Modeling

The Advanced Maya: Character Modeling DVD is an informative collection of video tutorials designed for the animator trying to learn or advance their character-modeling skills inside of Maya.

I've never been good at modeling characters but I quickly learned from Kenny and Jim's on-screen tutelage the techniques and skills necessary to create the figure featured on the cover of the disc. The authors provide a good example of the craft that enabled this fumble-thumbed animator to build a complex subject with a program that I had little experience.

I'm a kinesthetic student so watching their examples was a great way for me to learn. It's like watching "New Yankee Workshop" for 3D artists working in Maya. I surprised myself to see how easily and quickly I created these complex shapes following their instruction.

I recommend this disc for every character modeler working in Maya whether you're a novice or have experience with the software. Kenny and Jim have created a solid curriculum that will enable any serious modeler to advance their craft.

WOW this is an amazing product, I'm so glad and satisfy to buy this DVD. It was my dream to make a realistic model in Maya and because of Mr. Kenny Cooper and Jim Lammers it's not a dream anymore, it was fun I really enjoy every part of this DVD the way he teach was really good. I tried lot of products but I found this one is perfect if you really want to make a great 3D model I suggest you to go for this one, I can give you a money back guarantee if you are not satisfy :)

This video is amazing. I struggle so hard for so long trying to make a decent human model and spent so much money on other books. This is great, its a perfect walk through on how to make a model. I'm on video 41 of 50 and its looking great and I've gained so much confidence that now I start to watch the videos and already know how to go about makeing the next part before he shows me. If you want to make human models then get this its perfect forget about wasting money on any of the books out there.

What is fascinating about Skousen's work is that it addresses the fundamental questions that Noam Chomsky often avoided in his theory of transformational grammar--how is it that we are able to use so many rules in language without ever having to go to school for them? Skousen's model basically addresses how the human brain is able to process language through "analogy"--in other words, Skousen's major supposition is that people learn to create language by creating datasets in their heads. As they get older, the datasets get larger. This may explain why certain children use tenses wrong (I thunk, I knowed it). Skousen's book also demonstrates exactly how to build a dataset and empirically research certain linguistic phenomenon. He uses one example, the a-an frequency in English. He demonstrates that using the article "a", as often as we do, shows an amazing amount of "leakage" toward making mistakes away from an. So a child with a smaller data set would end up making mistakes like "a apple", simply because the child's mind is so overcome with "a" examples that movement toward the "a" becomes possible. This textbook is a must for those interested in artificial intelligence, real language use, and linguistics. Shane Dixon (sydixon@hotmail.com)

Mathematically sophisticated and quite original. The Finnish simulation, which accurately models language change, is particularly impresssive.

As a student who actually studied the theory of Analogical Modeling of Language under the author, Skousen, I found this book to be a fascinating and brilliant insight into linguistic analysis. Obviously, some study of language or linguistics is a helpful background for this book, but it is a straightforward explanation of Skousen's theories with ample evidence to back up his claims.

EJB Cookbook is a collection of recipes for the common EJB developer, wondering how a certain task can be accomplished with EJBs.

The authors state early on that the focus is not on teaching the EJB technology and basics. Despite of what the authors just said in the preface, the book starts with exactly the kind of basics that encourage quick browsing.

The 2nd chapter is a U-turn and points the book to the right direction for most of the journey. The overall level of the recipes is still a bit too simple for my liking -- the toughest questions have been left out. On the plus side, I am happy with the fact that the authors have included chapters on using XDoclet for EJB development and on unit testing EJBs with Cactus. The body of the book is, simply put, a compact reference for accomplishing recurring development tasks.

Excluding the chapters on XDoclet and unit testing, the EJB Cookbook is not an exceptional book. It is a reference, albeit a useful one.

This is an excellent book. Not only is it clear the authors are extremely knowledge but the organization of the book makes it easy to find the information you need quickly. The recipes not only provide the needed information to solve problems but also lead you to better overall design decisions. Also the intoduction to XDoclet was appreciated.

