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Rating: 
Summary: I wish I'd had this book years ago.
Review: "3D Human Modeling and Animation is an indispensable reference for anyone (beginner to expert) wanting to create realistic characters in digital 3D worlds. Mr. Ratner's new book covers almost every critical aspect of creating and animating digital characters. It contains individual sections on each major body part, as well as numerous modeling and animation techniques (including useful student exercises). I wish I'd had this book years ago. It would have saved loads of time and helped avoid many unnecessary headaches."Michael Limber, Angel Studios, Carlsbad, CA
Rating:
Summary: ...fills a tremendous void...
Review: "Peter Ratner's book, 3-D Human Modeling and Animation, fills a tremendous void that has become even more evident with the successful use of 3D in movies like Disney's "Toy Story". While there has been much written about drawing the human form in relation to art, commercial design, and 2D cartooning, the subject of 3D modeling and animation of the human form has been neglected at the same time that the use of 3D tools has been exploding. It is my judgment that Peter's book will become the reference that professional and student artists and animators turn to in order to master one of the most challenging and yet exciting subjects to model and animate, the human form." Nick Pavlovic, CEO, Visual Information Development, Inc., Monrovia, CA
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Summary: A great book for beginners
Review: 3-D Human Modeling and Animation is a great book for beginners starting in the 3-D field. It gives step by step instructions to model every body part, even down to the finger nail. This book involves spline modeling which is a great tool for modeling organic objects, especially humans. Best is the generality of the book; the book is not software dependant and is very usefull with any software that uses spline modeling.
Rating: 
Summary: Outdated
Review: 3-D Human Modeling and Animation is a great guide for beginners and a solid reference manual for those with art and 3-D modeling backgrounds. It presents the basic knowledge that is essential in creating the human form. For those looking just for a reference manual, the book provides examples and presents ideas on how to utilize and improve on the techniques given.
Rating:
Summary: I wish I'd had this book years ago.
Review: 3D Human Modeling and Animation is an indispensable reference for anyone (beginner to expert) wanting to create realistic characters in digital 3D worlds. Mr. Ratner's new book covers almost every critical aspect of creating and animating digital characters. It contains individual sections on each major body part, as well as numerous modeling and animation techniques (including useful student exercises). I wish I'd had this book years ago. It would have saved loads of time and helped avoid many unnecessary headaches. Michael Limber, Angel Studios, Carlsbad, CA
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent b-spline modeling book
Review: 3d Human Modeling and animation is definitely a great resource for beginners, although it lacks any type of truly in depth study. It touches on virtually all aspects of character animation and modeling, but very lightly, often times with only a few paragraphs and pictures dedicated to some very important topics. Support for polygon modelers and nurbs based packages is limited, modeling techniques are geared towards splines. Though most techniques demonstrated are universally applicable in any modeling system, many of the finer points are lost.
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Summary: Outdated
Review: A word of warning. . .computer graphics books age like milk, not wine. The graphics here are considerably _worse_ than what you'd get out of a consumer grade product like Metacreations Poser-- not to mention 3D Studio or Softimage. At the time this was written, it may have been useful, but you can spend your time and money more productively now.
Rating: 
Summary: For Beginners only
Review: I was looking for a book on Human nurbs modeling & This was supposed to be exactly what I needed - Although it is very easy to read & great for beginners, I expected more refinement. my greatest disappontment was from the really lame looking model examples displayed in the book.
Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed this book immensely.
Review: On the instruction side of this book, it is very strong and very detailed. Visually, this artist leaves MUCH to be desired. Ratner provides excellent instructions, with great suggestions for creating human models, and his chapter on animation is really good.
But something that confuses me is, he has the knowledge to do it well, but why doesn't he? His models are limited and ugly, he has not seemed to fully study the human body and it's anatomy, thereby creating hideous models.
A big part of my buying a book is the graphical detail, and while his abilities were very limited, the examples of his students works were VERY WELL DONE.
If you wish to learn how to model big, bulky, clumsy looking characters, this book is for you, or if you are just getting started, it will help you get your first foot on the ground... But if you are an advanced or Experienced user, may I suggest that you pass this book up.
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Summary: Our students use this book to create stunning animations...
Review: Our Computer Animation students use this book to create stunning character animations. As a result, our alumni have been very successful in finding jobs at major studios such as PIXAR, MetroLight Studios, ABC Interactive, Encore Productions, etc. Peter Ratner's book outlines the process of modeling and animating male and female human models in easy to follow steps. His illustrative directions guide one through every aspect of the human anatomy; all the way down to minute details such as modeling the fingernails. The author assumes nothing of the reader and therefore goes to great lengths to explain everything as clearly as possible. There are hundreds of illustrations that show each step in the modeling and animation process. In fact, there isn't one page in the book that doesn't have at least one illustration in it. Professor Ratner's exquisite 3D illustrations are his own and exemplify the fact that he is an accomplished artist as well as author. As a 3D artist he understands the problems that face 3D modelers and animators. Unlike other authors who depend on outside artists to supply illustrations and techniques for their books, Professor Ratner is able to create his own. The numerous color illustrations from his former students are a significant testimonial to the effectiveness of his teaching methodology. Our department has found it very easy to adapt this book to the various software packages that we are using. For example, even though the book is geared toward spline and NURBS based software, the students who are using LightWave have successfully adapted it for polygon modeling, boning and animating. The book is geared toward mid-level to high-end modeling software packages. Animators using low-end modeling and animation packages that do not have deformation tools might find it difficult to work with this book due to the limitations of their software. In any event, this type of software most likely lacks the tools for any kind of character modeling and animation. This book's descriptive instructions, brilliant color and black and white illustrations and easy to follow layout practically guarantee improved results for the 3D artist. It has played an important role in our computer animation curriculum. I highly recommend this book to any student or professional interested in learning more about the exciting field of 3D character modeling and animation. Professor Gary Chatelain, Design Department, James Madison University
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