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Greetings! Thanks for buying or considering this book. Investing
your money in books like this is not an easy decision. There are
many to choose from and many to consider.
My intent in writing Animating Real-Time Game Characters has been to
share my work methods, thoughts, and ideas about animating real-time
characters in 3ds max 4™ and character studio 3®. Any factor that affects
the animation process using these two tools has been covered. Design,
modeling, texturing, rigging, weighting, keyframing, motion capture, and
exporting to a game engine are all in here. Written for the relatively new
or intermediate user of 3ds max, the book isn't just a rehash of the manuals
and tutorials that came with your software, it's a companion to
them. Make sure that you know your way around 3ds max 4 at a basic
level and that you have at least gone through the animation tutorials in
order to understand the terminology that will be used. Since I usually
wait at least a year after the latest version of 3ds max comes out until I
begin using it, the information presented doesn't include or apply to 3ds
max 5. However, with the exception of a couple of key features, I'm confident
that many of the tips and tricks covered will work for 3ds max 3
and 3ds max 5 as well.
To illustrate ideas, tips, tricks, and techniques, I've used several characters
from games or projects I've completed over the last year and a half,
but most often I've used a character called Betty Bad from the self-titled
game that was released January 2002 by WildTangent. This is primarily
to show you the thought and work that goes into an implemented game
character. By doing so, I've hopefully given you a snapshot of what I do
every day and have been doing every day for the past nine years: character
animation. It's not just my job, it's my hobby, passion, and the thing I
love to discuss with others. |
