Product Description
Learn the key skills you need with this practical and inspirational guide to all the fundamental principles of animation. With extended pieces on timing, acting and technical aspects, Chris Webster has created the vital learning tool to help you get the most out of your animation and develop the practical skills needed by both professionals and serious students alike.

The free CD-ROM includes more than 30 animations illustrating the techniques described throughout the book as well as examples of a professional Production Schedule, Budget and Production Chart - everything you need to get started!

With a Foreword by Peter Lord, Creative Director and Co-Owner of Aardman Animations and an Introduction by Mike Milne, Director of the award-winning animation house Computer Animation, Framestore CFC.

* Improve your timing, performance and animation production skills with this practical guide to animation skills suitable for all disciplines.
* Benefit from the skill and experience of a leading professional and educator with more than 20 years industry experience
* Understand and master action analysis, movement and timing with this beautifully illustrated guide ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Great Book!
My son is in college, majoring in film/animation and asked for this book for Christmas. He said it's really informative and an all-around great book. Very helpful and very relevant to what he's doing. Based on his glowing review, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is starting out in this field.

appreciated by recipient
I bought the book for my brother.It took a while to arrive and was packed in plastic and put in a box. This was lucky since the mailman left it in the rain and it got soaked but the plastic protected the book. My brother says it is useful and so I am happy.

Could've been a lot better
Ideally "Mechanics of Motion" would be a successor to Animator's Survival Kit, building on basic animation principles while going in-depth and breaking down different forms of movement. And while this book covers a lot of ground, it could've gone a lot farther.

The animation process has been broken down into so many steps over the years it'd take tons of pages to cover them all. "Mechanics of Motion" feels compelled to mention things like storyboard, layout, character design etc... when it should just focus its pages on movement and leave the other aspects to books like Prepare to Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animation Features and Shorts that are dedicated to the subject.

Another good but could be better area is the animal motion chapter. This book covers the subject far better than most, (Even Animator's Survival Kit barely covers such a complex subject) but it only focuses on horses and birds. This is where the pages on layouts and bar sheets should've been used.

The best part of this book is the first part of the "technical" chapter at the end. It covers exposure sheets (aka X-sheets or dope sheets) and things like holds and staggers, types of animation movement that are more about timing than the drawings. It's mastering movement through both timing & drawing that makes for the best animation.

All in all, there's plenty to learn from "Mechanics of Motion" but it still could have done more.

A great start
Without any formal knowledge about animation, this book opened my eyes to see, that is more involved in animation, that what you can think. Showing me how the laws of motion affect the objects and live forms, the inertia, momentum, and so. Maybe sounds a bit of Physics and complicated stuff like that, but the author is a great teacher showing you how the things work, and using a lot of drawings, the concepts get comprehensive.

Finally the book teach you the most important principles of animation, regarding of the medium you are more familiar with, maybe traditional 2D animations, 3D and computer animation, etc. All the teachings that this book provides are applicable.

Animation for all
Great for beginners and advanced because Webster focuses on motion and how it works when drawing animation. His sketches are clear and easy to try to draw, as a beginner.

Webster's focus on the physics of motion and how it works when drawing is a good prelude to the latter chapters in which he shows the painstaking process of creating an animated film. If a novice begins at the beginning, rather than jumping into digital animation, the foundation will be very strong.

The many examples of "squash and stretch" in people, objects, and animals, help understand that the principles apply in so many situations. The disc accompanying the book is helpful as well.

A criticism of Focal Press, the publisher: the paper is so heavy and slippery that it is awkward to use. I want to open a double-page spread while I am learning to draw. The pages don't allow me to do this.
... Read more

Product Description

Separation of the elements of classical mechanics into kinematics and dynamics is an uncommon tutorial approach, but the author uses it to advantage in this two-volume set. Students gain a mastery of kinematics first – a solid foundation for the later study of the free-body formulation of the dynamics problem.

