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| Anime Studio: The Official Guide | 
 enlarge | List Price: $39.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 6 reviews)
Sales Rank: 99067
Category: Book
Author: Kelly L Murdock
Publisher: Course Technology PTR
Studio: Course Technology PTR
Manufacturer: Course Technology PTR
Label: Course Technology PTR
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 487
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.9
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7.3 x 1.4
ISBN: 1598634321
Dewey Decimal Number: 006.696
EAN: 9781598634327
ASIN: 1598634321
Publication Date: January 18, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Discover all of the unique capabilities of Anime Studio, a 2D animation software program with some amazing advanced features such as the ability to move the camera in 3D, a bone-based rigging system for manipulating 2D images and vectors, particle systems, dynamic bones, and the ability to import and view 3D models with textures. "Anime Studio?: The Official Guide" shows first-time animators, hobbyists, and digital enthusiasts how to create, render, and animate characters and even entire scenes that can be exported to various video, TV, and web formats for viewing and sharing. Using clear examples and step-by-step tutorials to help you conquer each feature and new skill, the book includes instruction on managing and configuring the workspace, working with layers, using drawing tools, editing curves, working with bones, and adding sound. You?ll even learn how to render a final scene and export it, import and integrate 3D models and textures, video, and Photoshop files, and add special effects. "Anime Studio: The Official Guide" will help you master all of the essential features of the software as well as give you creative inspiration for your own projects when you are ready to go beyond the basics with this innovative animation program.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
I would have given this book five stars,.. but... January 3, 2009
Kelly Murdock has given a great deal of consideration to this book in the outreach to a lot of questions most folks will generate in the use and exploration of Anime Studio Pro (currently at version 5.6). Since the change over from e-Frontier to SmithMicro ownership, Anime Studio, both in Debut and Pro offerings have undergone a 'hiccup' since this book was originally conceived. There is no free 30 day trial of Anime Studio Pro 5.0 on the disc. And even with the App. fully installed (I have the full legal version of Pro 5.6) I cannot get some of the examples on the disc to function properly. And for the most part the examples that are laid out in the book are for function exploration and experimentation... The reason this book doesn't receive a 5-star rating from me is that the examples are overly simplistic!.. Let's face it the artwork projects don't do much to sell the product!..
However IF one overlooks the lack of quality artwork in the examples one will get just what the book promises... A COMPLETE GUIDE to Anime Studio Pro (and Debut if you apply it to that). The book is straightforward and easy to read and use for instruction. I intend to use it with kids who want to learn basic animation, and to use it as a class manual for Anime Studio instruction. The REALLY nice thing about this book is that it is multi-layered in its purpose: It can be used for basic, intermediate and advanced instruction. It includes in the chapter on 3D work information on using rather sophisticated softwares such as AutoDesk's MAYA and 3ds MAX, Adobe's PhotoShop and Illustrator as well as apps like Anima8or and Poser with Anime Studio.
Overall from beginning to end this book will get you up and running with Anime Studio (Pro or Debut) and in a lot less time than trying to just use the examples from the software's 'lessons'. Concise, compact and all in one book... SO if you have either of the Anime Studio offerings at your disposal, have THIS BOOK close at hand! (Do make sure you visit the online forum at 'lostmarble' though... updates are always just around the corner and new references too!) Happy animating!!!
 A wonderful book for an amazing animation program December 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought Anime Studio Pro 5 to exercise my grey cells and have fun with art. Murdock's book, which I first saw in a library, convinced me that this was the right program. The "Official Guide" is such a useful reference that I had to have it and so purchased a copy from Amazon. The 500 page volume itself is nicely designed with loads of color images and text boxes, printed on quality coated paper in the United States. The companion CD includes all the exercises and sample files referenced in the book; but if you are looking for the trial version of the software, you'll need to download the latest files off the Web.
Regarding which version of Anime Studio to buy (the "light" intro v5 or pro options), chapter 1 makes the limitations of the intro version very clear. I can't imagine trying to create animation frames without such basics as trace or onionskin functions, which are only in the pro version. The pro version also offers 3D object and camera paths, which is where a lot of fun is at. Murdock's book makes all the tools within Anime Studio Pro accessible and is many times more informative than the HTML help that comes with the program or available online tutorials. He's an accomplished writer of guides to other graphics programs like Poser and LightWave, and so he really knows his way around the field.
Great resource as long as you are up to date August 9, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Anime Studio: The Official Guide is a great resource for learning all the features of Anime Studio. I still have Moho, which was Anime Studio's original title and unfortunately, the CD's examples are not loadable into Moho since file extension names have changed during the switchover from Moho to Anime Studio. Otherwise, it's a beautifully produced book and full color throughout.
I wish that a couple of areas had been developed more: frame by frame animation and Actions both of which get very little coverage.
 Yet another CD without the promised stuff July 21, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
Don't even buy this book unless you own Anime Studio Pro. I don't own the Pro version, and this book is all about the Pro version. The back of the book states that the CD has a 30 day trial version of Anime Studio Pro, but that's a lie. All that's on the CD are the chapter files, most of which you won't be able to do unless you have the Pro version, because every aspect of Anime Studio has Pro features to it.
Extensive resource for both the novice and advanced user March 1, 2008
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
This book by Kelly L Murdock is an extensive resource for both the novice and advanced Anime Studio user. The short, single-topic chapters are organized to make it easy for the reader to find information throughout the project workflow. Murdock uses simplified example files, included on the book's CD, to demonstrate each step of the production process.
Murdock begins with something that I haven't seen included in computer software books of late which is a history of Anime Studio. Next, he jumps right in to a discussion of the layout of the user interface, keyboard shortcuts and customizing the workspace. With that out of the way, he walks the reader through starting a new project, and opening and saving existing projects.
As with most animation and graphics programs, layers are used for structuring and organizing your project. Murdock thoroughly covers the basics of vector layers as well as blend modes and masking. Now you are ready to create the objects that you will eventually animate. He discusses aspects of vector drawing including freehand drawing, points, curves, regular shapes and built-in drawing scripts, a very nice feature of Anime Studio. Text is next on the agenda and Murdock covers adding text to your project and how to work with the text once it has been converted to curves and points.
In the next few chapters, Murdock reduces Anime Studio objects down to their primary elements which are points, curves, fills and outlines. He covers the basics such as selecting, deleting, editing and transforming each of these individual parts. Most of the color and effects applied to these primary elements are controlled through the Styles palette. You will learn how to apply color to outlines and fills as well as use brushes and special effects.
Now that Murdock has covered all the basics for creating objects or content in Anime Studio, its time to introduce animation. He starts with a discussion of camera motion and 3D space and moves on to cover bones and skeletal hierarchy which you will bind to your characters to control their movements. Once you can move your characters like a puppeteer, you will build a sequence of movements into an animation using keyframes, graphs and scripts within the Timeline palette.
Next, Murdock switches gears to discuss the Content Library and several ways to import content into your project such as movies, 3D objects, vector images from Illustrator and non-vector images from Photoshop. Finally, he discusses the Actions palette, the LUA scripting language and creating reuseable scripts.
You have several options for publishing your animation and Murdock discusses how to preview a render of your scene and how to export your animation in the Flash, AVI and QuickTime formats.
Kelly L Murdock has worked on several large-scale 3D projects and is the author of many computer graphics books.
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