Blue Sky: The Art of Computer Animation

Blue Sky Studios programs photo-realistic, high-resolution, double- take-inducing, computer-generated character animation for movies and television. Its eye-popping effects have added pizzazz to The Sopranos, Alien Resurrection, and Joe's Apartment, to cite a few credits, and its endearing animated short Bunny won an Academy Award in 1998. On March 15, 2002, the company will release its first full- length film, Twentieth Century Fox's surefire success Ice Age—in which Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, and Denis Leary provide the voices of Manfred, the woolly mammoth, Sid, the sloth, and Diego, the sabertooth tiger—three characters who take an unforgetable journey. Featuring examples from these and other breathtaking works, Blue Sky takes readers frame-by-frame through the 3-D animation process.

Techies already worship Blue Sky for its state-of-the-art CGI software: this hip, informative book brings fans of such huge hits as Toy Story and Shrek in on the fun.

Peter Weishar is a professor of animation at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.