Download or read book Game Character Animation All in One written by Les Pardew and published by Course Technology. This book was released on 2007 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Within the world of video games, characters become almost living entities. Through the use of logic and artificial intelligence, the video-game character is able to act and react to each situation. As the designer, you hold the character's creative expression in your control. Game Character Animation All in One is a comprehensive guide to the techniques of developing and animating amazing characters for your games. It covers not only introductory-level character-design techniques, but also advanced character-creation and animation topics. With an 8-page color insert showcasing game-character design, this book is a detailed guide to creating exciting, believable, engaging characters for your games.

Download or read book Game Anim written by Jonathan Cooper and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2021-04-19 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second edition of Game Anim expands upon the first edition with an all-new chapter on 2D and Pixel Art Animation, an enhanced mocap chapter covering the latest developments in Motion Matching, and even more interviews with top professionals in the field. Combined with everything in the first edition, this updated edition provides the reader with an even more comprehensive understanding of all areas of video game animation – from small indie projects to the latest AAA blockbusters. Key Features • New 2nd Edition Content: An all-new chapter on 2D and Pixel Art Animation, Motion Matching, and more • 20 Years of Insight: Accumulated knowledge from 2 decades of experience in all areas of game animation. • The 5 Fundamentals: Reinterprets the classic 12 animation principles and sets out 5 new fundamentals for great game animation. • Full Production Cycle: Walks through every stage of a game production from the animator’s perspective. • Animator Interviews: Notable game animators offer behind-the-scenes stories, tips, and advice. • Free Animation Rig: Free "AZRI" maya rig, tutorials and other resources on the accompanying website: www.gameanim.com/book About The Author Jonathan Cooper is an award-winning video game animator who has brought virtual characters to life professionally since 2000, leading teams on large projects such as the Assassin’s Creed and Mass Effect series, with a focus on memorable stories and characters and cutting-edge video game animation. He has since focused on interactive cinematics in the latest chapters of the DICE and Annie award-winning series Uncharted and The Last of Us. Jonathan has presented at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco and at other conferences across Canada and the United Kingdom. He holds a Bachelor of Design honors degree in animation.

Download or read book Unity Character Animation with Mecanim written by Jamie Dean and published by Packt Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2015-09-29 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A detailed guide to the complex new animation tools in Unity, packed with clear instructions and illustrated with original content in the context of a next generation zombie apocalypse adventure game About This Book Create and export models and animation sequences to Unity from 3ds max and Maya Prepare character models and animation for games using Mecanim's rigging tools Retarget, adjust, and mix and match motion capture and other animation data Write and edit scripts compatible with Mecanim Animation Controllers Who This Book Is For If you are a Unity developer looking to get to grips with the character animation specific tools, a 3D software user who is new to Unity, or a beginner game developer who is interested in character animation and interaction, this book is ideal for you. Some experience with either the Unity interface or basic 3D coordinates is recommended, but not required. What You Will Learn Learn how to prepare a rigged character model to receive animation within Unity Acquire efficient techniques to refine and optimize motion capture data Retarget animation sequences between different character rigs Discover how to rig a humanoid character and export for use in Unity Script character interaction for a First Person character model Create dynamic animation sequences from scratch using keyframe techniques, in a variety of 3D software packages Learn Project Management in Unity Understand how to set up a complex facial rig for speech Set up Animation Controllers with masked states and blend trees to create seamless and additive animation transitions Construct a ragdoll game object and instantiate it in a game Devise Mecanim animation integration for the player and AI driven animation for enemy characters In Detail Game animation for independent developers has taken a giant leap forward with Unity 5's Mecanim toolset, which streamlines the import/export, retargeting, and many other aspects of the character animation workflow. Unity Character Animation with Mecanim is a great primer for getting to know the nuts and bolts of Mecanim and other character animation related tools in Unity 5. It offers you step-by-step instructions for preparing and exporting rigged models and animation sequences from commonly used 3D packages, such as Maya, 3ds Max and Blender. This book explores the new set of animation tools introduced with Mecanim in Unity 5. Approaching its subject matter through a typical genre–a zombie action game, character animation techniques are explored using real examples of player input and interaction, enemy behavior, and other aspects of game dynamics. As the book progresses, the reader will understand how these elements fit together in a small game development workflow. We will begin with a demonstration of the process of getting a rigged character into Unity 5 and setting it up to use provided animation sequences. We will also consider a few industry standard 3D packages and how these can be used to rig a humanoid character for use in Unity 5. We will demonstrate the retargeting capabilities of Mecanim's Humanoid Animation type by adjusting motion sequences to fit disparate character types in our game. After this, we will look at Ragdoll physics and the implementation of this commonly used technique in a Mecanim workflow. The book culminates with a thorough dissection of the enemy character AI script incorporating the Mecanim elements detailed in the previous chapters. Unity Character Animation with Mecanim will provide you with a detailed exploration of the interaction between game development and character animation, and will broaden your understanding of the rich animation toolset within Unity 5. Style and approach A comprehensive guide, featuring step- by- step practical tutorials using sample assets, showing you how to build fully controllable characters and non-player characters/enemies.

