Digital Character Development


Book Description

Every animated film and video game production spends a large percentage of its resources and time on advancing the quality of the digital characters inhabiting the world being created. This book presents the theory and practice behind the creation of digital characters for film and games using software-agnostic descriptions that apply to any animation application. It provides insight from a real production environment and the requirements that such an environment imposes. With rich illustrations and visual code examples throughout, this book provides a comprehensive roadmap to character development for both professionals and students.




Digital Character Development


Book Description

This book provides insight from a real production environment and the requirements such an environment imposes. It covers the theory and practice behind the development of digital characters for film and games using rigging concepts, algorithms, and techniques via software-agnostic descriptions that apply to any animation application. The book presents the anatomical considerations for rigging a character alongside the expectations of an animator, a road map for character development is carefully laid out through rich illustrations and visual code examples.




Social Emotional Stories


Book Description

Make social emotional learning fun and engaging with 24 ready-to-use lessons about phenomenal plants and astonishing animals. Storytelling is a learning device used by humans for centuries, and for good reason: storytelling is one of the best ways to increase critical thinking skills and social emotional learning (SEL). The award-winning Social Emotional Stories combines storytelling with thought-provoking lessons and activities to help elementary students improve their self-esteem, increase their engagement with school, and give them a sense of empowerment. The book contains 24 individual lessons that include: An SEL objective with specific keywords like “inner strength,” “problem solving,” and “responsibility” An engaging story that focuses on a distinctive quality of either a plant (like the inner strength of bamboo) or an animal (like the courage of a pig) Multiple activities that are quick, easy, and require few supplies to help kids identify and dive deeper into the specific SEL concepts represented Educators can use these lessons individually with students, in small groups, or with an entire class. The lessons are interdisciplinary and flexible, with only minimal prep time required, allowing educators to adapt them for their situation. Extensive digital content supports the lessons with reproducible forms and a full-color photo of each plant and animal.




AI: Teach me How to Write a Book - Second Edition


Book Description

"AI: Teach Me How to Write a Book - 2nd Edition" is a comprehensive guide designed for writers at all levels to harness the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence in creative writing. This book offers a deep dive into the integration of AI tools with traditional writing practices, aimed at enhancing creativity, improving narrative structure, and optimizing the writing process across various genres. Key Features AI Tools and Techniques: The book introduces readers to a variety of AI tools that can assist in plot generation, character development, and emotional depth. It discusses how these tools can serve as co-creators, helping you, the writer, to generate ideas, overcome creative blocks, and refine their narratives. Practical Application: Each chapter is structured to provide actionable advice on how to apply AI in real-world writing scenarios. This includes prompts, how-to guides, and step-by-step instructions on getting AI to collaborate in everything from drafting dialogues to world-building. Genre-Specific Writing Assistance: The content is tailored to address the specific needs of different genres, including science fiction, fantasy, romance, and historical fiction, ensuring that the guidance is relevant and applicable to a your specific field. Balancing AI and Human Creativity: A significant focus is placed on maintaining your voice in control and ensuring that AI complements rather than overrides the human creative process. This is crucial if you are concern about the authenticity and originality of your work. Ethical Considerations: The book also explores the ethical implications of using AI in writing, discussing topics like authorship, originality, and the responsible use of AI tools. Structure The publication, 600+ long, is divided into several key sections, each focusing on different aspects of AI-assisted writing: Introduction to AI in Writing: This part covers the basics of AI technologies and sets the stage for their application in creative writing. Developing Characters and Plot with AI: Detailed chapters discuss how AI can aid in developing complex characters and intricate plots, with tools for emotional analysis and dynamic storytelling. Enhancing Dialogue and Narrative: The book offers strategies for using AI to craft realistic dialogue and maintain narrative coherence, providing examples of how AI can enhance narrative depth and reader engagement. World-Building: Extensive guidelines on using AI to create vivid, immersive worlds, especially in genres like fantasy and science fiction where detailed world-building is pivotal. Specialized Applications: Separate areas of the book address the use of AI in specific genres, providing tailored advice for crafting genre-specific narratives and character archetypes. Practical Exercises and Prompts: Throughout the book, readers are encouraged to engage with practical exercises and AI-generated prompts to practice the skills discussed. In few words The publication concludes with a look at the future of AI in writing, discussing upcoming trends and how you can stay ahead of the curve. It emphasizes continuous learning and adaptation, encouraging us to evolve with technology while staying true to their creative vision. "AI: Teach Me How to Write a Book - 2nd Edition" is ideal for aspiring and experienced writers like you, interested in integrating technology into their creative process. It is also useful for educators and students in creative writing courses seeking to understand the intersection of technology and literature. This detailed guide combines theoretical insights with practical advice, making it a valuable resource for anyone looking to explore the possibilities of AI in enhancing the art of writing.




