AM Books - what's still needed?

[GKennedy]

Hello,

 

I'm an editor at Focal Press, a leading media technology publisher, working on our graphics and animation list.

 

I'm just looking at the current books on AM and there seem to be very few - I could just see 'The Animation : Master 2000 Handbook' by Jeff Paries and 'Animation:Master 2002: A Complete Guide' by David Rogers. Both these seem to be quite comprehensive, beginner/intermediate guides to the program weighing in at more than 500 pages.

 

Do these books, along with the manual and these forums, cover most people's needs or do you perceive a need for something else... if so, what would you like to see?

 

I'd really appreciate any thoughts on this.

 

Thanks!

 

Georgia

[KenH]

Great to see you interested! You might post on the main forum to get more responses.

But yeah, that seems to be the size of it regarding books for AM. I have to say I believe there's a market for another one as the last one was for v11 (tech reference). There have been alot of changes since then. If you get a book out there for AM, then there's very little competition at the moment.

 

Apparently AM sells to more people than any other 3D program. If you were to maybe sell at the trade shows that Hash attend/do a discount deal with sales of AM etc I'm sure you'd be onto a winner. People like to have a book in front of them.

 

PS I see you publish 3D World Magazine. Cool.

[GKennedy]

Thanks so much for this feedback Ken, it's much appreciated!

 

I'll put a note on the main forum as well.

 

Georgia

 

PS we don't publish 3D World Magazine - but lots of our authors write for them!

[Rodney]

Georgia,

While I would imagine you might find requests for more detailed solutions to modeling and animating in Animation:Master here in the forum I think the real untapped market in bookstores across the nation is an introductory book on 3D animation. This could perhaps extend internationally too but I can't really say for sure as I have no way of knowing.

 

What I mean is that there is a big interest in Japanese Anime, Comics (less so than Anime these days) and drawing. This is escpecially true of the "How to" variety.

 

One thing that is sorely missing from the racks though is the same basic "How to" book on 3D animation for everyone. Animation:Master provides a piece of this puzzle that other software simply cannot.

 

Obviously a book of this type wouldl be mostly of use to those that own Animation:Master which can be problematic for off the shelf sales I would think. Since it will most likely be the first time the reader has heard of Animation:Master they probably have limited access to any 3D program. The key to success here might be to keep the 'Lessons' simple enough that they can apply to all 3D applications and even be used without any 3D application at all. In other words... a book that teaches the basics of 3D modeling, texturing and animation but that just happens to use Martin Hash's Animation:Master to get the job done. Perhaps you could convince Hash Inc to provide their recently released realtime 3D viewer and some free models. That'd be fun!

 

I imagine your authors may already have something in mind so I say... more power to you and best of luck in your endeavors.

 

Rodney

[cowboy0469]

There is definitly a need for another book. It needs to be refence book that is not broke into complete projects but Chapters of searchable "How To's."

[Guest thinker]

Yes ,we need a book that covers 11.1 to 12 I go to tuts that are out dated all the time like babage patch for example;the water tut does not work with my version.Am is an amazing program,but getting the knowledge is the hard part.I can learn anything rather quick,but with am it is very hard,because getting the info is hard not the actual software.The last guy who commented was right on.

[nyahkitty]

I notice with most 3D instructional books, that the directions are grouped together into paragraphs. Listing each step of whatever is being taught, in it's own sentence, on it's own line, rather like a recipe card. This would be more visually accessible. At least for me, that is.

 

General explanations and discussions of a subject do well in whole paragraphs.

 

Also, generous use of illustrations, in full color, particularly when color choices are being discussed, would be appreciated. Never understood why color 3D renders are so often just in B+W.

 

So there's my wish list.

I'm looking forward to what comes of all of this.

[Obnomauk]

I notice with most 3D instructional books, that the directions are grouped together into paragraphs. Listing each step of whatever is being taught, in it's own sentence, on it's own line, rather like a recipe card. This would be more visually accessible. At least for me, that is.

 

but it would make the book about 5X longer which for a comprehensive A:M tome would ratchet the page count up into the 900-1000 range easy; which most publishers aren't going to do, as it will have to cost you the consumer in the 80-100 dollar range. We writers are pushed down with page limits so all the clarity and step by step with each step illustrated type tutorials wind up just cutting into the amount of the software that can be covered.

 

Also, generous use of illustrations, in full color, particularly when color choices are being discussed, would be appreciated. Never understood why color 3D renders are so often just in B+W.

 

I'd love full color as well, the only publisher I've seen do a real good job on this was New Riders, the remiander of the feild is pretty cheap. They give the author the option to have a set of 'color plates' but those are so far removed from the text that it needs to relate to that it does very little good. I opt to put the color versions of all the figures on the disc instead....

 

All that being said, as I am currently writing the update all this discussion on what people want out of a book has certainly been distracting and helpful .

 

I too look forward to whatever Georgia and her author have for us!

 

-David

[mtv65]

I too would love a book. A big heavy one :-).

