"Lightwave 3D Character Animation"

eBook Name: Lightwave 3D Character Animation
eBook Type: 3D

3D Max, LightWave, Maya, AutoCAD

Updating what has been called one of the best books onanimation by top Disney animators, this new book includes even more pre-rigged models, discussion of the new animation tools found in LightWave 3D 8, and the fastest way to do dialogue and facial performance.

This book is 482 pages long, and the second half of it is not Lightwave-(or even 3D)-specific: general concepts of animation like follow-through, squash-and-stretch, etc. Everything in this section has been said before, and more eloquently, in many other books on the topic of animation.

The first half (which IS Lightwave-specific) is a step-by-step tutorial for building a rather esoteric IK rig for a humanoid character.

I didn't find it helpful--nothing in the exercises seems designed to expand the reader's understanding, it's just a recipe for reconstructing Albee's rig.

I suspect any reader without a previous understanding of how bones work in Lightwave will be completely frustrated.

If you're a beginner looking for a technical resource to animating in Lightwave, this is definitely *not* it. Any potential buyers should browse through a copy before buying this.