This book does just what it claims. I don't need to read the whole thing to learn something new, I can open to any recipe. I just bought this book, and I really like it. I keep it handy while I am coding. It has a great index that makes it easy to find what I need. Definitely recommended.

Home Field Advantage allows a father to remember what is really important and how he score where it really counts.

In 1992, Dave Branon of Sports Spectrum joined with Joe Pellegrino to present Christian role models in baseball. Now Branon and Packer Ken Ruettgers give us a role model in football, a sport in desperate need of same. When the bad boys get all the ink, we all need to look beyond that to the behavior and character of players like Ruettgers. Branon - we're waiting for the good guys of basketball. The mainstream media don't even try to hide their rolling eyes and smug boredom when Christian players praise The Lord. Get over it, media, and ask yourselves why you're disturbed at a player who kneels in the end zone to thank his Lord rather than break into a dance of self-glorification.Bit by bit, book by book, the good guys are gaining.For more on the Branon touch, try a subscription to his magazine, Sports Spectrum. It's a whole new world out there, sports fans, a world where the Minister of Defense is in the pulpit

It's information is insightful, Biblical, practical and Ken puts into the hands of his readers a do-able, day to day playbook for Dad's to win with their kids. Ken's insights, stories and truths empower and equip men to leave lasting Godly imprints in the daily lives of their children and all those whom they touch....he helps us Packer fans to realize that though it may be hard to fathom...there are indeed higher priorities in life than football and dare I say it...the Green Bay Packers

This book is a definitive introduction to geometric modeling. However, the sections on solid modeling and surface-surface intersection are lacking in depth. A serious reader may consider consulting books by Farin and Piegl for Geometric modeling and Hoffman/Mantyla for solid modeling.

The book covers every commonly used geometric model as well as many related topics in an easy to read style and good layout. It also covers the mathematical methods used in the text making it the only book you will ever need for modeling.

I have come to rely on Michael Mortenson's books as my prime resource for programming computer graphics. Most books on this topic expect the reader to have an advanced degree in mathematics. But Mortenson has the ability to talk to you regardless of your prior knowledge of the topic (indeed, you'll feel you have earned a math degree after reading this book without even trying).

This book is so complete that I feel it is the only book you'll ever need to understand the topic of geometric modelling. I highly recommend it (and any Mortenson book) to everyone interested in serious computer graphics programming.

Catherine's Ultimate Plus-Size Modeling Guide helped me 3 years ago when I was getting started as a model and really didn't know where to begin. It gave me direction on how to choose an agency and a photographer, sometimes I still refer to the guide.

I suggest any newcomer to the industry to buy this book! It will help them greatly!!!...

I have yet to read this book. I am online here to buy it. I have met Catherine Schuller and have heard her speak. During her talk she really motivated me to become a model. She is a very inspiring and motivating person and I am sure that her book is just the same. She is a wonderful women. I really think if you can't hear her speak that you should read her book.

As a newcomer to the plus-size industry, I needed some real stong guidance. This book is like my bible and has kept me motivated! It's a treasure full of tips on getting started, marketing yourself, finding an agency, staying fit and much, much more! Catherine presents the information in a way that's easy to understand, realistic and helpful! If you're thinking about being a plus-size model, read this book first! A MUST HAVE!:) Janelle, FORD Plus-Size Model

This is a very practical book about getting your network set up. It covers windows, Macs and Linux nicely and even-handedly, but it's getting dated.

It also has the annoying trait of relying on commercial software for examples. There are chapters on setting up web and email servers on all three platforms. That is Wonderful, but the author chooses commercial software (at least some of which has been significantly upgraded since the book was written). If you're not interested in that program, you're left pretty much out in the cold unless you're interested in reading about how to configure software you'll never use.

It is however, very accessable and well written. An update would rate five stars for the few months it would be up to date : )

This book is an excellent discussion of TCP/IP. The author gets right to the heart of the discussion in a way that isn't found in other texts - this isn't a simple "click here" guide, but a wealth of useful information granting real understanding to the reader.

Mr. John Ray excelled in the making of this book. Simple approach, always comes back to the 'Real World' with examples and hinters. I highly recommend this book to anyone entering the field of Internet Protocols.

This book, although comprehensive, does not have great appeal. It does not explain all the topics completely by giving several examples. The cover is the best part.

This is an excellent textbook on probability. i especially like the introduction for each topic as it presents the practicality of its use in real life. Also the examples makes the topic very clear and one should come away with a good understanding of each chapter. Highly recommended!

Yo. I'm one of the writer's sons. If I would of read the book, I'm sure it would be great.

Having read GoF's "Design Patterns" and "Design Patterns Smalltalk Companion" in the series, I grabbed this book as soon as I see it in store. But this book leaves a lot to be desired.

There seems to be the problem of having patterns just for the sake of having patterns.

For example, why do you want to make queries and database updates into factories? Looking at the sample code, does it really help decoupling?

To reviewer zhanggoo> The basic idea of "design to interface instead of concrete implementation" of course is always correct. I actually took the time and tried out the sample code of "input and output patterns" and got those working. However, you must realize that these patterns need a lot of re-thinking, redesign and refactoring once it's outside the realm of toy examples - How to handle domain object or selection criteria based on multiple-table-join (very common)? How to handle database generated identity? What if there needs to have a couple of selection factories for one domain object? Not to mention these patterns are all based on SQL string manipulations, static typing of the parameters all lost.

How come you can only get the first page from the "Paging Iterator"? Besides giving hints to JDBC, the pattern gives no control over the rows actually returned from the database.

The "Cache Patterns" does not solve the problem of preventing stale entry or even attempt to describe how to invalidate cache entry, so no matter how efficient you get, the cache is not guaranteed to be up-to-date /correct.

To reviewer zhanggoo> The author only talked about cache expiration - purge cache entry to enhance performance, but not invalidation (to prevent cache from getting inconsistent). Experienced database developer knows that query tuning is the first thing to look at to improve performance, one should take advantage of db server cache and app server cache as much as possible, as a last resort when you really need to roll your own cache, you need to make sure you get it right.

I'm surprised "stored procedure" is not mentioned at all.

To reviewer zhanggoo> There're certainly different opinions on "stored procedure". SP is definitely not OO, RDBMS is not OO at all - as long as you're using RDBMS, you have to face the fact that OO cannot be applied everywhere. On the other hand, SP helps greatly in decoupling, since query logic are not embedded in java code, app code and db code have clear interfaces, query optimization usually is easier to do with SP. These are good practices and patterns in my book.

The overall organization and format of the book is good, but for experienced database application developers, you might learn more by studying mature object/relational frameworks like EOF (Apple WebObjects) or TopLink.

I am in the process of writing a thesis proposal that utilizing JDBC and TableModeler to access various database platforms as a prototype.

While prototyping the model, I encountered a lot of consideration of what is the best approach for certain implementation (mainly on JDBC). While looking into a few of designing books, I found this Data Access Patterns book that fits into my research needs. I have read other book such as Designing Flexible Object Oriented System with UML and not able to apply the concept or see solution in it. It is simply a conceptual book. No practical examples at all.

Mr. Nock has explained the design patterns very clearly in each chapter by using JDBC as a media. The examples are very easy to understand as compared to Design Patterns Explained. I am not able to understand codes that implementing graphics in that book.

Mr. Nock addressed the pros and cons of the patterns. Many techie books do not even bother to talk about pros and cons.

The author has chosen the right title for the book, I realized that many times author received a poor rating because reader expect different contents based on the title of the book.

The feature I liked the most - the ¡§Applicability¡¨ section on each chapter. Unlike other patterns book, the author explains the concept and gives example of "what" and "when" to use certain design pattern. This section is pretty much the answer for my thesis obstacles. The answer is in this book!!

Minor typos do exist such as in page 390 roll back instead of rollback.

