3D Animation for the Raw Beginner Using Maya

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Author

Roger “Buzz” King is a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and teaches

3D animation for the Computer Science Department and the Alliance for Technology,

Learning, and Society (ATLAS), an institute dedicated to the application of technology to

the arts.

Over the years, he has trained several hundred animation students. He has made a num-

ber of Autodesk Maya training videos (http://3DbyBuzz.com), and he maintains a blog

with Maya lessons (http://buzzking.me).

Dr. King has an A.B. degree from Occidental College in Los Angeles, and a Ph.D. in

computer science from the University of Southern California.

He has performed research involving the management of animation media assets, data

visualization, and the integration of complex data and multimedia. His research has been

funded by the National Renewable Energy Lab, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Defense Advanced Research

Projects Agency (DARPA), IBM, AT&T, the Department of Energy, and the Smithsonian.

Dr. King was involved in the original development of the Encyclopedia of Life, which is

dedicated to providing Web access to information about life forms on Earth. He has been

an expert witness for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Dr. King has traveled widely around the world and has taught in India. He is a mem-

ber of the board of advisors for a graphics start-up, and a cofounder of a second graphics

start-up. He is currently focusing on product development and on his animation studio

(http://BuzzWorks.buzz).