Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server T SQL in 10 Minutes or Introducing Character Animation with Blender

Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server T-SQL in 10 Minutes

Author: Ben Forta

Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server T-SQL in 10 Minutes offers straightforward, practical answers when you need fast results. By working through 10-minute lessons, you’ll learn everything you need to know to take advantage of Microsoft SQL Server’s T-SQL language.

This handy pocket guide starts with simple data retrieval and moves on to more complex topics, including the use of joins, subqueries, full text-based searches, functions and stored procedures, cursors, triggers, table constraints, XML, and much more.

You’ll learn what you need to know methodically, systematically, and simply–in highly focused lessons designed to make you immediately and effortlessly productive.

Tips point out shortcuts and solutions

Cautions help you avoid common pitfalls

Notes explain additional concepts, and provide additional information

10 minutes is all you need to learn how to…
• Use T-SQL in the Microsoft SQL Server environment
• Construct complex T-SQL statements using multiple clauses and operators
• Filter data so you get the information you need quickly
• Retrieve, sort, and format database contents
• Join two or more related tables
• Make SQL Server work for you with globalization and localization
• Create subqueries to pinpoint your data
• Automate your workload with triggers
• Create and alter database tables
• Work with views, stored procedures, and more

 Register your book at www.samspublishing.com/register to download examples and source code from this book.

New interesting book: Disabling Globalization or The Business and Economics of Linux and Open Source

Introducing Character Animation with Blender

Author: Tony Mullen

Let this in-depth professional book be your guide to Blender, the powerful open-source 3D modeling and animation software that will bring your ideas to life. Using clear step-by-step instruction and pages of real-world examples, expert animator Tony Mullen walks you through the complexities of modeling and animating, with a special focus on characters. From Blender basics to creating facial expressions and emotion to rendering, you’ll jump right into the process and learn valuable techniques that will transform your movies.

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Table of Contents:

Forewords     viii
Introduction     x
Creating a Character with Blender     1
Blender Basics: Interface and Objects     3
Work Areas and Window Types     4
Navigating the 3D Space     9
Objects and Datablocks     18
User Preferences     24
Working with Meshes     27
Polygons and Subsurfacing     28
Extrusion Modeling and Box Modeling     32
Completing the Model with Materials, Textures, and Particles     89
Material Datablock     90
Material Properties     92
Textures and UV Mapping     99
Using Static Particles     116
Armatures and Rigging     129
Blender Armature System     130
Building a Simple Armature     131
Rigging Captain Blender     141
Shape Keys and Facial Rigging     187
Shape Key Basics     188
Building a Shape Key Set for Captain Blender     198
Facial Bones and Controls     217
Improved Mesh Deformations Using Driven Shape Keys     234
Bringing It to Life: Animation     239
Basics of Animation     241
Keyframes and Ipos     242
Using the Ipo Editor: Bouncing a Ball     244
Interpolation and Extend Types     252
Armature Animation     259
Posing and Keyframing with the Action Editor     260
Walk and Run Cycles     273
Pose-to-Pose Animation     288
Facial Animation and Lip Sync     299
Facial Posing     300
Lip Sync     306
Playback     312
Nonlinear Animation     315
Using the NLA Editor     316
NLA in Action     325
Mixing Actions: Walking and Talking     337
Further Issues in Character Animation     341
Interacting with Props     342
Deformation with Lattices     350
Softbodies and Metaballs     356
Lighting, Rendering, and Editing Your Animation     363
Lighting Basics     364
Rendering Your Animation     379
Editing in the Sequence Editor     383
Using Python Scripts     387
Installing and Executing Python Scripts     388
Standard Scripts     389
Extended Functionality with Scripts     396
Blender in Production     399
Full-Scale Productions: Elephants Dream and Plumiferos     401
GPL, Creative Commons, and the Blender Artistic License     402
Elephants Dream, the World's First "Open Movie"     403
A Preview of Plumiferos     405
A Look Into Elephants Dream     407
Proog and Emo Rigs     408
Texturing Proog     421
Ways of Walking: Following a Path vs. a Manually Keyed Walk     422
Tips on Studying the Elephants Dream Files     424
Feifi the Canary: Plumiferos Takes Wing     427
Introducing Feifi     428
Rigging a Cartoon Bird     432
Blender in the Pipeline     441
Production Pipeline     442
Using Libraries     445
Collaboration with Subversion and Verse     445
...and Back Into Blender     446
Blender and Beyond     449
Other Software and Formats     451
Importing and Exporting Other File Formats     452
Useful Open-Source Software for Blender Artists     453
Blending into the (Near) Future     457
Resources for Further Learning     459
Selected Online Resources     460
Recommended Books     464
On Becoming a Blender Master      466
Index     467