The Complete Guide to Blender Graphics Computer Modeling & Animation

Blender is a free and open source graphics program for computer modeling and animation incorporating Photorealstic Rendering, Realistic Materials, Character Rigging, Sculpting, UV Unwrapping, Compositing, Simulation, Camera and Object Tracking, Game Creation and Video Editing. The program is comprehensive. The interface is extensive. The creative experience is fantastic. The Complete Guide to Blender Graphics: Computer Modeling and Animation is a unified learning manual for beginners and a reference for advanced users. The manual introduces the basic components of the Blender program with reference to the interface using written instruction in conjunction with illustrations and examples. In this fourth edition of The Complete Guide to Blender Graphics the author has included changes to the program which eventuate as Blender is developed and improved. New subject matter has been added with examples. Key Features: <ul><ul>
<li>Contents are structured in a building-block fashion, using content covered in early chapters to explain more complex content in later chapters.</li> <li>Describes the basic operations of the interface and the majority of its functions with visual references and practical examples</li> <li>Significantly expands discussion of advanced features providing the reader with a guide to the full potential of the program.</li>
</ul></ul>

The Complete Guide to Blender Graphics: Computer Modeling & Animation

Computers & Technology

Blain, John M.

Programming

A K Peters Ltd

The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, Second Edition

Good game design happens when you view your game from as many perspectives as possible. Written by one of the world's top game designers, The Art of Game Design presents 100 plus sets of questions, or different lenses, for viewing a game‘s design, encompassing diverse fields such as psychology, architecture, music, visual design, film, software engineering, theme park design, mathematics, puzzle design, and anthropology. This Second Edition of a Game Developer Front Line Award winner: Describes the deepest and most fundamental principles of game design Demonstrates how tactics used in board, card, and athletic games also work in top-quality video games Contains valuable insight from Jesse Schell, the former chair of the International Game Developers Association and award-winning designer of Disney online games The Art of Game Design, Second Edition gives readers useful perspectives on how to make better game designs faster. It provides practical instruction on creating world-class games that will be played again and again.

The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

SCHELL, Jesse

Humor & Entertainment

Learning C# Programming with Unity 3D

Designed to give you enough familiarity in a programming language to be immediately productive, Learning C# Programming with Unity 3D provides the basics of programming and brings you quickly up to speed. Organized into easy-to-follow lessons, the book covers how C# is used to make a game in Unity3D. After reading this book, you will be armed with the knowledge required to feel confident in learning more. You�ll have what it takes to at least look at code without your head spinning. Writing a massive multiplayer online role-playing game is quite hard, of course, but learning how to write a simple behavior isn�t. Like drawing, you start off with the basics such as spheres and cubes. After plenty of practice, you�ll be able to create a real work of art. This applies to writing code�you start off with basic calculations, then move on to the logic that drives a complex game. By the end of this book, you will have the skills to be a capable programmer, or at least know what is involved with how to read and write code. Although you could go online and find videos and tutorials, there is a distinct advantage when it comes to learning things in order and in one place. Most online tutorials for C# are scattered, disordered, and incohesive. It�s difficult to find a good starting point, and even more difficult to find a continuous list of tutorials to bring you to any clear understanding of the C# programming language. This book not only gives you a strong foundation, but puts you on the path to game development.

Learning C# Programming With Unity 3d

Okita, Alex

Games & Strategy Guides

Hailed as a "must-have textbook" (CHOICE, January 2010), the first edition of Game Engine Architecture provided readers with a complete guide to the theory and practice of game engine software development. Updating the content to match today’s landscape of game engine architecture, this second edition continues to thoroughly cover the major components that make up a typical commercial game engine. New to the Second Edition <ul>
<li>Information on new topics, including the latest variant of the C++ programming language, C++11, and the architecture of the eighth generation of gaming consoles, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4</li> <li>New chapter on audio technology covering the fundamentals of the physics, mathematics, and technology that go into creating an AAA game audio engine</li> <li>Updated sections on multicore programming, pipelined CPU architecture and optimization, localization, pseudovectors and Grassman algebra, dual quaternions, SIMD vector math, memory alignment, and anti-aliasing </li> <li>Insight into the making of Naughty Dog’s latest hit, The Last of Us</li> </ul> The book presents the theory underlying various subsystems that comprise a commercial game engine as well as the data structures, algorithms, and software interfaces that are typically used to implement them. It primarily focuses on the engine itself, including a host of low-level foundation systems, the rendering engine, the collision system, the physics simulation, character animation, and audio. An in-depth discussion on the "gameplay foundation layer" delves into the game’s object model, world editor, event system, and scripting system. The text also touches on some aspects of gameplay programming, including player mechanics, cameras, and AI. An awareness-building tool and a jumping-off point for further learning, Game Engine Architecture, Second Edition gives readers a solid understanding of both the theory and common practices employed within each of the engineering disciplines covered. The book will help readers on their journey through this fascinating and multifaceted field.

