3ds max 7 provides unparalleled character animation functionality, and in this book you will learn how to take advantage of all of these tools. Simple step-by-step tutorials, glorious full-color examples, and an easy-to-understand approach to tricky concepts will have you creating and animating your own characters within hours! Author and award-winning animator Michele Bousquet answers all your questions about character modeling, rigging, and animating in 3ds max -- in the process illuminating the techniques used by game developers, broadcast and film companies, industrial designers, and more. As you complete the book’s projects and exercises -- using the files contained on the companion CD -- you’ll learn the fundamentals of character modeling, character rigging, creating rigs with custom controls, skinning, character animation, and more.

The stepping stone I needed

This book is a simple, easy to understand walkthrough of a character. From modeling to final animation including facial expression. I have had max 7 for a couple years now and followed the built in tutorials as best I could, the rest was a lot of "oh thats what that tool does" learning. This book starts where I was familiar and walked me through my problem areas with clear, easy to follow instruction. A must have for the beginner!

It does exactly what it says on the cover!!

This book has helped me significantly in creating characters for my final degree animation short.

The step by step guides were very clear and concise.

I was using 3ds max 8, and before I found this book, I had problems rigging fingers, in the book it will help you rig fingers with two bones, but you can adapt the method to apply three bones if need be.

The method of modelling your character in the book helped me tailor my own characters human and animal, which is crucial for the skinning to bones. I also had problems with the morpher modifier to help me animate facial expressions and lip-sync when I was using 3ds max tutorials, this book dealt with this because you are using the same model through out the book and the steps were simpler to understand.

The only problem I had with the book was trying to get looped animation for your character to travel along a direction.

New to computer 3d character animation?

This book has helped me significantly in creating characters for my final degree animation short.

The step by step guides were very clear and concise.

I was using 3ds max 8, and before I found this book, I had problems rigging fingers, in the book it will help you rig fingers with two bones, but you can adapt the method to apply three bones if need be.

The method of modelling your character in the book helped me tailor my own characters human and animal, which is crucial for the skinning to bones. I also had problems with the morpher modifier to help me animate facial expressions and lip-sync when I was using 3ds max tutorials, this book dealt with this because you are using the same model through out the book and the steps were simpler to understand.

The only problem I had with the book was trying to get looped animation for your character to travel along a direction.

It does exactly what it says on the cover!!

This book has helped me significantly in creating characters for my final degree animation short.

The step by step guides were very clear and concise.

I was using 3ds max 8, and before I found this book, I had problems rigging fingers, in the book it will help you rig fingers with two bones, but you can adapt the method to apply three bones if need be.

The method of modelling your character in the book helped me tailor my own characters human and animal, which is crucial for the skinning to bones. I also had problems with the morpher modifier to help me animate facial expressions and lip-sync when I was using 3ds max tutorials, this book dealt with this because you are using the same model through out the book and the steps were simpler to understand.

The only problem I had with the book was trying to get looped animation for your character to travel along a direction.

excellent reference for 3D artists

the layout is easy to follow, and deals with a single project from start to end.

part 1: modelling - seems underwhelming at first, but it imparts all the information needed when modelling people for rigging, something a lot of character books will happily pass by.

part 2: rigging - the books strong point - no mess, industry standard rigging methods are described in detail and at every step the author reminds you to check what you are doing, and what you are doing it for.

part 3: animation - won't turn you into john lassseter, but will inspire you to try some quite wacky stuff from the start.

i have been rigging characters for several years but found this book fresh and insightful and would give all levels of max user a good read.

it is worth mentioning that the book covers rigging with bones, not biped, and also there is no explanaition of how to incorporate motion capture - so look elsewhere for this

five stars - best book of many i have read on the subject

excellent reference for 3D artists

the layout is easy to follow, and deals with a single project from start to end.

part 1: modelling - seems underwhelming at first, but it imparts all the information needed when modelling people for rigging, something a lot of character books will happily pass by.

part 2: rigging - the books strong point - no mess, industry standard rigging methods are described in detail and at every step the author reminds you to check what you are doing, and what you are doing it for.

part 3: animation - won't turn you into john lassseter, but will inspire you to try some quite wacky stuff from the start.

i have been rigging characters for several years but found this book fresh and insightful and would give all levels of max user a good read.

it is worth mentioning that the book covers rigging with bones, not biped, and also there is no explanaition of how to incorporate motion capture - so look elsewhere for this

five stars - best book of many i have read on the subject

a must-have reference for modeling and animation in 3DS Max7

Have you ever thought in creating 3D character? If so, then you must asked yourself the following questions:

1-How do I model my character?
2-How do I enhance my character look with materials?
3-How do I animate my new character?

These questions form the basic steps to bring your character to life. Michele Bousquet has answered them in his book Model RIG Animate with 3DS Max 7.

The first and the second chapters answer the first two questions about modeling and adding materials to the character. Starting with pre-training on the tools used in modeling and adding materials, Michele goes step by step in his tutorial and applies each tool on the example included in the book CD.

The preparation for animation process is covered well in the third, fourth and fifth chapters. Chapter 3 teaches you how to assign bones for the model. Adding RIGs to the bones process is described in chapter 4. After completing the bones, chapter 5 is concerned with associating the bones with the model, which is known as the skinning.

My favorite topic, animating the model, is covered in the last two chapters. Chapter 7 is concerned with the character modeling, when chapter 8 concentrates on the facial animation.

This book is a must-have reference for animators, designers and teachers who want to deliver the modeling and animation with rigging features in 3DS Max7 in a simple focused way.

You want basic you’ll get basic.

This is a great book and it’s really basic. I got most of the concepts of rigging and modeling from here. Then once you get the hang off it you can start on a more elaborate character.

Super Book for new Character Animators

This is a great book for people that are new to character modeling and rigging. There is 80 pages on building a rig step by step. The rig is fully equipped with toe rolls, finger curls, and custom attributes. I highly recommend it.

No meat on these bones.

I love Michele dearly -- she is a sweet person who has contributed a lot to the Max training scene -- but this book really misses the boat for all except those who are complete beginners to character animation with Max.

For those folks it will suit as an outline to the concepts needed for character animation, but for anyone who has even slightly worked with Max this book is as much of a skeleton as that needed to rig your creatures. There is a halfway decent chapter on using Meshsmooth and box modeling techniques for those unfamiliar with this, but that’s about it.

The biggest omission is due to the nature of Max 7 itself -- now that Max ships with Character Studio just about every aspect of rigging your own bones from scratch (and not using Physique but the Skin that came with Max 6) is just plain obsolete.

It is clear this is just a rehash of her previous Max 6 edition, but the rules of the game have changed, and anyone not using Character Studio nowadays is just working way behind the times.

What’s really odd about this is Michele knows Character Studio very well indeed, having written a book on release 3. That she did not follow up with a book on release 4 or, more to the point, included that within this tome is just plain unfantomable (her CS 3 book is out of print but worth seeking out).

Pass on this disaster and save your pennies for the character animation book coming out in the fall that promises to cover CS 4 along with Max 7.