I can't recommend any books, but I strongly recommend the video tutorials at 3d Buzz they are for a variety of programs, mostly as you'd guess, 3d graphics programs like 3dmax and maya. Most of them are free, some, like the C++ ones cost quite a bit (hundreds of hours)

Thanx Griffin, I'll try that out, the more practise I get, the better. If anything about digital art comes to mind, please shout.

Tuks

3d buzz is really good. I am planning to transfer to a dedicated animation school in a yr or 2 from my current college. One of the number one things with 3d and Digital art is to have a strong grasp in either traditional art or traditional art techniques, Color theory, form, etc...

I'm glad for you, Alpha leader. My main interests are digital/computer art and 2d/3d animation. I'm having trouble finding a book for beginners on this...Just wanting to learn about the techniques and "special effects" - tools of the trade. There are so many books out there, I don't know what to do. I want to get started, forming a basic understanding, and then later learn the advanced stuff. I have to cover a whole range of software and it would really be usefull if I could find a book which instructs on 2d and 2d art and the process of getting that into animation or reworking from animation. (And preferably also dealing with software I use...E.g. just Photoshop and 3DMax would be fine...)
Thank you for your comments. If any further thoughts come up, please share them.

Tuks

i had an email about a really nice 3d art/animation program. blasted thing was next to impossible to figure out though. but that was before i had to F disk