Download or read book Game Programming All in One written by Jonathan S. Harbour and published by Cengage Learning. This book was released on 2007 with total page 854 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book gives aspiring game programmers the skills that are needed to create professional-quality games. Using the cross-platform Allegro game library, you'll learn how to write complete games that will run on almost any operating system.--[book cover]

Download or read book Real time 3D Character Animation with Visual C written by Nik Lever and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2002 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CD-ROM contains: Examples for text -- Toon3DCreator 1.7 with full source code.

Download or read book AI for Games and Animation written by John David Funge and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 1999-07-22 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Funge introduces a new approach to creating autonomous characters. Cognitive modeling provides computer-animated characters with logic, reasoning, and planning skills. Individual chapters in the book provide concrete examples of advanced character animation, automated cinematography, and a real-time computer game. Source code, animations, imag

Download or read book Game Character Creation with Blender and Unity written by Chris Totten and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-06-01 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A complete guide to creating usable, realistic game characters with two powerful tools Creating viable game characters requires a combination of skills. This book teaches game creators how to create usable, realistic game assets using the power of an open-source 3D application and a free game engine. It presents a step-by-step approach to modeling, texturing, and animating a character using the popular Blender software, with emphasis on low polygon modeling and an eye for using sculpting and textures, and demonstrates how to bring the character into the Unity game engine. Game creation is a popular and productive pursuit for both hobbyists and serious developers; this guide brings together two effective tools to simplify and enhance the process Artists who are familiar with Blender or other 3D software but who lack experience with game development workflow will find this book fills important gaps in their knowledge Provides a complete tutorial on developing a game character, including modeling, UV unwrapping, sculpting, baking displacements, texturing, rigging, animation, and export Emphasizes low polygon modeling for game engines and shows how to bring the finished character into the Unity game engine Whether you're interested in a new hobby or eager to enter the field of professional game development, this book offers valuable guidance to increase your skills.

Download or read book Beginning 3D Game Development with Unity written by Sue Blackman and published by Apress. This book was released on 2011-08-18 with total page 985 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning 3D Game Development with Unity is perfect for those who would like to come to grips with programming Unity. You may be an artist who has learned 3D tools such as 3ds Max, Maya, or Cinema 4D, or you may come from 2D tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator. On the other hand, you may just want to familiarize yourself with programming games and the latest ideas in game production. This book introduces key game production concepts in an artist-friendly way, and rapidly teaches the basic scripting skills you'll need with Unity. It goes on to show how you, as an independent game artist, can create casual interactive adventure games in the style of Telltale's Tales of Monkey Island, while also giving you a firm foundation in game logic and design. The first part of the book explains the logic involved in game interaction, and soon has you creating game assets through simple examples that you can build upon and gradually expand. In the second part, you'll build the foundations of a point-and-click style first-person adventure game—including reusable state management scripts, load/save functionality, a robust inventory system, and a bonus feature: a dynamically configured maze and mini-map. With the help of the provided 2D and 3D content, you'll learn to evaluate and deal with challenges in bite-sized pieces as the project progresses, gaining valuable problem-solving skills in interactive design. By the end of the book, you will be able to actively use the Unity 3D game engine, having learned the necessary workflows to utilize your own assets. You will also have an assortment of reusable scripts and art assets with which to build future games.

Download or read book Character Animation in 3D written by Steve Roberts and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2004 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Improve your 3D animation by understanding the key traditional 2D skills. Learn the basics for producing original and exciting animation.

