Wednesday, March 4, 2015
The Mindmapping Toolbox 100 Tools Resources and Tutorials
- Link to article
- Related Posts - 99 Mind Mapping Resources..., Mind Mapping Search & FreeMind (Free Software)
WHAT?
"Sometimes the difference between a successful project and one that spirals out of control is getting all your thoughts and ideas laid out before you even get started. One of the best ways to do this is with mind maps, which act as a visual representation of all that stuff you’ve got floating around in your head. This kind of radiant thinking can be a great way to start out working on anything, from redecorating your house to landing a huge project, and there are loads of resources out there to make mind mapping even easier..."
JUICE?
The Mindmapping Toolbox (or article) provides a list of 100 tools, resources, blogs, articles and everything else you might need to get started making a road map of your mind.
This mindmapping resource list has broken the triple digit barrier. WOW! Interestingly, this list has one more mindmapping item compared to Eric Herberts famous list of 99 Mindmapping stuff. I have yet to compare these two lists item for item (No time!), but surely you will find much of the same stuff here. I suppose Stephen Downes would probably get dizzy again with such a huge list one, and request for one mindmapping tool that works really well. I will therefore use my seventh sense (practical intelligence or common sense!) to extract out some of the juicy resources in this list. Here are some of those resources I have explored (Meaning I like it!), or would like to explore further sometime in the near, or distant future:
- FreeMind: This popular Java-based mind mapping software makes it simple to create mindmaps that can be “folded” and integrated with web links.
- MindMapping.org: Find all the information you ever needed to know about mind mapping at this website and learn all about the software that is out there to help you make the best mind maps.
- Vilayanur Ramachandran: A journey to the center of your mind: Behavioral neurologist Vilayanur Ramachandran talks about how the mind, phonemes and visual data all work together, just like in mind maps.
- Tony Buzan on Mind Mapping: One of the most well-known advocates of mind mapping, Tony Buzan, discusses how to tap into your internal mental power in this video.
- List of Mind Mapping Software: This list on Wikipedia offers a guide to all of the mind mapping software out there.
- Guerilla Marketing with Mind Maps: Didn’t think mind maps had anything to do with marketing? They can help greatly, and this article will show you how you can use them in your next campaign.
- How To Use Mind Maps To Teach Difficult Grammar Points: Read this article to find out how you can use mind maps to teach and represent just about anything.
- MindMapping Blog: Like the name suggests, this blog is full of posts about mind mapping, primarily focusing on software and web applications.
- MindMapping 2.0: This blog discusses how and where mind mapping and web 2.0 meet, as the blogger works on his own mind mapping software.
- Rapid Problem Solving with Post-It Notes: This book by David Straker shows how you can organize your thoughts into mind maps using only Post-It notes.
I appreciate that the mindmapping list is organized based on specific categories (Free Visualization Tools, Tutorials and How-Tos, Articles, Videos, etc.), and includes useful and short descriptions for each item, but I would also love to see some kind of ranking (or rating) based on each category. I know this can be very subjective (and takes time!), but if the author(s) is/are (an) expert(s) in this area, it would certainly add some value to our willingness to really explore this long list. As we are moving to an era where information is increasingly being organized by people and machines (in creative and informative ways), we will want additional value to increase our efficiency to find the right stuff. Rankings, ratings, reviews, favorite lists, hits, etc. certainly can add some value and spice to a list.
Although, I like the Mindmapping Toolbox, I do hope to see more creative and informative ways in presenting such long lists in the future. Perhaps, they can learn a few lessons from Vic Gees excellent razor-sharp mindmapping search space :)
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Maya 2011 Video Tutorials
Maya 2011 Essential Training - Welcome
Overview of the Maya interface: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Navigating viewports: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Configuring safe frames and grids: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Using the Hotbox: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Creating polygonal objects: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Working with Soft Select: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Working with edge loops: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Working with polygon booleans: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Introducing NURBS modeling: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Creating Bézier curves: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Using NURBS Extrude: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Trimming NURBS surfaces: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Converting NURBS to polygons: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Working with the Outliner: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Duplicating objects: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Working with selection masks: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Overview of renderers: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Using bitmaps as texture: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Using displacement and bump mapping: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Where can I view the rest of the videos?