 

I hate to have help files open and having to switch between them and the program.

 

Much better to have the book beside the pc. Even like relaxing on the coach reading in them. I too like the how to step by step for the most common procedures.

 

And please add a short word explanation of the most common phrases and words because there are quite a few people out there who do not have English as a first language and even if one has the words means different things in this setting.

 

T

[SiriusCG]

I'm with mtv65... a nice big heavy book! One that doesn't scrimp on interface details and uses terms that laymen can understand. A common lament readers had that reviewedboth the Animation Master 2002 books was that the authors used animation terms and phrases that beginners had a hard time with initially. I think the toughest decision on a book of this nature is how much to assume the reader knows about animation basics. Who is your target audience?

 

Perhaps a plan for 2 books, one that covers "Animation 101" material as a groundwork and uses A:M features to illustrate the principals; an absolute beginners book. And a second, more advanced book to follow, building on the first that develops more complex animation techniques and uses the A:M features to accomplish them.

 

As a corollary, I found this to be a good approach in the evening programming classes I teach at the local college, the first class is always basics and I "set the hook" and generate interest for my "advanced" class. It also gives me an indication of how many students intend to return for a second class early on...

 

Just my 0.02 worth. Thx.

[phnxpyre]

A new book? Thats a great idea!!!!!

 

one thing is that it shouldn't be all tutorials but more of a reference. and definately reference stuff that is not really well known about A:M.

 

i got the the "2000 HAndbook" book before and it seemed like it was all tutorials. And didn't cover a hole lot of stuff, in my opinion.

You should include information on radiosity and light set ups, rigging odd shaped models( ones that aren't humans), and basically stuff that isn't covered in the book that comes with the program. and include basic stuff, but also include advanced and intermediate stuff in it.

 

You should make the book long, so not to spare any much needed information. If it's an in-depth book and lengthy book, i would pay the extra money for it.

 

Basically i think it should be a Reference Book. With a huge index

 

Wow!!....Now i can't wait for a new book to come out!

 

P.S.: include lots of pictures.

[Obnomauk]

Well considering any pages past the limit in the contract results in a charge to my advance.... I think I'll just stick to the page limits. If you guys want to gather your nickles and send me the $4 per page they will dock me over the 600 then we can talk

 

Printing a production for an additional 400 pages would not be inexpensive for the publisher so I can understand their stand point on the matter.

 

 

-David

[Rodney]

I think I'll just stick to the page limits. If you guys want to gather your nickles and send me the $4 per page they will dock me over the 600 then we can talk

 

Ah... but purchasers of your book will be able to find even more cool (exclusive) content on your site right?

 

Will you be doing the site content thing again?

 

Rodney

[zandoriastudios]

Is Sandgroper actually thinking of like really actually BUYING it? Wow, that would be something!

[PF_Mark]

I notice with most 3D instructional books, that the directions are grouped together into paragraphs. Listing each step of whatever is being taught, in it's own sentence, on it's own line, rather like a recipe card. This would be more visually accessible. At least for me, that is.

 

but it would make the book about 5X longer which for a comprehensive A:M tome would ratchet the page count up into the 900-1000 range easy; which most publishers aren't going to do, as it will have to cost you the consumer in the 80-100 dollar range. We writers are pushed down with page limits so all the clarity and step by step with each step illustrated type tutorials wind up just cutting into the amount of the software that can be covered.

 

Also, generous use of illustrations, in full color, particularly when color choices are being discussed, would be appreciated. Never understood why color 3D renders are so often just in B+W.

 

I'd love full color as well, the only publisher I've seen do a real good job on this was New Riders, the remiander of the feild is pretty cheap. They give the author the option to have a set of 'color plates' but those are so far removed from the text that it needs to relate to that it does very little good. I opt to put the color versions of all the figures on the disc instead....

 

All that being said, as I am currently writing the update all this discussion on what people want out of a book has certainly been distracting and helpful .

 

I too look forward to whatever Georgia and her author have for us!

 

-David

 

 

Why don't they do all of that and sell us I CD with a .PDF Fully color all the detail and very little printing cost. We could have the PDF open while working through tutorials.

[nyahkitty]

Since there's a page limit to the book... and most people like exceedingly comprehensive and easy to understand reference, all of which with high quality color illustrations.... eh, we might as well make sure it's updated along with each main version of A:M (ver 11, ver 12, ....ver15).... with all that in mind, why not have the book as an appetizer, sort of like The Art Of Animation strives for, but even easier, illustrated step by step and always up to date.

 

With those basic sections of the book as a warmup, then use it to direct the attention of the reader to the all-encompassing online wiki which is of the same standard as the book. The added advantage is that all data is easily accesable for updating and accuracy. Also, then the online page count is unlimited.

 

There's at least one person who hosts an A:M wiki, so this is not to propose redundant efforts, just that this seems like the next logical step.

 

I hope this is helpful.

[Julian]

yes a wiki is good!

The Animation:Master wiki is here: http://www.zack3d.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

 

It just needs people to contribute to it.