Cinema 4D 9.5: Real-World 3D Animation Production teaches how to produce commercial-quality 3D animation using Maxon?s, powerful and affordable, Cinema 4D. Written for 3D animation professionals, hobbyists, and students, this practical, hands-on book uses real-world projects to teach the entire production process. Beginning with a review of how to model photorealistic objects, the book progresses through creating custom materials, cloth simulation, and character animation, to video game and simulation techniques. The book takes a software-integrated approach to 3D animation production with a focus on Cinema 4D and how to use it in concert with several other applications. This Cinema 4D-centric approach shows how real-world 3D animation production challenges can be met, not only with a great tool, but with a great tool box. Throughout the book, you?ll learn a highly efficient workflow for creating 3D character animation with C4D. You?ll learn various ways of producing motion graphics by integrating Adobe® Photoshop, and After Effects®, with C4D. You?ll explore projects that use BodyPaint to extend your ability to create fantasy and control the realism of how image maps relate to their objects. And you?ll use Right Hemisphere Deep Creator 2 and Code Gardener?s XPort 1.3 to explore methods for animating video games and simulations. Some experience with 3D animation is assumed, but all levels of users will be challenged to expand their skills.

This book teaches how to produce commercial-quality 3D animation using Cinema 4D. It is written for animation students, teachers, and 3D animation professionals. Using hands-on tutorials and an interactive DVD, users learn the entire production process beginning with modeling photorealistic objects and progressing all the way to creating custom materials and animating the objects with C4D. A variety of objects are covered, including a shampoo bottle, a 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse, a cartoon character, a simple human, and a photorealistic human. The custom materials are created from within C4D as well as real-world techniques such as mapping a person’s face onto a 3D character. In addition, the book teaches various ways of producing motion graphics by integrating Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, and C4D. Throughout the book, users learn a highly efficient workflow for 3D character animation with C4D. And they learn how to create an artificial, intelligent dynamic human character with C4D by integrating Alias™ Motion Builder and Natural Motion™ Endorphin. The final part of the book covers a complete animated short production. It is assumed that readers have some experience with 3D animation, but all levels of users will be challenged to expand their skills.

FEATURES * Teaches real-world animation production skills from modeling to final animation with C4D * Provides hands-on tutorials with comparative studies of existing 3D animation productions * Uses a variety of real-world objects to model and then animate, including a shampoo bottle, a car, a cartoon character, and a simple human * Details the entire production process for beginners and provides experienced 3D animators with insightful techniques and tips * Includes a companion DVD containing all project files, their finished results, and sample data

It depends on your definition of "real world"

Don’t get this hoping to learn high quality character animation, but if you want to learn quick animation where time & budget is first concern then this good book. Contrary to what some have said its not all about 3rd party apps. He does cover modeling, Expresso scripting & dynamics - I believe Expresso comes with the basic CD4 and dynamics comes with the complete CD4. Even though the book is far from complete he does cover subjects no one else has the nerve to touch.

interesting anecdotes

The book really should be called "how to cheat with animating C4d by buying lots of expensive addons". The tutorials are interesting, but what is missing is basic animating in C4D with the tools already available. For example, there is no section on animating facial expressions. That is so much used in games and movies that it’s omission is curious. Many of the human animations are done with using the BodyStudio plugin to import animations done in Poser. Poser’s animation tools are moderately good for things like walking, but lack the sophistication of tools available in C4D. If you like premade animations, his technique is good. There is no mention of the InterPoser plugin which is a stronger way of importing Poser objects in C4D.

Also missing is any section of web based animation: rotating 3D objects in response to user input. But there is a section on modeling with IModeller 3D that really doesn’t have anything to do with animation.

This book would be useful to someone who already knows how to animate in C4D but wishes to understand various addins that are useful in importing Poser animations, making games, adding keyed video (like the section on Ultra), etc. So it really a book on how to cheat in C4D and save time by buying other programs.

Excellent learning source

This was book was extremely helpful and easy to follow. It was used in class to help my students and they found the animation and dynamics information invaluable. I’m always impressed when someone can successfully communicate difficult technical information.

Cinema 4D 9.5 Excellent! well written, easy to follow.

