"The bar keeps getting higher for Maya artists to create human characters that look more, well, human. Autodesk Maya 2012 has the sophisticated tools to make realistic characters, but human artists still need to know how to harness them to get results that audiences believe.Maya Studio Projects: Photorealistic Characters is an all-projects book that shows you how to use Maya 2012's tools to make realistic characters that are ready for professional-level films, videos, and games. Start with a skeleton to create a character; build a facial rig; create different hair styles; use Maya's Fur to create swarthy facial hair such as a beard; experiment with textures and nParticles; fashion your character's shirt and bomber jacket using Maya's nCloth; and understand the process of Performance Capture.Projects serve as a guide for readers to complete their own version. Each project comes with starter, intermediate, and final Maya scene files to validate results, as well as real-world videos for reference.The projects are ideal for professionals already in the field who want to enhance their skill set and also for advanced students who are getting ready to break into the field"--

Demonstrates Excel fundamentals, explaining how to build worksheets, use formulas and functions, create charts and perform data analysis, and display data in different types of charts.

Provides instructions and exercises to help master the fundamentals of Flash CS5, covering such topics as symbols and libraries, ActionScript, audio, text, animation, 3D tools, video, XML, CSs, and Flash movies.

Presents information on creating and managing a Web site with Drupal.--

A popular social network game called the Magical Girl Raising Project can grant players a chance of becoming a real-life magical girl, however, the administration soon decides they will cut the number in half by having the magical girl with the fewest Magical Candies each week lose their powers.