Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not nearly worth the price, July 13, 2004
This review is from: 3-D Human Modeling and Animation, Second Edition (Paperback)
This book was assigned for an introductory modeling course that I took at RIT last year. I and all of my (about 35) classmates had major difficulty with it. Our professors got so frustrated with it that they stopped giving us assignments from it within six weeks. If you're an educator, consider the following before giving this book to your class: The modeling section is unbelievably vague. How do you model the interior of the human ear, or the human torso? Ratner frequently answers both questions (and many others) with, "cut polygons and move points," rarely saying where to cut or what to move. Simple tasks are covered in multiple steps, complex tasks are glanced over. The illustrations are uninformative, often jumping from a rough template to a fully articulated model in one or two steps. Worst, Ratner omits a lot of crucial modeling fundamentals. He never mentions edge-loops, the concept of topology following the contours of form, or the prevailing practice of using mostly quads (in fact, both the patch and subdiv examples are loaded with triangles). Incidentally, the NURBS/patch exercises are incompatible with Maya because of all the triangular patches. Beyond the modeling section, the book is even less useful. It's not bad, just very incomplete, and what is there is not terribly well-explained. For example, Ratner touches on the principles of animation but gives no tutorials on how to employ them. (The only animation tutorial in the book is a walk cycle, and it's both simplistic and confusing.) Moreover, the example animations from book's accompanying CD are lacking in those fundamentals. Typical of beginners' CG, they show a poor sense of weight, their timing is off, and the characters MOVE, but don't ACT. They're not terrible, but they clearly need work. Judging from all the glowing reviews, it's obvious that a lot of people disagree with me. Let me clarify what I mean to say about this book: it's not worthless, and it WILL provide someone new to CG with some basic information. However, you can find the same information and much more on any high-end CG website, free, better-written, and with much more detailed tutorials. And, if you want books that go even more in-depth than that, I'd recommend any of the alternatives other reviewers have offered up on this page, especially Richard Williams' definitive text "The Animator's Survival Kit." I would also recommend "Anatomy for the Artist" by Sarah Simblet.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
There are better books than this one, January 5, 2005
This review is from: 3-D Human Modeling and Animation, Second Edition (Paperback)
If you want to learn how to model the human form, I defitnely won't recommend this book. I bought this book as a newbie modeller. But it didn't help me a bit. I learned more from reading about modeling and topology on diferent forums. And now I can say that about 90% of Peter Ratner's modeling theories are plain incorrect. He doesn't even mention edge loops. Even if it is mentioned because I missed it, still edge loops is a term that should have been mentioned 10 times or more on every page. It is one of the very pillars of modeling theory. Instead Peter Ratner tells us to extrude a polygon, cut it a few times and move the vertices around until you get the nose shape, or the ear shape or whatever. My grandmother could have told me that for free.
Anyway, the second half of the book was helpful though. But I must say that the second half (that's about animation and lighting and texturing) is standard knowledge that is explained far better in other books. The CD has a few nice artwork on it. Nothing I could have downloaded from various sites on my own. What could have been more useful was tutorials on how the authors of those images made those images.
If you are a beginner, skip this one! There are better books like "Stop starring", all the books from the [DIGITAL:] series from the top of my head.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Reviews are pointless, February 29, 2004
This review is from: 3-D Human Modeling and Animation, Second Edition (Paperback)
Yup, review of books online is a lost cause. How many times have I bought a book which looked interesting and substantial only to end up with sloppy editing, crappy tutorials, poor writing, uninspiring artwork, and a huge dollar sign on its dust jacket that made me lose a quarter of my arm and leg? More often than once. That was the case with this book. Lessons learned? Reading reviews online is a tricky affair. Usually, the attacks are personal. They may find the book hogwash but it might just be the right one for you. Others might even have a violent reaction to the book not because it was really a trashy book to begin with but only because the reviewer misses the whole point. Imagine a raffia hobbyist reacting to a book on Javascript for Rocket Scientists and Engineers. So no matter how advanced information technology has become there is still no better substitute for fondling the physical diomensions of a book in your local bookstore and reading it at length to have a better grasp of its usability. I know it is hard but walking is such a great exercise it will strengthen your cardiac muscles and save you hours of writing acerbic reviews of books which did not meet your expectations. May I also remind you this book is a rehash of an old material the author has written almost eight years ago. Nothing much has improved. The author obviously is finding a way to resell an old book by coming up with a new cover but the change is clearly a cosmetic one as the contents are still MEDIOCRE. You are better off buying Jason Osipa's book. I have it and it is brilliant both for beginners and professionals. And, please, stay away from all Bill Fleming books on modelling and texturing digital characters. His models look so plasticky. With CGI written all over its pixels. I bought them a few years ago when I was still a fresh-faced newbie. Now they are under my bed gathering molds with my old copies of National Geographic. I hope I helped you save some money. Support your jobless but very talented friends with it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
