Computer Animation Complete: All-in-One: Learn Motion Capture, Characteristic, Point-Based, And Maya Winning Techniques Paperback English by Rick Parent - 05-Nov-09

Rick Parent

A compilation of key chapters from the top MK computer animation books available today - in the areas of motion capture, facial features, solid spaces, fluids, gases, biology, point-based graphics, and Maya. The chapters provide CG Animators with an excellent sampling of essential techniques that every 3D artist needs to create stunning and versatile images. Animators will be able to master myriad modeling, rendering, and texturing procedures with advice from MK's best and brightest authors. Divided into five parts (Introduction to Computer Animation and Technical Background, Motion Capture Techniques, Animating Substances, Alternate Methods, and Animating with MEL for MAYA), each one focusing on specific substances, tools, topics, and languages, this is a MUST-HAVE book for artists interested in proficiency with the top technology available today! Whether you're a programmer developing new animation functionality or an animator trying to get the most out of your current animation software, Computer Animation Complete: will help you work more efficiently and achieve better results. For programmers, this book provides a solid theoretical orientation and extensive practical instruction information you can put to work in any development or customization project. For animators, it provides crystal-clear guidance on determining which of your concepts can be realized using commercially available products, which demand custom programming, and what development strategies are likely to bring you the greatest success.

2724442225859

English

ELSEVIER SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

05-Nov-09

544

Rick Parent is an Associate Professor at Ohio State University, where he teaches computer graphics and computer animation.His research in computer animation focuses on its relation to modeling and animating the human figure, with special emphasis on geometric modeling and implicit surfaces.Rick earned a Ph.D. in computer science from Ohio State University and a Bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Dayton. In 1977, he was awarded "Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis Award" (one of four given nationally) by the NCC. He has served on numerous SIGGRAPH committees, in addition to the Computer Graphics International 2000 Program Committee and the Computer Animation '99 Program Committee and is on the editorial board of the Visual Computer Journal. Dr. David S. Ebert is an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. He has served on the ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee and was Editor-in-Chief for IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics. David A. D. Gould is an award-winning computer graphics artist and programmer with over a decade of distinguished accomplishments that span the globe. Among his diverse credits are technology development for Walt Disney Feature Animation, development of the Entropy renderer at Exluna, and 3D graphics chip design at Nvidia. He also developed Illustrate!, the leading toon and technical illustration renderer. David's filmography includes such films as The Lord of the Rings and King Kong. Markus Gross is a professor of computer science and director of the Computer Graphics Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. He received a master of science in electrical and computer engineering and a PhD in computer graphics and image analysis, both from the University of Saarbrucken, Germany. From 1990 to 1994, Dr. Gross worked for the Computer Graphics Center in Darmstadt, where he established and directed the Visual Computing Group. His research interests include point-based graphics, physics-based modeling, multiresolution analysis, and virtual reality. He has been widely publishing and lecturing on computer graphics and scientific visualization, and he authored the book Visual Computing (Springer, 1994). Dr. Gross has taught courses at major graphics conferences including ACM SIGGRAPH, IEEE Visualization, and Eurographics. He is the associate editor of the IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications and has served as a member of international program committees of many graphics conferences. Dr. Gross has been a papers co-chair of IEEE Visualization '99, Eurographics 2000, and IEEE Visualization 2002. He is chair of the papers committee of ACM SIGGRAPH 2005. Dr. Gross is a senior member of IEEE, a member of the IEEE Computer Society, a member of ACM and ACM Siggraph, and a member of the Eurographics Association. Dr. Gross is on the advisory boards of various international research institutes and governmental agencies. Dr Gross is a cofounder of Cyfex AG and Novodex AG. Chris Kazmier is a senior technical director at Sony Pictures Imageworks, where he creates computer-generated effects for live-action films. He has worked on projects ranging from The Haunted Mansion to Sony's first all 3D feature animation Open Season. Previously, Chris worked at DreamWorks on Sinbad and at PDI/DreamWorks on the Intel Aliens ad campaign. Credits also include Fox Animation Studio's Titan AE and Anastasia. Alberto Menache is a pioneer in the field of motion capture technology.He founded one of the first motion capture companies - Three Space Imagery, Inc., that developed proprietary software for motion capture animation.The rights to the software were sold to a leading motion capture company and it continues to be an integral part of the motion capture industry today. Mr. Menache is currently the CEO of Menache LLC, a company that develops wireless technologies for motion capture. Mr. Menache was a Digital Effects Supervisor at Sony Pictures' Imageworks.He was a primary contributor to many of the company's visual effects productions, including such blockbuster films as "Spiderman," "The Polar Express," and "Superman Returns."In addition to having primary responsibility for digital effects and motion capture efforts, Mr. Menache designed and led implementation of the company's proprietary muscular deformation and facial animation systems.Alberto holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in mathematics and computer science.F. Kenton Musgrave is CEO and CTO of Pandomeda, Inc., whose planet-building software product, MojoWorld, is the pinnacle of his research. He lectures internationally on fractals, computer graphics and the visual arts, and has developed digital effects for films such as Titanic and Apollo 13. Mark Pauly is Bendheim Professor, Professor of Health Care Management, Professor of Business and Public Policy, Professor of Insurance and Risk Management, and Professor of Economics at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.Darwyn Peachey is vice-president of Research and Development at Pixar Animation Studios. Prior to joining Pixar in 1988, Mr. Peachey was a member of the research staff at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.Ken Perlin is Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Center for Advanced Technology and the Media Research Lab at New York University.Dr. Perlin received a technical achievement Academy Award for his Perlin Noise, a procedural technique used in motion picture visual effects. Hanspeter Pfister is associate director and senior research scientist at MERL (Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories) in Cambridge, MA. He is the chief architect of VolumePro, Mitsubishi Electric's real-time volume rendering hardware for PCs. His research interests include computer graphics, scientific visualization, and graphics architectures. His work spans a range of topics, including point-based graphics, appearance modeling and acquisition, computational photography, 3D television, and face modeling. Hanspeter Pfister received his PhD in computer science in 1996 from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He received his MS in electrical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland, in 1991. Dr. Pfister has taught courses at major graphics conferences including SIGGRAPH, IEEE Visualization, and Eurographics. He has been teaching introductory and advanced graphics courses at the Harvard Extension School since 1999. He is Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), chair of the IEEE Visualization and Graphics Technical Committee (VGTC), and has served as a member of international program committees of major graphics conferences. Dr. Pfister was the general chair of the IEEE Visualization 2002 conference. He is senior member of the IEEE, and member of ACM, ACM SIGGRAPH, the IEEE Computer Society, and the Eurographics Association. Mark R. Wilkins is a technical director at DreamWorks Animation SKG, where he helped develop a production pipeline using Maya for effects and character animation. Mark also provides training and technical assistance to animators using Maya. He previously worked at Walt Disney Feature Animation in a variety of positions including software engineer and scene setup supervisor. He has contributed to a number of films, including Dinosaur, Mission: Impossible 2, Minority Report, and Madagascar. Mark holds a degree in physics from Harvey Mudd College. Steve Worley is an active researcher in graphics texturing, with experience in practical implementation of textures for use by other 3-D artists. He is the author of the popular Essence library of algorithmic textures.

Computer Animation Complete sets the stage with a well written introduction. In this section, the first chapter discusses some of the key events in the history of animation to introduce the principles of animation and film making. This chapter is written at a non-technical level and makes very interesting reading for anyone interested in animation. The target audience, however, is experienced animators. This book does not disappoint.--School Tech Talk Blog and MacDirectory