The Making of Avatar Hardcover – 1 Oct. 2010

The media could not be loaded.  Since I have the  The Art of Avatar: James Cameron's Epic Adventure  as well, I'll start by saying that this is major step-up from the art book, in terms of visuals, writeup and construction.It's a thick 272-page hardcover filled commentary and huge pictures. Yup, the pictures are in high resolution so there's no more of that pixelation you see in the art book. The film stills, even though you know it's computer generated, is less jarring, more natural. There are a lot of behind-the-scenes photos as well as concept art sketches of the creatures on Pandora.The writeup is extensive. It really provides an in-depth look at the technical aspect of making the movie, from the conceptualisation stage down to mixing of life-action and 3D footage. There's plenty to read about the concepts behind everything has to be visually created, like the creatures, the sculptures, environments, weapons, props, etc. It's all really detailed and carefully explained, even the captions are informative. Stuff like creating characters are broken down into several steps, such as the creation of clay sculptures (handled by Stan Winston Studio) and the actually modeling of 3D models (handled by Weta).And then you have the motion performance part where they show how action is mapped into the movie, and all the little production tricks that are used. There are actually horses in the studios to capture the part where the Navi ride the Direhorses. And those horses are also had their bodies pasted with the little beads for motion capture.This book is a very satisfying read. Highly recommended if you like movie production books.(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

A comprehensive account of a most remarkable film for film buffs everwhere. It beggars belief that James Cameron did not receive an Osacr as best director, when this book gives you glimpse of his vision and involvement in all aspects of the films production.The book goes into great detail about the use of the virtual camera and the processes of getting the actors performance to screen. However, I feel too much of the book is given over to photos of the actors with their dotted suits that becomes a bit repetitive. Pesonally I would have preferred to see more of the matt painting and concept art by the digital artists, but this is only a minor criticism as I really enjoyed the book. As someone else pointed out the pictures are not quite top notch, but that might be a concession by the publishers to saving the environment, since that is the major premise of the film itself.Don't let my slightly less than enthusiastic review put anyone off buying this book, as it is an entertaining and interesting read.

I bought this book because I was really interested in behind the scenes and the making of Avatar. After watching the film in the cinema i became obsessed with it. The online footage about behind the scenes gave some information about how the film was made but not much. This book is packed full of information including the design process, the origin of the idea and the production process + loads of behind the scenes photos. There are some side by side photos showing the same scenes before and after motion capture.I would really recommend this book especially if you are interested in the motion capture side of the film

The book is amazing, helped a lot with my assignment, delivery was one day late tough

My son loved this book. The images and description of how they made the movie are really good. You get to feel how they put it all together. Great book.

Beautiful Photos.

If you love the film Avatar you must get this book some much information and picture. Must Have Item NOW

A superb, beautifully presented book. Informative, a delight to look at and to read