Hey all--

I have Jeff Paries A:M 2000 book, but because of all the new features between now and then (I made quite the cross-generational leap) I would like to know more about David Rogers' A:M 2006: A Complete Guide which comes out next week. Does anyone know where I can find more information--other than the back of the book blurb--about this book? Does anyone know if I should pick it up, or if there's no need?

I was hoping Amazon would have one of those "Inside This Book" things, but all it had was a cover scan. Also, the site for the publisher (Charles River Media) appears to be down and/or missing.

Reviews/info would be appreciated, but what I would love most of all is excerpts--contents, index, a chunk from the inside.


Thanks!

So you saw the writeup on the book at Amazon.com?

I quoted it HERE.

Other than that only David Rogers knows.

Aha! "It does require some effort to track down and edit information," a wise man once wrote (in that referenced thread). This would be why I missed that earlier . . . .

I'd read the synopsis, which was what initially interested. I was just hoping for a chunk on the inside, but it's looking good so far.

you can also find info, including a table of contents on charlesriver.com the publisher website.
i do not think that i am going to get the book based on the table of contents, despite the fact that i am in the exact situation as the starter of this thread; i have the jeff praries.

Jeff Paries books are great (I have two of the editions he released...I'm told there is a third but have never seen it). I think they are an easier read than David's. David's on the other hand is more technical and digs deeper. If this new edition covers what the index says it will it'll be a most welcome addition to my library.

Another old book you can find on the cheap is "Character Animation In Depth" by Doug Kelly (from Coriolis books). It covers other software platforms too but the Animation:Master sections are a treat. There is a reason you can pick this book up for under $4 though... it was published in 1998. Still, at just under 1000 pages with a CD... its a great buy. The A:M parts still stand up pretty good too. Get it *and* David Roger's book if you can. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Heck, its worth $4 just for the look back at the Animation:Master community of 1998. Hint at some of the content on the CD: Jeff Lew was once a newbie too.

I totally agree with Rodney here, I have the "Character Animation In Depth" book he's talking about and would recommend it as well. Even though it's getting older, the material discussed is still quite applicable and cheap! I was using Truespace back in those days (500$), and it was totally incapable of performing the character animation I was trying to accomplish in the book. With all the examples using AM it was one of the main reasons I purchased animation master as I found I could actually animate characters with ease.

Anyway recommended, I think we're all waiting in trepidation for David Rogers new book!

-Ethan

OK, it seems the book was not released on the 18th as it was scheduled?? I wonder what happend??

I was disappointed about that too. I have really been looking forward to this book. I sure hope they release it soon! I've noticed they changed the name of it on the Barnes&Noble website from Animation Master 2005 Handbook to Animation Master 2006 Handbook. That might explain the delay. Perhaps the author decided to go back and talk about some new v13 features.

I have been reading one of those books by Jeff Paries like some of you other guys have mentioned. It's a good book, but the one I have is from 1998!!! I am sure there have been a lot of changes to A:M since then. (For example, I was doing one of the modelling exercises from the book and in my opinion it could have been done better using a few 5-point patches.)

TAoAM is an excellent beginner-level book, but I wish there were intermediate-level and advanced-level books as well.

So in a nutshell, what I want is a book that is up-to-date regarding the software features, and goes beyond the basics shown in TAoAM. Hopefully David Rogers' book will be that book.

I actually placed my order right after I started the thread through Amazon.com. It was listed as coming out last Tuesday, the 23rd, but has yet to ship. Anyone know if there's been a release delay?

Barnes and Noble had it listed for the 18th, but now they show no date. Borders just says it isn't released yet. The only site I have seen that does show a date now is Thomson Course Technology ( http://www.courseptr.com/ptr_detail.cfm?gr...n=1-58450-475-7 ), and they list it as available June 8th.

I got my advance copy on friday. this should mean that pre-orders will be filled shortly. I think there were some delays at Charles River, as one of the producction people was "no longer with the company" during the last week of production work I did with them. Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy the book.

Thanks,
-David Rogers

Now, that's good news!

I didn't preorder... but that means I should be able to buy it soon! And that rates a smiley (pick one)!

Thanks, David!

Hooray! I can hardly wait! Thanks for the great news, Dave!

Drool, drool

Got this info at the bookstore ISBN 1584504757 avalable from Tompson Learning 800 8423636,My AM2002 is my most worn book bound to be great Thanks David ,have A Great Day Mulls

Just recieved my copy of Animation:Master A complete Guide. Another great resource I too owe alot to the inventor of coffee Thanks for another good book

Does the new book do different projects for modeling, environments/sets, animation or are they the same as the previous book?

I've got both right here in front of me and I'll do a side-by-side comparison.

So what's different? Actually, it depends on the chapter, but even the ones that cover the same stuff have been expanded on. To give you an example: in the old book Chapter 1 starts on page 3 and ends on page 40... in the new book Chapter 1 starts on page 3 and ends on page 48.

One minus is that some of the new graphics are a bit too dark, you can still see the important information, but given how easy this would have been to correct, this appears to be something the publisher let slip through the cracks. HOWEVER, it's important to add that MOST of the graphics are included on the cd. The graphics on the cd are in color and were never adjusted for printing in black and white.

For some reason, they didn't include the Chapter 11 graphics on the cd, which is unfortunate given the ones printed in the book are so dark. Hopefully, the publisher will make these available online.


