Makerspaces

20 fun and inventive Makey Makey projects for Makers from beginner to expert This hands-on guide is filled with DIY projects that show readers, step-by-step, how to start creating and making cool inventions with the Makey Makey invention kit. Each project features easy-to-follow, fully-illustrated instructions and detailed photographs of the finished gadget. Readers will see how to apply these skills and start building their own Makey Makey projects.

Python for beginners - you'll learn how to build amazing graphics, fun games, and useful apps using Python, an easy yet powerful free programming language available for download. A perfect introduction to Python coding for kids ages 10 and over who are ready to take the next step after Scratch - all they need is a desktop or laptop, and an internet connection to download Python 3.
Using fun graphics and easy-to-follow instructions, this straightforward, visual guide shows young learners how to build their own computer projects using Python. Step-by-step instructions teach essential coding basics like loops and conditionals, and outline 14 fun and exciting projects. Included is a script that cracks secret codes, a quiz to challenge family and friends, a matching game, and more.

Video games are not a revolution in art history, but an evolution. Whether the medium is paper or canvas--or a computer screen--the artist's challenge is to make something without depth seem like a window into a living, breathing world. Video game art is no different. Drawing Basics and Video Game Art is first to examine the connections between classical art and video games, enabling developers to create more expressive and varied emotional experiences in games. Artist game designer Chris Solarski gives readers a comprehensive introduction to basic and advanced drawing and design skills--light, value, color, anatomy, concept development--as well as detailed instruction for using these methods to design complex characters, worlds, and gameplay experiences. Artwork by the likes of Michelangelo, Titian, and Rubens are studied alongside AAA games like BioShock, Journey, the Mario series, and Portal 2, to demonstrate perpetual theories of depth, composition, movement, artistic anatomy, and expression. Although Drawing Basics and Video Game Art is primarily a practical reference for artists and designers working in the video games industry, it's equally accessible for those interested to learn about gaming's future, and potential as an artistic medium.

Hugely popular illustrator Mel Elliott helps you unleash your inner creativity on today's pop icons, with techniques including drawing, colouring, collage and text manipulation.
'Every child is an artist; the problem is staying an artist when you grow up' - Pablo Picasso
This isn't your usual art manual. It's for big kids everywhere everyone who loved getting covered in paint and glue at school and would secretly love to do it more often. It's also for people who love pop culture: comedy, trashy TV, great TV, pop videos, pop stars and pop music. And not only does it help you harness your inner creativity, it's also a lot of fun!

Want to build your own robots, turn your ideas into prototypes, control devices with a computer, or make your own cell phone applications? It's a snap with this book and the Arduino open source electronic prototyping platform. Get started with six fun projects and achieve impressive results quickly. Gain the know-how and experience to invent your own cool gadgets. With Arduino, building your own embedded gadgets is easy, even for beginners. Embedded systems are everywhere--inside cars, children's toys, and mobile phones. This book will teach you the basics of embedded systems and help you build your first gadget in just a few days. Each learn-as-you-build project that follows will add to your knowledge and skills. Experiment with Arduino, the popular microcontroller board Build robots and electronic projects with easy-to-follow instructions Turn your ideas into working physical prototypes Use Android phones as remote controls in your projects Work with an uncomplicated programming language created for artists, designers, and hobbyists Get everyone involved, with projects that even beginners can build.

You can create the next breakthrough innovation A revolution is under way. But it's not about tearing down the old guard. It's about building, it's about creating, it's about breathing life into groundbreaking new ideas. It's called the Maker Movement, and it's changing the world. Mark Hatch has been at the forefront of the Maker Movement since it began. A cofounder of TechShop--the first, largest, and most popular makerspace--Hatch has seen it all.

In Make Writing, teacher, author, writing coach, Angela Stockman, turns teaching strategies and practice upside down. She spills you out of your chair, shreds your lined paper, and launches you and your writer's workshop into the maker space! Who even knew this was possible? In classic Hack Learning style, Stockman provides five right-now writing strategies that reinvent instruction and inspire both young and adult writers to express ideas with tools and in ways that have rarely, if ever, been considered.

A learning revolution is in the making around the world. Enthusiastic educators are using the new tools and technology of the maker movement to give children authentic learning experiences beyond textbooks and tests. The Stanford University FabLearn Fellows are a group of K-12 educators working at the forefront of this movement in all corners of the globe. They teach in Fab Labs, makerspaces, classrooms, libraries, community centers, and museums--all with the goal of making learning more meaningful in the modern world.In this book, the 2014-2015 FabLearn Fellows share inspirational ideas from their learning spaces, assessment strategies and recommended projects across a broad range of age levels. Illustrated with color photos of real student work, the Fellows take you on a tour of the future of learning, where children make sense of the world by making things that matter to them and their communities. To read this book is to rediscover learning as it could be and should be--a joyous, mindful exploration of the world, where the ultimate discovery is the potential of every child.

For game developers and visualization specialists, VR is the next amazing frontier to conquer--and Unreal Engine 4 is the ideal platform to conquer it with. Unreal ® Engine VR Cookbook is your complete, authoritative guide to building stunning experiences on any Unreal Engine 4-compatible VR hardware. Renowned VR developer and instructor Mitch McCaffrey brings together best practices, common interaction paradigms, specific guidance on implementing these paradigms in Unreal Engine, and practical guidance on choosing the right approaches for your project. McCaffrey's tested "recipes" contain step-by-step instructions, while empowering you with concise explanations of the underlying theory and math. Whether you're creating first-person shooters or relaxation simulators, the techniques McCaffrey explains help you get immediate results, as you gain "big picture" knowledge and master nuances that will help you succeed with any genre or project.   Understand basic VR concepts and terminology Implement VR logic with Blueprint visual scripting Create basic VR projects with Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Gear VR, Google VR, PSVR, and other environments Recognize and manage differences between seated and standing VR experiences Set up trace interactions and teleportation Work with UMG and 2D UIs Implement character inverse kinematics (IK) for head and hands Define effective motion controller interaction Help users avoid motion sickness Optimize VR applications Explore the VR editor, community resources, and more.

Admit it: you love to explore how things work. Screwdriver and pliers in hand, no castoff electronics or old appliances are safe. But once you've pulled apart your prey, do you really just want to screw it back together again . . . assuming you could? Unscrewed is the perfect resource for all UIYers -- Undo It Yourselfers -- looking to salvage hidden treasures or repurpose old junk. Author Ed Sobey will show you how to safely disassemble over 50 devices, including: Laser Printer, Radio-Controlled Car, Zip Drive, Videocassette Recorder, Paper Shredder, Audiocassette Player, Electric Drill, Computer Mouse, Keyboard, Fax Machine, Joystick, Floppy Drive, Videocassette Camera, Electric Clock, and More! Each deconstruction project includes a "treasure cache" of the components to be found, a required tools list, and step-by-step instructions, with photos, on how to extract the working components. It also includes suggestions on how to repurpose your electronic finds. Why pay good money to an electronics store when you probably already have what you need in that old VCR, printer, or hair dryer? Fight the mindset of planned obsolescence -- there's technological gold in that there junk!