Essential Computer Animation fast

1 What is Computer Animation?.- What is computer animation?.- Who should read this book?.- The aims and objectives of this book.- Assumptions made in this book.- How to use the book.- 2 Computer Animation.- Animation and computers.- The history of animation.- Animation and the human visual system.- Computer animation.- 3 3D Computer Graphics.- From computer graphics to computer animation.- Principles of computer graphics.- Cartesian coordinates.- Modeling simple objects.- Modeling curves.- Surface patches.- Procedural modeling.- Laser scanners.- Perspective view.- 3D clipping.- Coordinate systems.- Transformations.- Rendering the image.- Color.- Colored objects.- Light sources.- Illumination models.- Shading models.- Rendering algorithms.- Texture mapping.- Bump mapping.- Environment mapping.- Displacement mapping.- Shadows.- Transparency.- Radiosity.- Ray tracing.- Volumetric lighting.- Shaders.- The RenderMan Shading Language.- Aliasing.- Anti-aliasing.- Conclusion.- 4 Computer Animation Techniques.- Interpolation.- Function curves.- Parameters.- Channels.- Keyframes.- Inbetweening.- Motion paths.- Transformations.- Hierarchical animation.- Hierarchical geometry.- Metamorphosis.- Procedural animation.- Forward kinematics.- Inverse kinematics.- Particle systems.- Physical simulation.- Rotoscoping.- Constraints.- Free-form deformation.- Skeletons.- Conclusion.- 5 Computer Animation Hardware.- Computers.- Motion capture.- Conclusion.- 6 Computer Animation Software.- A generic computer animation system.- Conclusion.- 7 Post-Production Techniques.- Digital images.- Image compositing.- Rendering and compositing.- Interactive and batch processing.- Conclusion.- 8 Computer Animation Applications.- Television graphics.- Computer games.- Commercials.- Multimedia.- Legal.- Computer-aided design.- Virtual environments.- The Internet.- Simulation.- Digital special effects.- Computer-generated films.- Conclusion.- 9 Computer Animation Jobs.- Modeler.- Artist.- Compositor.- Character animator.- Enveloper.- Technical director.- Conclusion.- 10 Animating.- Weight, mass and inertia.- Center of gravity.- Kinetic energy and momentum.- Bouncing and restitution.- Character animation.- Facial animation.- Conclusion.- 11 Conclusion.- Appendix A Useful Web Sites.- Animation software.- Compositing.- Conferences.- Conversion tools.- Digitizing hardware.- Facial animation.- Magazines.- Motion capture.- Plug-ins.- Programming.- Useful companies.- Time-Slice Web sites.- Other Useful Sites.- Appendix B A Renderman Shader.- Appendix C Motion Capture Hardware.- References.