Chapter 1: Interface

Naturally, this is pretty much the same. David has included a few "Try It Now" sections that include helpful tips. The graphics for this section are pretty much the same.


Chapter 2: Modeling Basics

Again, the same areas are covered and expanded on.

The description on how to make a torus is still the same, which to me seems a bit confusing and kinda the long way, but to be fair, he also uses this opportunity to explain how lathe works.


Chapter 3: Bone Basics

Once again the same areas are covered and expanded on.


Chapter 4: Action Basics

The sequence of topics have been changed. The Timeline and Channels section and the Keyframe Interpolation section have a few nice new graphics that help make the topic easier to understand.


Chapter 5: Character Modeling For Animation

There's a few nice additions here. Starting a morgue library for all of your spare parts that you create over time is a real good idea, sure to be a timesaver.

Being that hair and cloth have undergone major improvements, these topics are covered in depth in Chapter 13.

Leg construction gets expanded on and includes some nice new graphics.

Modeling a character, we get a new guy, Captain Splines. He's kind of a Rocketeer-type character. He's a bit more advanced than Washer but the steps are mostly the same. There's also a section on modeling clothing that will animate well.


Chapter 6: the title has changed to Inorganic modeling.

The remote and urban landscape topics are covered, although like the old book, the new one seems to skip a few steps on modeling the remote.

The most noticeable difference is that instead of covering modeling natural settings, we are introduced to Captain Splines' evil arch-nemesis: Polygozmo, the perfectly evil robot. Constructing Polygozmo is mostly to show us how even inorganic forms can be combined to create interesting characters.


Chapter 7: Constraints

The same topics are covered.

This is the chapter where the dark graphics really detract from the enjoyment of following along in the book.

Also, although the section on mechanical rigging was short in the old book, it appears to be absent in the new version.


Chapter 8: Relationships

Pretty much the same as the old book.


Chapter 9: Expressions

(yipeee, wahooo, Caloo Calay... sorry, I've been waiting for a "Dummies" version that covers expressions for some time now.)

Though I have yet to dive into this section, (modeling Polygozmo is kinda fun), looking through it, David has taken the time to explain the inner workings of one of the most powerful features of Animation Master in easily understandable form.

The graphics in this section are thankfully easy to see.

There seems to be a typo with the ceiling entry. I believe the number would be rounded up to 3.


Chapter 10: Animation

Same basic information.

Some graphics, though mostly the same as the old book, have changed size, from small to big and visa versa.

The secondary motion section seems to be gone from the new book.


Chapter 11: Lighting

Again, the graphics really suffer here.

Being that the Captain Splines stuff takes place during the day, this section doesn't cover night-time situations.

Radiosity gets expanded on nicely.


Chapter 12: Surfacing

This chapter in both books covers alot of ground.

The graphics that cover decal maps are clearer in the old book. Although theres a section on applying and combining the effects of decal maps that more than makes up for it.


Chapter 13: F/X

Sprites, Blobbies, Streaks, Flocks, and Volumetrics are pretty much the same.

Because of the new features with hair and cloth, these sections have changed. You build on what you set up when you modeled the captain's clothing.

I don't know if spring systems have changed significantly in the latest version of the software, but the old book goes into more of the inner workings.

Ridgid bodies seems to be missing.

Layers are covered in the next chapter.


Chapter 14: Rendering and Compositing

Render options are expanded on but the graphics are too dark.

AM Composite is well covered in the new book.

Layers is about the same.


Chapter 15: Group Projects

Covers the basics

There's a chapter on Workarounds that doesn't appear in the new book.


Chapter 16: Miscellany

Mostly the same.


Appendix A: Keyboard shortcuts

The formatting for this section has been considerably condensed.


Appendix B: Glossary of terms

Same.


Appendix C: About the CD-Rom

Same.


Well, that's about it. For my money, getting info on hair, cloth, and expressions more than makes up for the negatives.

My two cents,

Steve P.

I sure like the new character better than the old one. I never cared for that zombie guy. (I know the face is pretty much the same, but I just couldn't get into modeling him).

Nice work David! Publish or perish, that's what I always say.

Up til now, the only A:M books I had looked at were TAoAM and a 1998 book by Jeff Paries that I found at one of the local libraries... so this book is a godsend! I am trying desperately to learn this program and I need all the help I can get. So far I've already learned a couple new hotkeys from this book.

Hi, What is TAoAM? Could you please tell me the details for this book?

Thanks!

TAoAM stands for "The Art of Animation Master", the book that comes with the software.

I looked at Amazon.com and found: "Animation: Master 200x Handbook" by David Rogers. Is this the new book we are talking about here?

Yup. Just as long as it's not 2002. On the book itself it should say 2006.

Still working through it and so far it's still the best manual/tuts I've found.

One thing that wasnt included on the CD for the new book is the quicktime screen captures that show how things are done in the chapters, they were on the 2002 books CD. The book mentions that you need QT to view the movies on the cd, but no videos on the CD I received with the book.

Don Rhodes

You need to install the on2 codec for quicktime I believe
Looks like the figures folder if you explore the CD has the screen shots,,,,GREAAT BOOK

This is definitely a must have book. Whether a newbie or a seasoned vet, its a great book for reference. Put it together with the TAo:AM book and get the full understanding of the program. I have yet to follow the tutorials but just reading it, I am remembering things and understanding things better.

Just got the book. Love it! Thanks David.