LightWave 3D is one of the most popular 3D packages on the market today, offering the most complete set of tools, the best-looking and fastest out-of-the-box renderer, and one of the most powerful IK engines available. Professional director and animator Timothy Albee updates the best-selling LightWave 3D 7 Character Animation with discussions of advanced animation tools, facial animation, and IK Booster. In addition, he details how to use LightWave to build strong, dependable character setups; provides proven, hands-on tools for mastering the complex mechanics of animation; and covers the importance of storytelling and acting through animation.

• Explore the complete crafting of powerful and reliable character setups.
• Master subtle acting techniques that imbue scenes with life, drama, and power, such as anticipation, gesture, overlapping action, and silhouette.
• Discover how IK Booster adds more power, ease, and functionality to LightWave’s existing Inverse Kinematics system.
• Use LightWave’s Dope Sheet, Dope Track, and Motion Mixer tools to improve your output in creating animation.
• Find out how to use morph targets to sculpt your characters’ facial performances.

Complete coverage of DirectX 3D graphics programming. Topics include understanding how DirectX interfaces with PC graphics devices and Windows, mastering 2D and 3D animation basics, harnessing Direct3D retained mode programming to create true 3D animations, manipulating frames, meshes, textures, mipmaps, lights and shadows, and more. Softcover.

From the Publisher
Inside this book you'll find complete coverage of DirectX 3D graphics programming:

Understand how DirectX interfaces with PC graphics devices and Windows

Master 2D and 3D animation basics, from modeling and rendering to matrices

Take control of blitting and blit-time transformations using DirectDraw

Take advantage of sprites, flips, and other DirectDraw animation techniques

Harness Direct3D retained programming to create true 3D animations

Manipulate frames, meshes, textures, mipmaps, lights, and shadows

Fine-tune motion with tweening, morphing, and other animation techniques

BONUS CD-ROM INCLUDES:
All C++ source code from the book
Microsoft DirectX 7 Software Development Kit

The Ultimate Resource for Professional Game Animators

Game animation is a demanding art. Not only do you have to deliver realistic, beautiful animations, but you have to do so under strict real-time, video-game constraints. The Game Animator's Guide to Maya is your focused resource for using Maya to create professional-level game animations for console and PC games. Written by a game industry veteran and featuring interviews with professional animators and artists from around the country, this focused book features specific, detailed, real-world game animation techniques. It's the perfect reference and tutorial for those looking to develop or refine their game animation skills.

The enclosed CD features more than $3000 worth of exclusive content, including models, high-resolution textures, animations, concept art, and animation reference videos. It also includes the Maya Personal Learning Edition and project files so you can complete the hands-on tutorials.

The Game Animator's Guide to Maya gives you an insider's view of the animation business and teaches the skills necessary to animate everything from characters to vehicles to lip-synching audio. First, you'll get an introduction to the industry and typical game development pipelines, then learn rigging and animation basics before moving on to advanced techniques and the detailed tutorials. Inside, you'll find:
* Game Career Guide: Industry information, demo reel advice, job descriptions, game asset pipeline overview
* Animation Techniques: detailed explanation of animation terms, techniques, tools, concepts, and editors
* Rigging and Animation Setup: IK and FK, joint hierarchies, skeleton controls, constraints, selection handles, and more
* True Game Animation: real-world assignments that mimic the day-to-day jobs of professional game animators–walk cycles, run cycles, idle cycles, action sequences, lip-synching to audio, and more

Graphics and game developers must learn to program for mobility. This book will teach you how.

"This book - written by some of the key technical experts…provides a comprehensive but practical and easily understood introduction for any software engineer seeking to delight the consumer with rich 3D interactive experiences on their phone. Like the OpenGL ES and M3G standards it covers, this book is destined to become an enduring standard for many years to come."
- Lincoln Wallen, CTO, Electronic Arts, Mobile

This book is an escalator, which takes the field to new levels. This is especially true because the text ensures that the topic is easily accessible to everyone with some background in computer science…The foundations of this book are clear, and the authors are extremely knowledgeable about the subject.
- Tomas Akenine-Möller, bestselling author and Professor of Computer Science at Lund University

Designed for busy Maya users like you, this guide offers dozens of how-tos, workarounds, and shortcuts culled from years of experience in a fast-paced, deadline-driven production pipeline. You’ll discover tricks and timesavers on texturing particles, customizing Paint Effects brushes, modeling polygon faces, creating facial rigs with wire deformers, and much more—and helpful full-color illustrations reinforce the concepts. From modeling, animating, and rigging to texturing and lighting, this book will help you streamline workflow and improve your skills.

