Tony Mullen, author of Mastering Blender and Bounce Tumble and Splash, has written an updated edition of Introducing Character Animation With Blender to bring the book up to date with Blender 2.5. The book covers modelling, rigging and animating characters in Blender 2.5 and has been updated with lots of information on new additions to blender.
Tony writes:
I wanted to let people know that at long, long last, Introducing Character Animation with Blender 2nd Edition is available! Of course, this edition is up to date for Blender 2.5. It covers a lot of new things, including the awesome rigify add-on, mesh modifiers, working with the Dope Sheet, libraries and proxies, and much more.The basic content follows the same overall format as the previous edition, so people should be aware that this book also covers character modeling, texturing, and rigging rather than being focused narrowly on only animation as the title implies.
Introducing Character Animation with Blender on Amazon US
20 Comments
I have the first edition and have already pre-ordered the second edition from bokus.com here in Sweden.
Looking forward to it.
Umn. That book is listed as Feb 22, 2010. So where is the one with the 2.5 information? It's showing being able to order used copies, so it can't be the new one.
Can we get a link to where we can buy the book?
@Foolish Frost,
This is the new one. The Feb 22, 2010 info is what's outdated. The reason is that the book was actually originally slated (by the publisher) for publication then, and posted for pre-order (far too early, it turned out) but I delayed it to wait for 2.5 to be ready to write about. Somewhere along the line there have been some miscommunications between the publisher and Amazon about what exactly to put as the publication date.
That's one of the reasons why I wrote "at long, long last" in my post above!
As for why there are used copies available, I wondered the same thing myself. I think some of those re-sellers linked to from Amazon are able to get copies pretty early. Not sure how.
Does this still feature Captain Blender or whatever his name is?
I pre order this book, it is available in US right now, but I have to wait for a month for receive it in Europe (france), holy mackerel !!
Just placed my order at Amazon. Thanks for the reminder Tony. Congratulations on finishing the updated version of the book. Very much looking forward to reading it and learning from your experience.
I really liked the first book. I am sure this one will be even better.
I was just about to place an order for the first edition last night... but held off thinking it was likely to contain all pre 2.5 rigging and animation techniques...
Ha! Just ordered the second edition! Thanks for letting us know it got updated for 2.5
@Level Designer,
Yes, it's still Captain Blender, although the model has been re-worked. But the content has been re-written from scratch in all but a few small places.
btw, I just got a mail from the publisher about the publication date on the Amazon page, and they're on it. Should be fixed soon.
@TonyM
Will your other books be updated for Blender 2.5 as well?
This Blender book and other Blender books are available from:
United Kingdom
http://www.amazon.co.uk/
United Kingdom
http://www.waterstones.com/
Sweden
http://www.bokus.com/
China
http://www.amazon.cn/
Japan
http://www.amazon.co.jp/
France
http://www.amazon.fr/
USA
http://www.amazon.com/
Germany
http://www.amazon.de/
Australia-New Zealand
http://www.borders.com.au/search/blender+animation/mediatype/all/type/relaxed/
Also lots of other Blender books at:
http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/default_books.php
@Morten, probably, eventually (if by "2.5" you mean "this or some future version of Blender")... But I've got a few projects going on at the moment and so I don't have immediate plans for updating other books yet.
Hey, let the publisher know that their link to the book is down:
http://www.sybex.com/go/introducingblender
Gives a page not found error
@MarkJoel60,
Is that the link printed in the book? I'll let them know. Here's the link that works. The files etc should be here as well:
http://www.sybex.com/WileyCDA/SybexTitle/Introducing-Character-Animation-with-Blender-2nd-Edition.productCd-047042737X.html
Awww!
I have the first edition. Is there anyway I could just get an update.... like a pdf or kindle version? Cheaper?
@G3,
I'm not aware of such an offer. There are some sample pdfs available on the book's website, link above.
I started learning Blender with the first edidion. Definately one for my birthday wish list.
I had this book pre-ordered on Amazon from summer last year until they canceled it in February. I thought that was the end of it, but it is finally here! I just reordered it now.
P.S. Glad to see Sintel and scales on the cover instead of Frankie and the butterfly. :-)
Will it be available through the blender e-shop? First: I don't have a creditcard which makes buying at amazon pretty complicated. And with the e-shop i can transfer straight from my bankaccount very easily. Second: by buying from the blender e-shop i support the foundation.
when will this book be released? i am new to blender and looking forward to a good book. And i thins one is most appropriate for me. So plz tell me the release date of this book/