Web Design

Have you ever wanted to create your own legendary medieval kingdom to rule over? Well, now you can, with Minecraft Exploded Builds: Medieval Fortress.

Learn how to design, build, and customize every part of your castle and the surrounding area, from sturdy walls and deadly traps to dank, dark dungeons and sprawling villages. Each build has an exploded view to show you exactly which blocks to use, plus extra ideas to make every part of your kingdom unique.

Packed with interesting facts about medieval life, full-color illustrations, and a foldout depicting the epic scale of the kingdom, this official Mojang book has dozens of building ideas to ignite the imaginations of Minecrafters of all ages.

Note: This book has been designed to mimic job-site engineering plans. The marks and scuffs on the pages are an intentional design element.

Collect all of the official Minecraft books:
Minecraft: The Island
Minecraft: The Crash
Minecraft: The Lost Journals
Minecraft: The Survivors’ Book of Secrets
Minecraft: Exploded Builds: Medieval Fortress
Minecraft: Guide to Exploration
Minecraft: Guide to Creative
Minecraft: Guide to the Nether & the End
Minecraft: Guide to Redstone
Minecraft: Mobestiary
Minecraft: Guide to Enchantments & Potions
Minecraft: Guide to PVP Minigames
Minecraft: Guide to Farming
Minecraft: Let’s Build! Theme Park Adventure
Minecraft for Beginners

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Lighting for Animation　is designed with one goal in mind – to make you a better artist. Over the course of the book, Jasmine Katatikarn and Michael Tanzillo (Senior Lighting TDs, Blue Sky Studios) will train your eye to analyze your work more critically, and teach you approaches and techniques to improve your craft. Focusing on the main philosophies and core concepts utilized by industry professionals, this book builds the foundation for a successful career as a lighting artist in visual effects and computer animation. Inside you’ll find in-depth instruction on:

　

• Creating mood and storytelling through lighting

• Using light to create visual shaping

• Directing the viewer’s eye with light and color

• Gathering and utilizing reference images

• Successfully lighting and rendering workflows

• Render layers and how they can be used most effectively

• Specific lighting scenarios, including character lighting, environment lighting, and lighting an animated sequence

• Material properties and their work with lighting

• Compositing techniques essential for a lighter

• A guide on how to start your career and achieve success as a lighting artist

　

This book is not designed to teach software packages—there are websites, instructional manuals, online demos, and traditional courses available to teach you how to operate specific computer programs.　 That type of training will teach you how to create an image; this book will teach you the technical skills you need to make that image beautiful.　

 

Key Features

• Stunning examples from a variety of films serve to inspire and inform your creative choices.

• Unique approach focuses on using lighting as a storytelling tool, rather than just telling you which buttons to press.

• Comprehensive companion website contains lighting exercises, assets, challenges, and further resources to help you expand your skillset.

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Using the new OpenCL (Open Computing Language) standard, you can write applications that access all available programming resources: CPUs, GPUs, and other processors such as DSPs and the Cell/B.E. processor. Already implemented by Apple, AMD, Intel, IBM, NVIDIA, and other leaders, OpenCL has outstanding potential for PCs, servers, handheld/embedded devices, high performance computing, and even cloud systems. This is the first comprehensive, authoritative, and practical guide to OpenCL 1.1 specifically for working developers and software architects.

 

Written by five leading OpenCL authorities, OpenCL Programming Guide covers the entire specification. It reviews key use cases, shows how OpenCL can express a wide range of parallel algorithms, and offers complete reference material on both the API and OpenCL C programming language.

 

Through complete case studies and downloadable code examples, the authors show how to write complex parallel programs that decompose workloads across many different devices. They also present all the essentials of OpenCL software performance optimization, including probing and adapting to hardware. Coverage includes

 

• Understanding OpenCL’s architecture, concepts, terminology, goals, and rationale
• Programming with OpenCL C and the runtime API
• Using buffers, sub-buffers, images, samplers, and events
• Sharing and synchronizing data with OpenGL and Microsoft’s Direct3D
• Simplifying development with the C++ Wrapper API
• Using OpenCL Embedded Profiles to support devices ranging from cellphones to supercomputer nodes
• Case studies dealing with physics simulation; image and signal processing, such as image histograms, edge detection filters, Fast Fourier Transforms, and optical flow; math libraries, such as matrix multiplication and high-performance sparse matrix multiplication; and more
• Source code for this book is available at https://code.google.com/p/opencl-book-samples/

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Every production is built on the backbone of the pipeline. While a functional and flexible pipeline can’t assure a successful project, a weak pipeline can guarantee its demise. A solid pipeline produces a superior product in less time and with happier artists who can remain creative throughout the grueling production schedule.

Walk through the foundational layers of the production pipeline, including IT infrastructure, software development practices and deployment policies, asset management, shot management, and rendering management. Production Pipeline Fundamentals for Film and Games will teach you how to direct limited resources to the right technological initiatives, getting the most for every dollar spent.

• Learn how to prepare for and manage all aspects of the pipeline with this entirely unique, one-of-a-kind guide.

• Expand your knowledge with real-world pipeline secrets handed to you by a stellar group of professionals from across the globe.

• Visit the companion website for even further resources on the pipeline.

