virtual human books

There are very few books on the field so far.

Virtual Humans: A Build-It-Yourself Kit, Complete With Software and Step-By-Step Instructions (2003)
  • authors: Peter M. Plantec, Ray Kurzwell
  • haven't read it yet
  • Amazon reviews indicate that the book is an enjoyable read and good on concepts, although the "complete with" software isn't stable
Cover Creating Interactive Digital 3-D Actors and their Worlds (2001)
  • author: Jean-Marc Gauthier
  • publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
  • havent seen it yet, but it says it uses "LifeForms, Virtools and Deep Paint 3-D" - to the best of my knowledge, LifeForms and Deep Paint don't have any use for realtime characters, so it's questionable what the "Interactive" means in the book's title 
Simulating Humans (1993)
  • authors: Norman I. Badler, Cary B. Phillips, Bonnie Lynn Webber
  • publisher: Oxford University Press
  • An excellent book. It doesn't cover dynamics or consider realtime humans, but it describes most of the difficult modelling tasks. Should have been called "Modelling Humans."  The "Simulating" in the title refers to some weak AI material in the second half of the book.
3-D Human Modeling and Animation (1998)
  • author: Peter Ratner
  • publisher: John Wiley & Sons
  • I don't like it.  Review:
    • This is a simple, high-level book, describing the process of building a human model using spline curves, while attempting to stay package-independent.
    • The author really should consult a table of real biometric values - his arms are too thin, eyes are in the wrong place, abdomen and chests are misproportioned, etc.
    • Curiously, although all the sample models have genitals, there is no section on modeling them (why show them then?)
    • The "Animation" chapter is very small and rudimentary
    • Includes a large number of full-color scene with absolutely terrible, fake-looking humans done by the author and his students, worse than amateur Poser output.
Digital Character Animation (1996)
  • author: George Maestri
  • publisher: New Riders
  • Only intended to cover non-realtime, scripted animation, but nonetheless has lots of good anatomical information. There are whole chapters on hands and face muscles.
Character Animation with 3D Studio MAX (1996)
"Everything You Need to Know to Create Stunning Animation with 3D Studio MAX"
  • author: Stephanie Reese
  • ISBN#: 1-57610-054-5
  • vendor: The Coriolis Group
  • Again, only intended to cover non-realtime, scripted animation, but probably has useful information.
  • I haven't seen this book yet.
Making Them Move: Mechanics, Control, and Animation of Articulated Figures (1990)
  • authors: Norman I. Badler, Brian A. Barsky, and David Zeltzer
  • publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
  • 348 pages, cloth book & videotape
  • ISBN 1-55860-155-4
  • Amazon says it's "Publisher Out Of Stock"
Creating and Animating the Virtual World (1992)
  • Editors: Nadia Magnenat Thalmann and Daniel Thalmann
  • Publisher: Springer-Verlag Tokyo
  • definitely out of stock and out of print

If you know any others, let me know.