In case you haven’t yet heard of it – please let me tell you this is one heck of a book that you’ll go back to time and time again.

When the idea of making a short film first occurred to me I remember checking the public library listings on the subject. There weren’t many around, believe me.

Starting to work on a 3d short is a very gratifying process. Those who did it know very well what I’m talking about. Failure to finish such a project could derive from a variety of reasons. Lack of time,  lack of funding, lack of energy, losing interest, circumstance, poor evaluation of skill and available resources etc.

Depending on how much time you have on your hands and how skilled you are – you can see it done fairly soon. It might take one whole year, sometimes two years. If you team up with other artists perhaps you could see it done in just a few months. Plus, if you go this way and are willing to share the credits with other people, the quality of the short can be way higher. While I admire those who have managed to pull it off by themselves and themselves alone, I believe that no one can really master all the skills required to finish a short film.

Inspired 3d Short Film Production was truly inspirational to me. It is also a great read .There are loads of links/references to CG shorts that made it to different festivals. After only a few short years from the date the book was published – the animation world has seen a tremendous evolution. The bar has certainly been raised.

The book is, however, very fresh. It is cleverly organized so you can go straight to the chapter that interests you at any given time.

Each chapter goes into an in-depth description of the different creative stages one goes through while making a short film.

Planning ahead, organizing yourself, making a realistic schedule, setting a deadline, creating the assets ( modeling  characters/props/sets, rigging , texturing  ), creating the animatic, animating your shots, lighting them – these are all covered in the book.

The magic of this book, the way I see it – is that while the authors describe the sometimes daunting process of making a short film, they also describe the beauty and glory of it.

If you’re curious and want to read a few excerpts – you can do so on Jeremy Cantor’s website, where he has generously made the first 3 chapters available in .PDF form.

You can buy this book here.