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There are six major sections, broken down into 21 chapters, covering everything from modeling, texturing, and setup to animating and post-production compositing. There is a lot of information here, over 700 pages of it, which is good. But the book would be better if it contained more screen shots.
While the concept and execution of creating character animation in LightWave 6 is expertly explained, Character Animation with LightWave 6 rises above the crowd by including chapters about LightWave, storytelling through animation, and methods of production. In fact, the first part of the book (about 50 pages) is all about preproduction: story concept, script, storyboarding, and sound and timing issues.
Creating computer animation is easy. Creating computer animation that looks good is not, and the demands of computer character animation are enough to make any artist dizzy. Tools like LightWave, while equipped to meet the challenge, are often difficult to master without some experienced guidance. By investing the time to thoroughly read Character Animation with LightWave 6, you can climb the learning curve without succumbing to vertigo.
It's important to note that this book is an update to the previous edition. There is some new material to reflect the latest features of LightWave 6.5, but there may not be enough new material to merit buying this edition if you already own the previous one. --Mike Caputo
