Just released by Mark Monciardini, Photoshop? Top Secret? is an Extreme Training Course that teaches you, step by step, how to create cutting-edge graphics and special effects with Adobe? Photoshop?. This student-friendly home study course includes four DVD-ROMs with over 16 gigabytes of video tutorials and project files. It also comes with a full-color gallery book (printed, not pdf) that shows the end result of each project in the course. You can look, learn, practice, and master these advanced techniques wherever you may be, without the need for expensive classes or tutors. Create Posters, Movie Covers, Surreal Graphics and More!

The course will teach you how to become the ultimate Photoshop? "black belt" for fun and/or profit. You'll learn how to create top-level special effects for eye-catching movie posters, album covers, book jackets, brochures, mailing pieces, magazine covers, article illustrations, and a tremendously wide range of print ads and Web site graphics.

XML, the standardized format of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) aims to make application development and integration very simple. It is a data format and framework that has been adopted as the basis for information exchange by the software development community. It is so powerful that Microsoft developed their entire .NET platform around using XML.

It is simple to learn, flexible to use and easy to understand. It works with applications, the internet and databases and is platform independent meaning it can be used to share data between a variety of database and application types and formats.

Garth Schulte, the instructor for this series, details how XML came to life, why it is needed and how you can use it. This creates a very informative foundation of knowledge that will benefit programmers, administrators and engineers alike. If your job entails any type of interface with databases, connectivity of applications or transferring of information, you need to watch these videos.

In Windows Vista Essential Training , instructor Jeff Van West offers comprehensive guidance through the often-daunting task of upgrading Windows system software. After discussing Vista's many new features and demonstrating the initial installation, Jeff explains how to run older software, customize settings and the desktop, and troubleshoot along the way. The tutorials also cover the ins and outs of taking Vista on the road for portable computing, from setting up security to working with all types of media and optimizing performance. Exercise files accompany the training.

In these tutorials, instructor Rich Shupe delves into the essentials of delivering Flash to mobile devices. He covers everything from creating applications with ActionScript to making basic wallpaper and screensavers. Exercise files accompany the tutorials.

VTC's Audio Recording and Production covers the basics of recording without leaving out advanced and interesting features. It covers topics such as the history of analog and digital recording, studio equipment, acoustics and studio design, waveforms and synthesis, MIDI, signal flow and routing, digital audio and editing, microphones types and usage, equalization, dynamics and compression, reverb and time-based effects, mixing, mastering, and the integration between the project and professional studios. This tutorial will give any novice recording engineer the tools, techniques, and knowledge to effectively record and produce professional sounding projects. To begin learning, click on one of the movie topics. 

In The AJAX Crash Course, published by SitePoint, instructor Kevin Yank explores the many technologies that come together in AJAX applications. These technologies include the Document Object Model (DOM), Extensible Markup Language (XML), JavaScript, and XMLHttpRequest (XHR). Along with providing an application tour, Kevin explains how to make intelligent decisions about which of these tools to use, and gives hands-on examples of how to apply them.
Running Time: 1.25 hours

All design starts with an idea, and generating good ideas is what separates the wheat from the chaff. But unlike software than can easily be learned, the practice of generating ideas is far more complex. In Interaction Design: Process and Inspiration, acclaimed designer Brendan Dawes takes you through some of the processes he employs in his own work. He’ll show you how he approaches projects as a series of “sketches,” more akin to working with pencil and paper than pushing pixels. From interface design, usability, and using sound to branding, designing for the audience, and experimental approaches, Interaction Design offers an award-winning designer’s insight into the techniques he uses every day to push, play, and constantly explore the realm of possibilities in interactive design.

A strong understanding of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is vital to producing websites that look good, load quickly, and are easy to maintain. In The CSS Crash Course , published by SitePoint, Kevin Yank shows how CSS changes the way websites are designed. Whether the goal is to build a site from scratch or redesign an existing site, Kevin thoroughly explains how to use CSS to accomplish that goal, including how to create and modify a single CSS file to control the look of every page on a site.

As one of the most advanced 3-D modeling, animation, and rendering packages on the market, Maya 2008 is used extensively in feature films, broadcast, motion graphics, and design. In Maya 2008 Essential Training, animation director and producer George Maestri covers all areas of Maya. From general workflow to manipulating objects, modeling, rendering, paint effects, and animating, these tutorials are ideal for those who quickly need to get up to speed on Maya, whether at the professional or novice 3-D animation level. Exercise files accompany the course.

The use of RSS feeds is a growing trend, and they can be found within many new websites. In ActionScript 3.0: Working with XML, instructor Todd Perkins places strong emphasis on using RSS data for blogs, podcasts, and images. He also demonstrates how to perform common tasks with XML, such as using E4X syntax, loading external data from local and remote locations, saving data, and integrating with popular services like Flickr. Exercise files accompany the course.