CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

How To Use This Book

Chapter 1   A History of Computer Graphics and Special Effects

From Institutions to Homes

Chapter 2   Getting Started and Getting Finished

Good Hardware

Good Software

Your First Look

Good Habits

Chapter 3   Polygons: How 2D Becomes 3D

Understanding Polygons

Polygon Meshes

Starting Your Model

Viewing the Object

Editing the Mesh

Extruding

Controlling Edges and Edge Loops

Subdividing and Simplifying

Combining Meshes

Polygon Count

Normals

UV Coordinates

Aesthetics and Compatibility

Valid Geometry

Chapter 4   NURBS: The Spliny Truth

From Straight to Curvy

Creating and Modifying Curves

NURBS Surfaces

Advantages and Disadvantages of NURBS

Chapter 5   Subdivision Surfaces: The Marriage of Polygons and NURBS

Subdividing

Topology

Using Quads

Poles

Edge Loops

Enlightening Disagreement

Modeling with Subdivision Surfaces

Organic Modeling

Chapter 6   Deforming: It’s A Good Thing

Sculpting and Special Selections

Morph Targets

Lattices and Curves

Controlling the Influence

Specialized Deformers

Soft Bodies

Constraints

Skeletons and Muscles

Rigid Bodies

Order

Chapter 7   Rigging

Parent and Child

Bones and Joints

Skeletons

Creating a Skeleton Rig

Joint Limiting

Kinematics

Skinning

Rigid Binding

Smooth Binding

Muscles

Other Uses for Joints

Making Your Own Controls

Chapter 8   Animation: It’s Alive!

The Twelve Basic Principles of Animation

Keyframing

Animating with Graphs

Motion Capture

Facial Animation

Automation

Fence-Post Errors

Animation Workflow

Chapter 9   Dynamics: Let’s Get Physical

Physics

Collision Detection

Particles

Hair

Fluid Dynamics

Crowds and Populations

Quality

Chapter 10  How the Pixel Gets Its Color

Shaders

Ray Tracing

Photon Mapping

Chapter 11  More Than Just Color

Working With Shaders

Texture Mapping

UV Mapping

A Few Tips

Painting in 3D

Other Maps

Changing Geometry

Seamless Repeating Patterns

Multiple Maps

Resolution

Chapter 12  Light Effects

Reflection

Refraction

Caustics

Translucency

Shadows

Chapter 13  Lighting The Way

Light Properties

Types of Light

Objects as Light Sources

Chapter 14  Working The Camera

The Virtual Camera

Faking Camera Effects

Matching Virtual Cameras to Real Ones

Cameras and Image Planes

Animating the Camera

Through the Camera’s View

Camera Movements

Chapter 15  Environments

Terrain

Water

Plants

Sky

Sun

Clouds

Indoors

Chapter 16  Rendering

Image Size and Aspect

Quality and Optimization

Antialiasing

File Type and Naming

Bucket Rendering

Batch Rendering

Network Rendering

Frame Buffers

Spherical and Panoramic Renders

Stylized Renders

Layers

Postproduction

Chapter 17  Procedures and Graphs

The Graph

Types of Values

Value Ranges

Hierarchy

Types of Nodes and Functions

Combining Nodes

Outputs

Procedural Methods

Chapter 18  Scripting

Chapter 19  What Tools to Use

Full Packages

Smaller Packages

Sculpters

Character Animation

Scenery

Renderers

Chapter 20  Making a Career out of 3D

The State of the Industry

What Specialization?

College

Self-Study

Communities

Portfolios and Demo Reels

Ways to Attract Attention

Extra Resources

Links

Magazines

Books

Index