COMPUTER GRAPHICS SOFTWARE. This book teaches artists or aspiring artists how to use DAZ Studio, a feature-rich, 3D figure posing and animation tool, to create stunning digital imagery for games and more. Featuring comprehensive coverage of the DAZ Studio software, readers will learn how to create unique digital art and animation with virtual people, animals, props, vehicles, and more. In addition, the book shows how to work with the 3D images and content created in various formats and environments including game engines and software applications. This book is the official guide to DAZ Studio.
Annotation Show readers of any artistic skill level how to create stunning digital 3D imagery as they learn to most effectively use the latest version of the powerful, popular, no-cost DAZ Studio 4 to create everything from traditional art or a 3D avatar.
WHAT IS THE STORY GRID? The Story Grid is a tool developed by editor Shawn Coyne to analyze stories and provide helpful editorial comments. It's like a CT Scan that takes a photo of the global story and tells the editor or writer what is working, what is not, and what must be done to make what works better and fix what's not. The Story Grid breaks down the component parts of stories to identify the problems. And finding the problems in a story is almost as difficult as the writing of the story itself (maybe even more difficult). The Story Grid is a tool with many applications: 1. It will tell a writer if a Story ?works? or ?doesn't work. 2. It pinpoints story problems but does not emotionally abuse the writer, revealing exactly where a Story (not the person creating the Story'the Story) has failed. 3. It will tell the writer the specific work necessary to fix that Story's problems. 4. It is a tool to re-envision and resuscitate a seemingly irredeemable pile of paper stuck in an attic drawer. 5. It is a tool that can inspire an original creation.
Manga Anatomy Like You've Never Seen It! You know that manga faces are different from those of regular, American-style comic book characters. But did you know that manga bodies are also different? Well, they are, and Christopher Hart is here, once again, to tell you all about it in his signature accessible style. This book is loaded with clear step-by-step instructions and illustrations, anatomical charts and information, and before-and-after comparisons you won’t find anywhere else—all tailored to creating authentic Japanese-style manga. And in addition to the breakdowns of the various sections of the body, you’ll also learn how all the different elements—including faces and costumes—come together to form complete characters. Basic Anatomy for the Manga Artist contains everything you need to know. No aspiring mangaka (manga artist) should be without it.
Reprinted just in time for the anniversary of the series that stole our hearts, this handsome hardcover contains hundreds of art pieces created during the development of the show's first season. Featuring creator commentary from DiMartino and Konietzko, this is an intimate look inside the creative process that brought the mystical world of bending and a new generation of heroes to life! Go behind the scenes of the animated series Legend of Korra Book One - Air - created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko - the smash-hit sequel to their blockbuster show Avatar: The Last Airbender!
Animated interactive characters and robots that are able to function in human social environments are being developed by a large number of research groups worldwide. Emotional expression, as a key element of human social interaction and communication, is often added in an attempt to make them appear more natural to us. How can such artefacts be given emotional displays that are believable and acceptable to humans? This is the central question of Animating Expressive Characters for Social Interaction. The ability to express and recognize emotions is a fundamental aspect of social interaction. Not only is it a central research question, it has been explored in animated films, dance, and other expressive arts for a much longer period. This book is unique in presenting a multi-disciplinary approach to animation in its broadest sense: from internal mechanisms to external displays, not only from a graphical perspective, but more generally examining how to give characters an “anima”, so that they appear as life-like entities and social partners to humans. (Series B)
Race does not exist in animation—it must instead be constructed and ascribed. Yet, over the past few years, there has been growing discourse on the intersection of these two subjects within both academic and popular circles. In Race and the Animated Bodyscape: Constructing and Ascribing a Racialized Asian Identity in "Avatar" and "Korra," author Francis M. Agnoli introduces and illustrates the concept of the animated bodyscape, looking specifically at the US television series Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel, The Legend of Korra. Rather than consider animated figures as unified wholes, Agnoli views them as complexes of signs, made up of visual, aural, and narrative components that complement, contradict, and otherwise interact with each other in the creation of meaning. Every one of these components matters, as they are each the result of a series of creative decisions made by various personnel across different production processes. This volume (re)constructs production narratives for Avatar and Korra using original and preexisting interviews with cast and crew members as well as behind-the-scenes material. Each chapter addresses how different types of components were generated, tracing their development from preliminary research to final animation. In doing so, this project identifies the interlocking sets of production communities behind the making of animation and thus behind the making of racialized identities. Due to its illusory and constructed nature, animation affords untapped opportunities to approach the topic of race in media, looking beyond the role of the actor and taking into account the various factors and processes behind the production of racialized performances. The analysis of race and animation calls for a holistic approach, one that treats both the visual and the aural as intimately connected. This volume offers a blueprint for how to approach the analysis of race and animation.
Deformable avatars are virtual humans that deform themselves during motion. This implies facial deformations, body deformations at joints, and global deformations. Simulating deformable avatars ensures a more realistic simulation of virtual humans. The research requires models for capturing of geometrie and kinematic data, the synthesis of the realistic human shape and motion, the parametrisation and motion retargeting, and several appropriate deformation models. Once a deformable avatar has been created and animated, the researcher must model high-level behavior and introduce agent technology. The book can be divided into 5 subtopics: 1. Motion capture and 3D reconstruction 2. Parametrie motion and retargeting 3. Musc1es and deformation models 4. Facial animation and communication 5. High-level behaviors and autonomous agents Most of the papers were presented during the IFIP workshop "DEFORM '2000" that was held at the University of Geneva in December 2000, followed by "A V AT ARS 2000" held at EPFL, Lausanne. The two workshops were sponsored by the "Troisü!me Cycle Romand d'Informatique" and allowed participants to discuss the state of research in these important areas. x Preface We would like to thank IFIP for its support and Yana Lambert from Kluwer Academic Publishers for her advice. Finally, we are very grateful to Zerrin Celebi, who has prepared the edited version of this book and Dr. Laurent Moccozet for his collaboration.