This book has provided me with a hands on guid that I have search for many years. I am new to animation, and I think Mr. Mitchell did a fantastic job of explaining and making his real world application easy to follow. This book has taught me more about professional animation than any other books in my library. To me the CD is an added bonus. I would highly recommend this book to any beginner who is trying Learn 3D animation production. The only negative thing I have to say is, why it took you so long to publish a book that gave someone like me the confidence in learning 3D animation. I was able to create my first animated characters by using this book, by adding this book to your library, you will be gaining a wealth of knowledge. By the way, when is your next book coming out? Simply, this book is GREAT.

unleash the legend of creative animation

After working with Maya for about 3yrs now I would say this book has opened up another way for me to look at animation. It should be about the creative side to get fantastic results not about computer programming (MEL). C4D helps you get great results in no time and my man Larry has demonstrated that very nicely. Maya is so completed and confusing that you really have to be way experience to get a good enough results. I would highly recommend this book to any beginner who is wants to Learn 3D animation (so those people like me out there get, grab this book and make your first big step into the animation world). Larry Mitchell awesome book, no doubt about it, experience users of Cinema 4D you just have to wait for next book perhaps!!

Profesional 3D animation results

Larry Mitchell’s C4D 9.5: REAL-WORLD 3D ANIMATION PRODUCTION teaches how to produce professional 3D animation results using Cinema 4D. 3D animation pros and advanced students with some prior knowledge will find the software-integrated approach provides a powerful survey of real-world applications and polished results. While beginners will appreciate the descriptions of the entire process, it’s the advanced users who will most readily absorb the actual applications.

Not bad...

I was excited to get this title. For my needs, this book concentrated too much on use with thirdparty software and not enough on the depth of C4d itself and it’s own modules. Perhaps that is what was intended. I don’t regret adding it to my reference shelf for the odd consultation (books like this are almost always worth even a few great nuggets of knowlege) but it did not live up to my expectations of a definitive C4d reference. That may have had more to do with my expectations then the book itself.

Who on earth was this meant for?

There aren't many cinema 4d books out there, let alone any which claim to focus on animation, so I know that there was a lot of excitement on C4D forums when this book came out. I was as excited as anyone. 3D animation is often difficult, but equally often rewarding. Personally I was particularly interested in getting into character animation, but accepted that any book like this has to appeal to a variety of people, so I was expecting a good, balanced book on C4D's animation tools. I was bitterly disappointed.

The first criticism is that, for a book about animation, it devotes surprisingly little space to animation. The first 140 pages say nothing about animation. There's a lot of inorganic modelling tutorials (including an insultingly basic coffee cup tutorial, and a tutorial showing you how to make a microphone, which is unlikely to set pulses racing.)

The main criticism, however, once you're past the modelling sections, is that the animation tutorials somehow manage to be basic without giving you any good foundations to go off and do your own stuff. The comment has been made on forums that it doesn't even deal with f-curves, which even an amateur like me knows are important for animation!

The third big criticism is that there are some very large sections of the book devoted to either modules that many people do not have/aren't that interested in (Dynamics) or other (expensive!) software packages e.g Poser, iModeller, RPC. This renders most of the book either unusable or uninteresting. In fact, the whole book seems to be a cynical cross-selling opportunity, including a pitiful exploration of the Mocca module (a module which is crying out for a decent book) which ended by referring you to the more in-depth tutorials in a different Charles River Media book.

I really don't know who this book was written for, but it certainly wasn't for me, and I know there are a lot of people out there (with a variety of backgrounds/objectives for 3d) who share my sentiments.

I totally agree with Kerry Kelly.

Maya makes your RESUME look good, definitely. But C4D does make your PORTFOLIO look good. Oh Kerry, you discribed my feeling so well... When an experienced artist selects a tool, he picks one depending on how comfortable and convenient to handle it, not depending on just the brand name. I found this book very useful. No matter how good you do, there are always some people who critisize you. They are very good at "critisizing", but not giving "advices". The funny thing is...critical people are louder than supportive people. My opinion is, artistically, the book cover could be more attractive, and I’d like to see color pictures more in the book. The publisher needs to improve those, I guess. Well, Mr. Larry Mitchell, I’m looking forward to more books from you! Please keep moving forward.

I wish I could give 2.5 stars....but

NEGATIVE FIRST -

Why does it take until page 140 to get to any kind of animation?

