1. Make training time fun. Training time should be a chance to spend quality time with your pet. It is important that you and your pet both enjoy your time together.

2. Keep training times short and sweet as young animals have a short attention span. Several short, rewarding sessions each day are better than a long, frustrating one.

3. End on a high note with lots of praise, pats and treats. Try to time it so your pet obeys a command properly at the end of the session. You may want to finish on an easier command in order to finish well but it will give you and your pet a feeling of achievement.

4. Never hit your pup. He will be confused and afraid if he is beaten. It will not teach him to obey and you will lose his trust.

5. Be consistent with your commands. If you let your pup jump on you at home but not at training, he will become confused. He must do as he is told all of the time, not just when you find it convenient.

6. Make it a daily practice to go through the commands you have taught your pup. Many dogs, especially pups, have short-term memory retention and are prone to forgetting. It gives you a chance to spend time together too.

7. Use a clear, firm voice when giving commands. You need to get your pup’s attention even if there are distractions around them. Use the same command every time for the required behaviour. If you wanted the pup to sit, you should always use the same word. Do not say ‘sit’ sometimes and ‘sit down’ other times.

8. Short clear commands work best. A short, clear command of ‘sit’ will be more effective than ‘please, darling sit down now for mummy’.

9. The word “NO” in a clear, firm voice is enough to punish most dogs. It is a survival instinct for a dog to obey the pack leader. It is hard-wired into their brains. If you indicate disapproval, for instance by saying ‘NO’ in a loud, clear tone, your dog will quickly realise he is doing something wrong. Use the same command every time and you will soon have him trained to stop whenever he hears it.

10. Use lots of praise and reward good behaviour. It is better to skip a training session or to postpone it if you are in a bad mood. Always praise good behaviour. Make training a fun, rewarding experience for the both of you and you will be rewarded by having a well behaved, loving companion.

IAniimate Elite Games Workshop 3 character animation to tell a story.

iAnimate.net announces the Elite Games Animation Workshop 3, an interactive 14-week program directly pairing students with top working animators at the most recognizable game studios in the industry. The workshop offers a collection of master classes designed to sharpen artists game animation and storytelling skills. Courses begin September 8, 2014.

Watch the iAnimate Games Video.

The Elite Games Animation Workshop 3 includes a series of live talks, demos, reviews, and assignments that are designed to resemble an actual games production pipeline. In the workshop, instructors focus on techniques for games animation, which include timing, creating strong body mechanics, posing characters, player reactions, responsiveness of action, and more. Students also learn how to create interactive battles, cinematics, staging, and integration with popular game engines such as Unity.

“Our Elite Games Workshop brings together students and top animation instructors from triple A games studios around the world to share what it takes to excel in games animation today,” says Richard Arroyo, Head of Games Animation, iAnimate.net. “We give our students the tools and techniques they need to showcase their true value and be industry ready for games studios.”

THE COURSES AND INSTRUCTORS

Interactive Battles (weeks 1-2): Instructor Kevin Rucker, senior animator at Blizzard Entertainment, kicks off the workshop with the does and donts of game animationfrom planning parametric sequence references to simplifying the approach to execution.

Workflow, Camera Theory, and Cameras in Practice (weeks 3-5): Instructor Simon Unger, lead animator at Robotoki, has more than 13 years professional animation experience and recently served as animation director on the award-winning “Hitman: Abosolution” for Square Enix. Unger will cover the layout process, parametric animation, posing and framing as well as context, implementation, camera theory and cameras in practice, including basic composition, and how to stage a charcter on screen.

Creature Behaviors (weeks 6-7): Instructor Darryl Purdy, who before joining Eidos was animation director at Warner Bros. Games, Montreal, will use his more than 13 years experience in animation to demonstrate the processfrom layout to blocking. Purdy will also cover aligning worlds, setting up sequences, the block-in process, straight ahead and layered animation techniques, and more.

