Creative - Books

Game Development Essentials: Mobile Game Development

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:31:16 +0000

Explore a comprehensive examination of the art and technology of one of the fastest-growing segments of the game industry with GAME DEVELOPMENT ESSENTIALS: MOBILE GAME DEVELOPMENT. This ground breaking text walks students through the overall process of designing videogames and applications for mobile and handheld hardware. Through coverage of team building, production, QA and a look at the black box of the publication process both for independent and publisher backed studios; students learn the entire development process from initial concept to game design. Utilizing real-life examples, interviews and advice from developers already well established in the mobile industry, MOBILE GAME DEVELOPMENT serves as the 'how to' guide for students looking to break into the mobile game development industry.

The Future of Looking Back (Microsoft Research)

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 01:42:27 +0000

What will we leave behind in this new digital age? As digital technology takes an ever-increasing role in our lives, one question is how we’ll manage our collections after we’re gone. What takes the place of shoeboxes full of pictures and dog-eared record albums? Get an inside look at Microsoft researcher -Richard Banks’s thinking about how we might manage the digital artifacts and content we’re creating now - and how we might pass on or inherit these kinds of items in the future.

Producing Animation, Second Edition

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:11:14 +0000

You have a useful library of books covering the tools, techniques and aesthetics of animation, but you've been asked to put your production and creative skills to the test to produce a theatrical feature film or to deliver 52 episodes of a television series with only 18 months in the schedule. Producing Animation is your answer.

Written by Catherine Winder and Zahra Dowlatabadi and edited by Tracey Miller-Zarneke, Producing Animation is a comprehensive guide to the production industry. Already a relied upon resource by professionals and students alike, this book covers the process from script to screen while defining the role of the producer at each phase. The second edition features new content such as sidebars on key topics from industry experts, discussions on CG, 2D and stereoscopic production processes, and an overview on marketing and distributing your project. Companion website provides access to sample tables, templates and workflow outlines for CG and 2D animation production.

* The complete guide to identifying, pitching, selling, developing,and producing an animated show with detailed resources for production planning, budgeting, scheduling and tracking your project.

*A unique collection of the knowledge, experience and advice of industry professionals on a wide variety of topics, from selling your project to setting up a co-production to stereoscopic filmmaking * New! Producing Animation 2nd edition features 2 new chapters discussing software and legal aspect of a producer's role, in-depth case studies, and updated resources for professionals and students alike. * Companion website features sample charts, editable tables and templates, and workflow outlines for 2D, 3D, object and digital animation production.

Game Development Essentials: An Introduction

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 23:18:00 +0000

Game Development Essentials An Introduction, is an authoritative, industry-driven introduction to the world of game development, with updates that keep readers current and well-prepared for a successful career in the field. This book not only examines content creation and the concepts behind development, but it also give readers a background on the evolution of game development and how it has become what it is today.

Game Development Essentials also includes chapters on project management, development team roles and responsibilities, development cycle, marketing, maintenance, and the future of game development. With the same engaging writing style and examples that made the first two editions so popular, this new edition features all the latest games and game technology. Coverage of new game-related technology, development techniques, and the latest research in the field make this an invaluable resource for anyone entering the exciting, competitive, ever-changing world of game development.

Beginning Google Sketchup for 3D Printing (Expert's Voice in 3D Printing)

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:55:28 +0000

The age of 3D printing and personal fabrication is upon us! You’ve probably heard of the incredibly sophisticated, yet inexpensive 3D printers that can produce almost any creation you give them. But how do you become part of that revolution?

Sandeep Singh takes you through the skills you need to learn and the services and technologies you need to know—explaining what 3D printing is, how it works, and what it can do for you. You’ll find yourself rapidly prototyping and learning to produce complex designs that can be fabricated by online 3D printing services or privately-owned 3D printers—in your hands in no time.

Beginning Google SketchUp for 3D Printing starts by explaining how to use SketchUp and its plug-ins to make your design products. You will learn how to present and animate 3D models, and how to use Google Earth and 3D Warehouse to sell and market your 3D models. You'll also catch a glimpse of the 3D printing's future so you can plan ahead while mastering today's tools.

The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:49:19 +0000

THE MULTIPLAYER CLASSROOM: DESIGNING COURSEWORK AS A GAME is a how-to guide to creating games for the classroom to better reach today's students. The book shows the reader how to create a teaching tool that will engage and excite students by using styles and formats found in popular video games. Readers will learn how to create a variety of multiplayer games on any subject, following the techniques and case studies presented. Bring your classroom into the 21st century!

