TEXTBOOKS for
Animation and Game Courses

Getting Started in 3D With Maya: Create a Project From Start to Finish—Model, Texture, Rig, Animate, and Render in Maya
Adam Watkins
ISBN: 978-0-240-82042-2

This textbook provides a complete end-to-end approach to teaching the entire 3D process in Maya. With over 12 years of training experience, plus several award-winning students under his belt, author Adam Watkins is the ideal mentor to get students up to speed with 3D in Maya.

Using a structured and pragmatic approach, Watkins starts with theory of basic techniques, then builds on this knowledge using practical examples and projects (which are provided online) to put new skills to the test. Curriculum overviews and suggested lesson plans help develop these skills in an organic fashion, with each chapter building on the knowledge from the previous chapter, showing students all the essentials of 3D in Maya.

As students go from project to project, they develop a strong arsenal of skills that combined allow them to create one final project incorporating all of the techniques discussed throughout the text.

An accompanying website provides practice project files, textures, models, suggested curriculum and lesson plans... [more]

In a world that is dominated by computer images, alternative stop motion techniques like pixilation, time-lapse photography and down-shooting techniques combined with new technologies offer a new, tangible and exciting approach to animation. With over 25 years professional experience, industry veteran, Tom Gasek presents a comprehensive guide to stop motion animation without the focus on puppetry or model animation. With tips, tricks and hands-on exercises, Frame by Frame will help both experienced and novice filmmakers get the most effective results from this underutilized branch of animation. Practical insight and inspiration from leading filmmakers like PES (Western Spaghetti Creator, Time Magazine's #2 Viral Video of 2008), Dave Borthwick, of the Bolex Brothers and more! The accompanying website will include further content driven examples, indexes of stop motion software, a recommended film list and tools and resources for the beginner and intermediate stop motion artist, animators and filmmakers. ... [more]

You've researched your character extensively, tailored her to your audience, sketched hundreds of versions, and now you lean back content as you gaze at your final character model sheet. But now what? Whether you want to use her in an animated film, television show, video game, web comic, or children's book, you're going to have to make her perform. How a character looks and is costumed starts to tell her story, but her body language reveals even more. Character Mentor shows you how to pose your character, create emotion through facial expressions, and stage your character to create drama. Author Tom Bancroft addresses each topic with clear, concise prose, and then shows you what he really means through commenting on and redrawing artwork from a variety of student "apprentices." His assignments allow you to join in and bring your drawing to the next level with concrete techniques, as well as more theoretical analysis. Character Mentor is an apprenticeship in a book.

Professional artists from a variety of media offer their experience through additional commentary. These include Marcus Hamilton (Dennis the Menace), Terry Dodson (X-Men), Bobby Rubio (Pixar), Sean "Cheeks" Galloway (Spiderman animated), and more. With a foreword by comicbook artist Adam Hughes, who has produced work for DC, Marvel Comics, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros. Pictures, and other companies... [more]

Character Animation Fundamentals: Developing Skills for 2D and 3D Character Animation
Steve Roberts
ISBN: 978-0-240-52227-2

Expand your animation toolkit and remain competitive in the industry with this leading resource for 2D and 3D character animation techniques. Apply the industry's best practices to your own workflows and develop 2D, 3D and hybrid characters with ease. With side by side comparisons of 2D and 3D character design, improve your character animation and master traditional principles and processes including weight and balance, timing and walks. Develop characters inspired by humans, birds, fish, snakes and four legged animals. Breathe life into your character and develop a characters personality with chapters on acting, voice-synching and facial expressions. Expertly integrate core animation techniques with your software of choice featuring step-by-step tutorials, highlighting 3ds Max, Maya and Blender workflows. Adapt the tips, tricks and techniques for unique projects like character design for rotoscoping and motion capture. Advance beyond the fundamentals of 2D and 3D character animation with the companion website which includes short demonstration movies, 2D and 3D exercises and fully rigged character models... [more]

3ds Max Modeling for Games, Volume II: Insider's Guide to Stylized Modeling
Andrew Gahan
ISBN: 978-0-240-81606-7

There's a new trend towards sylized, comic-style art, with the latest wave of 3D movies (a la Pixar ). Max users can do this kind of thing, and they want to learn how. Andy Gahan is building on the success of his Focal book, 3ds Max Modeling for Games (which covers realistic style art) with this new VOLUME II, covering stylized comic-style art. Forum members are asking for this treatment, and we are delivering. We are linking up to original book branding and titling, and offering the same robust portal for both books - the art on the cover will show the distinction of this volume. The book will offer new modeling techniques, specifically cartoon style – think Pixar, offering new challenges to people who bought Volume I (which focused on more realistic art)... [more]

Holistic Game Development With Unity: An All-in-One Guide to Implementing Game Mechanics, Art, Design, and Programming
Penny de Byl
ISBN: 978-0-240-81933-4

The independent developer has ascended, and the new business model demands agility. You have to be able to work on all aspects of game creation, and your team's game will publish directly to platforms like Android, iPhone, and Facebook. You'll use Unity, the hottest game engine out there, to do it. In order to earn your place on the elite development team, you must master both sides of the development coin: art and programming.

