Research Guides: Animation & Visual Effects: Library Resources

Databases

A-Z Database List
Database Best Bets

A-Z Database page
Academy of Art Library databases provide you with 24-7 access to magazine articles, e-books, company and business information and more.

Ebook Central This link opens in a new window
13,000+ full text e-books in over 18 subjects, including art, history, and technology.
EBSCO - Search Academic Search Premier, Art Source, & OmniFile This link opens in a new window
Search all of the journals and magazines in Academic Search Premier, Art Source, and OmniFile Full Text Select with only one search!
Business Market Research Collection This link opens in a new window
Includes Hoover's Company Profiles, OxResearch, Barnes Reports, and Snapshots! Information on international and domestic companies including personnel, budgets, products, operations, and competitors. Contains proprietary information about more than 40,000 public and non-public companies and 225,000 key executives.

Multimedia

Kanopy This link opens in a new window
Kanopy is an on-demand streaming video platform for public libraries and universities that offers viewers a large collection of award-winning films and documentaries. The Academy of Art University subscribes to a subset of available films on the Kanopy platform focused on Art, Design, and Film studies.
LUNA Digital Image Collections This link opens in a new window
Search over 330,000 images, including over 114,000 works of art from the collections of contributing museums, universities and archives. Architectural photographs, gardens and landscapes, political Americana, historical maps, fashion plate collections and much more.

The VFX Artists Podcast
The VFX Artists Podcast, hosted by Kofi Opoku-Ansah and Daniel Mark Miller is the spot for artists to share, learn and discover other artists in the VFX industry. We aim to bring artists from different levels and departments to discuss industry practice, software, processes, journey and more. We are a podcast made by artists for artists.
CG Spectrum Podcast
Established in 2011, CG Spectrum is a global top-ranked training provider offering specialized programs in real-time 3D, game development, animation, VFX, and digital painting. CG Spectrum inspires and trains creators through an industry-approved curriculum and personalized mentorship from professionals who have worked at major studios on blockbuster films and best-selling games.
The Allan McKay Podcast
Allan McKay is an award winning Visual Effects Supervisor and Technical Director in Hollywood - join Allan as he interviews many of the leading experts in Hollywood about their careers, pitfalls and what they took to succeed, while also gaining a lot of core knowledge to help build your career, money and success and skills to make the biggest impact in your career AND in your life!

Animation Anomaly
This blog was started by Charles Kenny, a civil engineer with a special interest in animation. Animation Anomaly offers a unique outlook on the world on animation and focuses heavily on the future of the industry.
Animation World Network
This blog covers a wide array of subjects such as animator profiles, licensing, current events in the field, CGI and other animation technologies. It’s also a great resource for job-seekers and employers.
The Art of VFX
Go here for interviews with various VFX industry insiders. This blog is authored by Vincent Frei president of the Swiss Visual Effects Association.

E-books

Ebook Central This link opens in a new window
13,000+ full text e-books in over 18 subjects, including art, history, and technology.
EBSCO eBook Collection This link opens in a new window
EBSCO eBooks offers a small collection of e-book titles that are required or recommended in Academy of Art University courses.
Project Gutenberg This link opens in a new window
Project Gutenberg is an online library of free electronic books, or eBooks. Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute literary works. The mission of Project Gutenberg is: To encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks
Open Library This link opens in a new window
Open Library is a non-profit, open source, digital public library, hosted by the Internet Archive, which lends millions of ebooks to millions of patrons each year.

Acting for Animators [e-book] by Ed Hooks
Publication Date: 2017
After Effects and Cinema 4D Lite [e-book] by Chris Jackson
Publication Date: 2014
Blender 3D Basics [e-book] by Gordon Fisher
Publication Date: 2012
Computer Animation: Algorithms and Techniques [e-book] by Rick Parent
Publication Date: 2012
Digital Compositing for Film and Video [e-book] by Steve Wright
Publication Date: 2018
Photoshop CC Bible [e-book] by Lisa DaNae Dayley; Brad Dayley
Publication Date: 2013
Prepare to Board! [e-book] by Nancy Beiman
Publication Date: 2017
Professional Storyboarding [e-book] by Sergio Paez; Anson Jew
Publication Date: 2013

Use the Course Reserves page on the Library website to search for required textbooks.

Magazines

Online Magazines

Exact Editions This link opens in a new window
Access magazines online from the Exact Editions Fashion and Culture Collection and the Architecture Collection.
Flipster This link opens in a new window
Access Art and Design magazines online from a computer or download them to a smartphone or tablet using the Flipster mobile app for offline reading.

3D World
3D World is the planet's best-selling magazine for CG artists, covering the fields of animation, VFX, games and arch-viz. Every month, you'll enjoy brand-new tutorials written by some of the leading creators in CG, providing practical guides to help you create amazing artwork or animation and explaining essential techniques to help you develop your 3D skills.
Animation Magazine
Based in Los Angeles, California, Animation Magazine has been covering the art, technology and business of animation and visual effects for more than 25 years. This monthly print publication and online daily news site offers informative and insightful in-depth articles as well as timely news items about this highly influential world to readers all over the world.
ImagineFX
If you love to paint, then ImagineFX is just for you. ImagineFX is packed to the rafters with an eclectic mixture of in-depth workshops from the world's best fantasy and sci-fi artists, plus galleries and interviews, community news and product reviews. Whether you're a professional artist, an art student or just create art for a hobby, each page ofImagineFX is filled with unrivalled advice from our team of world-famous artists who bring you bespoke, in-depth digital and traditional art workshops, tips and techniques.

Europeana
Explore millions of digital resources from Europe's museums, libraries, archives and audio-visual collections, including images, texts, sound, and videos.
The Internet Archive
Provides access to a wide variety of texts, audio, moving images, software, and archived web pages.
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons is a media file repository making available public domain and freely-licensed educational media content, including images, sound and video clips.

ACM SIGGRAPH
ACM SIGGRAPH is an international community of researchers, artists, developers, filmmakers, scientists, and business professionals who share an interest in computer graphics and interactive techniques.
The Animation Guild
Labor organization that represents animation and visual effects artists.
The CG Society
The CGSociety is the most respected and accessible global organization for creative digital artists. The CGS supports artists at every level by offering a range of services to connect, inform, educate and promote digital artists worldwide.
Tea Time Animation
The goal of Tea Time is to bring together current students and Alumni to discuss industry and department related news and concerns, facilitate lectures by guest speakers, nurture communication between the student body and the Animation Department and finally to provide an opportunity for peer-to-peer critique.
Visual Effects Society
The Visual Effects Society (VES) is a global professional honorary society and the entertainment industry's only organization representing the full breadth of visual effects practitioners including artists, technologists, model makers, educators, studio executives, supervisors, PR/marketing specialists and producers.

Search the Library Catalog

Research

Fundamentals of Animation by Paul Wells
ISBN: 9782940439898
Publication Date: 2006-08-24

Animation Development: From Pitch to Production by David B. Levy
Publication Date: 2010
The Artist's Guide by Jackie Battenfield
Publication Date: 2009
The Career Code by Hillary Kerr; Katherine Power
Publication Date: 2016
Legal Guide for the Visual Artist by Tad Crawford
Call Number: KF390.A7 C73 2010
Publication Date: 2010

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Animation & Visual Effects: Library Resources