A key objective of these volumes, which present a vector treatment of the principles of mechanics, is to help the student gain confidence in transforming problems into appropriate mathematical language that may be manipulated to give useful physical conclusions or specific numerical results. In the first volume, the elements of vector calculus and the matrix algebra are reviewed in appendices. Unusual mathematical topics, such as singularity functions and some elements of tensor analysis, are introduced within the text. A logical and systematic building of well-known kinematic concepts, theorems, and formulas, illustrated by examples and problems, is presented offering insights into both fundamentals and applications. Problems amplify the material and pave the way for advanced study of topics in mechanical design analysis, advanced kinematics of mechanisms and analytical dynamics, mechanical vibrations and controls, and continuum mechanics of solids and fluids.

Volume I of Principles of Engineering Mechanics provides the basis for a stimulating and rewarding one-term course for advanced undergraduate and first-year graduate students specializing in mechanics, engineering science, engineering physics, applied mathematics, materials science, and mechanical, aerospace, and civil engineering. Professionals working in related fields of applied mathematics will find it a practical review and a quick reference for questions involving basic kinematics.

Customer Reviews (1)

excellent and well-written text
This is an excellent book on dynamics that in a perfect world would supercede books of the Beer and
Johnson mold. This book could easily be used in an undergraduate engineering dynamics class and would leave
students in excellent standing for further courses in mechanics. This is by far the best book on
elementary engineering mechanics in print.The first volume on kinematics is also a winner. ... Read more

Product Description

Introduction to kinesiology or biomechanics which covers basic anatomical and mechanical concepts as well as practical applications. Updates discussion of the method of qualitative analysis. Jr/Sr/Grad level.

Customer Reviews (1)

Anatomy, Mechanics, and Human Motion
This is your "basic textbook". Well-written and well done. A great resource.
m ... Read more

Product Description
This book presents the first comprehensive exposition of the interpretation of quantum mechanics pioneered by Louis de Broglie and David Bohm. The purpose is to explain how quantum processes may be visualized without ambiguity or confusion in terms of a simple physical model. Dr. Holland develops the idea that a material system such as an electron is a particle guided by a surrounding quantum wave. He examines the classic phenomena of quantum theory in order to show how the spacetime orbits of an ensemble of particles can reproduce the statistical quantum predictions. The book will therefore appeal to all physicists with an interest in the foundations of their discipline. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A good starting point
This book can serve as a good primer on the theory. It has many strong points and a few weaknesses. It's very good at explaining the postulates and assumptions that are the basis of the theory and comparing them with the traditional approach, without to much fuss with philosophy. It has several chapters with examples worked out in detail that I found really illuminating: even if the theory is ultimately found to be wrong, these examples will give the feeling to really visualise many quantum phenomena and to be able to deeply understand them, something which was much more difficult in the traditional approach. This is real fun for a physicist who has been using traditional quantum mechanics for years and remembers his early frustrations with the formalism. It convinced me that any course on quantum mechanics should include a short description of Bohm-de Broglie with a couple of examples.
Among the weaknesses, it seems to me that the maths used to derive the quantum statistics in chapter 3 contains several errors. Also, the relativistic version of the theory is a bit sketchy, although in my opinion this theory demands a much deeper investigation in the relativistic context. This weakness may be inherent to de Broglie-Bohm theory and is already present in Bohm's and de Broglie's works. I think there is a tendency in the research in this field since de Broglie, which this book inherits partially: spend too much energy to convince of the validity of the theory, instead of using it to derive useful results. But forget the weaknesses and enjoy the chapters with QM examples.

best on pilot wave to date
I prefer this one to Bohm's _Undivided Universe_. The exposition is clearer, and it does well without any super-speculative, cloudy ending. The virtue of the de Broglie-Bohm pilot wave is unmistakable here: realstat-mech type probabilities (which many-worlds can't get) emerging withoutany special postulate for the universe going on strike when a"measurement" occurs (which Copenhagen can't get rid of). Othergood stuff here too; e.g., take your pick: Bohmize the Pauli equation, theDirac equation, or an alternative treatment of spin coming from a quantumpotential for the rigid rotator.

excellent
An excellent book that covers the hidden variables (which are actually the measured variables)interpertation as advanced by deBroglie and Bohm.This book carries this furthur and completes the theory in an understandablemanner. It helps the reader to accept the possiblity of a field in 3Ndimensional space. Once this is done things fall into place. It covers themain topics such as EPR, the measurement problem, and shows how theshifting boundary between the quantum world and the macro worldvanishes.