Work better and faster in Maya with the quick-hit tips and techniques in this practical book. Designed for busy Maya users, this guide offers dozens of how-tos, workarounds, and shortcuts culled from years of experience in a fast-paced, deadline-driven production pipeline. You'll discover tricks and timesavers on texturing particles, customizing Paint Effects brushes, modeling polygon faces, creating facial rigs with wire deformers, and much more—while useful, full-color illustrations reinforce the concepts. From modeling, animating, and rigging to texturing and lighting, this book will help you streamline workflow and improve your skills.

In this book you'll learn:

• How to model an architectural scene and create stunning materials that breathe life into your projects
• How to use real-world photometric lights and global illumination to achieve photorealism
• Efficient project workflow and scene assembly
• Tips and tricks for the production environment that would take years to learn the hard way
• How to market your services to prospective clients

Welcome to the world of 3D architectural visualizations using the most powerful and versatile 3D software package on the planet: 3ds Max. In just the last few years, the visualization industry has arguably become the fastest-growing 3D industry, and may soon overtake all others in total number of users. Just as the use of CAD became the norm for nearly all architectural, engineering, and construction firms in the 90s, 3D visualizations have become standard practice today. This book takes you through the challenge of learning one of the most complex computer programs ever created, by way of easy-to-follow tutorials and instruction. It specifically focuses on those parts of the program you need to know to produce stunning architectural visualizations. The intent is not to show you every possible way to accomplish a task, but rather some of the fastest and most efficient ways. At the end of the book, there is a guide to marketing your services, as well as 20 top tips that took the author almost 10 years to learn in a production environmentsometimes the hard way. 3ds Max is a large and complex applicationbut by learning just the features that apply to visualizations, you'l be learning everything you need to know to get ahead in the industry in the shortest possible time.

LightWave v9 Lighting is the only book on the market from a professional artist explaining the theory and application of lighting with LightWave 3D. The book has the following key features: Describes step-by-step everything you need to know about the qualities of light; Clearly explains modern lighting concepts; Steps through LightWave's impressive toolset, describing the qualities and uses of each tool and feature; Addresses lighting design issues, dealing with everything from the motivation of a light source to the emotional impact of color on the scene; Companion CD is packed with images and plugins, and includes a demo version of LightWave 3D version 9; Includes a 16 page color insert of lighting examples.

The migration of immersive media towards telecommunication applications is advancing rapidly.  Impressive progress in the field of media compression, media representation, and the larger and ever increasing bandwidth available to the customer, will foster the introduction of these services in the future. One of the key components for the envisioned applications is the development from two-dimensional towards three-dimensional audio-visual communications.

With contributions from key experts in the field, 3D Videocommunication:

• provides a complete overview of existing systems and technologies in 3D video communications and provides guidance on future trends and research;
• considers all aspects of the 3D videocommunication processing chain including video coding, signal processing and computer graphics;
• focuses on the current state-of-the-art and highlights the directions in which the technology is likely to move;
• discusses in detail the relevance of 3D videocommunication for telepresence systems and immersing media; and
• provides an exhaustive bibliography for further reading.

Researchers and students interested in the field of 3D audio-visual communications will find 3D Videocommunication a valuable resource, covering a broad overview of the current state-of-the-art. Practical engineers from industry will also find it a useful tool in envisioning and building innovative applications.

OpenGL Graphics Through Applications is a practical introduction to Computer Graphics with an emphasis on understanding through practice. Throughout the book, theory is followed by implementation using C / C++ and complete programs are provided on the Springer website.

A procedural approach has been taken to algorithmic development while taking an object oriented approach when building artefacts from simple objects. The book covers a range of topics including:

image processing
artefact construction
introductory animation
texturing
curves surfaces and patterns

Robert Whitrow has taught computing courses from first year undergraduate to postgraduate MSc at a range of different institutions.

LightWave v9 Texturing takes you behind the fine art of texturing and surfacing interesting and detailed textures for your 3D objects using LightWave 3D. Texturing and prepping your objects for texturing is a task that many artists find intimidating and/or confusing. LightWave v9 Texturing breaks down this process and makes it easier to understand by guiding you through LightWave's powerful surfacing toolset, tutorials, and exercises. LightWave v9 now offers a nodal shading system, which is the standard tool in the visual effects industry for the creation of surfaces. This book will show you how easy, yet extremely powerful and flexible this new system is, allowing you to dive in and create great surfaces immediately.