Holistic Game Development With Unity is an authoritative guide to creating games in Unity. Taking you through game design, programming, and art, Penny de Byl uses a holistic approach to equip you with the multidisciplinary skills you need for the independent games industry. With this book, you will master essential digital art and design principles while learning the programming skills necessary to build interactivity into your games. The tutorials will put these skills into action. The companion website offers: source code for completed projects from the book, art assets, instructional videos, a forum, author blog and lesson plans and challenge questions for professors... [more]

3D Game Textures: Create Professional Game Art Using Photoshop, 3rd Edition
Luke Ahearn
ISBN: 978-0-240-82077-4

Teach your students how to create professional quality game textures, shaders, and materials with guidance from an industry expert. Everything from bricks to books can be created in Photoshop with this step-by-step instructional guide. This exciting new edition of 3D Game Textures includes updated information on shaders, materials, and exercises and projects for educators... [more]

Social Game Design: Monetization Methods and Mechanics
Tim Fields
Brandon Cotton
ISBN: 978-0-240-81766-8

Social Game Design reveals what you need to know in order to add money-making features to your online social games. Using examples from successful social game designs, you'll learn what makes these games compelling, and why people will pay to play them. This book will inspire you to apply these principles in order to meet the challenges of this new space, creating original games that both delight players and generate profit... [more]

Maya Python for Games and Film: A Complete Reference for Maya Python and the Maya Python API
Adam Mechtley
Ryan Trowbridge
ISBN: 978-0-12-378578-7

Maya Python for Games and Film is the first book to focus exclusively on how to implement Python with Maya. Written by trusted authorities in the field, this in-depth guide will help you master Maya Python, whether you're a seasoned technical artist looking to make the transition from MEL to Python or an aspiring artist not wanting to scramble for information... [more]

Tradigital Maya: A CG Animator's Guide to Applying the Classical Principles of Animation
Lee Montgomery
ISBN: 978-0-12-385222-9

Explore Disney's 12 principles of animation, while learning how to animate in Maya. You can develop your own leading digital techniques rooted to traditional workflows. From squash and stretch to timing and appeal, you will enhance your creative toolset with strong classics training and cutting edge techniques. Trusted Maya Authority, Lee Montgomery offers the only artistic guide to applying the principles of traditional animation with Maya's tools, which are used in production by the best animators and VFX artists today. Add another webpage to your favourites and expand your digital workflow to include the practical resources of the Tradigital Maya with the robust companion website that include demonstrations, project files, links to further resources, available at www.tradigitalmaya.com... [more]

Action Analysis for Animators
Chris Webster
ISBN: 978-0-240-81218-2

Action analysis is one of the fundamental princples of animation that underpins all types of animation: 2d, 3d, computer animation, stop motion, etc. This is a fundamental skill that all animators need to create polished, believable animation. An example of action analysis would be Shrek's swagger in the film, Shrek. The animators clearly understood (through action analysis) the type of walk achieved by a large and heavy individual (the real) and then applied their observations to the animated character of an ogre (the fantastic). It is action analysis that enabled the animation team to visually translate a real life situation into an ogre's walk, achieving such fantastic results.

Key animation skills are demonstrated with in-depth illustrations, photographs and live action footage filmed with high speed cameras. Detailed case studies, practical assignments and industry interviews ground action analysis methodology with real life examples. Action Analysis for Animators is an essential guide for students, amateurs and professionals... [more]

Elemental Magic, Volume II: The Technique of Special Effects Animation
Joseph Gilland
ISBN: 978-0-240-81479-7

Design beautiful, professional-level animated effects with these detailed step-by-step tutorials from former Disney animator and animated effects expert Joseph Gilland. Filled with beautiful, full-color artwork, Elemental Magic, Volume II, breaks down the animated effect process from beginning to end-including booming explosions, gusting winds, magical incantations, and raging fires. He also breaks down the process of effects "clean-up," as well as timing and frame rates. The companion website includes real-time footage of the author lecturing as he animates the drawings from the book. In these videos, he elucidates the entire process from blank page to final animation. See it all come to life like never before. Throughout the book, Joseph refers to and includes examples from his own professional work from feature films such as Lilo & Stitch and Tarzan... [more]

