A year before this book came out I wrote a German book about the aesthetics of 3D animation using Maya 3 - a much more basic book than this one and three times as heavy. That book contained 12 brief tutorials which I called "sketches". In German, the term has mainly its comic meaning of a short, funny dialog. The sketches were randomly sprinkled in among the 600 pages of more fundamental and comprehensive information. They were mini-chapters not at all related to the rest and extremly satisfying to write. After having completed massive chapters about the basics of character animation or logic nodes, I looked forward to inserting a sketch where i could play: set a cube on fire, make the crescent moon rise, or create a will-o'-the wisp. Islands of pleasure.

This book contains no basics whatsoever, just islands of pleasure. If you're familiar with the Maya interface you'll enjoy the tutorials as much as I have. Each chapter is based on an everyday question, as it might cross our minds: How do I roll a ball over a mountain? How do I get the shadow of a birch tree (with all the trembling leaves and branches) inside my spartan little 3D room? How does a vulcano erupt? How do I make a character steer a bicycle while waving hello to me? How do I animate Chinese calligraphy for an educational CD-ROM? How do I simulate a crash test for cars?

And since the tutorials aren't linked to specific software tools or techniques, but rather to questions derived from real life, you'll find you return to the book again and again. When working on a totally different project, you'll suddenly remember that doorbell button or the knobbly guy...