I figured this book was for more advanced users and spending 140 pages on basic interface and bodypaint is a waste of my time and money. The books title is "Real World 3D animation Production" ? So I was a little put off by the amount of space spent on trivial beginner stuff. Anybody at a beginner level needs to not even worry yet about real world production and buy Adam Watkins 9.0/9.1 C4D Handbook...which this book tells you to buy if you want to go more in depth into MOCCA which is all about character animation?????? Maybe we should just buy Adam Watkins book and skip this one. I own both already and found Mr. Watkins book far better written although many of his example were for beginner level.

POSITIVE SIDE -

The tutorials on Dynamics and Clothe helped me out alot. There is much to offer here...but the book should have kept this pace going. It should have dropped any kind of modelling and interface chapters and assumed the user knew these things prior to buying the book...and it should have forewarned the buyer that this is not a beginner book (that’s if it would have went on the right path...this is not the case.)

I was hoping for a great book on the level of Trish and Chris Meyer’s After Effects books.....nowhere close I’m afraid. While this book has some useful information, it is spotty. Most people beginning will get far more from Tony Alley’s or Adam Watkins’s books...Anne Powers book looks to be pretty interesting also and I heard it was updated so I may try that one.
Anyone who is beyond beginner level and already has gone thru online tutorials for integrating C4D with other software like Adobe After Effects and so on will find this a waste of money...the free online tutorials are easily more detailed.
If Larry Mitchell were writing a serious book he’d have given some real world examples used in his TV commercials or whatever...as it stands. I wish I could send the book back and have someone write a book that actually had some meat and potatoes in it.


From the back of the book

"FEATURES
- Teaches professional-quality animation production skills using C4D 9.5"


No it doesn’t. Honestly, if someone came to me with the examples found in this book and they asked to make me a TV commercial I think I’d have a hard time not laughing at them. Not that I’m a top-notch pro or anything close, but I can already do far better than any of Larry’s "professional quality" shown in this book and I’d never hire him if he used it to get a job in my studio. I’m not saying Larry can’t do pro-quality production...I’m saying he did not show off any skills in this book. This was all basic stuff and some of it was really cheesy looking. From the inner color picture section we see how "professional" we’re going to get using this book...I haven’t seen production that cheesy since the early 80’s when CG was just lifting off.

I guess that’s pretty harsh, but that’s a real world application to a real world waste of my time and money.

I’m sure Larry has 20 years under his belt doing Artistic things while I only have about 15-16 years....but this book defintely skips over anything top-quality. I thought that’s why I shelled out 40 dollars ??? For pro-quality production skills ?

On page 378 there is a shot of a cheesy poser guy named "James" who is supposedly being composited into a real world shot.....the shadow is going in the wrong direction? Not too professional.


The main reason I bought this book was because it claims to show you how to integrate with software like After Effects.... There was maybe 40 pages spent addressing this at the very tail end of the book and then Larry tried to fit 6 or 7 dfferent apps into a quick cliff notes section. This really made me upset because I’ve found better stuff online and free.

I’m sorry but I can’t recommend this book out to anyone who is searching for "pro-quality production skills." If you’ve moved up to the level that you are trying sharpen your skills to go professional with Cinema 4D....try a 4.99 download of the 3dattack dot nets magazine each month..or try c4dcafe or c4dportal or any number of free online resources and forums....

LAST NOTES AND THOUGHTS

This review is harsh but then the books claims were pretty bold and did not live up to them. I don’t fault Laryy Mitchell for that, I fault Charles River Media for releasing a book that needs focus and not a "smeared out how much can we cover in 400 pages" approach.
I do not like the review of 5 stars from someone who claims this book helped them to be a super artist with C4D. Impossible since the book just came out a month ago. I would have to say your impression of your artistic abilities is probably highly overrated and it seems like you might be a friend of Larry’s to counter-balance the overwhelming negative response from the cinema4D community over this book. We’ve waited a long time for a great book that shows how to use C4D in "real world production" and I guess we go on waiting.
Maybe if Charles River would contact someone out there who is active in the Cinema 4D community like 3DKiwi or Tank and Tavy at 3dAttack.net, Slouchcorp, Base80, Srek...and on and on.. we may finally get a real book with real world applications and examples.

