It’s all about creating believable 3D animation and visual effects. And this very practical and motivating book, written by two leading animators, delivers the kind of detailed knowledge of Maya® that’s needed to make truly lifelike characters. Step-by-step tutorials defining the entire animation process take readers through all the tools available in Maya for making refined movement. Drawing on their years of experience animating characters for "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill," the authors provide plenty of opportunity for readers to practice using these tools, instilling confidence and a sound grasp of traditional and non-traditional character design and animation. Topics covered include the Animation Curve Editor, basic walking, the dope sheet, facial and hand animation, emotional adjustment, the use of the five-panel story structure, and more. Users thoroughly explore the powerful features and functions of Release 6 resulting in a solid understanding of Maya’s interface and techniques.

It?s all about creating believable 3D animation and visual effects. And this very practical and motivating book, written by two leading animators, delivers the kind of detailed knowledge of Maya® that?s needed to make truly lifelike characters. Step-by-step tutorials defining the entire animation process take readers through all the tools available in Maya for making refined movement. Drawing on their years of experience animating characters for ?The Simpsons? and ?King of the Hill,? the authors provide plenty of opportunity for readers to practice using these tools, instilling confidence and a sound grasp of traditional and non-traditional character design and animation. Topics covered include the Animation Curve Editor, basic walking, the dope sheet, facial and hand animation, emotional adjustment, the use of the five-panel story structure, and more. Users thoroughly explore the powerful features and functions of Release 6 resulting in a solid understanding of Maya?s interface and techniques.

This is the best character animation book for Maya.

This is the best training book by far for Maya character animators. Even though the program is now dated, the theories and exercises are excellent and Phil Young’s illustrations are very clear and concise. Young is a traditionally trained artist/animator so he knows what he is talking about, and he translates 2D physics to Maya very well.
The book is concise and well written and the illustrations are plentiful and simple to understand. The best feature of this book is that the enclosed CD contains the generic animation figure "Generii" created by Andrew Silke. Generii is used for the exercises instead of the usual ’realistic’ (and often extremely poorly designed)character. The well-planned exercises and explanations work for any CGI program, so it is too bad that the title is going to date the book badly--look past the title and get this book if you are interested in learning character animation in CGI.

This is the best character animation book for Maya.

This is the best training book by far for Maya character animators. Even though the program is now dated, the theories and exercises are excellent and Phil Young’s illustrations are very clear and concise. Young is a traditionally trained artist/animator so he knows what he is talking about, and he translates 2D physics to Maya very well.
The book is concise and well written and the illustrations are plentiful and simple to understand. The best feature of this book is that the enclosed CD contains the generic animation figure "Generii" created by Andrew Silke. Generii is used for the exercises instead of the usual ’realistic’ (and often extremely poorly designed)character. The well-planned exercises and explanations work for any CGI program, so it is too bad that the title is going to date the book badly--look past the title and get this book if you are interested in learning character animation in CGI.

great for animation

This is the one book out there with animation in the title that actually does animation.

I appreciate the study of movement presented in this book. It isn’t rehashed from other books - it is fresh and makes a lot of sense. The wave theory is great - and is easy to do in 3d.

This book talks about the graph editor in huge detail. I got a lot out of it - especially since no other book does this.

great for animation

This is the one book out there with animation in the title that actually does animation.

I appreciate the study of movement presented in this book. It isn’t rehashed from other books - it is fresh and makes a lot of sense. The wave theory is great - and is easy to do in 3d.

This book talks about the graph editor in huge detail. I got a lot out of it - especially since no other book does this.

great for animation

This is the one book out there with animation in the title that actually does animation.



I appreciate the study of movement presented in this book. It isn’t rehashed from other books - it is fresh and makes a lot of sense. The wave theory is great - and is easy to do in 3d.



This book talks about the graph editor in huge detail. I got a lot out of it - especially since no other book does this.

great book

This book is terrific for learning to animate. I was happy with the traditional technique that was explained alongside the Maya. I did not run into the problems the other reviewers wrote - my book was fine and the tutorials were easy.

It was cool to work with this book because it focused just on animation. I bought a $50 book called animation, and it was all about modeling and rigging. I appreciate that this book was written by Disney guys, and kept me focused on movement.

great book

This book is terrific for learning to animate. I was happy with the traditional technique that was explained alongside the Maya. I did not run into the problems the other reviewers wrote - my book was fine and the tutorials were easy.

It was cool to work with this book because it focused just on animation. I bought a $50 book called animation, and it was all about modeling and rigging. I appreciate that this book was written by Disney guys, and kept me focused on movement.

Headache & Heartache for Beginners

This book is good if you already know how things work in Maya.



