Finish Your Film! Tips and Tricks for Making an Animated Short in Maya 1st Edition

Great book

I love the book it opens your imagination and ideas not to mention that it teaches you step by step

I downloaded the fully-functional 30-day trial of Maya for 64-bit Windows from the Autodesk site (Note: There's no 32-bit trial available and at about 7GB+ it took a good couple of hours to download).The book assumes prior experience with Maya. I'm comfortable with graphics, CAD and imaging software and, after spending a couple of days with Autodesk's downloadable Maya tutorials to get my bearings, I was able to follow along with the book's tutorials quite easily.What I enjoyed most about the book is the way it immersed me in what the author calls the `typical studio pipeline', vividly giving a sense of the big picture, all the roles and processes - manual as well as digital - that go into a short animated film production.The first four chapters don't really touch on Maya at all but rather define the short film genre, story development concepts including: storyboarding techniques, key pre-production decisions such as what and how much material to create versus download, how to integrate those resources into Maya, connecting them to controllers and enabling the animation process.This was so much more revealing and interesting than an isolated collection of technical tricks and effects. The book is beautifully illustrated with plenty of screenshots, but it's meant more as a `shop guide' for people who know what they want to do and are looking for direction, rather than a book out to impress readers with the capabilities of Maya per se. I think that big-picture workfow-oriented perspective will keep readers engaged and confident they're going to walk away having learned something new and valuable, regardless of experience level.The later chapters offer more specialized tutorials illustrating rendering, compositing, lighting effects and sound. The idea is to feel as though you're following along side by side as the author explains his creative decisions in the hope you'll take those lessons and apply them to your own work.Finally, there's a repeating series of fixed question interviews throughout the book with working producers of shorts that give the book's content a grounded, practical feel. This window into the `real world' is certain to inspire anyone looking to get into the field.

One of the things that fail me with tutorials is the lack of step-by-step instruction. Not that I’m planning on being a filmmaker because I’m not, but I am interested in the process. Whenever I see anything online, I run up against fragmented, drawn out, and incomplete tutorials. Sometimes the assumption is that one knows a lot more than they do and the tutorial is so poorly done (fast, hard to see, difficult to follow) it’s an exercise in futility. That’s when I’m turned off and will turn away.Not so with Kenny Roy’s tutorial. There are the basics here such as the introductory material to the short film and the like. If you want to make a film, read this material. It’s not there as a filler and will help you get on board and brainstorm your own material for a film. Just having an idea is not always enough. I even learned a few things simply from reading the introduction. For example, Bill Kroyer immediately caught my attention with what he calls the “three steps of successful animation:”1. Idea!2. Communication!3. Captivate!Obviously these three steps are a no brainer if you want to really be a filmmaker using Maya rather than someone who dabbles in Movie Maker. Once the basics are out of the way, that’s when the book explodes. There you’ll find a step-by-step tutorial with real screen shots. For example, if you want to blend shapes you’re going to actually see how to work with them. FYI, the index is very thorough, something I really like to see in any book, but is doubly important in a tutorial.There are cool sidebars with things like interviews with Michael Cawood, Tomer Eshed and Omer Ben David. It’s always interesting to “listen” to people who have been successful in mastering their craft. In the back of the book there’s the finished short in a DVD, an index, a glossary, and an awesome festival list that includes website address. This is a great resource for anyone looking to move their work into the public eye. Excellent book that will help filmmakers learn from the best.CONTENTS:1. Introduction to Short Film2. Introduction to 3D Production3. Story4. Pre-Production5. 3D Pre-Production6. 3D Production7. 2D Production8. Editorial9. Sound10. Finaling11. Festivals and Markets12. Glossary

Very comprehensive resource covering everything you'll need or want to learn about making an animated short film. Contains interviews and perspectives from successful award winning animated short film directors, challenges they faced, techniques they employed and the completion of their own personal projects. Book lists the key characteristics of short film making, making a plan, understanding short film as a medium, production problems, technical obstacles and how important the story is above all else. Plus how to communicate and captivate with your short story. There are many topics in here you can't cover in one paragraph but it's in this book. It's part inspirational, part reference, part information and a good step by step manual.. It's illustrated with clear examples, pictures, tips and tricks that can help you make a long difficult process easier. Also contains a bind-in DVD disk in the back of the book with some finished short films and a short animated film from the University of Hertfordshire called 'Adrift'. You can also visit the companion website for more information. If you want to get your short film finished then this book is a good start, good for taking things to the next level and making your vision come true.

Still reading it, but it's already inspired me for a future project. Lots of tips, and examples that are based on films that have been completed. Having the Booty Call project as a main spine for the book really helps understand the full process from start to finish.

Una de las partes que siempre queda más floja en los libros de 3D es la dedicada al pipeline a usar en una producción real. Este libro lo muestra de una forma amena y muy interesante.

This is THE guide to finish your film. The book is full of useful tips in every area of the making process.