Character Development in Blender 2.5

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:48:30 +0000

Character Development in Blender 2.5 provides an introduction to both Blender and character modeling, explaining the various Blender tools and how to use them to create amazing, believable 3D characters. Providing both the how and why behind each new tool or skill presented, the book is written in a step-by-step format so you can easily follow along. Divided into five parts, the book covers box modeling, poly-by-poly modeling, sculpting, retopologizing, normal mapping and more. You'll begin by learning the raw basics of Blender, giving you an understanding of how the Blender interface works and how you can manipulate objects in 3D space, as well as how to customize your Blender experience. You'll then get an introduction to some of the modeling features of Blender and how you can manipulate meshes with Blenders various modeling tools, modifiers and sculpting functionality. In part three you'll move onto the real focus of the book, modeling the character, focusing on the workflow and various modeling techniques. Part four provides a brief introduction to lighting and rendering characters before the final section of the book walks you through the process needed to prepare the character for complete texturing and how to bake and apply normal maps to a low-resolution version of the character. Character Development in Blender 2.5 shows you everything you need to get started as a character modeler and Blender artist.

ZBrush 4 Sculpting for Games: Beginner's Guide

Wed, 25 May 2011 15:13:42 +0000

ZBrush is a fantastic tool for creating models for use in computer games. Using a wide range of powerful tools you can create models for vehicles, props, environments, and characters.

This book makes creating game art in ZBrush fast and easy. It covers everything you need to create models of all kinds for your game projects, even if you've never used ZBrush before.

Built around four complete ZBrush projects, the book gives you everything you need to sculpt props, vehicles, and creatures in ZBrush. You'll start by creating a "spooky tree" model, mastering the sculpting, texturing, and decoration skills that are essential for all ZBrush topics. Next you'll move to man-made objects with a sci-fi drone. Next you'll see how to sculpt monsters and other creatures, deal with cloth and other soft materials, and prepare the model to become an animated, controllable character in a game. The final project returns to machines, building a complete, detailed spaceship for use in your sci-fi games.

Creating 3D Game Art for the iPhone with Unity: Featuring modo and Blender pipelines

Wed, 18 May 2011 16:22:44 +0000

Revolutionize your iPhone and iPad game development with Unity iOS, a fully integrated professional application and powerful game engine, which is quickly becoming the best solution for creating visually stunning games for Apple's iDevices easier, and more fun for artists. From concept to completion you'll learn to create and animate using modo and Blender as well as creating a full level utilizing the powerful toolset in Unity iOS as it specifically relates to iPhone and iPad game development.

Follow the creation of "Tater," a character from the author's personal game project "Dead Bang," as he's used to explain vital aspects of game development and content creation for the iOS platform. Creating 3D Game Art for the iPhone focuses on the key principles of game design and development by covering in-depth, the iDevice hardware in conjunction with Unity iOS and how it relates to creating optimized game assets for the iDevices.

Featuring Luxology's artist-friendly modo, and Blender, the free open-source 3D app, along side Unity iOS, optimize your game assets for the latest iDevices including iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad and the iPod Touch. Learn to model characters and environment assets, texture, animate skinned characters and apply advanced lightmapping techniques using Beast in Unity iOS.

In a clear, motivating, and entertaining style, Wes McDermott offers captivating 3D imagery, real-world observation, and valuable tips and tricks all in one place - this book is an invaluable resource for any digital artist working to create games for the iPhone and iPad using Unity iOS.

Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 for Teens (For Teens (Course Technology))

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:41:49 +0000

Learn how to create amazing robotic creations with Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 for Teens. This step-by-step guide shows beginners how to use the Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 kit and their computer to build fantastic robotic creations and how to program the code that will make them come to life. The only limit is your imagination!

Game Coding Complete, Third Edition

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Welcome to "Game Coding Complete, Third Edition," the newest edition of the essential, hands-on guide to developing commercial-quality games. Written by a veteran game programmer, the book examines the entire game development process and all the unique challenges associated with creating a game. An excellent introduction to game architecture, you'll explore all the major subsystems of modern game engines and learn professional techniques used in actual games. This third edition features expanded content and coverage of the latest and most exciting new game programming techniques including AI, multiprogramming, working with scripting languages such as Lua, and writing C# tools like your level editor. All the code and examples presented have been tested and used in commercial video games, and the book is full of invaluable best practices, professional tips and tricks, and cautionary advice.