Download or read book The Uncanny Valley in Games and Animation written by Angela Tinwell and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2014-12-10 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Advances in technology have enabled animators and video game designers to design increasingly realistic, human-like characters in animation and games. Although it was intended that this increased realism would allow viewers to appreciate the emotional state of characters, research has shown that audiences often have a negative reaction as the human likeness of a character increases. This phenomenon, known as the Uncanny Valley, has become a benchmark for measuring if a character is believably realistic and authentically human like. This book is an essential guide on how to overcome the Uncanny Valley phenomenon when designing human-like characters in digital applications. In this book, the author provides a synopsis of literature about the Uncanny Valley phenomenon and explains how it was introduced into contemporary thought. She then presents her theories on its possible psychological causes based on a series of empirical studies. The book focuses on how aspects of facial expression and speech can be manipulated to overcome the Uncanny Valley in character design. The Uncanny Valley in Games and Animation presents a novel theory that goes beyond previous research in that the cause of the Uncanny Valley is based on a perceived lack of empathy in a character. This book makes an original, scholarly contribution to our current understanding of the Uncanny Valley phenomenon and fills a gap in the literature by assessing the biological and social roots of the Uncanny Valley and its implications for computer-graphics animation.

Download or read book Virtual Character Design for Games and Interactive Media written by Robin James Stuart Sloan and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2015-05-07 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the earliest character representations in video games were rudimentary in terms of their presentation and performance, the virtual characters that appear in games today can be extremely complex and lifelike. These are characters that have the potential to make a powerful and emotional connection with gamers. As virtual characters become more

Download or read book Hands On C Game Animation Programming written by Gabor Szauer and published by Packt Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2020-06-12 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn animation programming from first principles and implement modern animation techniques that can be integrated into any game development workflow Key FeaturesBuild a functional and production-ready modern animation system with complete features using C++Learn basic, advanced, and skinned animation programming with this step-by-step guideDiscover the math required to implement cutting edge animation techniques such as inverse kinematics and dual quaternionsBook Description Animation is one of the most important parts of any game. Modern animation systems work directly with track-driven animation and provide support for advanced techniques such as inverse kinematics (IK), blend trees, and dual quaternion skinning. This book will walk you through everything you need to get an optimized, production-ready animation system up and running, and contains all the code required to build the animation system. You’ll start by learning the basic principles, and then delve into the core topics of animation programming by building a curve-based skinned animation system. You’ll implement different skinning techniques and explore advanced animation topics such as IK, animation blending, dual quaternion skinning, and crowd rendering. The animation system you will build following this book can be easily integrated into your next game development project. The book is intended to be read from start to finish, although each chapter is self-contained and can be read independently as well. By the end of this book, you’ll have implemented a modern animation system and got to grips with optimization concepts and advanced animation techniques. What you will learnGet the hang of 3D vectors, matrices, and transforms, and their use in game developmentDiscover various techniques to smoothly blend animationsGet to grips with GLTF file format and its design decisions and data structuresDesign an animation system by using animation tracks and implementing skinningOptimize various aspects of animation systems such as skinned meshes, clip sampling, and pose palettesImplement the IK technique for your game characters using CCD and FABRIK solversUnderstand dual quaternion skinning and how to render large instanced crowdsWho this book is for This book is for professional, independent, and hobbyist developers interested in building a robust animation system from the ground up. Some knowledge of the C++ programming language will be helpful.

Download or read book Inspired 3D Character Animation written by Kyle Clark and published by Muska & Lipman Publishing. This book was released on 2002 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Clark's book takes an in-depth look at the methods and technology that professionals use to create realistic and believable characters using computer technology.