Lacking depth...

I found this book to be rather scatter-shod and unfocused. Being an experienced user of Cinema 4D I was honestly looking forward to the release of this book. Given its title that suggests the book will cover animating with Cinema 4D in-depth, I was rather shocked to find it covered the integration of 3rd party apps more then it covered Cinema 4D. Leaving out coverage of the Timeline and F-Curves in Cinema 4D, this book barely scrapes the surface of Cinema 4D. In fact, more than anything it seems to suggest that you can’t accomplish a whole lot in Cinema 4D without 3rd party apps. Which any experienced Cinema 4D user will tell you is far from the truth. I would suggest skipping this book altogether.

Animation. What animation?

If you are looking for a book on animation in C4D, then this is not it. Theres a 140 pages before animation is even mentioned.
The timeline line is'nt even covered. Obviously there's no need for a timeline in animation, I'm just going to stop using it all together after reading this. And the fcurve manager again not cover looks like I'll throw my fcurve manager in the bin, since it's not needed either.
The text is peppered with bold type emphasising key words. On some pages there are so many it like an optical illusion, a dreadful illusion.
I just can't believe the title of this book, it's so far off the mark. If I was a conspiracy theorist I would say this is a sad attempt to make this book sound more interesting than it is.
If you want a book covering bits an pieces of C4D then it gets 2 stars. If you want animation 0 stars. If you want a good book, buy something else.

Animation. What animation?

If you are looking for a book on animation in C4D, then this is not it. Theres a 140 pages before animation is even mentioned.
The timeline line is'nt even covered. Obviously there's no need for a timeline in animation, I'm just going to stop using it all together after reading this. And the fcurve manager again not cover looks like I'll throw my fcurve manager in the bin, since it's not needed either.
The text is peppered with bold type emphasising key words. On some pages there are so many it like an optical illusion, a dreadful illusion.
I just can't believe the title of this book, it's so far off the mark. If I was a conspiracy theorist I would say this is a sad attempt to make this book sound more interesting than it is.
If you want a book covering bits an pieces of C4D then it gets 2 stars. If you want animation 0 stars. If you want a good book, buy something else.

Tried Maya, Loved Cinema 4D

I have several books on Alias Maya. I know it’s the software you want to use to make your RESUME look good, but since Maya always feels so clunky and disorganized to me, I thought I’d give C4D a try. I followed Mitchell’s book, which quickly took me far beyond being the typical "user", as with Maya, to being the unique "artist" that I want my software to allow me to be. Thanks to Mitchell, I’ve discovered that Cinema 4D is the software you want to use to make your PORTFOLIO look good. It’s about creative freedom, not computer programing!

Who on earth was this meant for?

There aren't many cinema 4d books out there, let alone any which claim to focus on animation, so I know that there was a lot of excitement on C4D forums when this book came out. I was as excited as anyone. 3D animation is often difficult, but equally often rewarding. Personally I was particularly interested in getting into character animation, but accepted that any book like this has to appeal to a variety of people, so I was expecting a good, balanced book on C4D's animation tools. I was bitterly disappointed.

The first criticism is that, for a book about animation, it devotes surprisingly little space to animation. The first 140 pages say nothing about animation. There's a lot of inorganic modelling tutorials (including an insultingly basic coffee cup tutorial, and a tutorial showing you how to make a microphone, which is unlikely to set pulses racing.)

The main criticism, however, once you're past the modelling sections, is that the animation tutorials somehow manage to be basic without giving you any good foundations to go off and do your own stuff. The comment has been made on forums that it doesn't even deal with f-curves, which even an amateur like me knows are important for animation!

The third big criticism is that there are some very large sections of the book devoted to either modules that many people do not have/aren't that interested in (Dynamics) or other (expensive!) software packages e.g Poser, iModeller, RPC. This renders most of the book either unusable or uninteresting. In fact, the whole book seems to be a cynical cross-selling opportunity, including a pitiful exploration of the Mocca module (a module which is crying out for a decent book) which ended by referring you to the more in-depth tutorials in a different Charles River Media book.

I really don't know who this book was written for, but it certainly wasn't for me, and I know there are a lot of people out there (with a variety of backgrounds/objectives for 3d) who share my sentiments.