Producing Animation, 2nd Edition
Catherine Winder
Zahra Dowlatabadi
Tracey Miller-Zarneke
ISBN: 978-0-240-81535-0

You have a useful library of books covering the tools, techniques and aesthetics of animation, but you've been asked to put your production and creative skills to the test to produce a theatrical feature film or to deliver 52 episodes of a television series with only 18 months in the schedule. Producing Animation is your answer.

Written by Catherine Winder and Zahra Dowlatabadi and edited by Tracey Miller-Zarneke, Producing Animation is a comprehensive guide to the production industry. Already a relied upon resource by professionals and students alike, this book covers the process from script to screen while defining the role of the producer at each phase. The second edition features new content such as sidebars on key topics from industry experts, discussions on CG, 2D and stereoscopic production processes, and an overview on marketing and distributing your project. Companion website provides access to sample tables, templates and workflow outlines for CG and 2D animation production... [more]

Creating Games With Unity and Maya: How to Develop Fun and Marketable 3D Games
Adam Watkins
ISBN: 978-0-240-81881-8

Unity has brings you ever closer to the "author once, deploy anywhere" dream. With its multiplatform capabilities, you can target desktop, web, mobile devices, and consoles using a single development engine. Little wonder that Unity has quickly become the #1 game engine out there. Mastering Unity is absolutely essential in an increasingly competitive games market where agility is expected, yet until now practical tutorials were nearly impossible to find. Creating Games With Unity and Maya gives you an end-to-end solution for Unity game development with Maya. Written by a twelve-year veteran of the 3D animation and games industry and professor of 3D animation, this book takes you step-by-step through the process of developing an entire game from scratch-including coding, art, production, and deployment... [more]

Force: Animal Drawing
Animal Locomotion and Design Concepts for Animators
Mike D. Mattesi
ISBN: 978-0-240-81435-3

Many artists are unsure how to bridge the gap between the many basic "how to draw" books and the more advanced ones dealing with the esoteric details of composition, perspective and anatomy. Force: Animal Drawing is the comprehensive guide to developing artistic animals that are creative, dynamic and anatomical, bridging the gap between foundational art and advanced techniques. Artists and animators alike all find animal inspiration when animating characters—be they human or inhuman. For a unique "larger than life" character, readers will learn to apply the unique facets of animal movement, locomotion, expressions, facial features, physical build and personality to their traditional and digital art. Readers will also adapt key industry tricks and techniques to personify animal animations with key characteristics of a human's face. Explore the practical application of force theories and learn from today's leading character designers with the included artist interviews and an extended video tutorial... [more]

Tradigital Blender: A CG Animator's Guide to Applying the Classical Principles of Animation
Roland Hess
ISBN: 978-0-240-81757-6

Focal Press adds a new star to its brightening constellation of superb Animation titles: The "Tradigital" series of titles, which teach the 12 basic principles of animation, applied to specific software tools: in this case, Blender. The 12 principles were introduced in the 1930s by the Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas to teach animators how to produce more realistic animations. These principles are used in all animated films from classics like Beauty and the Beast to Monsters Inc. Today's animators learn how to use various software tools on the fly, but most never really learn the foundations or how to apply them to their work. In the second book of the series, Tradigital Blender, students and professionals learn how to use Blender to create stunning animations that adhere to the 12 principles of animation. Roland Hess artfully demonstrates just how relevant these principles are to today's digital animators... [more]

3ds Max Modeling for Games: Insider's Guide to Game Character, Vehicle, and Environment Modeling, Volume I, 2nd Edition
Andrew Gahan
ISBN: 978-0-240-81582-4

With 18 years under his belt in the game industry, a key contributor to the MotorStorm series, and the creator of the 3ds Max in Minutes video series (at FocalPress.com), Andrew Gahan delivers the expert techniques in 3ds Max Modeling for Games, 2nd edition.  This updated edition is packed with new tutorials that will enhance your modeling skills and pump up your portfolio with high-quality work in no time.  Along with Anthony O'Donnell and a team of experts, Gahan covers all of the fundamental game modeling techniques, including character and environment modeling, mapping, and texturing. Finally, a bonus section in 3ds Max Modeling for Games offers readers insights and tips on how to get their careers started in the game industry... [more]