If you are a beginner you will feel like someone dumped an 18-wheeler truck on you. The descriptions of tools and how things work are barely explained and then you are given exercises to do using those tools. The exercises say to start with a shape as shown in the picture and then "tweak" the shape until it looks like the other picture shown. I don’t see how that can be called instructional. Unfortunately, how to get from one to the other is a complete mystery. I unsuccessfully spent several hours just trying to get anything accomplished with this book. I don’t feel like I learned anything. The book seems to be written for those who know Maya’s basics and want to get on with building. If you are new to Maya, AVOID this book. I am good at learning new programs generally speaking, but this book makes it hard and not fun.

Headache & Heartache for Beginners

This book is good if you already know how things work in Maya.

If you are a beginner you will feel like someone dumped an 18-wheeler truck on you. The descriptions of tools and how things work are barely explained and then you are given exercises to do using those tools. The exercises say to start with a shape as shown in the picture and then "tweak" the shape until it looks like the other picture shown. I don’t see how that can be called instructional. Unfortunately, how to get from one to the other is a complete mystery. I unsuccessfully spent several hours just trying to get anything accomplished with this book. I don’t feel like I learned anything. The book seems to be written for those who know Maya’s basics and want to get on with building. If you are new to Maya, AVOID this book. I am good at learning new programs generally speaking, but this book makes it hard and not fun.

Headache & Heartache for Beginners

This book is good if you already know how things work in Maya.

If you are a beginner you will feel like someone dumped an 18-wheeler truck on you. The descriptions of tools and how things work are barely explained and then you are given exercises to do using those tools. The exercises say to start with a shape as shown in the picture and then "tweak" the shape until it looks like the other picture shown. I don’t see how that can be called instructional. Unfortunately, how to get from one to the other is a complete mystery. I unsuccessfully spent several hours just trying to get anything accomplished with this book. I don’t feel like I learned anything. The book seems to be written for those who know Maya’s basics and want to get on with building. If you are new to Maya, AVOID this book. I am good at learning new programs generally speaking, but this book makes it hard and not fun.

Not so good

Almost all the chapter files on the cd would open with errors, so they were practically useless. And for Ch.7 it says there are reference pictures on the cd for the throwing exercise, but there are no pictures. Also, there’s a bunch of little typo’s, but that’s forgivable. This book is really easy and fast to read, I consider myself a beginner, but I guess I was a little more advanced than what this book had to offer. Overall, this is a decent book, but it isn’t as great as everyone has been saying....

Not so good

Almost all the chapter files on the cd would open with errors, so they were practically useless. And for Ch.7 it says there are reference pictures on the cd for the throwing exercise, but there are no pictures. Also, there’s a bunch of little typo’s, but that’s forgivable. This book is really easy and fast to read, I consider myself a beginner, but I guess I was a little more advanced than what this book had to offer. Overall, this is a decent book, but it isn’t as great as everyone has been saying....

good book, could go more in-depth

for what it offers, it’s good enough, but I just wish it went a little further. working with the pre-rigged models is great, but for any kind of explanation as to how the characters were set up, you’ll have to go elsewhere. but other than that, it’s a very fast read, a fine stepping stone.

Best Animation Book for 3D

I mean it - this is the best animation book for 3D. I learned about wave theory - and it makes perfect sense. My demo reel got an interview today - and I credit this book. Thank you!!!!

Author addition

I am one of the authors of the book. Left out of the advertising on this site is credit to Phil Young as coauthor. He is a Disney animator of 25 years experience in Disney Feature Animation. He added some outstanding movement theory to the book, and gave valuable insite to the role of 2D production techniques in a 3D environment.

Phil’s drawings are available on the cd as reference for the tutorials.

Had to rate it 5 stars because I think his work is so good. Would have liked to avoid the rating part. . . . :)

great models

I appreciate this book because it supplies you with great models to work with. I have been frustrated by the books that require you to build complex models before getting to animate them.

The flour sack has a cool sculpt deformer in it to allow an animator to get more bulk in certain positions. The generi rig has a lot of wonderful controls for the face and fingers. I enjoy working with these rigs.

The theory on movement stuff is really great. The movments are broken down into a process, and I find myself working through movement studies rather quickly. I got more than my monies worth.

animation book about animation

I have been buying every 3D book with ’animation’ in the title, only to find these books are about rigging or modeling.

This book really is about movement and what to do in maya to make it believable. I wish it was more advanced, or had a few more chapters, because it just started to get going after chapter 5 (chapters previous to 4 would be helpful to newbies in animation - explaining the graph editor and how to manipulate it). I have been working in 3D for a while, and still learned a lot.

I would be very interested in a follow up book.