, frown lines, each is in constant motion. Stop Staring analyses facial structures and movements, then shows animators how to bring life to the faces of their characters.

Timing for Animation by this pair of authors, is back in print. This book, over 20 years old, was and still is the definitive tome for animation. Whether drawn sculpted or CGI, making something move realistically is all about timing. Timing first, second, and last. When to move, when not to move, what to move, and how much to move.

Cheapening the Cost of Motion Sensors
Motion sensors are starting to creep into a whole plethora of applications. They are the linch pins of haptics, of 3D pointers, of stress based sensor networks and locomotive VR interfaces. Yet, there's a problem. Small, discrete motion sensors, tiny enough to be built into larger devices the size say, of a Wii-remote or a 6 ounce HMD, are extremely difficult and expensive to produce.

There always seems to be an artificial disconnect between the skillset necessary to draw in 2D and that necessary to animate with CGI. Many books treat it as if you have to unlearn all you know from one, to learn the other, even when that is clearly not the case. This tome shows why it is not.

This tome is, as the4 title suggests, more of an overview for the subject than a detailed how-to. It covers everything from the very basics of computerised model animation, right through rigging and boning, on to timing and lighting ? but it does so without going into painstaking detail on any one topic.

This book is an animation expert's attempt to ?dump his kit? as the author puts it, and share with others the fundamentals of animation that are not generally taught outside of industry practice, and always were taught behind closed doors.

(03/06/2009)
June 17th - 19th, 2009
Amsterdam, Netherlands

CASA is the leading international conference in the field of computer animation and social agents. CASA 2009 will provide great opportunities to interact with leading expe...

(23/03/2007)
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science in Saarbr?cken, Germany have created a new kind of 3D animation technique which they believe will take most of the grunt work out of animation.

It allows a high-r...

(13/04/2007)
(Press Release) Cheetah3D 4.0 was released at the end of March. The fourth major release of Cheetah3D finally offers character animation tools. With Cheetah3D 4.0 you can now easily animate characters for creating your own 3D short films.

Cut-and-paste simplicity for computer animation

(01/08/2010)
Tools developed by European researchers bring cut-and-paste simplicity to gaming and animation. Users will be able to cut-and-paste complex elements like emotion, tone of voice and facial expression, making compelling new content, cheaply a...

Mundos Digitales 2012 - 11th Conference on Animation, VFX, Videogames and Digital Architecture

(23/07/2012)
July 4th 2012 - July 7th 2012
Coruña, Spain

Mundos Digitales is a festival based on 3D Animation, Visual Effects, Videogames and Architectural Visualization. Each festival includes several conferences on 3D Animation,...