It is written for physicists, but I was able to muddle throughthe math with a fairly limited background. The verbage is excellent and socan be read by philosophers without missing the main points.

A"lay" edition would be most welcome. ... Read more

Product Description
This book describes a revolutionary new approach to determining low energy routes for spacecraft and comets by exploiting regions in space where motion is very sensitive (or chaotic). It also represents an ideal introductory text to celestial mechanics, dynamical systems, and dynamical astronomy. Bringing together wide-ranging research by others with his own original work, much of it new or previously unpublished, Edward Belbruno argues that regions supporting chaotic motions, termed weak stability boundaries, can be estimated. Although controversial until quite recently, this method was in fact first applied in 1991, when Belbruno used a new route developed from this theory to get a stray Japanese satellite back on course to the moon. This application provided a major verification of his theory, representing the first application of chaos to space travel.

Since that time, the theory has been used in other space missions, and NASA is implementing new applications under Belbruno's direction. The use of invariant manifolds to find low energy orbits is another method here addressed. Recent work on estimating weak stability boundaries and related regions has also given mathematical insight into chaotic motion in the three-body problem. Belbruno further considers different capture and escape mechanisms, and resonance transitions.

Providing a rigorous theoretical framework that incorporates both recent developments such as Aubrey-Mather theory and established fundamentals like Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser theory, this book represents an indispensable resource for graduate students and researchers in the disciplines concerned as well as practitioners in fields such as aerospace engineering. ... Read more

Product Description

The book provides the most recent advances of Celestial Mechanics, as provided by high-level scientists working in this field. It covers theoretical investigations as well as applications to concrete problems. Outstanding review papers are included in the book and they introduce the reader to leading subjects, like the variational approaches to find periodic orbits and the space debris polluting the circumterrestrial space.

Product Description
Could Isaac Newton really have believed that a thrown object would continue at a constant velocity in a straight line?This manual is designed to help teachers introduce the daunting subject of Newtonian mechanics to students in the middle grades.The 27 teacher-created activities presented here use readily available materials to combat students' misconceptions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good Resource for my Middle School Classroom
I have been using parts of this book for several years now, and I havebeen very pleased with what my eighth graders got out of the activities Ichose.Every year, the activity they remember the most in June comes fromthis book.It is "Kodak Canons (or Investigating the Motions ofAction-Reaction Pairs)."If you can picture two film canisterstouching cap to cap in the middle of a long track, with one of thecanisters holding an Alka-Seltzer™ tablet and water mixture, I am sure youcan also imagine the anticipation on my students' faces.They would dothis activity everyday!Other favorites were "Determining the Speedof a Toy Car," "A Marble Race: Does the Mass of the MarblesAffect the Results?," "Marble Momentum - Mass versus 'BashingPower'," and "Fettuccini Physics (or Studying Equal and OppositeForces in Support Structures)."

The book offers 27 activities (20labs & 7 video suggestions) spread among 6 modules: (1) Sizing it Up(2) Mass and Force (3) Constant Speed Versus Acceleration (4) Interactionsof Force, Mass, and Acceleration (5) Applying the Laws of Motion (6)"Hidden Forces" Affecting Motion.There are also 14 readings atthe end of the book, referenced to specific activities.I found these tobe most appropriate for my more able students, especially those in theaccelerated math program.Each activity has student handout pages thatinclude directions and questions as well as a guide for the teacher (withanswers to the questions with background information, preparation hints,ideas for further study.All of the activities use easily obtainedmaterials, and I was often able to substitute others as well.(e.g., Theauthors often suggest model railroad tracks, but I found it cheaper to usewood molding or aluminum "thingamajig" from the local hardwarestore.)