Game Engine Architecture

Gregory, Jason

Precision Photoshop: Creating Powerful Visual Effects

The Essentials of Photoshop for Creative Professionals There are plenty of books on Photoshop for photographers; for everyone else, there’s Precision Photoshop: Creating Powerful Visual Effects. In clear, conversational language using extensive images and screenshots, this book gives you in-depth guidance on learning how to use Photoshop. The author shares her practical knowledge and insider tips gleaned from years working on visual effects in the entertainment business. Requiring no prior experience, the book first offers a step-by-step beginner’s tutorial on the main features of Photoshop, with the tutorial files available on the book’s CRC Press web page. It next shows you how to manage various assets, such as text, 3D, or HDRI files, and provides solutions to the most common questions asked by new Photoshop users. The author explains how to work with camera raw files and describes how to unlock your artistic potential through Photoshop’s powerful tools. She also covers more advanced tutorials involving higher concepts and specific source images, such as creating panoramas, high-contrast images, 3D effects, and motion. Illustrating key techniques with examples of production-quality work, this book delves deep into aspects most important to creative professionals. Whether you’re a beginner or more experienced user, you will find precise instruction on critical elements of the workflow.

Arts & Photography

Schwartz, Lopsie

Photography & Video

Essential Skills for 3D Modeling, Rendering, and Animation

The Key to Fully Understanding the Basics of a 3D World Prominently used in games, movies, and on television, 3D graphics are tools of creation used to enhance how material and light come together to manipulate objects in 3D space. A game-changer written for the non-technical mind, Essential Skills for 3D Modeling, Rendering, and Animation examines the complexities of 3D computer-generated art, and outlines the basics of how things work and are used in 3D. This text describes the three cornerstones of 3D―modeling, rendering, and animation; focuses on common elements; and provides a full understanding of the foundational concepts involved. Detailing the skills and knowledge needed to become an accomplished 3D artist, it includes step-by-step instruction with ample examples, and allows absolute beginners to move at their own pace. Master Anything You Are Tasked to Model The author incorporates historical information―presenting a contextual understanding of the various techniques and methodologies in their historical place. Each chapter builds on the fundamentals of 3D computer graphics and augments skills based on the concepts, enabling the student to learn both theory and application simultaneously. The book highlights two basic geometry types, polygons and NURBS surfaces, showing the student basic modeling techniques with both. While more techniques are available, an artist can cover any model by grasping these basic techniques. <ul>
<li>Supplies examples that are specifically taken from Autodesk Maya</li> <li>Contains exercises that are meant to be used in conjunction with the training videos on the website</li> <li>Includes a documented history of computer graphics</li>
</ul>
Essential Skills for 3D Modeling, Rendering, and Animation offers a fundamental understanding of the mechanics of 3D graphics to modelers, animators, texture artists, render artists, game developers, and production artists, as well as educators teaching an undergrad or tech course in 3D animation.

Zeman, Nicholas Bernhardt

Tackle the Challenges of Parallel Programming in the Visual Effects Industry In Multithreading for Visual Effects, developers from DreamWorks Animation, Pixar, Side Effects, Intel, and AMD share their successes and failures in the messy real-world application area of production software. They provide practical advice on multithreading techniques and visual effects used in popular visual effects libraries (such as Bullet, OpenVDB, and OpenSubdiv), one of the industry’s leading visual effects packages (Houdini), and proprietary animation systems. This information is valuable not just to those in the visual effects arena, but also to developers of high performance software looking to increase performance of their code. Diverse Solutions to Solve Performance Problems After an introductory chapter, each subsequent chapter presents a case study that illustrates how the authors used multithreading techniques to achieve better performance. The authors discuss the problems that occurred and explain how they solved them. The case studies encompass solutions for shaving milliseconds, solutions for optimizing longer running tasks, multithreading techniques for modern CPU architectures, and massive parallelism using GPUs. Some of the case studies include open source projects so you can try out these techniques for yourself and see how well they work.

Multithreading for Visual Effects

James Reinders

Martin Watt

This is a textbook for teaching single-variable calculus. It introduces standard preliminary topics like trigonometry and limits and then actually integrates them into the calculus. The text contains relevant examples and problems to illustrate the general concepts and includes careful explanations and solutions.

Calculus Lite

Science & Math

Frank Morgan

Mathematics

This is a survey of the state-of-the-art in sensors, systems, methods and technologies utilized by a mobile robot to determine its position in the environment. The many potential "solutions" are roughly categorized into two groups: relative and absolute position measurements. The first includes odometry and inertial navigation; the second comprises active beacons, artificial and natural landmark recognition and model matching. The authors compare and analyze these different methods based on technical publications and on commercial product and patent information. Comparison is centred around the following criteria: accuracy of position and orientation measurements; equipment needed; cost; sampling rate; effective range; computational power required; processing needs; and other special features.

Navigating Mobile Robots: Systems and Techniques

Engineering & Transportation

Borenstein, J.

Feng, Liqiang

Everett, H.R.

Engineering

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