From: palomb@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Anthony Palombella)
Subject: Re: Animation Texts
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: 14 Apr 92 18:24:48 GMT

IK80014@MAINE.MAINE.EDU (Andrew Paradis) writes:


>   I am looking for some texts to help me along in my
>animation.  Speciffically, I'm looking for instruction
>on special effects, various methods of movement, and
>basic "tips & techniques".  I'm still relatively new
>to both animation and this news group, but I'll take any
>suggestions, no matter how technical or advanced.
>   Also, any suggestions on decent effect and animation
>software would be very helpful, excluding Autodesk's
>Animator.  For what it's worth, I use a 386/33 PC and will
>have a digitizing tablet within the month.  I also have
>access to Macs, so please don't limit suggestions to only
>PC and compatibles.  Thanks.
>------------------------------------------------------------
>Andrew P. Paradis               |  ik80014@maine.maine.edu
>"Come as you are."              |  POBox6 Ft.Kt., ME 04744
>------------------------------------------------------------

Here's a list I got off the net a while back from


Robert Corns      rcorns@husky1.stmarys.ca         Dept of Physics
Saint Mary's University       Halifax      Nova Scotia     Canada


********************* How to Animate Books ***********************

1) Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston; "Disney Animation --- The Illusion
      of Life", 1st edition, 4th printing; printed in 1981;
      Abbeville; ISBN 0-89659-232-4 and 0-89659-233-2 (deluxe edition)

      This book is a mixture of history and practicalities. It gives
      a detailed account of the history of the development of the
      animation techniques and goes into a lot of detail about the
      production aspects of the filmmaking process. It is also
      particularly strong in examining character development and
      does a decent job at explaining many of the fundamental 
      principles of animation.

2) Kit Laybourne; "The Animation Book"; printed in 1979; Crown 
      Publishers Inc; ISBN 0-517-53389-8 (cloth) and 0-517-52946-7 (paper)

      This book's strong point is its presentation of different
      styles and mediums that can be used in animation. A series
      of exercises in the various styles/mediums are given.
      There are two nice sections examining equipment and resources
      (i.e. books, suppliers, distributors, etc). Some of the 
      information in these last two sections will be dated.

3) Tony White; "The Animator's Workbook"; printed in 1986; 
      Watson-Guptill Publications; ISBN 0-8230-0228-4

      This books specializes as a how-to-animate book. It specializes
      in the cel-animation style and focuses primarily on animation
      principles. IMHO it is one the best books that deals with
      the how to animate. 

4) Dr. Roy P. Madsen; "Animated Film: Concepts, Methods, Uses"; printed
      in 1969; Interland Publishing Inc.; Library of Congress Catalog
      Card Number 69-16776

      Although somewhat dated, this book by far is the best at describing
      the technical aspects of animation such as the use of the 
      pantograph, the planning of trucks and pans etc. It runs the
      gauntlet topics in animation, giving a brief history of it and
      the production sequence. It even has a chapter devoted to the
      rendering cels and special uses that can be made of them. At
      the end there is a glossary of all the specialized terminolgy.
      It is also the only book I've seen which discusses the planning
      of a filmograph. To quote:
          "Filmograph is an animation technique in which still 
          photographs or artwork are infused with the spirit
          of life and the illusion of motion by means of optical
          effects, zooms and pans over the pictures"

5) S. S. Wilson; "Puppets and People"; printed in 1980; The Tantivy Press;
      ISBN 0-489-02312-5

      This book is specifically written for how to do puppet animation.
      It gives a good discussion about armatures and the motion
      of the puppet and explains how to combine puppets and live 
      action through matte shots and rear projection. 

      BTW this is the only book I've ever found that is solely dedicated
      to puppet animation. There is some discussion in the other
      books listed here, but not to the level of information found
      in this book.

6) Shamus Culhane; "Animation --- From Script to Screen"; printed 
      in 1988; St. Martin's Press; ISBN 0-312-02162-3

      This is as the title suggests. A book that discusses how to
      make an animated film. It does a fair job at presenting the
      the animation process. Mr. Culhane is certainly more enthusiastic 
      than many of the others authors and the book is written on a
      more personal level. He brings home a number of points that 
      I've not seen in any of the books listed. For example he 
      discusses the attitude the artist should have when starting to 
      rough in a new sequence.

7) Preston Blair; "Animation"; Walter T. Foster

      This is an oversized learn-to-draw-cartoons paperback book. The
      text is quite terse but does bring across the message of each
      lesson. The book steps through the fundamentals of how to
      draw and design characters and the basic principles of animation.
      There are lots of example pictures and I refer to it fairly
      regularly. It is an inexpensive book and well worth having. 


Hope this helps.  Please, no jokes about animating books...

   			-- Tony

```````````````````````````````````'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
HA! ...*Pronoun trouble.* It's not, "He doesn't have to shoot *you*
now," it's, "He doesn't have to shoot *me* now."  Well, I say he DOES
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Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation