3D Human Modeling and Animation, Second Edition | by Peter Ratner
If terms like “rotoscoping” and “UV mapping” are part of your lexicon, then Peter Ratner’s latest how-to guide will be your animation bible. 3D Human Modeling and Animation begins with the basics, later delving into the advanced techniques animators use to create lifelike humans. Don’t expect 306 pages on drawing a spoon; Ratner teaches spline patch and subdivision modelling in a thorough text ideal for ambitious animators.
What best compliments any computer graphics book are pictures. Hundreds of models pepper the chapters, backed up by a handy CD-ROM containing the templates. (Model formats include DXF, LWO, OBJ and MA.)
Ratner, a computer animation professor at James Madison University, explains that computer artists who dive into human modelling should have anatomy on their mind. Some skeletal tips include: “Attention should also be paid to the indentations behind the knee formed by the semitendinosus.”
You guessed it; Ratner can be pretty dry. While his tone has the authority of a grand master, his style is not the most engaging. Since the book is intended as a university textbook, it succeeds as an instruction manual but falters if the reader expects a rollicking ride in 3D graphics.
The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the Way People Live With Technology | by Kim Vicente
“More and more, we’re being asked to live with technology that is…so complex or so counterintuitive that it’s actually unusable by most human beings.” Kim Vicente, an engineering professor at University of Toronto, lays down his premise early, supporting his argument with credible examples. The design of technology, Vicente argues, has to align with human nature to succeed — and the human-tech approach, as he calls it, can sidestep potentially catastrophic disasters caused by small-minded engineering.
Vicente returns to the Walkerton, Ont., tainted-water incident, arguing that accountability falls on multiple levels, not just on a few guys named Koebel. He analyzes the Chernobyl disaster, sparked by “a bewildering array of data, and not enough information.” The Human Factor intelligently blasts governments and designers who create complex technology that falls well short of serving basic needs or public health.
Vicente’s first non-academic book delightfully romps through examples stressing the success of human-tech thinking: Zip-lock plastic bags that use colour codes to ensure freshness; PalmPilots that reduce unnecessary button-mashing; and urinals in Amsterdam that have drawings of flies, positioned to create the perfect trajectory where men won’t experience that annoying “splashback.”
Yes, technology can better our world rather than complicate it. The Human Factor is a necessary wake-up call to bring design closer to that humanistic goal.
Secrets of Computer Espionage: Tactics and Countermeasures | by Joel McNamara
The ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu once said, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” Acclaimed security guru Joel McNamara spreads that wisdom through every chapter of Secrets of Computer Espionage, offering a glimpse into the mind — and technical skills — of a computer espionage artist.
He begins by outlining privacy laws (mainly U.S.-based ones) and then explores vulnerabilities embedded within any Mac, PC or PDA. In an engaging narration, McNamara blends tips on countermeasure with insight on spy tactics such as cracking BIOS passwords. If you’ve ever feared that a whiz hacker or a snooping cop is breaking into your system, this book will thoroughly describe how to spot a damaging espionage job.
Even timelier is the chapter on 802.11b eavesdropping, considering the popularity of WLANs. McNamara even touches on spying in relation to fax machines, shredders and cell phones.
The only downfall to the book is its copiousness — slogging through pages of technical jargon can be tiresome, and a glossary would have been a useful addition. What redeems this tome is how applicable computer espionage will be in the security-obsessed days to come.
Future Living: The Coming Web Lifestyle | by Frank Feather
Anyone itching for the day when the Web totally controls our lives would be advised to read Frank Feather’s “Webolution” guide Future Living. Filled with excitable predictions of complete Internet domination, the book guides the reader through the forces that will govern a high-tech revolution and the online-all-the-time aspects of a Web lifestyle.
Feather overuses exclamation marks to stress his argument — “The Web will be society!” — but his most toned-down statements convey the crux of technological progress: “By 2010, there will be 30,000 embedded chips for each of us,” he writes. In another section, he lists dozens of Web-related facts, including, “Every second, somebody goes online for the first time.”
Unveiling the theory of a ubiquitous Web is nothing new (Marshall McLuhan predicted it decades ago), but Feather’s self-help book on embracing technology is a fascinating glimpse into our need for progress. Get ready, the author cautions, because we’re on the road to a fully wired planet.
