Mastering 3D Animation [With CDROM]

From the Publisher: In Mastering 3D Animation, Peter Ratner offers riveting illustrations and step-by-step instructions to show animators at all levels how to create professional, studio quality 3D models and animations. Instructions and exercises are provided in a non-software and non-platform specific format to encourage readers to experiment with their own technology. The book includes hundreds of illustrations along with models and sample animations on a CD-ROM. It stands as a crash course in the up-and-coming field of animation that takes readers chapter-by-chapter from the introductory level to the advanced level. 3D Animation is a book no aspiring animator or animation instructor will want to miss. Today, 3D animation is one of the least understood disciplines, writes Ratner, explaining that the purpose of this book is to provide readers with a set of learning tools to help them create a respectable animation. Ratner, a professional animator and professor of animation, gives in-depth coverage to: * NURBS and polygon modeling and animation * Animating with deformation tools * Special effects * Modeling human features and figures * Lighting and surfacing * Expressing emotion with facial animation * Animating action * Composition and cinematography