This book brilliantly guides readers, using colorful images and step-by-step instructions, through all aspects of creating a digital short film, from the development stage (story, character design, animatics), through the production process (animation, camera direction, lighting), as well as the post-production phase (editing, submitting to festivals and contests). By the time readers complete "Inspired 3D Short Film Production", they will have received an overview of all the steps involved in creating a digital short, as well as having witnessed the production of a student’s short film from concept through completion. Co-Author Jeremy Cantor’s latest CG short film, "Squaring Off" will be featured in "North America’s Best Animated Shorts" (DVD collection) scheduled for release this Spring. Co-Author Pepe Valencia is currently lending his character animation skills to "Tadpole," ’Sony Imageworks’ second animated CG short. An exciting companion DVD features several student and professional animated shorts, and includes examples performed in the book’s tutorials.

"Inspired 3D Short Film Production" provides budding filmmakers with the necessary inspiration, examples, and pipeline suggestions to help them turn their story ideas into reality through the medium of the 3D animated CG short.

Covering every aspect of the short-film production pipeline, this book demonstrates each concept and technique through a combination of general theories, examples, exercises, case studies, and interviews with short-film directors and industry specialists. Full of amazing imagery and one-of-a-kind content (including a robust DVD filled with dozens of award-winning short films) it is a must-read book for current and future animated filmmakers.

No other storytelling medium offers as flexible a stage as that of animation. In animation, anything is possible. "Inspired 3D Short Film Production" covers every aspect of the short-film production pipeline, demonstrating each concept and technique through a combination of general theories, examples, exercises, case studies, and interviews with short-film directors and industry specialists. Full of amazing imagery and one-of-a-kind content, "Inspired 3D Short Film Production" is a must-read book for current and future animated filmmakers. It includes a robust DVD full of dozens of award-winning short films, including, "Cane-Toad", "Pump Action", "Values", "Guernica", "Bert", "Puppet", "On the Sunny Side of the Street", and "Top Gum."

Great overview of the whole process

This book is everything I hoped it would be and more. In a very clear an readable design it covers all the aspects of a 3d short animation process. This process can be used on any length of 3d animation. It’s not a technical book but a must have for everyone who wants to make a solid animation but does not quite know where to begin. The whole inspired series is very useful, but this one is where it all begins. Also comes with a nice dvd with lots of inspiring shorts. Great!

Totally fantastic!

This book has everything you need to know about making a short 3D film. (I’m making one about a box turtle (I love turtles!) and a butterfly using Hexagon and Carrara.) The CD containing 39 short films is icing on the cake. This book makes the best kind of teacher - you don’t just learn from it, but are inspired by it!

Great for the true beginner

I bought this hoping that it would teach me how to create a short film. The story I already have, it’s just the skills and schedule that I need. This book gave me a GENERAL IDEA but it wasn’t specific enough. It would say, "then use your compositing softare to put the renders together." Ummm... How?
I know it wasn’t meant to be a complete-all-included-only-this-needed kind of book, but even so...
I would say that unless you are a true beginner to this field, look for something else, but if you are a true beginner, it is excellent. It taught me alot and I am very VERY glad I bought this book.

3D Short Film Production is Fantastic

It’s a great book that I would recommend to anyone serious about creating their own Short Animated Film.

More informative than I could have ever imagined. It’s everything you will learn at a 20,000 dollar a year university.

The included DVD is also filled with some great examples.

ENJOY and happy film making!

Not bad, but too much spend on things better covered in another book

I love the case studies in this book, as well as the format of using a workflow to structure the book, much as a project might be. But the authors spend too much time on story and character, material which is better covered in books dedicated to the subject (and written to hold your interest a little more as well). While the importance of these elements is significant and must not be overlooked, this is not why I bought this book. I would have been more satisfied had the space been used for more interviews and case studies (where an emphasis could have been placed on the storytelling). Other than that, I found the book inspirational and very helpful in encouraging my own ambitions towards making a short CG film - I especially appreciated how it stayed away from the platform and software wars, and focused on the things that just about every platform and software can (or should be able to) do.

An excellent start point

This book is a great starting point for any one interested in short film production.
The book is of high quality, full of inspirational pictures and is clear and well written.
The book covers many areas of production, here is a list;
Story and character development, art direction, storyboarding, production planning, modelling and texturing (although this is not a how to model etc. step by step guide) animation, lighting, sound effects, marketing and much more...
An extremely resourceful book and I am sure it will help to avoid many pitfalls when first starting out.
Well worth the purchase.

An excellent start point

This book is a great starting point for any one interested in short film production.
The book is of high quality, full of inspirational pictures and is clear and well written.
The book covers many areas of production, here is a list;
Story and character development, art direction, storyboarding, production planning, modelling and texturing (although this is not a how to model etc. step by step guide) animation, lighting, sound effects, marketing and much more...
An extremely resourceful book and I am sure it will help to avoid many pitfalls when first starting out.
Well worth the purchase.

Amazing!

This book is great for everyone who wants to create a short 3d animated film, covers all the production stages, from story to distribution and marketing (festival submissions, etc). Beautyfully designed and very well written.

Comes with a dvd with lots of shorts.

It’s more than I espected..

inspiring reading

i was introduced to this book by a colleague, and have just dropped by to order myself a copy. there isn’t a single aspect of short film creation that you won’t find between it’s covers. i found it quite a sobering read, and even though i have attempted even a simple ’narrative’ short before encountering this book, i it would have prevented me making some fundamental mistakes.

inspiring reading

i was introduced to this book by a colleague, and have just dropped by to order myself a copy. there isn’t a single aspect of short film creation that you won’t find between it’s covers. i found it quite a sobering read, and even though i have attempted even a simple ’narrative’ short before encountering this book, i it would have prevented me making some fundamental mistakes.

Covers every aspect of Short Film production.

"Inspired 3D Short Film Production" covers every aspect of the short-film production pipeline, demonstrating each concept and technique through a combination of general theories, examples, exercises, case studies, and interviews with short-film directors and industry specialists. Full of amazing imagery and one-of-a-kind content, "Inspired 3D Short Film Production" is a must-read book for current and future animated filmmakers.

It’s really well laid out to keep it interesting. Easy to read. Easy to learn. Lots of great information. Five out of Five stars.