Technical Animation in Video Games

This book provides a comprehensive overview of video game technical animation, covering the next generation pipelines that industry developers utilise to create their games. It covers the technical animation workflow from start to finish, looking at both software and hardware, as well as the industry standard processes that all technical animators need to know.

Written to be an accessible technical animation resource, this book combines easy-to-understand principles with educational use cases on how to combine the principles and tools taught within. Example test scripts, animation files, and rig assets are provided as tangible examples that can be modified and taken apart to deepen your understanding. It covers the end-to-end pipeline of technical animation, from the very first steps of placing joints in Autodesk’s Maya to breathe life into your static characters, through tools and automation development, all the way to Unreal Engine 5 integration and optimisation. This new second edition contains a new chapter on additional character animation, as well as fully updated version references for the latest generation of software.

Additional resources are available on the book’s GitHub repository. From this resource, you will find example files for Maya and Python scripts that will help with your own work and demonstrations featured throughout this book.

This book is essential reading for early-career game technical animators as well as those studying game animation courses. It will also appeal to technical animators working in the film industry.

Matthew Lake is an author, and video game developer specialising in technical animation. Matthew began his career producing short movies in the early days of YouTube, which led to a collaboration with the online entertainment network Machinima. With over a decade spent working on content creation, he discovered a love for interactive storytelling and transitioned to a career in video games development.

After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Games Animation, Matthew went on to work as a technical animator on video games such as the multiplayer Playstation 5 launch title Destruction AllStars, as well as the single player narrative title Fort Solis in which he was the lead technical animator. He has shared his expertise through technical presentations at international conferences, such as the Game Developers Conference (GDC) and Epic Games’ UnrealFest.

Matthew is also the author of a published technical book focused on Technical Animation in Video Games, offering insights into the discipline for aspiring and professional developers alike.