This book introduces and explores the concepts and theories of creating and maintaining efficient and intuitive skeletal control systems for 3D characters.

An introduction and exploration of the concepts and theories of creating and maintaining efficient and intuitive skeletal control systems for 3D characters. The text include colour images and teaches animation tips and techniques for any 3D program.

Written by working professionals in the visual effects industry, this book is a guide to building functional characters in the digital environment. You will explore the concepts and theories of creating and maintaining efficient and intuitive skeletal control systems for your 3D characters. Interwoven within the book are thought-provoking and informative interviews with industry heavyweights, stunning visuals, and step-by-step tutorials that allow you to explore and expand your knowledge of the fascinating and challenging world of 3D digital characters.

Good information, lots of problems

First of all, the book is very Maya-specific, though a lot of the early chapters cover fundamental concepts (quite well actually) that apply to most any 3d package. Second, the book has a ton of great information (though half of it is semi-interesting interviews with industry professionals). In general it covers a lot of great techniques clearly and concisely and is easy to follow and presented well.

That having been said, there are some glaring, annoying negatives that warrant attention. There are a few type-os and oversights (key steps missing from tutorials and flat-out incorrect statements). To find your way around these errors requires an already present understanding of the concepts which a beginner simply wouldn’t possess.

My biggest complaint is the downloadable content. Some of the files require pre-setup in order to match up what the book says is supposed to already be there. The finished result from most chapters isn’t present, so you can’t check your work against what you’re supposed to end up with. Finally, the "ch16_finalResult" exhibits rigging methods and techniques that AREN’T COVERED IN THE BOOK. Upon exploration of the rig there are clearly things going on that aren’t even mentioned, let alone explained in any detail. I find this to be incredibly frustrating. In addition to all this, I’m not even sure the content is available anymore so for that reason alone, bypass this product and check out the cgtoolkit product line.

Great Character TD info

This is a really great book for a character TD/animator to have in their collection. It goes through some pretty neat ideas, and those ideas can then be taken into your other projects!

In all fairness the book is not 100% correct, and is a little basic at times. But, this is perfect for anyone new to character set up, or who wants to advance their basic knowledge of character technical direction.

I love this book, one of the best I have in my collection!

Maybe not for the beginner

If you want to know how to rig a character, this book is perfect. Not only that, but your general knowledge of maya will (probably) improve as well!

It contains interviews with professionals, step-by-step tutorials and, best of all, it’s completely specific to maya. It definitely goes beyond anything I have read either in books or on the internet.

The book falls short of setting up a complete character, not including facial animation and hair, but the techniques you learn might be enough for you to do this on your own.

I definitely don’t regret the purchase.

Maybe not for the beginner

If you want to know how to rig a character, this book is perfect. Not only that, but your general knowledge of maya will (probably) improve as well!

It contains interviews with professionals, step-by-step tutorials and, best of all, it’s completely specific to maya. It definitely goes beyond anything I have read either in books or on the internet.

The book falls short of setting up a complete character, not including facial animation and hair, but the techniques you learn might be enough for you to do this on your own.

I definitely don’t regret the purchase.

semper gumbi (always flexable)

I have been using Maya extensively now for two years and bought this book to try to take myself into the intermediate level of character rigging.
The first problem I encountered with this book is that I opened it and the spine broke! Not exactly what you would expect from a [$$$] book.
I think it went downhill from there. Yes the pictures are beautiful and the it really showcases what you can do with Maya(or what others have done), but the editing in this book is terrible. Examples include naming of nodes that on the same page have two different names. The downloads don’t match the book. e.g. ch13 has the low-res geo download that doesnt include the sphereCTRL or the cubeCTRL but sure has the proxyGEO. Anyone think i’m messed up? send me the right one please..
Otherwise, you are better off with the Art of Maya, or Secrets of the Pros. I think this is one not quite worth the money.

semper gumbi (always flexable)

I have been using Maya extensively now for two years and bought this book to try to take myself into the intermediate level of character rigging.
The first problem I encountered with this book is that I opened it and the spine broke! Not exactly what you would expect from a [$$$] book.
I think it went downhill from there. Yes the pictures are beautiful and the it really showcases what you can do with Maya(or what others have done), but the editing in this book is terrible. Examples include naming of nodes that on the same page have two different names. The downloads don’t match the book. e.g. ch13 has the low-res geo download that doesnt include the sphereCTRL or the cubeCTRL but sure has the proxyGEO. Anyone think i’m messed up? send me the right one please..
Otherwise, you are better off with the Art of Maya, or Secrets of the Pros. I think this is one not quite worth the money.

Beginners beware

I bought Inspired 3D Character Setup hoping to find a smarter workflow for my own character rigs. As a veteran animator, I am always looking for new and more efficient techniques.

I found this book full of great tips and knowledge on character setup, but unfortunately it was also full of errors and missing steps. I managed to find my way around the mistakes and eventually get the desired setup (I think), but it wasn’t an easy task. I was pulling my hair out on more than one occasion and I’ve been doing this for seven years.

Overall, I would not recommend this book to a beginner if you plan to learn from the tutorials. The authors should have taken more time to proofread and test their workflows or at least included a supplementary guide on the website that corrects the obvious errors.