Real-World Flash Game Development: How to Follow Best Practices AND Keep Your Sanity, 2nd Edition
Christopher Griffith
ISBN: 978-0-240-81768-2

This book helps bridge the gap for students who may be used to C++, Java, or C# and want to move over to Flash. Griffith covers real-world scenarios pulled from his own experiences developing games for over 10 years in the industry. The associated website offers code from the game examples in the book with fully build-able source files... [more]

3D Art Essentials: The Fundamentals of 3D Modeling, and Animation
Ami Chopine
ISBN: 978-0-240-81471-1

Create high-quality 3D animations and models by using the basic concepts and principles of 3D art presented by GeekAtPlay.com's Ami Chopine. This handy studio reference breaks down the core concepts into easy-to-understand segments and teaches you the "why" in addition to the "how." Using application-agnostic step-by-step tutorials, students will learn how to model, pose, and texture their creations as well as scenery creation, animation, and rendering. Using this guide and its wealth of examples and tutorials, students will learn which applications best suit their needs and enable them to excel in the 3D field... [more]

Interactive Storytelling for Video Games: A Player-Centered Approach for Creating Memorable Characters and Stories
Josiah Lebowitz
Chris Klug
ISBN: 978-0-240-81717-0

While writing for straight, linear media like films or novels requires certain skills, writing for video games requires a whole new set of skills. Writers need to contend with overlapping stories, different conclusions based on different actions taken by the player. It's challenging to create compelling digital storylines, and writers-especially student writers- need help.

All of these concepts and more are examined, carefully explained, and answered in this definitive book on interactive storytelling for video games. Features include clear and detailed descriptions of all major types of interactive stories as well as in-depth case studies of popular games, including Bioshock, Donkey Kong, Fable, Fallout, Final Fantasy, Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid, The Sims, and World of Warcraft... [more]

The Game Audio Tutorial: A Practical Guide to Sound and Music for Interactive Games
Richard Stevens
Dave Raybould
ISBN: 978-0-240-81726-2

Sound can make or break a video game's success, as it elevates the experience of the game. Imagine playing a video game, and pushing a button and not hearing the click or pop (the motivating sound), or consider how much game music becomes just as much a part of the experience as game playing (think Halo). This book shows sound designers and composers how to get their first demo reel done, getting right into the heart of sound design and implementation, providing practical examples to learn from. This hands-on book guides students and professionals through the whole development process of how to create and implement sound and music for games. Stevens and Raybould offer a hugely effective teaching tool to engage students: a complete set of tools and interactive tutorials fully tested and proven to work in a University setting... [more]

Tradigital 3ds Max: A CG Animator's Guide to Applying the Classical Principles of Animation
Richard Lapidus
ISBN: 978-0-240-81730-9

Focal Press adds a new star to its brightening constellation of superb Animation titles: The "Tradigital" series of titles, which teach the 12 basic principles of animation, applied to specific software tools: in this case, 3ds Max. The 12 basic principles of animation were introduced by Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, who wanted to codify the efforts of the leading Disney animators from the 1930s onward to produce more realistic animations. The principles mainly teach animators how to create characters that look like they are adhering to the basic laws of physics. The principles also deal with more abstract issues, such as emotional timing and character appeal. With great relevance for today's digital workflows, Richard Lapidus presents innovative 3ds Max controls to the classical principles of animation and core techniques. With the introduction of basic principles, Lapidus lays out a solid foundation for animation students... [more]

Essential 3D Game Programming
Ian Millington
ISBN: 978-0-12-375103-4

The structure of the game development process is the same no matter what language or platform you are developing in.  This book provides coverage of a number of programming languages, runtime environments and target platforms. It will be be as applicable to an iPhone developer working in Unity as to someone developing their game from scratch in C++. The key factor in making a great game is not the quality of individual technologies, but the whole package that is assembled. The book will discuss technical elements in the context of the game design, and how they can work together. Many of the most famous game development studios started on titles with limited technology used in really smart ways. With this book, students will be able to do the same... [more]

Photoshop 3D for Animators
Rafiq Elmansy
ISBN: 978-0-240-81349-3

Photoshop is not just for photographers anymore. Photoshop 3D for Animators is one of the only titles available that discusses 3D Photoshop techniques specifically for animators and animation students. Now with Adobe CS5, 3D digital artists can integrate 3D models into Photoshop or create 3D models in Photoshop with the high capability to customize, edit and animate. Of particular interest to readers who already use Adobe Photoshop creative suite software like Flash and After Effects, Photoshop 3D for Animators will present workflow solutions for animators looking to take advantage of the new 3D tools in Photoshop while maintaining their current workflow in Flash or After Effects. It will even discuss how to export Photoshop files into Maya or Max, allowing animators to adapt the new Photoshop tools and techniques to their current workflows and pipelines. With in-depth, step-by-step tutorials, readers will explore lighting, digital painting, texturing and rendering for 2D and 3D with the power of Adobe Photoshop software... [more]

