In Maya 2011: Creating Natural Environments, author Aaron F. Ross demystifies a common challenge of 3D modeling: fashioning realistic natural environments such as landscapes, atmospheres, and foliage. Starting with flat terrain, Aaron shows how to sculpt various types of geometry and smooth out jagged, polygonal edges. The course also covers creating convincing backgrounds and clouds, populating a scene with foliage using 3D Paint Effects, and incorporating natural light. Exercise files accompany the course.
Recommended prerequisite: Maya 2011 Essential Training

In this course we will use 3ds Max to create a game-type, low-resolution character from a highly detailed model.

In this DVD, Instructor Tony Reynolds takes you through the process of creating and rendering out a portrait using Mental Ray in Maya 2011. Tony starts off by taking a previously sculpted head from ZBrush and shows you how to prepare and export the model for Maya. From there he goes into great detail on all the Maya setup and settings, lighting with Mental Ray, simple and advanced skin shader setup, skin textures, rendering eyes, rendering teeth, rendering a tongue, creating hair for the face and head, using render layers, and compositing the render layers in Photoshop.

ZBrush is a great tool for putting together characters. You can create base geometry, sculpt and paint your meshes, build accessories and clothing, and work seamlessly between other applications. In this course, we'll go through the process of building up a high resolution character from start to finish using ZBrush as our main application. We'll explore the use of zSpheres in building out our base mesh. We'll use GoZ to quickly take geometry between ZBrush and Maya, although the methods used will apply to other applications as well. We'll also use a bit of Photoshop to edit and create some texture maps we can use in ZBrush to add sculpt and color detail. If you're new to ZBrush, I encourage you to first check out the introductory courses, as well as the courses on some of the new features in ZBrush 4 like Shadowbox and Spotlight. We're going to cover a lot of ground and, in the end, you'll have a finished character, along with the tools you need to create your own high resolution character models.

We'll begin the process by learning the best way to setup our file and organize individual page into spreads. While doing this we'll learn how to incorporate multiple page sizes into the same InDesign document. Next, we'll build a framework to hang our content on in the form of a modular grid. From there we'll learn how to bring in and work with both image and text content for our layout. In order to make managing our text easier, we'll learn how to create both character and paragraph styles. To wrap things up we'll learn how to export a .PDF and package all related files into one singular location.

In this collection of lessons we will learn the fundamentals of building a convincing walk cycle.

This course guides you through the process of creating a Walk Cycle in Softimage.

In this series of lessons, we'll go through the process of building and texturing a disused sci-fi environment. Creating believable environments comes from an efficient combination of 3d models and textures. Depending on the purpose of the set, detail can be created through the use of actual geometry, or we can add detail strictly through texture maps. For this project, we'll build a disused sci-fi environment. We'll start the process by building the geometry for the environment using a variety of modeling tools. Once the geometry is completed, we'll create uv layouts for the different pieces that will allow us to minimize the number of texture maps needed. Once the UVs are complete, we'll look at a number of ways we can create different textures in Photoshop. Although you can follow along with the project, there will be a number of opportunities for you to really customize your environment and once we're done, you'll be able to apply what you've learned to your own work.

In WordPress: Creating Custom Widgets and Plugins, Drew Falkman teaches PHP developers how to create custom functionality for WordPress 2.0 through 3.0 using widgets and plugins. This course starts by installing and setting up WordPress 3.0 on both Mac and Windows, then provides an in-depth look at tasks related to these WordPress add-ons: installing and administering, building and customizing, creating editable options and database tables, working with posts and pages, and utilizing jQuery and AJAX. There are also tutorials dedicated to promoting a widget or plugin, adding security, and localizing the interface. Exercise files are included with the course.

In WordPress 3.0: Creating and Editing Custom Themes, author Chris Coyier shows how to build a custom WordPress theme from scratch and satisfy common client requests. The course covers steps necessary to build a theme using a complete workflow with Photoshop, HTML, CSS, and WordPress 3.0. Also included
are tutorials on enhancing a WordPress site with javascript, using plugins, and ensuring site security. Exercise files accompany the course

Digital Tutors: Creating Cartoon Characters in Cinema 4D - Cartoon characters are everywhere, from Saturday morning cartoons to animated movies. Building cartoony characters is a great exercise in organic modeling and it's a lot of fun. CINEMA 4D is a great option for building these kinds of characters and it offers a variety of tools we can use to create our model.

Flash and ActionScript are ideal for creating flexible, easily updatable web sites that are both unique in design and small in file size. In Creating a Portfolio Web Site Using Flash CS4 Professional, Adobe Certified Instructor Paul Trani shows how to exploit Flash to create a web site that showcases work to clients and prospective employers. Find out how to add dynamic navigation, animation, and video to a page, and how to load, sort and display XML that enables portfolio content to be updated without opening Flash. This course is designed to take your existing tweening skills and gotoAndPlay code and walk away with a fully functional Flash site. Exercise files accompany the course.

Creating a First Web Site with Flash Professional CS5 shows how to make a fully functional, dynamic web site in Flash Professional CS5. This course covers the fundamentals of creating and importing content, adding smooth 2D and 3D transitions, and adding button functionality that goes beyond links. This course will also show how to integrate and control video and audio as well as how to implement a gallery and a contact form. Exercise files are included with the course.

Creating a First Web Site with Dreamweaver CS5 demonstrates how to establish a presence online using the industry-leading Web authoring tool, Adobe Dreamweaver CS5. Adobe Certified Instructor Paul Trani walks through the steps in creating an accessible, standards-based site from start to finish. This course covers how to create basic Web pages, add text and image content, implement a photo gallery, create a contact form, and use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to add visual appeal and layout control. The course also covers how to test a site across multiple browsers and operating systems using BrowserLab, available exclusively in Dreamweaver CS5. Exercise files accompany the course.

Creating A Portflio Web Site Using Flash CS4 Professional - Flash and ActionScript are ideal for creating flexible, easily updatable web sites that are both unique in design and small in file size. Adobe Certified Instructor Paul Trani shows how to exploit Flash to create a web site that showcases work to clients and prospective employers.

This course covers how to use Dreamweaver, the world’s leading Web page creation tool, to create web pages formatted with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Cascading Style Sheets are widely supported in today’s modern browsers and Web designers are learning to use them in ever more powerful and creative ways. This technology enables web pages across a site to be more consistent while giving designers more control over the layout and design than straight HTML ever did.

CMG4 was published by Focal Press (November 2007) as one volume (704 pages, full color, with DVD). ISBN: 0240810104. Order now on Amazon.

Description: What is OSGi? Simply put, OSGi is a standardized technology that allows developers to create the highly modular Java applications that are required for enterprise development. OSGi lets you install, start, stop, update, or uninstall components without taking down your entire system. The interest in OSGibased applications has exploded since major vendors like Sun, Spring, Oracle, BEA, and IBM have gotten behind the standard.