Introducing Character Animation with Blender

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review




Do not by this book, July 5, 2009
By Michael John Horner (Lee's Summit, MO United States)
Don't buy this book if you want the DVD the publisher is not inserting it correctly and it is glued into the binding and ruined. Attempts to get a replacement from Wiley are a waste of time.



Excellent introduction to Blender character animation, June 19, 2009
By Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA)
I admit: I am a Blender wannabe. It is highly unlikely that I will advance beyond the almost pre-beginner level of Blender competence. I am not an artist and I am not willing to invest the huge amount of time that mastery of Blender requires.

That said, I marvel at Blender and all the people around the world who labor so mightily to bring this extraordinary piece of software to us without charge. Amazing and a tribute to the power of the open source movement.

All that said, I still keep reading Blender books just to literally stand in awe of what talented people can accomplish with the program and learn how they do it.

This book is not intended for beginners. Rather it is for somewhat experienced users of Blender who want to expand their skills to character animation. Even though I can barely make my way through the Blender interface, I still found the lessons to be digestible and understandable. Though I did not do many of the exercises, the instructions appear to be clear and well illustrated.

Some of the chapters were real eye-openers to me, though probably not to experienced animators. For example, the chapter on Facial Bones And Controls was a whole new world for me. I didn't know they had to get so involved.

Overall, even for a beginner like me, the book is understandable. I just wish I was more artistically talented and had the time to give to building my expertise with Blender.

Jerry



Blender, April 20, 2009
By Chris Harber (LUBBOCK)
Introducing Character Animation with Blender
THIS IS A WELL WRITTEN BOOK THAT COVERS EVERY SUBJECT IN A CLEAR CONCISE MANNER BUT, THE INFORMATION IS OUTDATED DUE TO THE ADVANCEMENTS IN THE NEW BLENDER SOFTWARE RELEASES. IF YOU WANT TO GET THE BASIC MIND SET OF HOW THINGS WORK AND HAVE THE EXTRA MONEY BUY IT. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO BUY BLENDER FOR DUMMIES WHICH IS BASED ON THE NEWEST VERSION OF BLENDER AND IS ALSO SOLD ON AMAZON.COM



The Book is like somones random thoughts on how to use a computer animation program, March 27, 2009
By The Bouncer
I bought this instead of the Roland Hess Essential Blender Book based on the reviews here I thought it would be a better beginner book...I could have never been more wrong.

This is now the second time I find a bunch of overly positive reviews for a product that is severly lacking. I am losing faith in Amazon's rating system as of recently, see my comment at the bottom on this. This book has been a very fustrating, huge dissappointment. I have spent 3 days on the first chapter and the first 4 pages of the second one trying to make heads or tails out of the instructions. I have experience with computer programs I'm not a noob to a computer in any means. However Blenders interface is from another planet and this book does not help at all in demystifying Blenders interface at all. If anything this will confuse you beyond belief.

Here are some instructions from the book that are lacking or incomplete
pg. 20 it talks about mesh's and objects and how they are interjoined yet seperate. The problem here is it is not a clear explanation at all additionally you end up with 3 objects. One of these objects will have a 0 next to them which according to the book you have to assign a "fake user" or else lose it when you save blender.

Pg. 23 "In the view meny in the drop-down header os the Outliner window, you can select the outliner view, which gives a different visualization of the data in your file, as can be seen in Figure 1.16. As in the OOPS schematic view, you can select the datablocks and you are put in the appropriate mode to edit the datablocks you selected"

-I tried clicking several times in many different ways right and left and middle mouse button I tried them all and none of them changed the view. So something isn't right here.

pg. 31 "You should end up with the peanut like shapoe you see in figure 2.4"

-nope tried this several times and never got a peanut, got two seperate balls. Figure C and D also look different mine did not look different.

pg. 33 It says "Your 3d cursor should still be in the center of both views; if it isn't left click the center of the view to put it there and then click Shift+S and select Snap Cursor to Grid to get it centered.
-There is two problems with these instructions first off the screens were split per earlier instructions. When it says center view it is very assuming in the way it is written as it assumes that you will understand (in a completely new interface that is split) that he is talking about the center of each window view the left and the right not the actual center between the two windows. It also says both views.

pg. 33 "select and delete the vertical edge furthest from the center" OK just how do you select and delete a vertical edge ? There is no instructions on how to do this.

pg. 35 "Now you will use the Extrude tool to trace the outline of the profile" No mention where this tool is or how to access it not even in the back of the book it just points to this page and one other page which is the title of the chapter.

I have completely given up with this book. It is written for someone already familiar with Blenders interface and all of its quirks. It also consitently has instructions where the actual action proceeds the actual explanation or tool to do the action. It is like telling someone to go drive the car around the block bring it home and remember to get the groceries (when you were never told to so in the first place or never intended to get them on your drive around the block). It is like everything was an after thought in the instructions. Almost like someone saying "here do this but by the way you must use this tool" (which is never mentioned where to find it). I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK AT ALL IF YOUR A BEGINNER.

I am growing very suspicious of overly positive reviews with little sustenance to them (i.e. they lack pointing to specifics of why they liked it, what stood out, quanitifcation of the opinion) instead someone just says "it's a great book!"



Get blending quickly., March 12, 2009
By Big Red
A good book, well written and well thought out. It could do with a bit more explaining of the interface and all of the options available and perhaps color photos but in general everything you need to know to get started is there. There are some exercises to work through while you read which will give a good overview of how it all works. Blender is a great program but like all tools, it is only as good as the person using it. This book will certainly push you in the right direction. Well done Tony Mullen.
I recommend this book!