Creating 3D Game Art for the iPhone With Unity: Featuring modo and Blender pipelines
Wes McDermott
ISBN: 978-0-240-81563-3

Revolutionize your iPhone and iPad game development with Unity iOS, a fully integrated professional application and powerful game engine, which is quickly becoming the best solution for creating visually stunning games for Apple's iDevices easier, and more fun for artists.  From concept to completion you'll learn to create and animate using modo and Blender as well as creating a full level utilizing the powerful toolset in Unity iOS as it specifically relates to iPhone and iPad game development.

Follow the creation of "Tater," a character from the author's personal game project "Dead Bang," as he's used to explain vital aspects of game development and content creation for the iOS platform. Creating 3D Game Art for the iPhone focuses on the key principles of game design and development by covering in-depth, the iDevice hardware in conjunction with Unity iOS and how it relates to creating optimized game assets for the iDevices.

Featuring Luxology's artist-friendly modo, and Blender, the free open-source 3D app, along side Unity iOS, optimize your game assets for the latest iDevices including iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad and the iPod Touch. Learn to model characters and environment assets, texture, animate skinned characters and apply advanced lightmapping techniques using Beast in Unity iOS... [more]

Making Great Games: An Insider's Guide to Designing and Developing the World's Greatest Video Games
Michael Thornton Wyman
ISBN: 978-0-240-81285-4

Join videogame industry veteran Michael Thornton Wyman on a series of detailed, behind-the-scenes tours with the teams that have made some of the most popular and critically acclaimed videogames of the modern era. Drawing on insider's perspectives from a wide variety of teams, learn about the creation of a tiny, independent game project (World of Goo), casual game classics (Diner Dash, Bejeweled Twist), the world's most popular social game (FarmVille) as well as the world's most popular MMORPG (World of Warcraft), PC titles (Half Life 2) to AAA console games (Madden NFL 10), and modern-day masterpieces (Little Big Planet, Rock Band, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves). Hear directly from the creators about how these games were made, and learn from their stories from the trenches of videogames production. This book is an excellent resource for those working directly on game design or production, for those aspiring to work in the field, or for anyone who has wondered how the world's greatest videogames get made... [more]

Game Physics Engine Development: How to Build a Robust Commercial-Grade Physics Engine for Your Game, 2nd Edition
Ian Millington
ISBN: 978-0-12-381976-5

This is the only book in its category to take readers through the process of building a complete game-ready physics engine from scratch. The Cyclone game engine featured in the book was written specifically for this book and has been utilized in iPhone application development and Adobe Flash projects.  There is a good deal of master-class level information available, but almost nothing in any format that teaches the basics in a practical way. The second edition includes NEW and/or revised material on collision detection, 2D physics, casual game physics for Flash games, more references, a glossary, and end-of-chapter exercises. The companion website will include the full source code of the Cyclone physics engine, along with example applications that show the physics system in operation. ... [more]

Architectural Rendering With 3ds Max and V-Ray: Photorealistic Visualization
Markus Kuhlo
Enrico Eggert
ISBN: 978-0-240-81477-3

Create high-quality photorealistic renders of architectural visualizations using 3ds Max and V- Ray with the project-based tutorials in this book. Learn how to combine lighting and rendering options to end up with the most realistic final renders possible at a professional level. The tutorials in this book are filled with beautiful full-color images, and they teach you how to light both interiors and exteriors and daytime and nighttime scenes. Learn how to save time without sacrificing the quality of your final renders with tips and tricks on rendering with V-R ay—the most accurate rendering application for 3ds Max. The companion CD includes all the project files that you need to recreate each of the projects presented within the book... [more]

Tony White's Animator's Notebook: Personal Observations on the Principles of Movement
Tony White
ISBN: 978-0-240-81307-3

Apprentice yourself to a master of classical animation techniques with this beautiful handbook of insider tips and techniques. Apply age-old techniques to create flawless animations, whether you're working with pencil and animation paper or a 3D application. Author Tony White starts with the basics, and expands his discussion to more advanced topics, like how to animate quadrupeds, working with fluidity and flexibility, and dialogue. White brings years of production experience and even more time as an instructor to the book, ensuring that Tony White’s Animator’s Notebook will serve well as your mentor in a book. The art from the book comes to life in the clips available on the book's website... [more]

