Hey everyone
I thought some of you may be interested in my new book on animating with Maya, How to Cheat in Maya 2010: Tools and Techniques for the Maya Animator that was recently published. I've tried to fill a long neglected niche by focusing on the technical aspects of animating in Maya, rather than trying to be another Animator's Survival Kit or something like that. Everything you need to know about Maya for character animation, from how splines work to gimbal lock to creating cycles to lip sync to animation layers to blocking, polishing, and much more are all explained with dozens of projects and included Maya files for every project and every step for in-depth study. I've tried to make the essential technical companion to every character animation education and it is my hope that you will find this is the case.
Amazon Link
A brief outline of the chapters are:
Workflow Foundations
The fundamentals of setting up Maya for animation, creating an efficient workflow, and tips for increasing productivity and performance.
Splines
An in-depth look at the lifeblood of computer animation: spline curves. How to read and understand them, and how they represent spacing and timing visually.
Graph Editor
Master the advanced features of the Graph Editor for refining your work and thinking like an artist, rather than a technician.
Techniques
The bread and butter techniques of computer animation, including IK/FK switching, using the timeline, figure 8 motion, tracking arcs, using multiple pivot points, character sets, making changes to in-progress work, and much more.
Constraints
Everything you need to know about constraints as an animator, explained without the technical jargon. Using props, switching constraints between characters, animating constrained objects, when to use parenting, and more.
Gimbal Lock
Techniques and methods from preventing and combating gimbal lock, discussed for an animator's perspective. A compilation of tips never before assembled, guaranteeing you'll never deal with gimbal lock again.
Blocking
A complete walkthrough of pose-to-pose blocking, from conception of the idea through splining. The project is animating a ninja landing and doing flips to avoid an attack! Covers planning, key poses, breakdowns, copied pairs, and more.
Walk Cycles
Total workthrough of creating a walk cycle from scratch. Start from blocking all the way to a finished in-place cycle, which we then translate through world space. Covers refining, fixing knee pops, overlap, and much more.
Polishing
Methods for giving your animation that extra special care to really make it look amazing. Moving holds, cushioning, add texture, using the Animation principles, and making the finishing touches.
Facial Animation
Another complete, step-by-step walkthrough of a full lip sync animation. Includes mouth shapes, posing, jaw movement, blinks, eye darts, and more.
Animation Layers
Master the most amazing feature for animation in Maya since version 4! Animation layer techniques for doing unlimited versions, experimentation, adding texture, simplifying curves, and augmenting existing motion are some of the topics covered.
Lighting and Rendering
Foolproof lighting and rendering, without losing the animation focus. Simple, clean techniques to get colorful, appealing looks perfect for animation tests and demo reels.
Eric Luhta is a professional animator whose recent credits include "Bioshock 2", the feature films "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" and "Horton Hears A Who!", and numerous television commercials. Eric's animated short film "Prospective Student" was featured in the 2008 Siggraph Computer Animation Festival, one of the highest honors for an independent film. Eric has extensive experience with Autodesk's Maya, including teaching it, as an instructor for the Maya Training Program at AnimationMentor.com. He currently lives in Los Angeles, CA with his wife and 3 computers.
Thanks!