1st Edition

Technical Animation in Video Games

By Matthew Lake Copyright 2024
270 Pages 257 B/W Illustrations
by CRC Press

270 Pages 257 B/W Illustrations
by CRC Press

270 Pages 257 B/W Illustrations
by CRC Press

This book provides a comprehensive overview of video game technical animation, covering the next generation pipelines that industry developers utilise to create their games. It covers the technical animation workflow from start to finish, looking at both software and hardware, as well as the industry standard processes that all technical animators need to know. Written to be an accessible... Read more

Chapter 1: Technical Animator

Chapter 2: Introduction to Software

Chapter 3: Introduction to Motion Capture Technology

Chapter 4: A Technical Understanding

Chapter 5: Introduction To Maya

Chapter 6: Introduction To Python

Chapter 7: Python For Maya

Chapter 8: Maya—Building a Skeleton

Chapter 9: Maya—Building A Control Rig

Chapter 10: Introduction To Unreal Engine 5

Chapter 11: Unreal—The Skeleton Setup

Chapter 12: Unreal—The Animation Blueprint

Chapter 13: Unreal—The Control Rig Blueprint

Chapter 14: Unreal—Physics Assets

Chapter 15: Unreal—Sequencer Cinematics

Chapter 16: Unreal—Cloth Dynamics

Chapter 17: Unreal—The Optimisation

Chapter 18: Evaluation

Biography

Matthew Lake is a technical animator working in the video games industry. He started his career producing short movies in the early days of YouTube, leading on to work with the online entertainment network Machinima. Matthew has spent over a decade working on content creation, and after finding a love for interactive storytelling Matthew pursued a career in video games development. After acquiring a Bachelor of arts degree in computer games animation, Matthew went on to work on the multiplayer game Destruction AllStars, a PlayStation 5 exclusive launch title, and most recently worked as the lead technical animator on Fort Solis, a single player narrative game also for the PlayStation 5.

“Of all the rigging advice I’ve seen over the years, the detailed rigging chapters in this book are so solid and it gives me joy to see a good resource in print.”

Brad Clark, co-founder of Rigging Dojo.

“This book is not only valuable for someone more junior, looking to start a career in technical animation, but anyone that works alongside or relies upon technical animation. It does a great job of breaking down, from start to finish, what is needed to establish a technical animation foundation for a game.”

Mike Jungbluth is an animation director and game developer who has been working in games since 2006.