Cinematic and Games Performance/Interactive Games Cinematics (weeks 8-9): Lead Cinematic Animator and Instructor David Lam has more than eight years experience in games animation, working on numerous triple A titles for prominent games studios such as Activision, Lucas Arts, Bungie and Naughty Dog. Lams courses focus on cinematics, performance, and interactive games, including animation over technology, using references or mocap, keyframing, Interactive Game Cinematics (IGC), and more.

Special Lecture: How We Did It (weeks 10-12): Instructor Kristjan Zadzuk, animation director at Ubisoft Toronto, has more than 15 years industry experience, including credits on Ubisofts Splinter Cell Blacklist and Assassins Creed. Zadzuks course is a special lecture covering how we did it for an existing gamefrom animation, blocking, and setting up sequences to animation tips and techniques, workflow, and more.

The Game Engine (weeks 13-14): Instructor Bennie Terry III has more than 18 years experience as an art director and technical director in the film and games industry, working with companies such as Rhythm & Hues, Disney, and Marvel. Terry will focus on game engine development and analyzing and integrating an animation system.

JOIN THE WORKSHOP

For more details or to apply for the Elite Games Animation Workshop 3, begining September 8, 2014 and ending December 14, 2014, please visit iAnimate.net.

View the iAnimate Games Animation Student Showreel and Previous Games Workshop 3 Student Assignment Video.

ABOUT IANIMATE.NET

iAnimate.net puts students and veteran animators from top studios in direct contact to deliver the most effective online training in the industry. Our instructors are passionate about their craft and are dedicated to giving students the knowledge they need to be the best animators they can be.

iAnimate is a trademark of iAnimate.net. All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

There is a buzz word in computing which has been around a while now, Cloud computing. You may have read about it or heard it in the news, but what is it exactly? I will try to explain for the non techy types in simple terms. Basically it involves hosted services on the internet. Hosted as in meaning its parked on the internet. In cloud computing each and everything is done on the internet. This means you can access files from any computer which has an internet connection. The internet is the cloud.

One example of cloud computing that you will have bound to of heard of is Googlemail. You dont need any software to access this email service as the software is on a server (on the cloud). All you need is an internet connection and you can login and freely send and receive email.

If you use Microsoft Excel on your computer regularly then you are using software which is stored on your computer. If you wanted to take a document home to work on you would have to save the document on and then open it up on a computer at home which also had Microsoft excel on. With cloud computing the documents are stored online so you dont need to have the software at home you just need the internet connection. Also if you wanted to share this document with someone in your company you would have to email it to them. With cloud computing the file is stored on the internet and many people can share this document without the need for emailing it about.

With cloud computing, businesses have the ability to track employee activities. You get higher lOther benefits are that there are no more worries about computer viruses, loss of data and system crashes. You can work on expensive software and freeware without having to actually buy them. When you normally buy software you need a licence for each computer, this is where it gets expensive if you have a number of staff that need access to this software. This is where cloud computing technology saves your company money.

If you think your business should take advantage of cloud technology you will need to find a good professional service provider. You need to look for a company that has a proven track record. There are many companies out there offering these services so look around and compare monthly costs. Some offer services like cloud consulting, google apps deployment and training and much more.

Basically cloud computing is an excellent solution for any business looking to utilise their resources better, want more flexibility and security, and want to reduce the cost and complexity of your IT operations.

Co-owners Andrew Kim and Mark Boonnark at Healthy Spot Costa Mesa

The question Healthy Spot has been asking the last few months is Where can you Spot us next? This Saturday marks the unveiling of their first location in Orange County, with the opening of their Costa Mesa store.

In the heart of Costa Mesa, their 2,700 square foot location- at 1880 Newport Boulevard- boasts a beautifully designed retail space as well as a full-service grooming salon and spa as well as a small dog daycare area. Along with an array of services, Healthy Spot offers premium organic and natural foods, supplies and eco-friendly toys for dogs and cats.