Challenges for Game Designers

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Welcome to a book written to challenge you, improve your brainstorming abilities, and sharpen your game design skills! Challenges for Game Designers: Non-Digital Exercises for Video Game Designers is filled with enjoyable, interesting, and challenging exercises to help you become a better video game designer, whether you are a professional or aspire to be. Each chapter covers a different topic important to game designers, and was taken from actual industry experience. After a brief overview of the topic, there are five challenges that each take less than two hours and allow you to apply the material, explore the topic, and expand your knowledge in that area. Each chapter also includes 10 �non-digital shorts� to further hone your skills. None of the challenges in the book require any programming or a computer, but many of the topics feature challenges that can be made into fully functioning games. The book is useful for professional designers, aspiring designers, and instructors who teach game design courses, and the challenges are great for both practice and homework assignments. The book can be worked through chapter by chapter, or you can skip around and do only the challenges that interest you. As with anything else, making great games takes practice and Challenges for Game Designers provides you with a collection of fun, thoughtprovoking, and of course, challenging activities that will help you hone vital skills and become the best game designer you can be.

The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The fundamentals of designing classic games from one of the world's top designers.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 On Demand

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

FOR THOSE WHO WOULD RATHER BE SHOWN HOW THAN TOLD HOW SEE HOW TO

Get started quickly with the Welcome Screen
Browse, organize, and process files using the Organizer
Easily find and view just the photos and video clips you want to see
Easily create photo books, calendars, collages, slide shows, scrapbook pages, greeting cards, and CD/DVD labels
Use auto controls to quickly fix a photo
Use Guided Edit to walk you step by step through the editing process
Use more precise color correction to enhance a photo
Easily brush away wrinkles and other unwanted photo results
Use image trickery and special effects to change or enhance a photo
Use themes and artwork to liven up your photo projects
Create perfect group shots, seamless panoramas, and more
Easily share your work using e-mail, online galleries, mobile phones,

Apple Pro Training Series: Logic Pro 8 and Logic Express 8

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Logic is now more affordable than ever before in version 8, and provides more features than many sequencers twice the price. This book covers fundamentals through to advanced operations.

Character Emotion in 2D and 3D Animation

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Learn how to animate emotion in your characters and add drama to your animation! Character Emotion in 2D and 3D Animation deals specifically with body language, facial expressions, emotional reactions, and other methods of giving characters emotion. It also deals with adding emotion and drama to a scene or setting. A majority of animation books cover emotion as a side element. Character emotion is a major element that plays a vital role in the believability of the character. Character Emotion in 2D and 3D Animation offers comprehensive coverage of the techniques that can help you create believable emotion in your characters.

Game Writing Handbook (Charles River Media Game Development)

Sun, 20 May 2007 00:00:00 +0000

An ideal guide for anyone interested in learning how to write scripts and stories for video games, this book provides practical information about designing storylines, creating characters, and writing dialogue.

Macromedia Flash Professional 8 Game Graphics

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Creating graphics for Flash games can be fun and rewarding, especially when you can channel your imagination into your art and provide potential players with a fun entertainment experience. Written for anyone creating games with Flash, Macromedia� Flash? Professional 8 Game Graphics teaches the essentials of Flash game art. You?ll learn all about what Flash graphics are, how to create your own, and how to import them into working game source files. The book covers vector and raster graphics and explains how both can be used to improve the performance of your game. Helpful tips and techniques are included throughout to help you become more effi cient at creating user interfaces, game character sprites, and special effects. And several real-world game examples are used to teach about the development process for creating game graphics and preparing them correctly for a smooth transition to programming. You don?t have to be an artist to use this book, because the graphic techniques taught don?t require a painter?s hand. So if you want to create awesome graphics for your Flash games, this is the place to get started.

Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools (2nd Edition)

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

This book provides the foundation for understanding the theory and pracitce of compilers. Revised and updated, it reflects the current state of compilation. Every chapter has been completely revised to reflect developments in software engineering, programming languages, and computer architecture that have occurred since 1986, when the last edition published. The authors, recognizing that few readers will ever go on to construct a compiler, retain their focus on the broader set of problems faced in software design and software development. Computer scientists, developers, and aspiring students that want to learn how to build, maintain, and execute a compiler for a major programming language.

Pro Tools 7 Power!: The Comprehensive Guide

Thu, 15 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Pro Tools 7 is the audio production industry standard software and hardware system for audio recording, manipulating and mixing. This book provides a comprehensive guide to its functionality.