Getting characters to walk is one thing; adding character to a walk is another. But it’s not impossible and it’s not software specific. In fact, the locomotion techniques in this course apply to any style of animation: 2D or 3D, hand-drawn or digital. The only thing you need to bring is personality. George Maestri shows how to make your character walk, run, and skip with style, and subtly move the story along.

Learn how to use Excel’s built-in data management and computation functions to identify clusters of data points—with little or no VBA! Author Curt Frye shows you how to set up a worksheet for cluster analysis, create formulas that identify the closest focal point (centroid) for each row, and analyze your results in an Excel table or XY scatter chart. Members who don’t mind recording macros or writing VBA code can learn how to automate some parts of the procedure.

Generate a steady stream of revenue from your website—without alienating your core audience—with Google AdSense. Author and marketer Anson Alexander teaches you how to get up and running with AdSense, and display ads that “make sense” for your website. Learn how to set up an account, place limitations on ad content, create ad units, and use advanced placement strategies and reporting. Plus, with AdSense performance reports, you’ll learn how to identify ad trends, increase page views, and better tailor ad content.

See how PhoneGap, an open-source framework, and PhoneGap Build, a service in the Adobe Creative Cloud, allow you to create cross-platform mobile apps using the web technologies you know and love: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This course explores how to use PhoneGap Build to create app-store-ready applications for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. Learn how to build an app from GitHub, Dreamweaver, Edge Code, or even a simple ZIP file; configure icons, splash screens, and other preferences; enable access to camera and location sensor data; and deploy and install your device on your smart phone or tablet.

Learn to combine graphics and pseudo-elements to add more design and layout possibilities without adding more HTML to your web pages. Combining web graphics and CSS3 pseudo-elements allows you to style text, add graphics, and position objects, all while keeping your HTML clean and organized and without sacrificing responsive elements of your design.

n this Adobe Edge Animate CC training course, expert author Tony Ross teaches you about the tools and functions available in this web development tool. This course is designed for the absolute beginner, meaning no previous experience with Adobe Edge or Edge Animate is required.

Robust facial rigs are vital to character expression and a natural and necessary addition to any stable body rig. There are two primary approaches to facial rigging: shapes and joint-based setups. Blend shapes are typically not supported by gaming engines, so it’s important to learn both approaches. This course shows how to use each method to build facial controls that are versatile and easy to use. Jason Baskin shows how to use blend shapes to control expressions, and create a library of morph targets with the Cluster and Lattice tools and the Wrap and Wire deformers. Then learn how to connect eyes, eyelids, and other features to GUI controls that animators can use to manipulate the character’s expressions however they like. Last, Jason explores a joint-based approach that allows you to sculpt the underlying facial structure before attaching it to the final mesh.

Have rewards become too routine at your workplace? Have they lost meaning? In this short course, join author Todd Dewett in discussing the three principles of effectively rewarding employees: making sure rewards are earned, unique, and timely. Find out what happened to the CEO who learned a hard lesson about giving rewards that mean something to his team.