The inception of Healthy Spot was sparked by a massive pet recall in 2007, which really highlighted the absence of a retail partner in the market for consumers that were solely focused on the well being of four-legged family members. They began with the nutrition and then expanded to other products and services seeking to establish a new bar in the pet industry. A mainstay in the Los Angeles community, where their other three stores are located, Healthy Spot is the lifestyle brand for the modern pet parent.

Co-owners, Andrew Kim and Mark Boonnark, founded Healthy Spot on a steadfast belief that dogs and cats are entitled to healthy and safe products and uncompromising care that extends far beyond the HealthySpot stores. Healthy Spot is dedicated to fostering social awareness of better canine care practices and humane animal treatment through their constant commitment to philanthropic and community involvement. Healthy Spot hosts an array of events, from dog rescue adoptions every Sunday to dog trainings to monthly Yappy Hours for their customers and four-legged friends.

We are very excited to be opening up in Orange County and to be part of the Costa Mesa community, states Kim. We believe we have a real opportunity to make a difference and inspire healthy pet lifestyles. We look forward to seeing what we can do together with the community.

As there is a strong demand from pet parents who want the best for their furry friends, Healthy Spot has continued plans for expansion including a location later this year in the Long Beach community.

Healthy Spot will be celebrating this milestone with a Grand Opening Pawty this Saturday, January 25th from 12pm-4pm. There will be gift bags for the first one hundred dogs, food catered by Mothers Market, photo booth fun as well as lots of vendors with food and product samples. I.C.A.R.E. Dog Rescue will be hosting an adoption event as well as raffle to raise money for their organization.

About Healthy Spot

Healthy Spot is an all-in-one dog care retail company that offers customers a full range of premium, eco-friendly products along with award-winning, personalized grooming, daycare and training services. Healthy Spot is dedicated to fostering social awareness of better canine care practices and humane animal treatment through their constant commitment to philanthropic and community involvement.

“Healthy Spot, for your dog’s mind, body and bowl

Other store locations:

-Santa Monica, 1110 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica, CA, 90401 Phone: 310.458.2004 -West Hollywood, 8525 Santa Monica Blvd. West Hollywood, CA, 90069 Phone: 310.657.2400 -Marina del Rey, 4718 Lincoln Blvd. Marina del Rey, CA 90292 Phone: 310.827.8500

Training your puppy should be both a fun and very rewarding experience for both you and your puppy. Puppies possess an astonishing ability to learn difficult demands speedily. This article contains some valuable information that will assist you in training your puppy. You should begin training your puppy as soon as you get your puppy. Puppies learn very fast, but their attention span may be very short.

You should therefore spend 10-15 minutes twice on a daily basis. Always try and do the training when the puppy is not excited, and relaxed and when the home environment is calm. As soon as the puppy has learned a reaction in one environment, you should move the training location to an increasingly more complicated and more interesting setting. You should have your puppy trained in each environment that you want them to respond in. Learning will occur much quicker if one person trains the puppy first and then the other family members get involved at a later stage. When training your puppy, use one-word commands like “sit down” and “come”. Also try to not use the puppy’s name in connection with the command. Too much verbal commands will confuse your puppy and slow down the learning process.

You should repay correct behavior the moment after you have given the command. Provide your puppy with prized rewards such as touch, praise and food every time they react to a command. You will quickly come to know which reward is more appreciated by your puppy. As soon as the response is learned, you should give your puppy the rewards occasionally. This will help them to learn more quickly, and make the response more lasting. If your puppy is unsuccessful at any of the training levels, you should not give them a reward – but start the training again at a simpler level. If your puppy only responds to training when they feel like it or when the environment is quiet, you should again start with the training, but in a more intense manner.

Be tolerant of your puppy, and never chastise them. The opposite of rewarding your puppy is to not give them a reward – not punishing them. A punishment resulting in pain or enthusiasm will not work, and in general usually causes troubles. Punishing your puppy may also get in the way of the bond between the owner and the puppy. If your puppy is doing something wrong, divert their attention or make use of a reward for responding to a command which is contrary to the unwanted behavior.

Trained puppies are usually happier than untrained puppies, and they also make wonderful companions.