Matthew Lake is a technical animator working in the video games industry. He started his career producing short movies in the early days of YouTube, leading on to work with the online entertainment network Machinima. Matthew has spent over a decade working on content creation, and after finding a love for interactive storytelling Matthew pursued a career in video games development. After acquiring a Bachelor of arts degree in computer games animation, Matthew went on to work on the multiplayer game Destruction AllStars, a PlayStation 5 exclusive launch title, and most recently worked as the lead technical animator on Fort Solis, a single player narrative game also for the PlayStation 5.

• Chapter 1: Technical AnimatorChapter 2: Introduction to SoftwareChapter 3: Introduction to Motion Capture TechnologyChapter 4: A Technical UnderstandingChapter 5: Introduction To MayaChapter 6: Introduction To PythonChapter 7: Python For MayaChapter 8: Maya—Building a SkeletonChapter 9: Maya—Building A Control RigChapter 10: Introduction To Unreal Engine 5Chapter 11: Unreal—The Skeleton SetupChapter 12: Unreal—The Animation Blueprint Chapter 13: Unreal—The Control Rig BlueprintChapter 14: Unreal—Physics AssetsChapter 15: Unreal—Sequencer CinematicsChapter 16: Unreal—Cloth DynamicsChapter 17: Unreal—The OptimisationChapter 18: Evaluation

“Of all the rigging advice I’ve seen over the years, the detailed rigging chapters in this book are so solid and it gives me joy to see a good resource in print.”Brad Clark, co-founder of Rigging Dojo.“This book is not only valuable for someone more junior, looking to start a career in technical animation, but anyone that works alongside or relies upon technical animation. It does a great job of breaking down, from start to finish, what is needed to establish a technical animation foundation for a game.”Mike Jungbluth is an animation director and game developer who has been working in games since 2006.