What's on your bookshelf?

I posted this over at the , where I know some of you lurk, but I thought I'd post it here too; see what those who don't have got!

I love me a good book, so I thought I'd post my film & FX bookshelf for all to see! The aim being that it might inspire some people to get the books I recommend, and in turn I can get some recommended to me.



So from left to right:
- Teach Yourself Screenwriting by Raymond Frensham. Haven't read it!
- Story by Robert McKee - Brilliant book on the art of putting a story together for film
- Raindance Writer's Lab - Write + sell the hot screenplay by Elliot Grove - Nicely written, plenty of good tips. I'd recommend this and Story for writers out there
- Directing Actors by Judith Weston - Great book. I'm currently taking some of her advice and taking an acting class!
- Digital Moviemaking - 2nd Edition by Scott Billups - Scott Billups is pretty outspoken on how digital movies should be made (use a Viper!). An entertaining read
- The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook by Chris Jones and Genevieve Jollife - now available in it's third edition I think, this is the first. Loads of good advice on how to make a proper movie!
- The DV Rebel's Guide by Stu Maschwitz - No stranger to some on this board - awesome book!
- Grammar of the Film Language by Daniel Arijon - Recommended by loads of people on Amazon, it's very dense and very tough going. I much prefer...
- Film Directing Shot by Shot by Steven D. Katz - Brilliant for learning framing devices, storyboarding and camera moves.
- Night and Low Light Photography by Gibbons and Wilson - I picked this up at our local discount book shop. Useful for reference
- Painting with Light by John Alton - A classic, in my collection for reference and to look at the pretty film noir pictures
- Cinematography by Blaine Brown - To my shame, another unread book! One day I promise!
- Color Correction for Digital Video by Hullfish and Fowler - Got this ages ago before there was such a thing as the DV Rebel handbook. However it has some useful tips on grading and using scopes
- Great Sound for Digital Video by Jay Rose - Every rebel film maker should have a book on good audio. This is one such book. Tips on using booms, clip mics, edit suite setup, etc.
- Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects (6.5) Vols 1 and 2 by Trish and Chris Meyer - Undoubtedly two of the most valuable books on my shelf. Indispensable advice on almost every aspect of AE. Less on the VFX side but still great nonetheless.
- After Effects in Production by Trish and Chris Meyer - Good in-depth case studies on AE motion graphics, which have been useful in everything I've done with AE
- After Effects and Photoshop by Jeff Foster - Not sure why I bought this; there's nothing new in it really...
- Maya 6, the Complete Reference by Meade and Arima - the first of my Maya book collection. Not a bad book really. Covers all of the Maya "Complete" toolset with good examples, particularly around rendering for compositing
- Stop Staring by Jason Osipa - Want to model and animate a human head, and do it well? This is the book for you. Too daunting for me to complete at the moment, but I've started it... Another bargain book shop find (?7!)
- Maya 6 Killer Tips by Hanson, Ibrahim and Nijmeh - The greatest Maya book ever (until Maya 8.5 Killer Tips!). If you use Maya, buy this!
- Learning Maya 6 Rendering
- Learning Maya 6 Modeling
- Learning Maya 6 Dynamics
- Learning Maya 6 Character Rigging and Animation - All of these are good solid introductions to the core Maya skills they describe. Haven't used the Character Rigging book yet though.
- Creating Striking Graphics with Maya and Photoshop - Another bargain book, I think this is really just a book of Maya examples. Not really much use for everyday reference
- Learning Maya 6 Foundation - The book I got when using Maya PLE, I did all the tutorials then went out and bought Maya! All the official Alias Press books have now been superceded of course, as Maya is now on version 8.5 under Autodesk's ownership.

There ya go! Some great, some good and some not so good. But I'm sure I'll dip into them all for reference now and again.

I've got the Mark Christensen After Effects book everyone recommends on order - can't wait for that addition to the shelf!

So, what you got on your bookshelf?

Christian.

Forget cursed aztec pirate gold, I've just seen REAL treasure.

Holy dooly u make an uneducated man feel like getting an education!

Holy moly!!!

I used to have 3 or 4 CG books...but I donated them to MAKE's library when I moved to NZ

I only have 1 book on my bookshelf lol.

That is - "The making of the Atomic Bomb - By Richard Rhodes"

1000 page book im working through quite interesting and complex.

Cool! Very good idea. I'm definitely going to check out the Maya 8.5 Killer Tips book. Thanks!

I've got half my CG books at home and half here at work. Let's see, right now on my desk here are:

-The Animator's Survival Kit - This one's not actually mine, but it's an essential reference for character animation, especially walk/run cycles.

-The Game Artist's Guide to Maya - won this at a Maya users group meeting, haven't used it much, but there's some cool tips in there.

-Stop Staring - My bible.

-Learning Maya 6: Character Rigging and Animation - Used to this while I was in school, still use some parts when I forget how to set something up exactly.

-Learning Maya 7: The Special Effects Handbook - Again I won this at a MUG meeting. Haven't used it yet but it's HUGE and full of great stuff.

At Home I've got mainly books I used in school that I don't use, but I hate getting rid of books. Shot by Shot, Digital Rendering, History of Animation, things like that.

I only have four

-The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams
-The Illusion of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson
-Preston Blair's book, my sister looted it though
-The 3dsmax6 bible, which is pretty useless.

The only ones I have not previously mentioned are:

Timing For Animation - http://www.amazon.com/Timing-Animation- ... 0240517148

Simplified Drawing For Planning Animation - http://www.anamie.com/book.html