Web 2.0 How-to for Educators, 2nd Edition


Book Description

Ignite creativity by weaving Web 2.0 tools into the classroom. In this expanded and fully updated edition, the authors of the best-selling Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools introduce you to more collaborative tools and expertly lead you through classroom and professional applications that help expand student and teacher learning.




Integrating the Arts in Science: 30 Strategies to Create Dynamic Lessons, 2nd Edition


Book Description

Use the arts to inspire, engage, and motivate students in science class! This book provides useful strategies to help teachers integrate creative movement, drama, music, poetry, storytelling, and visual arts in science topics. These teacher-friendly strategies bring science to life while building students’ creativity and critical thinking skills.




Mindful ClassroomsTM


Book Description

A guide for busy elementary educators on how to easily incorporate mindfulness activities into existing curriculum Teaching students how to focus and self-regulate at a young age can provide them with skills that will help throughout their schooling and adult lives. Like anyone, they need easy-to remember tools and strategies to calm their minds and focus on the moment. This interactive, research based curriculum helps preK and elementary teachers integrate simple, ready-to use stretching, breathing, and reflective exercises as well as other mindfulness practices into their daily routines. Includes digital content with reproducible handouts from the book.




The Origins of Digital Computers


Book Description




Moral Education for Social Justice


Book Description

The authors draw from their work with teachers and students to address issues of social justice through the regular curriculum and everyday school life. This book illustrates an approach that integrates social justice education with contemporary research on students’ development of moral understandings and concerns for human welfare in order to critically address societal conventions, norms, and institutions. The authors provide a clear roadmap for differentiating moral education from religious beliefs and offer age-appropriate guidance for creating healthy school and classroom environments. Demonstrating how to engage students in critical thinking and community activism, the book includes proven-effective lessons that promote academic learning and moral growth for the early grades through adolescence. The text also incorporates recent work with social-emotional learning and restorative justice to nurture students’ ethical awareness and disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. Book Features: Guidance to help teachers move from classroom moral discourse to engage students in community action. Age-specific lesson plans developed with classroom teachers for integration with regular academic curricula.Detailed overview of moral growth with examples of student reasoning.Connections between moral development and critical pedagogy.Connections between moral development and digital literacy.Connections among classroom management, school rules, restorative justice, and students’ social development.Insights drawn from research conducted within the Oakland Public School system.




Character Recognition Systems


Book Description

"Much of pattern recognition theory and practice, including methods such as Support Vector Machines, has emerged in an attempt to solve the character recognition problem. This book is written by very well-known academics who have worked in the field for many years and have made significant and lasting contributions. The book will no doubt be of value to students and practitioners." -Sargur N. Srihari, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and Director, Center of Excellence for Document Analysis and Recognition (CEDAR), University at Buffalo, The State University of New York "The disciplines of optical character recognition and document image analysis have a history of more than forty years. In the last decade, the importance and popularity of these areas have grown enormously. Surprisingly, however, the field is not well covered by any textbook. This book has been written by prominent leaders in the field. It includes all important topics in optical character recognition and document analysis, and is written in a very coherent and comprehensive style. This book satisfies an urgent need. It is a volume the community has been awaiting for a long time, and I can enthusiastically recommend it to everybody working in the area." -Horst Bunke, Professor, Institute of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics (IAM), University of Bern, Switzerland In Character Recognition Systems, the authors provide practitioners and students with the fundamental principles and state-of-the-art computational methods of reading printed texts and handwritten materials. The information presented is analogous to the stages of a computer recognition system, helping readers master the theory and latest methodologies used in character recognition in a meaningful way. This book covers: * Perspectives on the history, applications, and evolution of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) * The most widely used pre-processing techniques, as well as methods for extracting character contours and skeletons * Evaluating extracted features, both structural and statistical * Modern classification methods that are successful in character recognition, including statistical methods, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Support Vector Machines (SVM), structural methods, and multi-classifier methods * An overview of word and string recognition methods and techniques * Case studies that illustrate practical applications, with descriptions of the methods and theories behind the experimental results Each chapter contains major steps and tricks to handle the tasks described at-hand. Researchers and graduate students in computer science and engineering will find this book useful for designing a concrete system in OCR technology, while practitioners will rely on it as a valuable resource for the latest advances and modern technologies that aren't covered elsewhere in a single book.