If you enjoyed these videos and want to access the entire Maya 2011 Essential Training course, you can sign up for a lynda.com membership. Your membership will allow you to access not only this course, but the entire lynda.com online training library for as low as $25 for 1-month. Thats over 900 courses with 50,000+ video tutorials. No long-term commitment required. You can cancel your membership at any time.
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Here is a more detailed description of the course:
Training provider: lynda.com training
Title: Maya 2011 Essential Training
Author: George Maestri
Duration: 9hrs 8mins
Date of release: 1 June 2010
1. Getting Started in Maya 2011
Overview of the Maya interface
Working with files and Maya projects
Navigating viewports
Reviewing the Viewport menus
Configuring safe frames and grids
Selecting objects
Using the Move tool
Rotating and scaling
Manipulating pivots
Understanding the Channel Box
Working with the Attribute Editor
Using the Hotbox
Working with marking menus
Customizing the interface
2. Polygonal Modeling Techniques
Creating polygonal objects
Working with polygonal components
Selecting polygonal components
Working with Soft Select
Using the Extrude tool
Keeping faces together
Extruding along curves
Using the Polygon Bevel tool
Smooth and subdivision surfaces
Blocking out a character body
3. Refining Polygonal Models
Working with edge loops
Inserting and offsetting edge loops
Symmetrical modeling techniques
Combining objects
Using the Polygon Bridge tool
Connecting components and splitting polygons
Poking and wedging faces
Working with polygon booleans
Modeling with nonlinear deformers
Modeling with lattices
4. NURBS Modeling Techniques
Introducing NURBS modeling
NURBS primitives
Using the NURBS curve tools
Creating Bézier curves
Creating text
Manipulating NURBS curves
Refining NURBS curves
Offsetting NURBS curves
Editing NURBS surfaces
Refining NURBS surfaces
Using NURBS Revolve
Using NURBS Loft
Using NURBS Extrude
Using NURBS Planar
Stitching NURBS surfaces
5. Refining NURBS Models
Extracting NURBS curves from surfaces
Creating curves on a surface
Projecting curves on surfaces
Trimming NURBS surfaces
Using the NURBS Fillet tool
Sculpting NURBS and polygonal surfaces
Converting NURBS to polygons
6. Organizing Maya Scenes
Working with the Outliner
Grouping objects
Creating hierarchies
Duplicating objects
Understanding the Hypergraph
Working with Hypergraph connections
Hiding and showing objects
Creating layers
Working with selection masks
7. Creating Materials
Overview of renderers
Understand the basics of materials
Creating and applying maps
Using bitmaps as texture
Working with the Hypershade window
Working with mental ray materials
Using displacement and bump mapping
Using the Ramp Shader
Using the 3D Paint tool
8. Applying Textures
Texture-mapping NURBS surfaces
Projecting textures onto surfaces
Texture-mapping polygonal surfaces
Applying UV mapping
Using the UVW Editor
9. Basic Deformations and Rigging
Creating joints
Deforming a mesh using the Skin tool
Creating IK handles
Creating blend shapes
Rigging nonlinear deformers
Finalizing the character
Rigging the character to the scooter
10. Animating in Maya
Working with the Timeline
Creating and adjusting keys (keyframes)
Editing keys
Modifying keys in the Graph Editor
Modifying keys in the Dope Sheet
Creating breakdown keys
Animating objects along paths
Animation playback using Playblast
Animating with constraints
Creating animation cycles
Using set-driven keys
Adding sound to animations
Finishing the animation
11. Rendering in Maya
Lights and lighting types in Maya
Adding depth-map shadows
Using Raytrace shadows
Understanding the basics of cameras
Adding depth of field
Adding Bokeh using mental ray
Using motion blur in Maya Software Renderer
Using motion blur in mental ray
Raytracing reflections and refractions
Interactive rendering with IPR
Lighting a scene
Batch rendering