Download or read book Introducing Character Animation with Blender written by Tony Mullen and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-06-09 with total page 840 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Let this in-depth professional book be your guide to Blender, the powerful open-source 3D modeling and animation software that will bring your ideas to life. Using clear step-by-step instruction and pages of real-world examples, expert animator Tony Mullen walks you through the complexities of modeling and animating, with a special focus on characters. From Blender basics to creating facial expressions and emotion to rendering, you’ll jump right into the process and learn valuable techniques that will transform your movies. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Download or read book The Game Animator s Guide to Maya written by Michael McKinley and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-05-05 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ultimate Resource for Professional Game Animators Game animation is a demanding art. Not only do you have to deliver realistic, beautiful animations, but you have to do so under strict real-time, video-game constraints. The Game Animator's Guide to Maya is your focused resource for using Maya to create professional-level game animations for console and PC games. Written by a game industry veteran and featuring interviews with professional animators and artists from around the country, this focused book features specific, detailed, real-world game animation techniques. It's the perfect reference and tutorial for those looking to develop or refine their game animation skills. The enclosed CD features more than $3000 worth of exclusive content, including models, high-resolution textures, animations, concept art, and animation reference videos. It also includes the Maya Personal Learning Edition and project files so you can complete the hands-on tutorials. The Game Animator's Guide to Maya gives you an insider's view of the animation business and teaches the skills necessary to animate everything from characters to vehicles to lip-synching audio. First, you'll get an introduction to the industry and typical game development pipelines, then learn rigging and animation basics before moving on to advanced techniques and the detailed tutorials. Inside, you'll find: * Game Career Guide: Industry information, demo reel advice, job descriptions, game asset pipeline overview * Animation Techniques: detailed explanation of animation terms, techniques, tools, concepts, and editors * Rigging and Animation Setup: IK and FK, joint hierarchies, skeleton controls, constraints, selection handles, and more * True Game Animation: real-world assignments that mimic the day-to-day jobs of professional game animators--walk cycles, run cycles, idle cycles, action sequences, lip-synching to audio, and more

Download or read book C Game Animation Programming written by Michael Dunsky and published by Packt Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2023-12-01 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Build your own OpenGL or Vulkan application in C++ and use it as a playground to explore the path from basic features to advanced techniques of character animation in modern games with the help of this illustrated guide Key Features Learn how to create a game skeleton with keyboard and mouse controls along with modern graphics Gain insights into model loading, character animations, inverse kinematics, and debugging techniques Master the art of creating animated characters and controlling their various aspects Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook Book DescriptionIf you‘re fascinated by the complexities of animating video game characters and are curious about the transformation of model files into 3D avatars and NPCs that can explore virtual worlds, then this book is for you. In this new edition, you’ll learn everything you need to know about game animation, from a simple graphical window to a large crowd of smoothly animated characters. First, you’ll learn how to use modern high-performance graphics, dig into the details of how virtual characters are stored, and load the models and animations into a minimalistic game-like application. Then, you’ll get an overview of the components of an animation system, how to play the animations and combine them, and how to blend from one animation into another. You’ll also get an introduction to topics that will make your programming life easier, such as debugging your code or stripping down the graphical output. By the end of this book, you’ll have gained deep insights into all the parts of game animation programming and how they work together, revealing the magic that brings life to the virtual worlds on your screen.What you will learn Create simple OpenGL and Vulkan applications and work with shaders Explore the glTF file format, including its design and data structures Design an animation system with poses, clips, and skinned meshes Find out how vectors, matrices, quaternions, and splines are used in game development Discover and implement ways to seamlessly blend character animations Implement inverse kinematics for your characters using CCD and FABRIK solvers Understand how to render large, animated crowds efficiently Identify and resolve performance issues Who this book is for This book is for curious C++ developers, game programmers, game designers, and character animators, either pursuing this as a hobby or profession, who have always wanted to look behind the curtain and see how character animation in games works. The book assumes basic C++ and math knowledge, and you should be able to read code and math formulas to get the most out of this book.

Download or read book Technical Animation in Video Games written by Matthew Lake and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2023-12-04 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a comprehensive overview of video game technical animation, covering the next generation pipelines that industry developers utilise to create their games. It covers the technical animation workflow from start to finish, looking at both software and hardware, as well as the industry standard processes that all technical animators need to know. Written to be an accessible technical animation resource, this book combines easy-to-understand principles with educational use cases on how to combine the principles and tools taught within. Example test scripts, animation files, and rig assets are provided as tangible examples that can be modified and taken apart to deepen your understanding. It covers the end-to-end pipeline of technical animation, from the very first steps of placing joints in Autodesk’s Maya to breathe life into your static characters, through tools and automation development, all the way to Unreal Engine 5 integration and optimisation. Additional resources are available on the book’s GitHub repository. From this resource, you will find example files for Maya and Python scripts that will help with your own work and demonstrations featured throughout this book. This book is essential reading for early-career game technical animators as well as those studying game animation courses. It will also appeal to technical animators working in the film industry.