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‘LIVE STREAMING BASICS: Everything you need to get started – Simply explained’ is a publication curated by Massimo Coloso – multimedia communication consultant and owner of Servizistreaming.com – whose aim is to provide those approaching this stimulating digital environment with all the necessary information to avoid taking a leap in the dark when setting up a live broadcasting workstation, be it professional or domestic. The book deals with all the fundamental aspects of live streaming: cameras, direction, connections, cabling and good practices to put in place during a live broadcast, all comprehensibly and clearly explained for a fluent but by no means superficial, rather in-depth reading.
120 pages divided into 13 chapters: STREAMING: WHAT IT IS AND HOW IT WORKS – HISTORICAL BACKGROUND – CONTENT FOCUS – THE BANDWIDTH – WIRED vs WIRELESS – CHOOSING THE CONFIGURATION – AUDIO/VIDEO SOURCES – CAPTURE CARDS AND CONNECTIONS – CONTROL ROOM – THE ENCODER – PLATFORM CHOICE – SET-UP HYPOTHESIS – STREAMING NETIQUETTE.
‘LIVE STREAMING BASICS: Everything you need to get started – Simply explained’ is one of the very few books currently available that deals with the topic of ‘how to do a live stream’ and can indeed be an important chapter in the education of informed streamers and future live shows directors.

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Until now, my websites looked great but have been coded with what seems like duct-tape and bubble-gum’ methods, just for appearances and not for professionalism or compliance. This book taught me all that is possible with HTML and CSS coding. What a game changer! That’s what one web designer posted about a previous edition of Murach’s HTML and CSS. Now, this 5th Edition updates and improves all the HTML and CSS content in the book…and it’s in full color so it’s easier than ever to learn from it. In fact, whether you’re a web designer, a JavaScript programmer, a server-side programmer, or a rookie, this book delivers all the HTML and CSS skills that you need on the job. This book begins with an 8-chapter hands-on course that teaches you HTML and CSS from scratch, including the latest HTML and CSS features. This short course ends with a chapter that teaches you how to use fluid design and media queries to implement Responsive Web Design so your pages will look good and work right on any screen, from phone to tablet to desktop. After that, the unique design of this book lets you go on to any other chapter to learn new skills whenever you need them. For example, chapters 9 and 10 show you how to use Flexible Box and Grid Layout. Chapter 13 shows you how to work with forms and data validation. Chapter 14 shows you how to enhance a site with video clips. Chapter 15 shows you how to use CSS transitions, transforms, and animations. Chapters 16 and 17 show you how to design and deploy a website. And chapter 18 introduces you to JavaScript, a must-have language that’s the next step for many web developers. One final point: After teaching you all the HTML and CSS skills that you need, this book becomes the best on-the-job reference you’ve ever used.

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Ballistic Publishing has partnered with Sony Computer Entertainment America and Naughty Dog, Inc., to produce The Art of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The biggest Ballistic Publishing art book to date weighs in at 272 pages and features some of the hundreds of drawings, paintings, and sculpts that began the process of making Nathan Drake’s world real, and helped make Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Game of the Year. From concept art to character studies, environment art, character modeling, game art, cinematics, motion-capture, animation, and effects, The Art of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is the ultimate companion to the award-winning PlayStation 3 game.

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The games industry is serious business and the role of a games designer has dramatically changed over just the last few years. Developers now have to rethink everything they know about the creative, technical and business challenges to adapt to the transition to games as a service.

Games as a Service: How Free to Play Design Can Make Better Games has been written to help designers overcome many of the fears and misconceptions surrounding freemium and social games. It provides a framework to deliver better games rather than the ‘evil’ or ‘manipulative’ experiences some designers fear with the move away from wasteful Products to sustainable, trustworthy Services.

Oscar Clark is a consultant and Evangelist for Everyplay from Applifier. 　He has been a pioneer in online, mobile and console social games services　since 1998 including Wireplay (British Telecom), Hutchison Whampoa (3UK) and PlayStation®Home. He is a regular　columnist on PocketGamer.Biz and is　an　outspoken speaker and moderator at countless games conferences on Games Design, Discovery,　and Monetisation. 　He is also a notorious hat wearer.

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A #1 AMAZON BESTSELLER!

“Perfect little planning notebook to get the kids writing their own plans before getting immersed in their videos and screentime. And a cute record to keep of all of their ideas!”

Perfect accompaniment to a YouTube or Vlogging Guidebook

Got a child who loves Vlogging and YouTube and loves making their own videos or wants to start? Help them harness their ideas and filming skills and get planning like a pro with this kid-friendly YouTube planning notebook.

Get them off their screens 24/7 and help them hone their writing, planning, organising, editing, marketing and business skills through a hobby they love – and make better videos because of it!

Includes hints and tips on how to make good videos, how to stay safe when publishing online, and a review section to keep thinking about what you do and how to make it better each time.

10 double-page-spread planning pages to get you started on your YouTube journey.

Don’t miss our new Minecraft Planning Book too! Available on Amazon now

PLEASE NOTE: This is predominantely a notebook, with lots of space for your child to plan and write down their own ideas. There is guidance at the start on how to do this, and each planning page is split into sections to help create logical, structured videos with an audience in mind. It is the perfect accompaniment to the many in-depth Vlogging Guidebooks there are available. It’s a little bit about reading and learning, but much more so about thinking, planning, writing, drawing and doing!

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Death is never truly the end.

Follow the origin story of the Mighty Nein’s Caduceus Clay in this beautiful hardcover graphic novel written by Kendra Wells (Tell No Tales), illustrated by Gus Allen (Lumberjanes), with colors by Eren Angiolini and letters by Ariana Maher. Created in consultation with the cast of Critical Role!

Generations of the Clay family have tended to the careful rituals in the Blooming Grove. But when corruption begins to creep in on their sacred space, the Clays depart one by one to seek answers. Soon young Caduceus and Clarabelle are the only ones left, and when a dangerous burial quest falls to Caduceus, he must leave the Grove to do the family’s work.

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