Layout and Composition for Animation
Ed Ghertner
ISBN: 978-0-240-81441-4

This essential, hands-on guide is filled with examples of what a composition should look like and example of poorly designed layouts. Spot potential problems before they cost time and money, and adapt creative solutions for your own projects with this invaluable resource for beginner and intermediate artists.  With Beauty and the Beast examples and Simpson character layouts, readers will learn how to develop character layout and background layout as well as strengthen composition  styles with a creative toolset of trick shot examples and inspirational case studies. A companion website will include further technique based tools, finalized layout and composition examples and tutorials for further artistic skill development.... [more]

How to Cheat in 3ds Max 2011: Get Spectacular Results Fast
Michele Bousquet
ISBN: 978-0-240-81433-9

Why present students with a giant tome covering the button-pushing of 3ds Max, when you can teach from this visually appealing and accessible book, and teach them to create quick yet stunning special effects and animated characters with the fastest techniques possible. How to Cheat in 3ds Max includes a host of time-saving techniques as well as little-known tools that will make students look like experts in no time. This book is for busy students who need to get it done right, but also need it done fast. It features ALL NEW content on modeling and material tools, mental ray, special effects, particle systems, and scripting. The companion website offers scene files and bitmaps used to illustrate the cheats, music files, organizational samples, and instructional Camtasia movies of the author showing some of the trickier techniques... [more]

Digital Sculpting With Mudbox: Essential Tools and Techniques for Artists
Mike de la Flor
Bridgette Mongeon
ISBN: 978-0-240-81203-8

Mudbox is the premier sculpting solution for digital artists, in that it allows them to naturally and easily sculpt detailed, organic characters and models in a way that feels like traditional sculpting. This book, co-authored by a traditional sculptor, guides CG professionals through the process of creating amazing digital sculptures using the Mudbox arsenal of groundbreaking digital sculpting and 3D painting tools, and porting the models into their Maya or Max work... [more]

Hybrid Animation: Integrating 2D and 3D Assets
Tina O'Hailey
ISBN: 978-0-240-81205-2

With the knowledge of 3D and 2D assets and the integration of multiple animation mediums into a single project, animators have a wealth of creative resources available for a project that is not limited to a specific animation medium, software package or workflow processs. With Hybrid Animation, learn the systematic development of the 2D and 3D mediums. Includes exercises, step-by-step tutorials, and practical industry insight with featured interviews with Todd Redner, Supervising Animation Director at Radical Axis Inc., and Marty Altman, former CGI Technical Director at Walt Disney Feature Animation.  With class exercises, projects, and step-by-step tutorials for students, produce high-quality 2D and 3D narratives, regardless of the software you use. Includes Photoshop, Corel, Flash, After Effects, Shake, Toon Boom, and Maya workflows and examples... [more]

Game Physics, 2nd Edition
David H. Eberly
ISBN: 978-0-12-374903-1

Game Physics is a complete resource to the mathematical and physical concepts necessary for game programmers to understand. The author describes all of the algorithmic foundations, and uses code examples and working source code to show how they are implemented, culminating in a large collection of physical simulations. The new revised and updated second edition provides new information on how to implement a classic rigid-body physics engine, as well as new coverage of ragdoll physics. The CD will contain Wild Magic 5, a large software package for graphics, physics, and related topics. Also, Eberly's associated website will support the book and CD: geometrictools.com... [more]

Write Your Way Into Animation and Games: Create a Writing Career in Animation and Games
Christy Marx
ISBN: 978-0-240-81343-1

Launch your career in writing for video games or animation with the best tips, tricks, and tutorials from the Focal Press catalog—all at your fingertips. Let our award-winning writers and game developers show you how to generate ideas and create compelling storylines, concepts, and narratives for your next project. Write Your Way Into Animation and Games provides invaluable information on getting into the game and animation industries. You will benefit from decades of insider experience about the fields of animation and games, with an emphasis on what you really need to know to start working as a writer. Navigate the business aspects, gain unique skills, and develop the craft of writing specifically for animation and games. Learn from the cream of the crop who have shared their knowledge... [more]

Flash Cinematic Techniques: Enhancing Animated Shorts and Interactive Storytelling
Chris Jackson
ISBN: 978-0-240-81261-8

