Customer Reviews

Stop Staring: Facial Modeling and Animation Done Right

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

4 stars because nuthing/no ones perfect.

we do a lot of char animation work and this book has been a godsent for our animators.Its to the point and absoloutely no faffing about,hence a slim book we can read where ever/whenever.Not for ABSOLUTE rookies though.
I think our industy needs a few more of these kind of books where software comes second to principals.
A BOOK FOR WORKING PROFESSIONALS...thank jason for small ;) mercies :) .
lets see you do an encore jason.

b

For anybody remotely interested in facial animation, this is the book to have. For years animators have been yearning for a book like this, wondering how to make the most of facial animation and Jason Osipa nails it down.

His easy going approach makes it an extremely easy to read book, with well thought out examples that guide you through all the ins and out of creating a good and solid facial rig and then shows you how to use it to create belivable and fast animation.

This book has changed the way I approach facial animation and I'm already seeing the improvements.

If an animator can have only one book in his library, this should be it.

I can highly recommend this book to every character animator. Jason's approach to facial animation is different, but very intuitive. And thanks to the CD that comes with it you can clearly see the high quality you can get out of his facial animation setup.
I love the book because I work with Maya, and if you are a Maya user you will get a lot of sweet things out of the book. But of course Jason's method is not about which button to use in what software. He simplified all the current approaches to facial animation and put his own twist to it, and that's the strength of the book. It's not different just to BE different and attract new readers, the way he works makes sense and the results are impressive.

A must buy!

This book is really well written - the author's humorous style is not too verbose and technical, but not patronising either! The methodologies for facial animation that the author presents in this book are really quite different from other practical guides to facial animation that I have seen. His methods are really effective (with some great practical exercises), and they've certainly given a "facelift" to the character that I am currently constructing. Although the book tends to be geared towards Maya users, the way that the author explains the rationale behind the paths he takes in the tutorials gives the student the ability to apply these instructions in their software of choice. Of course, if you ARE a Maya user, there's some really helpful instructions for facial modelling and for making some way-cool interfaces to animate your facial setup. I am SO glad I bought this book - it is just about welded to my hands at the moment!

As author of "Virtual Humans" I'm always looking for good books that bring a higher level to face animation. This is it. Jason writes in an accessable style, good humor and the kind of authority you want in a book. Frankly most other books that cover this subject are pretty boring and the faces are ugly. Jason is a very talented pro who privides you with everything you need to create the best, most realistic facial animation in remarkably easy ways. I recommend it highly to those of you who want to perfect your face animation techniques. His approach is different and better than any other that I've seen. I especially recommend this book to anyone who has purchased "Virtual Humans"

Peter Plantec

It's quite difficult to find books that tackle even semi-realistic polygon modelling and animation, so finding Stop Staring was one heck of a relief. Even the excellent "Joan of Arc" online tutorial pales to what's in these pages.

I'd go as far to say that what this book will teach you about modern character modelling for games (between 5k and 10k polys) is better than Steed's "Modelling a Character in 3DS Max" (which, without wishing to offend, reads like one big annotated construction journal and isn't quite as helpful).

After reading through 'Stop Staring', I must say that it was quite helpful in explaining a lot of terms and ideas used in developing facial expression animations.

While I am not a Maya developer or animator, (I use Flash for animation work) this book really helped me see things in a much more granular and detailed manner. You really start to appreciate and pay attention to all of the fine minutia that goes into a truly effective and expressive facial animation. Very careful attention to detail around the eyes, eyebrows and mouth can make the difference between a flat, boring and life-less avatar and a truly human-like interaction.

The book thoroughly explained, with clear text and great visual examples, the hundreds of little tips, tricks and ideas needed to develop realistic characters for games and artwork. Now I think about a lot more levels of detail, even when doing a simple Flash animation of people, to give even the flattest cartoon a little more life and interaction.

It's a great book for those who want to cover the basics (and details) of facial animation, and an even better deal for those who use Maya.

If you are a beginner or a profesional 3d artist wanting to learn more about facial animation then this book is your bible! Jason Osipa clearly describes and explains all sorts of great tips and techniques to create very life like animation. A must have for all 3d buffs!

CGI character rigging is tough stuff. Those of us who have to
sit in some studio dealing with this stuff every day know that
it can take years to really get fluid at this art form.

I thought "Stop Staring" used an intuitive, user friendly
and fun approach to teaching this difficult subject.

Not only is the technical side simply explained but the author
does a great job of teaching how to artistically create voice
sync animation.....using our own CGI characters or those
provided on a disk....to create fantastically good CGI animations.
I know It'll be helpful to my career.

Nice Job to all involved on "Stop Staring".

I've always wanted to do some facial animation tests with a model that is film quality and really well rigged. The Book comes with a CD with a fully rigged facial setup which is unbelivebly intuitive to work with and very well rigged, and best of all Jason goes over how to do make this from scratch in his book. Jason is also an excellent animator, i strongly believe all animators must have a good scene of character setup in order to take full advantage of the rig.One of the best books i've bought so far.