Introducing Character Animation with Blender, 2nd Edition is written in a friendly but professional tone, with clear descriptions and numerous illustrative screenshots. Throughout the book, tutorials focus on how to accomplish actual animation goals, while illustrating the necessary technical methods along the way. These are reinforced by clear descriptions of how each specific aspect of Blender works and fits together with the rest of the package. By following all the tutorials, the reader will gain all the skills necessary to build and animate a well-modeled, fully-rigged character of their own. The character built over the course of the tutorials is included as a .blend file on the companion website, for the reader to experiment with and learn from.

Introducing Character Animation with Blender, 2nd Edition is inspiring as well as educational. A color insert includes sample characters and frames from animations by many of the Blender community's most talented artists, which help to illustrate the impressive potential of the software.

Publisher: Sybex; 2 edition (April 26, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 047042737X
ISBN-13: 978-0470427378

Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover

FROM CONCEPTS TO FULLY RIGGED CHARACTERS

Companion WebSite

Find source files for the tutorials in the book, useful Blender links, and much more on the companion website.

www.sybex.com/go/introducingblender

Tap the power of Blender, blend in your creativity, and build memorable animated characters with this practical guide from Blender guru Tony Mullen. Covering the new Blender 2.5, this book offers clear, step-by-step tutorials, a complete discussion of all tools, and illustrations that will both enlighten and inspire you.

Follow all the projects and you'll soon have the skills you need to build and animate a well-modeled, fully-rigged character of your own. A full-color insert presents dazzling examples from some of the most talented artists in the Blender community.

    Get up to speed on Blender 2.5's extensively redesigned user interface

    Master organic mesh modeling tools and build a complex character mesh

    Fashion skin, hair, and clothing with material shaders, textures, and slots

    Use Blender's new Rigify add-on to create complete, professional-quality character rigs with ease

    Learn to sync lip movements with a sound file

    Understand function curves, keyframes, and the basics of animating

    Learn to link assets and use Armature proxies to organize your productions

    Analyze the Blender short film, Sintel, and read what its creators have to say

Animate a rigged character to get him running

Use particles and subsurface scattering to create hair and skin

Explore open content from the Blender Foundation Open Movie Projects
About the Author

Tony Mullen, PhD, has a broad background in CG-related work. He teaches at Tsuda College and Musashino Art University, where his courses have included modeling and animation with Blender and programming with Python. Mullen has been a cartoonist and an illustrator; his screen credits include writer, codirector, and lead animator on several short films, including the award-winning, live-action/stop-motion film Gustav Braustache and the Auto-Debilitator. He is the author of Blender Studio Projects: Digital Movie-Making; Mastering Blender; and Bounce, Tumble and Splash!: Simulating the Physical World with Blender 3D, all from Sybex.