Broad overview of the animation business & current software

This book is designed to give a broad discussion about breaking into the 3D animation industry (esp. in large media meccas like NYC and LA) as well as review three of the most popular and powerful 3D software packages currently available - 3ds max, LightWave, and Alias Maya.

The author owns an animation production company in NYC so he has a lot of "real-world" advice to newbies looking to become digital animators. He talks a lot about the business aspects of the trade, and provides numerous humorous anecdotes about his own trials and tribulations in the past three decades in this deadline-intensive business. Most of the first half of the book is spent detailing the career path you should take to become a successful animator. The author also gives his opinions on the hardware needed to create digital animation on a desktop workstation.

The second half of the book is devoted to comparing 3ds max, LightWave, and Alias Maya and their relative strengths and weaknesses. As someone who is totally new to 3D animation, I found this section to be most useful. The author explains in common terms all the tools and capabilities of these 3D applications. It's obvious he did his research on all three software products and he is careful not to promote one over any other.

This book is not intended for someone who is already familiar with 3D software and looking to improve their skill set. For that purpose, there are many good books that go into much greater detail over a product's toolset and capabilities. But for the beginner 3D animator wanna-bes, this is a good book to break the ice and introduce you to the exciting and rapidly-evolving field of digital 3D animation.

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