Inside Softimage 3D

This complete guide to using Softimage 3D, the animation and special-effects package, takes you from simple navigation tasks to sophisticated animation techniques. You begin with a tour of the interface, where you produce your first animation; master interface concepts such as basic, scale, translation, and rotation modes; and learn essential animation concepts such as interpolation, playback, and function curves. The second part of the book focuses on modeling. You tackle organic modeling, moving points, curves, and extrusion, as well as resolved and skinned surfaces and four-sided patch surfaces. Rossano also teaches you about polygon, NURBS, and Boolean and Meta-Clay modeling, and explains how to use duplicates, instances, materials, and textures. Part 3 takes you through the processes of creating animations and rendering. You animate with shape animation, deformations, inverse kinematics, and dynamics and use the Mental Ray renderer to produce your final output. The explanations are straightforward, the illustrations are helpful, and the projects are creative and engaging. The included CD-ROM has third-party tools, stock images, and example files from the book. --Kathleen Caster