There are so many people who bring a book like this to life, and I would like to try to thank each of them here. They include those with a direct hand in the editing and layout, those whose inspiration drives me to continue working and learning, and those whose support makes this kind of endeavor possible. First I'd like to thank Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger for their cherished friendship, Karl Meyer of Gentle Giant Studios for opening so many doors and being a genuine and good friend, and Jim McPherson for his friendship and expert artistic guidance. Thanks to all the artists at Weta Workshop for their kindness and sharing. I would also like to thank Andrew Cawrse of Anatomytools.com. Were it not for his hospitality and guidance, this book would be far less useful and my own knowledge and experience far more limited. I would also like to extend very special thanks and acknowledgments to Andy Chamberlin and the Samuel Merritt Medical School anatomy lab for access to the facilities and for the dissection time.

Special thanks to Digital Raster for access to NEX tools and tips along the way on how to make the most of this amazing tool. For the many wonderful photographs of reference models in this book, I must thank 3d.sk, the premiere source of high-resolution figure reference photos online. Every photo shoot is a team effort, and they had the full 3D.sk team involved, including Veronika Jaskova aka Kristin (project manager for the anatomy websites and manager of models and photo shoots), Tomas Babinec (project manager for Environment Textures and 3D.sk), Tomas Pondelik (project manager for 3D Tutorials), and Jiri Matula (photographer).

Thanks to Paul Gaboury for serving as the technical editor of this book and a constant source of information. I can say with certainty this book would not exist without Paul's input and assistance. Thanks also to Ofer Alon, Jaime Labelle, and Martin Knapp at Pixologic, and Alex Alvarez, Ryan Kingslien, David Caplan, and everyone at Gnomon.

I'd also like to thank Rick Baker, Zack Petroc, Jamie Beswarick, Dave Meng, Greg Tozer, Andrew Baker, Gino Acevedo, Steven Lambert, Greg Broadmore, 3D World magazine, Imagine FX, Eric Keller, Meats Meier, Scott Patton, Neville Page, Cesar Dacol, Ian Joyner, Mitch Devane, JP Targete, Eric Keller, Javier Soto, Gary Hunt, Bill Spradlin, Bill Johnson, Paul Hudson, and all the artists and teachers who have inspired me to keep working and learning.

A very special thanks to Mariann Barsolo, Jim Compton, Dassi Zeidel, and the wonderful team at Wiley who helped me get this book to print and were always professional, patient, attentive, and helpful to the process.

Thank you to Meredith Yayanos for her love, support, and reassurance, especially when the deadlines were piling up. Thanks to my brother, Bill Spencer, for his help and fun times at the Magic Castle. And finally I want to thank my parents for being the most loving, patient, and supportive mother and father anyone could hope for. Thank you.