This book offers a thorough investigation of the recent surge of webtoons and manga/animation as the sources of transmedia storytelling for popular culture, not only in East Asia but in the wider global context.

An international team of experts employ a unique theoretical framework of media convergence supported by transmedia storytelling, alongside historical and textual analyses, to examine the ways in which webtoons and anime become some of the major sources for transmedia storytelling. The book historicizes the evolution of regional popular culture according to the surrounding digital media ecology, driving the change and continuity of the manhwa industry over the past 15 years, and discusses whether cultural products utilizing transmedia storytelling take a major role as the primary local cultural product in the cultural market.

Offering new perspectives on current debates surrounding transmedia storytelling in the cultural industries, this book will be of great interest to scholars and students of media studies, East Asian studies and cultural studies.

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Game Anim teaches the technical and artistic fundamentals of video game animation and goes further to provide practical advice and industry insights to help you become a rounded and successful game animator.　

Covering every stage of game production from the animator’s perspective, it is packed with the lessons learned from working on a variety of game types in both in-game and cinematic roles in animator, lead, and director positions. These have been successful across multiple studios regardless of team, size and culture.

The 2nd edition includes a new chapter on 2D and Pixel Art Animation, an enhanced mocap chapter covering the latest developments in Motion Matching, and even more interviews with top professionals in the field.　

Game Anim provides essential guidance to those looking to break into the industry and successful animators wishing to take the next step in their career.　

Key Features

• 20 Years of Insight: Accumulated knowledge from 2 decades of experience in all areas of game animation.

• The 5 Fundamentals: Reinterprets the classic 12 animation principles and sets out 5 new fundamentals for great game animation.

• Animator Interviews: Notable game animators offer behind-the-scenes stories, tips, and advice.

• Free Animation Rig: Free “AZRI” maya rig, tutorials and other resources on the accompanying website: www.gameanim.com/book

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Lighting for Animation　is designed with one goal in mind – to make you a better artist. Over the course of the book, Jasmine Katatikarn and Michael Tanzillo (Senior Lighting TDs, Blue Sky Studios) will train your eye to analyze your work more critically, and teach you approaches and techniques to improve your craft. Focusing on the main philosophies and core concepts utilized by industry professionals, this book builds the foundation for a successful career as a lighting artist in visual effects and computer animation. Inside you’ll find in-depth instruction on:

• Creating mood and storytelling through lighting

• Using light to create visual shaping

• Directing the viewer’s eye with light and color

• Gathering and utilizing reference images

• Successfully lighting and rendering workflows

• Render layers and how they can be used most effectively

• Specific lighting scenarios, including character lighting, environment lighting, and lighting an animated sequence

• Material properties and their work with lighting

• Compositing techniques essential for a lighter

• A guide on how to start your career and achieve success as a lighting artist

This book is not designed to teach software packages—there are websites, instructional manuals, online demos, and traditional courses available to teach you how to operate specific computer programs.　 That type of training will teach you how to create an image; this book will teach you the technical skills you need to make that image beautiful.　

Key Features

• Stunning examples from a variety of films serve to inspire and inform your creative choices.

• Unique approach focuses on using lighting as a storytelling tool, rather than just telling you which buttons to press.

• Comprehensive companion website contains lighting exercises, assets, challenges, and further resources to help you expand your skillset.

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This book offers a comprehensive and detailed guide to accomplishing and perfecting a photorealistic look in digital content across visual effects, architectural and product visualization, and games.

Emmy award-winning VFX supervisor Eran Dinur offers readers a deeper understanding of the complex interplay of light, surfaces, atmospherics, and optical effects, and then discusses techniques to achieve this complexity in the digital realm, covering both 3D and 2D methodologies. In addition, the book features artwork, case studies, and interviews with leading artists in the fields of VFX, visualization, and games. Exploring color, integration, light and surface behaviour, atmospherics, shading, texturing, physically-based rendering, procedural modelling, compositing, matte painting, lens/camera effects, and much more, Dinur offers a compelling, elegant guide to achieving photorealism in digital media and creating imagery that is seamless from real footage.

Its broad perspective makes this detailed guide suitable for VFX, visualization and game artists and students, as well as directors, architects, designers, and anyone who strives to achieve convincing, believable visuals in digital media.

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