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Blender 2.5 Character Animation Cookbook

45
By on Books

Packt Publishing has just released a new Blender book on character rigging and animation: ‘Blender 2.5 Character Animation Cookbook’ written by Virgilio Vasconcelos. To celebrate its release, Packt is giving away 2 copies to BlenderNation readers.

Overview of Blender 2.5 Character Animation Cookbook

  • Learn how to create efficient and easy to use character rigs with dedicated tutorials for each body part, from hands and feet to facial expressions
  • Understand and apply the principles of animation to your characters so your audience believes they're alive
  • See common approaches when animating your characters in real world situations using a streamlined workflow
  • Learn the techniques needed to achieve various setups, from IK-FK blending to squash-and-stretch and facial expressions
  • More than 100 downloadable source files, with the before and after so you can compare your results
  • The only book to cover from simple to advanced aspects of working with character animation and rigging in Blender 2.5.

To run for a free copy, all you have to do is comment "I want a free copy of http://bit.ly/b3dAnimBook" on the Vimeo's promo video page until 11:59 PM of next Thursday (July, the 14th). The two winners will be picked randomly via http://www.random.org and the results will be posted on the video's description field shortly after the deadline. Good luck!

Links

About the Author

Avatar image for Bart Veldhuizen
Bart Veldhuizen

I have a LONG history with Blender - I wrote some of the earliest Blender tutorials, worked for Not a Number and helped run the crowdfunding campaign that open sourced Blender (the first one on the internet!). I founded BlenderNation in 2006 and have been editing it every single day since then ;-) I also run the Blender Artists forum and I'm Head of Community at Sketchfab.

45 Comments

  8. Greg Zaal on

    I really hate these publishers actually... they send pretty much every single blender site out there an email asking for a review. Sure they get the free book, but by the time the review has been written, someone already beat them to it.
    Very spammy publishers (who cant speak english from my experience)
    -9000 rep

    Reply
  9. Bart on

    Sorry folks, I had overlooked the info about the free copies. I've removed it for now and hope that Virgilio will step in.

    @Greg: actually Virgilio has contacted me about this directly.

    Reply
  12. pjoe on

    I guess this book doesn't cover rigify :S

    Still looks interesting though, been meaning to transfer my maya rigging skills to blender :)

    Reply
  13. DolphinDream on

    This book (preview) is awesome. Congratulations! I can't wait to take it for a full spin. Let it be mine! amin!

    Reply
  14. Grandmaster B on

    I'm currently browsing the eBook version of the book and so far i've seen some advanced and interesting stuff in it, just what i've expected and have been looking for!

    I dont believe its only for beginners, maybe those familiar with advanced character animation may not need a cookbook - I dont know! I just made simple rigs and animations so far and i've waited for such a book to fill the gap.

    Maybe i'll also post a review...

    Reply
  19. themonster on

    Great for beginners!!! that is the idea, if you are a professional maybe some tricks for you in this book, or maybe different approach to do a rig, but the idea is FOR beginners!!!

    by the way, I bought the ebook version! and is nice and advance to for a beginner and intermediate blender user

    thanks a lot Virgilio!!!!

    finally a nice rigging AND animation book for blender!!!

    Reply
  21. AnimaticoideX on

    I will search it at Barnes & Noble and I will definitely flip through it. I have learned a lesson of no buying teaching books without taking a look at the inside first. Sometimes it is not for us, and some others is great for us. I always suggest to add a free PDF chapter, or some random pages for us to look at it. Otherwise is much like a blinded Purchase. Virgilio is a great animator, no doubt about it, but not sure if the book has been well written with good technical approach to concepts, or if is too basic level, etc etc.....

    Reply
  23. Marimba on

    The book is pretty decent. It will give you the tools to animate in Blender and nothing more.

    Now if you want to create professional animations get Dick Williams' book and practice like there is no tomorrow.

    And I'm throwing my name into the hat for the FREE book.

    PS Remember Virgilio's book has rigging in it.

    Reply
  24. fred on

    @Greg Zaal are you a professional animator with lots of animating experience. You seem to know what your are talking about.

    Reply
  25. Virgilio Vasconcelos on

    Hey guys! I've updated the info about the giveaway.

    Thanks for all comments!

    @eukleyvcardoso: That was an old giveaway, and the winners for that were already picked. :) Now its the Vimeo comment that counts for this giveaway. :)

    @Greg Zaal: That's right. Professional animators should know most of the tricks, but I hope they can find at least a few neat surprises in there. This book is geared towards the Blender users who already know how to create 3D characters (as Mich commented, it may be a good company to Jonathan’s book on Character Development), but want to bring them to life with convincing movements. It covers from the basic foundations of rigging and animation and starts building in complexity on both subjects, with example files to help the reader understand it more clearly.

    Thanks!

    Reply
  28. Bryan on

    @Virgilio: I also see the same message. I am a registered user, but the message says "Sorry, comments have been disabled by the owner of this video." I saw this message a little while ago (maybe an hour), but the last comment was made a few minutes ago...

    I actually just created an account today, so maybe that has something to do with it?

    Reply
  30. Virgilio Vasconcelos on

    @Bryan and @Tom Poletek: Well... I really don't know what else should I do. I've set the most permissive options available for the video (registered Vimeo users can even download the video file), so I believe it's an issue with Vimeo. Sorry for that! I don't know... keep trying? :)

    Reply
  32. Tom Poletek on

    I can download the video, but can't post a comment. And I've registered long time ago, so that's not the reason, Bryan.

    Reply
  34. Tom Poletek on

    What I see is "Sorry, comments have been disabled by the owner of this video." right after last post (by Geisterhund) and there's a footer right below it.

    Reply
  35. Bryan on

    So, I just now validated my Vimeo account through my account email, and afterward I was able to post a comment. Hopefully that is helpful (although I still don't fully understand it).

    Reply
  36. Seryan on

    You will see “Sorry, comments have been disabled by the owner of this video.” even though he didn't if you have yet to validate your email address on your Vimeo account. Just validate it and you're ready to go like Bryan said. It's a confusing and unclear message indeed...

    Ps, do the guy a favor and also press the Like button while you're at it. ^^ (the hearth at the top right of the video)

    Reply
  38. Ammusionist on

    I was able to comment after completing registration from the link in my email.

    Thanks - Looks like a very useful book.

    Reply
  39. viktor4 on

    good looking book, great work

    I have some realy big problem with competition - some peoples write "I want free..." more than 1 TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply
  40. Ramon on

    Pô Virgilio!!!

    "To run for a free copy, all you have to do is comment “I want a free copy of http://bit.ly/b3dAnimBook” on the Vimeo’s promo video page until 11:59 PM of next Thursday (July, the 14th)."

    Encerrou os comentários antes pq????

    Mas de qualquer forma parabéns pelo belo trabalho! E continue com os excelentes trabalhos, a comunidade "Blenderiana" agradece!

    Reply
  41. Virgilio Vasconcelos on

    @Ramon: cara... os comentários não estão encerrados. Essa mensagem no Vimeo acontece porque você precisa fazer a verificação de seu endereço de e-mail para o sistema deles. Outras pessoas também tiveram esse problema. Corre que ainda dá tempo, e obrigado pela mensagem! :)

    He also had the Vimeo account e-mail verification issue.. :)

    Reply

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