Apply universally accepted cinematic techniques to your Flash projects to improve the storytelling quotient in your entertainment, advertising (branding), and educational media. A defined focus on the concepts and techniques for production from story reels to the final project delivers valuable insights, time-saving practical tips, and hands-on techniques for great visual stories. Extensive illustration, step-by-step instruction, and practical exercises provide a hands-on perspective. Explore the concepts and principles of visual components used in stories so you are fluent in the use of space, line, color, and movement in communicating emotion and meaning. Apply traditional cinematography techniques into the Flash workspace with virtual camera movements, simulated 3d spaces, lighting techniques, and character animation. Add interactivity using ActionScript to enhance audience participation... [more]

Casual Game Design: Designing Play for the Gamer in ALL of Us
Gregory Trefry
ISBN: 978-0-12-374953-6

Casual games are changing the face of the game industry. They are bringing new players to games and reinvigorating former gamers. From the puzzle game downloadables that your mom devours to the Rock Band kit drawing a crowd at a party of twenty-somethings, these games share a focused simplicity that brings players of all demographics into the game. Casual games look easy and inviting to the player, but these games are deceivingly difficult to design. They need to cleverly mask their complexity so as not to frighten off players.

This book offers insider tips and strategies on how to design casual games that appeal to all sorts of audiences (moms and grandparents alike!) The book focuses on how to create elegant games that draw in a wide variety of players, even ones skeptical of games. Students will take away valuable insights and practical advice so that they can get started right away on designing—interviews with top game designers who have learned through experience offer pearls of advice for designers eager to break into this hot new field of gaming... [more]

Rendering With mental ray and 3ds Max, 2nd Edition
Joep van der Steen
Ted Boardman
ISBN: 978-0-240-81237-3

Teach students to create stunning renders of their 3ds Max models in mental ray with this concise guide. Your students wll learn all of the essential concepts such as indirect illumination, materials, render options, shaders, and lighting. Rendering With mental ray and 3ds Max, Second Edition is now revised to cover Autodesk Revit and special effects. The companion website includes all of the necessary project files from inside the book... [more]

Realistic Architectural Visualization With 3ds Max and mental ray, 2nd Edition
Roger Cusson
Jamie Cardoso
ISBN: 978-0-240-81229-8

Full-color step-by-step tutorials give students a firm understanding of the processes and techniques needed to create impressive interior and exterior visualizations. They'll learn how to prepare materials, light a daytime interior scene, use mr Physical Sky, and how to save time during complex renders. The companion website includes all of the tutorial files and sample files from the book.... [more]

Timing for Animation, 2nd Edition
Harold Whitaker
John Halas
Updated by Tom Sito
ISBN: 978-0-240-52160-2

A classic of animation education since it first published in 1981. Copies of Timing for Animation have been sitting dog-eared and spine-split on desks and workstations around the world, wherever animation is produced for more than 25 years. Vital techniques employed by animators worldwide are explained using dozens of clear illustrations and simple, straightforward directions. Students will learn how animations should be arranged in relation to each other, how much space should be used and how long each drawing should be shown for maximum dramatic effect. Fully revised and updated, the new edition includes timing for digital production, digital storyboarding in 2D, digital storyboarding in 3D, the use of After Effects and much, much more!... [more]

Artificial Intelligence for Games, 2nd Edition
Ian Millington
John Funge
ISBN: 978-0-12-374731-0

Creating robust artificial intelligence is one of the greatest challenges for game developers, yet the commercial success of a game is often dependent upon the quality of the AI. In this book, Ian Millington brings extensive professional experience to the problem of improving the quality of AI in games. He describes numerous examples from real games and explores the underlying ideas through detailed case studies. He goes further to introduce many techniques little used by developers today. The book's associated website contains a library of C++ source code and demonstration programs, and a complete commercial source code library of AI algorithms and techniques... [more]

Learning Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010: Essentials
Autodesk
ISBN: 978-0-240-81193-2

Arm your students with the ability to create rich and complex design visualizations. Autodesk 3ds Max Design lets students maximize their productivity and tackle challenging animation projects—and this book, developed by Autodesk experts, helps them master the essential tools and techniques to do it all. Students will learn to use 3ds Max Design confidently in a production environment... [more]

Pervasive Games: Theory and Design
Markus Montola
Jaakko Stenros
Annika Waern
ISBN: 978-0-12-374853-9

Quickly emerging from the fast-paced growth of mobile communications and wireless technologies, pervasive games take gaming away from the computer screen and back to the three-dimensional world. Now games can be designed to be played in public spaces like shopping malls, conferences, museums and other non-traditional game venues. Student game designers need to understand how to use the world as a gamespace—and both the challenges and advantages of doing so... [more]