In concurrency chapter, author may have mis-used the term of updates locking. It should be Lost Updates instead of Missing updates. Concurrency chapter looks like UDB Lock Concurrency architecture.

Additional note - would like to see the quality aspect in each of the patterns.

Overall, the book is very well structured, explained and thoughtful.

Thank you Mr. Nock !! This is a perfect book for my thesis.

Looking forward to read your future publish.

Regards,

EQ

I have to disagree with the previous review. I will try to explain why I think 'b88zhou' review is inadequate after presenting my overview of this book.

After reading numerous pattern books, it is nice to see a pattern book with very good organization.

Each pattern is presented with the following subsections.

* Description
* Context
* Applicability
* Structure
* Iteractions
* Consequences
* Strategies
* Sample Code
* Related Patterns and Technology.

I specifically like 'Consequence' section because it outlines the 'bad' consequence of adopting the patter. This goes with the mantra of design patterns - there is no one good pattern. You trade off one design for another depending on the context of your domain.

Also each pattern is accompanied by UML class diagrams and UML sequence diagrams - this is a big plus in understanding pattern.

The sample code is written in Java/JDBC so you may need to understand Java but I believe this pattern is still relevant to ADO.NET and C++. [ ADO.Net does offer connected and disconnected database operation so some patterns may not be relevant - plus, event/delegate will aid in some patterns.]

Specific to what the previous reviewer say - here are my rebuttals.

>> Why do you want to make queries and database updates into factories? Looking at the sample code, does it really help decoupling?

The previous reviewer mentioned as 'factories' is the derivation of 'AbstractFactory'. If you do not understand why AbstractFactory aids in decoupling from the concrete implementation, I think you should re-read GoF book. The author uses AbstractFactory pattern extensively in context of "Input and Output Parameter" and "Cache Patterns". I do admit that sometimes "Input and Output Parameter patterns" may not need to use AbstractFactory but if you read 'Domain Assembler' pattern you will understand why. From Domain Assembler, you can see the benefit of having AbstractFactories for Selection, Domain Object, and Update -- assembling all these factories via interface not concrete implmentation - a basic idea of design to interface instead concrete implementation.

>> The "Cache Patterns" does not solve the problem of preventing stale entry or even attempt to describe how to invalidate cache entry, so no matter how efficient you get, the cache is not guaranteed to be up-to-date /correct.

Please re-read 'Cache Collector'. The pattern could have different name like 'Cache Garbage Collector'. He talks about how you can 'purge' old data. Also re-read 'Cache Replicator' for how to sync the cached data in distributed system.

>> I'm surprised "stored procedure" is not mentioned at all.

I guess you have not done too many DB oriented projects. The stored procedure is evil and add little value to OO programming. But if you want the stored procedure, just replace 'SELECT' or 'UPDATE' statements to whatever stored procedures you want to call. So I don't think you can add much with SP.

>> mature object/relational frameworks like EOF (Apple WebObjects) or TopLink

This book is not about Java Data Object or OR mapping. Object-Relational mapping tool is another beast.

I would recommend this book highly to anyone doing DB application development.

the book are many free papers on internet.

There are very theory technologies but no new contents about DEVS.

These articles originated as papers from a recent meeting so that some may be found on the web. However,the articles are extended and stringently reviewed revisions of the original papers the collection itself is of great value since it amounts to a whole more than the sum. The introductory article is not just a precis of the contents, it does an excellent job of placing discrete event modeling and simulation technology within the context of AI, software engineering, and systems engineering.

Contrary to one reviewer, the book cannot be derived in any way from what's available on the web. If you are interested in new paradigms for technology, it belongs on your bookshelf.

This book offers a view of the potential of the discrete event paradigm to enhance not only modeling and simulation but many new technologies involving design, management and control. Many of the papers take the DEVS theory as presented in "Theory of Modeling and Simulation" (Zeigler, Praehofer,and Kim, Academic Press, 2000, 2nd Ed.) one step further into new application domains. Serves as a great companion to TMS2000.