Lavishly illustrated, this second edition includes color images from such recent films as Blue Sky Studio's Oscar-winning short, Bunny, and from Pixar's short, Geri's Game. The rendering techniques used in Bunny and the animated cloth techniques used in Geri's Game are discussed, as are topics like advanced modeling, lighting, and shading and surface characteristics. Advanced animation concepts such as motion dynamics, procedural animation, crowd animation, and interactive animation are covered in chapter 12.

Software- and hardware-specific issues don't come up much, but they are mentioned since the tools that are available offer specific features that affect the look of the rendered image. For the most part, though, techniques are discussed in general terms. The burden of specific application falls on the reader.