How Facial Modeling and Animation, properly

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Stop Staring: Facial Modeling and Animation Done Right, 3rd Edition

I have read this book several times cover to cover in a year's time and it is essential to a modeler/ animator's reference library. It does not matter which edition you read. Each one is not the same and honeslty, I use the second and third edition simultaneously. I do this because in the third edtiion, the author takes a slightly different approach to the examples and takes a less step by step method. In other words if you are an absolute newbie to modeling, make sure you have a good understanding of how to "model" in 3d space, not just front and side views before picking up this book. Otherwise, you might find yourself getting frustrated. There are alot of ways to put a face together, but the piece by piece method in this book produces such clean, efficient geometry, that even if you choose to go another route, the lessons learned here will still prove to be valuable.

It should also be mentioned, that although the author claims not to be an "expert," I found his explanation on texturing to be very helpful and it came very handy for my intro to textures course.

Finally, there may be a few complaints about this book not going into specific detail about the tools in Maya 2011, but the truth is it does not have to; these steps can pretty much be done in any 3d package. The software has nothing to do with what this book is trying to teach modeling wise. Also downloading the zips (they must be extracted afterward) from the website is quick and painless; no CD required.

Book Descrption

If you want to do character facial modeling and animation at the high levels achieved in today’s films and games, Stop Staring: Facial Modeling and Animation Done Right, Third Edition, is for you. While thoroughly covering the basics such as squash and stretch, lip syncs, and much more, this new edition has been thoroughly updated to capture the very newest professional design techniques, as well as changes in software, including using Python to automate tasks.

Shows you how to create facial animation for movies, games, and more

Provides in-depth techniques and tips for everyone from students and beginners to high-level professional animators and directors currently in the field

Features the author’s valuable insights from his own extensive experience in the field

Covers the basics such as squash and stretch, color and shading, and lip syncs, as well as how to automate processes using Python

Breathe life into your creations with this important book, considered by many studio 3D artists to be the quintessential reference on facial animation.