books

rigging

	Kiaran Ritchie: The Art of Rigging vol 1,2 & 3 Probably the first series of books to look out for if your interested in rigging. Written over three volumes it covers bipedal rigging (volume 1), mechanical rigging (volume 2) and ncloth and dynamics (volume 3). The books are accompanied by video tutorials which cover the entire content if reading isn't your bag. There's also a pretty good mel section, with scripts made available for your convenience and some pretty brilliant tools. All in all, a broad range of information, nice layout and understandable text (its written for artists rather than programmers). So whats the catch? well unfortunately the books been discontinued so the only way you can get your hands on it is second hand, as you can imagine they go for quite a handsome figure. You can however buy a pdf version online , so all is not lost - but not as nice as having the book in your hands.
	Michael Ford, Alan Lehman: 3D Character Setup Quite a difficult book to get hold of in the UK, last time I looked it was pretty expensive. You have to treat the book with kid gloves as my copy has fallen to bits. I bought this in response to being confused by Body Language.   The book gives a really good introduction to principles concerned with rigging and reading this will give a good foundation. Whats handy about this one is the interviews with industry pro's and their valuable insights.
	Brad Clark, John Hood, Joe Harkins: 3D Advanced rigging and Deformations This one pretty much follows on from 3D Character Setup, and as the title suggests, concentrates a little more on deformation techniques. Well worth a read.
	Allen Murdoch: Body Language: Advanced 3D Character Rigging As the title suggests, this book is directed toward the advanced user. This was the first rigging book I bought, my thinking being if I can get my head around advanced techniques I've cracked it. Probably the completely wrong approach when your starting out, i've since learnt it far more important to get your head around the fundamentals and go from there.  This book does have some pretty useful walkthroughs and features some useful set-ups. The spine tutorial is particularly impressive as he guides you through building an "Isner Spine" using utility nodes.     My only criticism is the book tends to miss out steps aor not explain bits thoroughly enough - I remember being stuck fo days on a particular step only to find there was a printing error. Having said that, this is a book for advanced users, so  probably best to leave this alone until you have developed a firm understanding.

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