How to Make Animated Films
Tony White
ISBN: 978-0-240-81033-1

Now your students can also become Tony White's personal animation students. They'll experience many of the teaching techniques of the golden era of Disney and Warner Brothers studios and beyond…all from the comfort of your classroom. Tony White's animation m aster class is uniquely designed to cover the core principles of animated movement comprehensively. How to Make Animated Films offers secrets and unique approaches only a master animator could share. Includes hands-on t utorials, demonstrations, and final sample animations. Whether students want to become a qualified animator of 2D, 3D, Flash, or any other form of animation, Tony White's foundations bring them closer to that goal. The DVD is invaluable, in that students are not only taught principles and concepts in the book, they are able to see them demonstrated in action in the movies on the DVD... [more]

Voice-Over for Animation
Jean Ann Wright
M. J. Lallo
ISBN: 978-0-240-81015-7

Voice-Over for Animation takes animation and voice-over students and professionals alike through the animated voice-over world. The book provides information, exercises, and advice from professional voice-over artists. Now you can develop your own unique characters and learn techniques to exercise your own voice to gain the versatility you need to compete. Learn how to make a professional-sounding demo CD, and find work in the field. CD included featuring interviews with Nancy Cartwright (Bart, The Simpsons), Cathy Cavadini (Blossom, Power Puff Girls) and Bill Farmer (Goofy)... [more]

Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes, Vol. 1
Walt Stanchfield
Edited By Don Hahn
ISBN: 978-0-240-81096-6

Discover the lessons that helped bring about a new golden age of Disney animation!

Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes, Vol. 2
Walt Stanchfield
Edited By Don Hahn
ISBN: 978-0-240-81107-9

Discover the lessons that helped bring about a new golden age of Disney animation!

The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses
Jesse Schell
ISBN: 978-0-12-369496-6

Jesse Schell breaks down the three methods of game design: understanding the psychology of gameplay, using techniques from traditional disciplines in the game design, and processes for inventing new experiences that will fully engage the player. Through the use of 100 lenses which are scattered throught the book, Schell shows different ways of seeing a game that helps inspire the creative process…[more]

Game Design Workshop
A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, 2nd Edition
Tracy Fullerton
ISBN: 978-0-240-80974-8

This novice-level game design book is the ideal guide to teaching aspiring game designers the essential skills with a hand's-on methodology. No programming or artwork skills are required. Classical and contemporary principles of game play and game mechanics are analyzed thoroughly. Design skills are demonstrated with workshop exercises that put the readers to work in prototyping, playtesting and redesigning their own games. Theory and practice meld together with a process that has been rigorously road-tested in schools and professional environments.

This design methodology is currently used in the USC Interactive Media program—a cutting edge program partially funded by Electronic Arts... [more]

Prepare to Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animation Features and Shorts
Nancy Beiman
ISBN: 978-0-240-80820-8

Packed with illustrations that illuminate and a text that entertains and informs, this book explains the methods and techniques of animation preproduction with a focus on story development and character design.

Story is the most important part of an animated film—and this book delivers clear direction on how animators can create characters and stories that have originality and appeal. Learn how the animation storyboard differs from live action boards and how characters must be developed simultaneously with the story. Positive and negative examples of storyboard and character design are presented and analyzed to demonstrate successful problem-solving techniques. Artwork from an international array of students and professionals supplement the author’s own illustrations. Three never-before-published interviews with well known development artists and a comprehensive glossary are also included... [more]

Animation From Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for Digital Animators
Tony White
ISBN: 978-0-240-80670-9

Just add talent.

Animation From Pencils to Pixels is the most comprehensive book on the principles, processes, and profession of animation ever written. Within the covers of this book is everything required to conceive, produce, direct, animate, assemble, publish, and distribute an animated film. The tips and techniques in this book are timeless; applicable whether you want to make a 2D or 3D film, a Web-based animation or a game... [more]

Better Game Characters by Design: A Psychological Approach
Katherine Isbister
ISBN: 978-1-55860-921-1

Games are poised for a major evolution, driven by growth in technical sophistication and audience reach. Characters that create powerful social and emotional connections with players throughout the game-play itself (not just in cut scenes) will be essential to next-generation games. However, the principles of sophisticated character design and interaction are not widely understood within the game development community. Further complicating the situation are powerful gender and cultural issues that can influence perception of characters. Katherine Isbister has spent the last 10 years examining what makes interactions with computer characters useful and engaging to different audiences... [more]