A short while back, noviski posted a link to a Table of Joint Rotations that is great for setting constraints. Following the link to the table, I find it's from a book called "DIGITAL CHARACTER ANIMATION" by George Maestri [New Riders]. As always, I went to amazon.com and found that it's a $55.00US book, which they have several copies of [used] for $18.00. [with CD] Mine arrived today. After a quick go-thru, I cannot say enough good things about this. Beau coup good info on character modeling and animation. While the author says, straight out, that he's aiming at the upper end of the modeling world [3DS Max, SoftImage, Maya], there's little, apart from NURBS, and a few other lesser things, that we can't do in Carrara.

There's lots of good sensible, delightful advice [that seems obvious once it's pointed out] like: it makes a difference when you're about to model a sphere into a head which way the "North Pole" points. Different choices, and possibilities follow from whether it's pointed straight up, horizontal [and becomes the mouth] or transverse [North & South become the ears.}

Treats Splines, Polygons, Metaballs and bones. Great book!

Attached Link: http://www.jefflew.com

I've seen that book around but never picked it up. Perhaps I'll order a copy myself. Another great resource is Jeff Lew's DVD on Learning 3D Character Animation. It's the same concept as your book. Not geared at a particular application. Just the concepts and mechanics of character animation. I rate it as a must have.

i have it and i can say it is great,volume one and two is a good reference.stop staring by osipa is also a very interesting book idf you want to know more about facial animation. i also have jeff lews dvd,the best dvd about charakter animation cause you can use it for every package you have and use,like InfoCentral said,it is a must have. also a good book is character animation in 3d but it is more software specific. another book i like and often use as reference is the animators survival kit by richard williams,great book.

Just ordered the book for $15 with shipping came to $18 something. Says it is a new copy. I hope it comes with the CD. Whats on the CD?

The CD has files for following along on the tutorials, Quicktimes of finished walk sequences, etc, some Viewpoint models, [I haven't opened any of them yet] and 194 textures that will be relatively seamless. Most of the textures are pretty terrible, but there are some good stone/concrete ones that look to be usable.

Attached Link: http://www.grutadaonca.com.br/noviski/pitboy.html

Man, the Jeff Lew's DVD must be my next acquisition! Only with the banner from that site I could finish my animation test for the Pit-Boy (Flash animation, 1.2 MB)! :-) And the kelleys suggestion is amazing! And for a low cost! To bad in Brazil we have some heavy taxes for importing, the costs go to the stratosphere!

we in europe have some bad taxes too,really ugly but it is still cheaper to order something you want overseas then buy it here.

cool animation noviski!

Opps, I didn't order that book. I ordered the second version which is split into volumes 1 & 2. I ordered Digital Character Animation 2 Vol 1. And I don't think it comes with a CD like the original book did.

When you go Jeff Lew's site click on the bottom of the page and watch his Killer Bean 2 movie.

InfoCentral,a cd will be included,i have the books and also the older version.:)

Attached Link: http://www.halfpricecomputerbooks.com/

btw,sometimes you can find cheap books here.

Thanks, DAIGORO! They really have some cheap books! Nice suggestion!

Attached Link: http://www.diveintopython.org/

Here is another good find. It is a book on Python programming and you can buy it on Amazon for $28 or you can download it for FREE at the link provided. If you ever wanted to learn to program in Python or know more about Python; you can't beat the price!

noviski,no problem!:) InfoCentral,thats cool,cause i want to know more about python,thanks a lot.

http://www.planetpdf.com/developer/article.asp?ContentID=6636 Books on Java and C++ and C. http://www.planetpdf.com/free_pdf_ebooks.asp?CurrentPage=1 Free literature Thanks for the Python Link!

Hi, I have that book and have learn alot from it and its companions. Ringo

Just received Digital Character Animation 2 Vol 1 yesterday. Looks very good. Appears to cover a lot of the material the way Jeff Lew's DVD does only the book covers modeling techniques too.