American Cinematographer - September 2000 - 165

by Ray Zone
The Art Of 3-D

ated

Computer Animation

of 3-D computer animation, organized in
five categories, wrap up the historical
overview of the first chapter.

and

Imaging

-

Second Edition

by Isaac Victor Kerlow
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
434 pps., paper, $59.95

John

ISBN 0-471-36004-X

Isaac Victor Kerlow

really knows

his stuff. He is director of new talent/new

technology at the Walt Disney Co. and
has been a longtime instructor in
computer graphics. Since the publication
of the first edition of Kerlow's The Art of

Computer Animation and Imaging in
1996, computer animation has under¬

changes in both technol¬
and techniques. Revising his book to
include 3-D rendering, Kerlow provides
updated information in this second
edition on the most recent developments

gone quantum
ogy

in hardware and software.

Since

great many established
visual-effects professionals have had to
acquire new skills, Kerlow notes that "it
is time to accept the advantages that
computer technology has to offer, to
continue

a

developing the promising possi¬

images. Color-coded timeline charts

Each

chapter includes a list of key
organized in
an eminently useful manner. The digital
production process is covered in detail,
with separate sections on production
strategies, the animation studio and the
creative and production teams. An
overview of the computer-animation
process, as well as 10 career tips for
computer animators and digital artists,
launches the reader into the large
section on modeling. This covers
concepts and techniques such as
geometric primitives, utilities and hierar¬
chical structures. Advanced techniques

terms, and the entire book is

-

freeform curved surfaces, subdivision

surfaces and

covered in

book is both
approach. It
presents a step-by-step explanation of
the process of completing a fully
rendered 3-D animation in simple terms
that are not platform-dependent.
This paperbound book includes
500 full-color images and presents as
clear an overview of the subject of 3-D
animation as has appeared in print to
date. The first chapter presents anima¬
tion, art and technology in context with a
concise history of computer technology.
Useful sidebars with quick indexes and
notable landmarks fill the margins of the
text, along with historic computer-gener¬

photogrammetry

-

animation. The book closes with
on

A Survey and Interviews
with hive Masters
by Leonard Maltin

This revised and

enlarged
republication of the original
New York (1971) edition,
Behind the Camera: The

Cinematographer's Art,
presents interviews with a
number of accomplished
directors of photography,
including:

are
How Green Was

Anna and the

*

The Jazz

My Valley,
King of Siam

Hal Mohr, ASC

Singer, Captain Blood

a

post-processing.

Most books

Arthur Miller, ASC

*

aesthetic and technical dimensions of
section

CINEMATOGRAPHER

separate chapter.

Rendering is discussed in detail,
from ray tracing and camera types to
lighting and shading techniques. A
wealth of illustrations highlight the

*

Hal Rosson, ASC

3-D computer

The Wizard of Oz,

platform-specific. Kerlow
has given us an overview of the field that

in the Rain

bilities, and to let rest the options that
have not yet matured." His
creative and technical in

a

THE ART OF THE

animation

on

are

is useful to film historians, students and

practitioners - regardless of their hard¬
ware or

*

Singin'

Lucien Ballard, ASC

The Wild Bunch, True Grit

software choices.
*

Visual Effects

Cinematography
by Zoran Perisic
Focal Press
240 pps, paper, $36.95
ISBN 0-240-80351-5

Conrad Hall, ASC

In Cold Blood, Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid

Paperback, 81/4"

x 11",
with 105 illustrations

Zoran Perisic, ASC is the inventor
of the

"Zoptic Technique" for special
subject to

visual effects, which enables a

(800) 448-0145
WWW.CINEMATOGRAPHER.COM

163
American Cinematographer - September 2000

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - September 2000