Although this book was in 1989, and, therefore, has no referencesto the national science standards, each module has an introduction thatprovides the teacher with the "big picture" and instructionalobjectives.

One more thing.The videos suggested in this book are allpart of the "Eureka!" video series produced by TVOntario.Inever tried to obtain them, so I cannot comment on their availability. ... Read more

Product Description
Rapid developments in system dynamics and control, areas closely related to many other topics in applied mathematics, call for a comprehensive presentation of current topics. This text, the first of two volumes, contains ten thematically organized research or pedagogical articles addressing key topics in applied dynamics. The material is intended to be of interest to a general scientific and engineering readership, and is also mathematically precise enough to be a useful reference for research specialists in mechanics and control nonlinear dynamics, and in applied mathematics and physics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This is an excellent book for people working in applied math
Authors and editors have done a great job. Ideas and aspects are novel and they are presented for the first time in comprehensive book form. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
This is a translation of A.I. Lurie's classical Russian textbook on analytical mechanics. Part of it is based on courses formerly held by the author. It offers a consummate exposition of the subject of analytical mechanics through a deep analysis of its most fundamental concepts. The book has served as a desk text for at least two generations of researchers working in those fields where the Soviet Union accomplished the greatest technological breakthrough of the 20th century - a race into space. Those and other related fields continue to be intensively explored since then, and the book clearly demonstrates how the fundamental concepts of mechanics work in the context of up-to-date engineering problems. This book will help researchers and graduate students to acquire a deeper insight into analytical mechanics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Very rigorous book
Lurie was a mathematician known for his contributions to the fields of analytical mechanics, control theory, and elasticity. This book covers a broad spectrum of materials in a rigorous manner. It must be noted that "rigor" in this case does not equate to "mathematical abstraction", in fact the book is very strongly focused on the application of the methods of analytical mechanics to the practical problems of engineering (especially aerospace engineering). The price as posted here is very high, but occasionally one would have some luck in terms of finding a cheaper copy ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Really great book
This book, which intros to physics, is really easy to understand for any age.It has clear explanations of hundreds of scientific terms, Illustrations and photographs in breathtaking close-up detail, over 100 test and approved web sites, experiments, activities and observation, and also Test yourself revision aids are available in this book.This book is a must have for those who does not understand physics so well. ... Read more

Product Description
The aim of 16-19 Mathematics has been to produce a course which, while challenging, is accessible and enjoyable to all students. The course develops ability and confidence in mathematics and its applications, together with an appreciation of how mathematical ideas help in the understanding of the world and society in which we live.This unit: - is a self-contained introduction to Newton's laws of motion; - integrates the use of practical work; - develops concepts through the modelling of physical phenomena. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume contains a timely collection of research papers on the latest developments in the ever-increasing use of elastic waves in a variety of contexts. There are reports on wave-propagation in various types of media: in both isotropic and anisotropic bodies; in homogeneous and inhomogeneous media; in media with cracks or inclusions in random media; and in layered composites. The bulk of the papers are concerned with propagation in elastic media, but also included are viscoelastic, thermoelastic and magneto-electroelastic wave propagation, as well as waves in porous and piezo-electric bodies. Consideration is given to propagation in bodies as diverse as stretched elastic strings to surfaces such as thin walled cylinders, and thin films under stress. Applications considered include the determination of the depth of cracks; analysis of ground motions generated by a finite fault in seismology; surface wave spreading on piezo-electric solids; and dynamical stress intensity factors. Most of the papers are theoretical in nature, and many are complemented by numerical studies. Also included are a general survey on experimental techniques, and reports on experimental work. ... Read more