Fantastic Mechanics | The Animator's Survival Kit

Essential for all animators | The Animator's Survival Kit | Richard Williams

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	• The Animator's Survival Kit Richard Williams Faber & Faber, 2002 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 124 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Expanded edition!, magnificent..

I am very grateful for the infinite knowledge that gives us the mentor Richard Williams for completing its publication. Thanks ...

Fantastic Mechanics

Starts from the beginning, and ends at the end, with teasers and challenges for you. I can easily translate the principles into 3D CG, and have learned so much, and my reel at [...] shows it. In fact, I can barely stand to watch bad Flash animation now!

Essential for all animators

This book is absolutely vital for any animator who is learning their craft. Even if you are an advanced animator the author has crucial tips and techniques to make your animations really come to life. Identifying where lines are supposed to go or even finding ways to cheat the system in order to make your cartoons goofier or more vibrant, this book is a must have. It doesn't matter if you are doing 3d modeling or compositions in After Effects, techniques in this book are universal and are passed down from masters of animation.

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Just do it!

I took about 5 days to get through this book. It is clear that Mr. Williams knows his craft. It is written well enough, beginning with simple examples and progressively getting more complicated. By the time you reach pg.300, you'll get into the more fun stuff. At times he does preach a little, and drops some names to emphasize his point, but I overlook that knowing he's trying to drive the concept home.

For example, the author spends a lot of time discussing the 'walk' and proceeds to show you as many ways of doing it as to put one to sleep. In hindsight though, it's all for a good cause. He specifically says that if the animator masters the walk cycle, the rest will fall into place. Other area's discuss dialogue, snaps and whips, as well as accents and anticipations.

Perhaps the best part was the beginning, where he takes time to talk about equipment, forms and animation charts....this goes a long way into helping us to understand the industry language when faced with later examples.

I give this book four stars, not because I found flaw with the text, but because the publisher hit a great pet peeve of mine. Included in the book is a brief CD that talks a little about Richard and his 16 DVD set....the CD was glue dotted to page 379, right on top of a series of drawings. Of course, this led to the page being a bit ripped when i went to pull it off (gently even...having faced this before). When are the companies going to learn that Cd's and security strips should be affixed to the inside cover? This one was blank....

My own area is 3d animation using Maya, but it was my investigation into 2d animation that led me to this book. I am really looking forward to drawing out some frames and will find this to be an invaluable reference in the future. Thanks Richard....great job.

Chris

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A must have for any animator

This book is a must have for animators of all levels. My only wish is that I had the money for the DVDs.

The definitive book on animation, from the Academy Award-winning animator behind Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Animation is one of the hottest areas of filmmaking today--and the master animator who bridges the old generation and the new is Richard Williams. During his more than forty years in the business, Williams has been one of the true innovators, winning three Academy Awards and serving as the link between Disney's golden age of animation by hand and the new computer animation exemplified by Toy Story.

Perhaps even more important, though, has been his dedication in passing along his knowledge to a new generation of animators so that they in turn could push the medium in new directions. In this book, based on his sold-out master classes in the United States and across Europe, Williams provides the underlying principles of animation that every animator--from beginner to expert, classic animator to computer animation whiz --needs. Urging his readers to "invent but be believable," he illustrates his points with hundreds of drawings, distilling the secrets of the masters into a working system in order to create a book that will become the standard work on all forms of animation for professionals, students, and fans.

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