Beginners beware

I bought Inspired 3D Character Setup hoping to find a smarter workflow for my own character rigs. As a veteran animator, I am always looking for new and more efficient techniques.

I found this book full of great tips and knowledge on character setup, but unfortunately it was also full of errors and missing steps. I managed to find my way around the mistakes and eventually get the desired setup (I think), but it wasn’t an easy task. I was pulling my hair out on more than one occasion and I’ve been doing this for seven years.

Overall, I would not recommend this book to a beginner if you plan to learn from the tutorials. The authors should have taken more time to proofread and test their workflows or at least included a supplementary guide on the website that corrects the obvious errors.

This book should have stated that it is MAYA specific

Hard for me to rate this book, while the presentation is very good with real world application and opinions on the CG industry, the material jumps around too often with no apparent cohesive to follow for one example to another. It does present very good information on rigging characters, but as I mentioned it really needed organization of the material in a clear and structure manner instead of being all over the place. I MUST mention that this book will go very nicely if you are a MAYA user, but will be problematic for non-MAYA users as all the examples require Maya to follow along, and are of course very MAYA specific.

This book should have stated that it is MAYA specific

Hard for me to rate this book, while the presentation is very good with real world application and opinions on the CG industry, the material jumps around too often with no apparent cohesive to follow for one example to another. It does present very good information on rigging characters, but as I mentioned it really needed organization of the material in a clear and structure manner instead of being all over the place. I MUST mention that this book will go very nicely if you are a MAYA user, but will be problematic for non-MAYA users as all the examples require Maya to follow along, and are of course very MAYA specific.

Great setup - from foundation to sophistication

This book leads you from the most important knowledge needed to create a good character setup to the high-end setup demonstrated in the last several chapters. It’s very crucial to follow the chapters from the beginning to get an clear understanding of the tools. Honestly, I read and exercised through them very fast and then followed the tutorials. It goes so deep and sophisticated that when I finished the setup, I couldn’t fully understand what I was doing. I went back to the first several basic chapters and learned that actually I did a lot mistakes...such as translation and rotation tools and joint orient that you never think it’s important. Those chapters are a great help too when you finish the setup and go back to read them again! You’ll find new things every time you read the book. Tutorials are worthy of doing them again. They all refer to the concepts described earlier which are very basic but very easy to forget their importance!

Great setup - from foundation to sophistication

This book leads you from the most important knowledge needed to create a good character setup to the high-end setup demonstrated in the last several chapters. It’s very crucial to follow the chapters from the beginning to get an clear understanding of the tools. Honestly, I read and exercised through them very fast and then followed the tutorials. It goes so deep and sophisticated that when I finished the setup, I couldn’t fully understand what I was doing. I went back to the first several basic chapters and learned that actually I did a lot mistakes...such as translation and rotation tools and joint orient that you never think it’s important. Those chapters are a great help too when you finish the setup and go back to read them again! You’ll find new things every time you read the book. Tutorials are worthy of doing them again. They all refer to the concepts described earlier which are very basic but very easy to forget their importance!

This book will give you a headache

This book is the only book out there that makes a serious attempt at explaining 3D character rigging. You will find that the book a is joy to read as it contains lots of pertient information, including in-depth interviews from industry experts. However, there are a few errors. The book does not come with a CD, support files require downloading from the publishers website. As you work through the tutorials you will find that the files you download wont help you much. The first real tutorial (chapter 13) asks you to load a scene of a non-rigged character, however, the scene file is already fully rigged! I managed to un-rig the character and reorder the scene to how it should be, but this took me ages and I am an experienced Maya user.

For the beginner user looking for no hassle instruction I recommend you stay away from this book as it wont help you on your learning curve. Another problem is that although the book states it is software independent all the tutorials and explainations are done in Maya.

For the more experienced user, this book contains lots of good information. The book has the potential to be a great instructional book, it is a great shame that the authors missed the boat when organising the supporting material. Also, there appears to be no method of contacting the publishers via their website except by phone. I feel I have already paid over the odds for such poor quality and wont be spending more on international calls. U.S residents may wish to contact the publishers.

This book will give you a headache

This book is the only book out there that makes a serious attempt at explaining 3D character rigging. You will find that the book a is joy to read as it contains lots of pertient information, including in-depth interviews from industry experts. However, there are a few errors. The book does not come with a CD, support files require downloading from the publishers website. As you work through the tutorials you will find that the files you download wont help you much. The first real tutorial (chapter 13) asks you to load a scene of a non-rigged character, however, the scene file is already fully rigged! I managed to un-rig the character and reorder the scene to how it should be, but this took me ages and I am an experienced Maya user.

For the beginner user looking for no hassle instruction I recommend you stay away from this book as it wont help you on your learning curve. Another problem is that although the book states it is software independent all the tutorials and explainations are done in Maya.

For the more experienced user, this book contains lots of good information. The book has the potential to be a great instructional book, it is a great shame that the authors missed the boat when organising the supporting material. Also, there appears to be no method of contacting the publishers via their website except by phone. I feel I have already paid over the odds for such poor quality and wont be spending more on international calls. U.S residents may wish to contact the publishers.