Have you ever stopped to consider the amount of arcane CGI related knowledge you've stuffed into your head? I was talking with some friends the other day about a few technical details concerning Ultra160 SCSI drives, render optimizations and 8-bit bump maps when something dawned on me: we speak a bizarre second language that our own mothers couldn't comprehend if their lives depended on it.

What if they wanted to learn a few phrases in anticipation of a short visit to CGI land? Berlitz, sadly, offers no relevant courses.

Two new books for computer graphics professionals could be the answer: Visual Effects in a Digital World by Karen E. Goulekas and The Computer Animator's Technical Handbook by Lynn Pocock and Judson Rosebush. Not intended to be read from beginning-to-end like a manual or instructional guide, these are instead reference books that can be pulled off the shelf to answer a technical question, illuminate a process that has evaded your comprehension, or settle debates between colleagues. Even with many years of CG development under your belt, you may be surprised to open one of these books to a random section and find yourself learning something new, or dispelling a false assumption.

Visual Effects in a Digital World is a comprehensive dictionary of over 7,000 VFX terms, acronyms and industry jargon. By representing terms and techniques that originate in both practical effects (such as camera lens phenomena) and digital effects, this book provides accurate definitions of the terms that are melding into the modern CGI language.

The amount of research that went into compiling this dictionary is staggering to consider. The editors should be commended for the completeness and accuracy of this work. I recommend Visual Effects in a Digital World to CG animators of all levels. The range of helpful information presented is tremendous, and it's nice to have it all at your fingertips.