How to Spot Bad Company Culture

 There are many factors to consider when deciding whether to take a new job: salary, benefits, title, length of the commute. Those things are all important, but there is something else to think about before you accept an offer: Will you be happy at the company?

Bad company culture—often characterized by fear, intimidation, animosity, and laziness—is one of the biggest killers of job happiness. And being unhappy in your job can stunt your career in the long term, making you depressed and causing you to disengage.

Don't end up unhappy because you took a job with a company that has a bad culture. Instead, stay on the lookout for these warning signs when you go in for an interview.

1. The interviewer is a jerk. There's a good chance the person interviewing you isn't all that good at conducting interviews. Still, an awkward and uncomfortable interview may be par for the course. Even with skilled interviewers you can expect to feel like you've been put on the spot as you discuss your skills and experience. You shouldn't, however, feel like you're under attack.

If the interviewer is a jerk—if there is an edge to his questions, if he judges rather than evaluates, if he insults you—you may be getting an inside look at how people treat each other at the company. In other words, the interviewer's nastiness may be cultural.

"If it starts there. It's downhill after they hire you," says Robert A. Giacalone, a human resources professor at Temple University.

Also, be wary of someone who puts you on the defensive, tears you down, and then offers you a job. If you're as much of a loser as they're making you out to be, why would they want to hire you?

2. You can't get a straight answer. A job interview goes two ways. While it’s certainly an opportunity for a prospective employer to vet you, it's also a chance for you to learn more about the place in which you may end up spending the bulk of your time. You can—and should—ask questions about the company. And you should get honest answers.

"Negative environments tend to try to hide," says Giacalone.

If an interviewer refuses to answer questions, gives guarded answers, or appears to be lying, it's a safe bet that he is trying to hide something. Good relationships, after all, are built on trust.

3. There's an unhappy vibe. When you arrive for your interview, try to get a look at the workplace. Do the people look happy and engaged? Can you hear the buzz of conversation and collaboration? Have employees personalized their workspaces? Or are they downcast and silent, just slogging away at stark desks until 5 p.m., when they can run for the hills?

"Faces tell a thousand things without knowing it," Giacalone says.

If spending just a few moments in the office is unpleasant, then spending your days there as an employee would be agonizing.

4. The company has a bad reputation. Hop online and do a little research. Search for company reviews, both from clients and employees. If there are an overwhelming number of negative reviews—especially from clients, whose satisfaction should be a top priority— then consider yourself warned.

"If they are treating their customers poorly," Giacalone says, "you won't fare any better."

Jobs @ Lakshaya Digital Premier Gaming Studio in Delhi/Gurgaon

Lakshya is one of the largest independent Video Games Development companies in South Asia with offices in Gurgaon, Pune, Singapore, San Diego  and Tokyo . We are creating original game titles on the latest platforms and technologies.


As part of our growth plans – we are looking for talented Artists (3D and 2D), Game Designers and Game Programmers to join us at our Gurgaon and Pune studios. They will have the opportunity to work with some of the best games industry veterans from across the world, and create new and exciting video games.


If you are passionate about games and excited by the prospect of working with industry leaders, creating world-class products for a global audience, then please share your updated resume with us at arunasingh@lakshyadigital.com or call us at 0124-4309360.

To know more about the open positions, check  http://www.lakshyadigital.com/lakshya-openings.php

Subject line : Position applied for:-

Total experience :-

C- CTC:-

E-CTC:-

Preferred location:- Pune or Gurgaon

Last company name:-



Kindly mention your link for BlogSpot / Show real /  portfolio in the
resume.

My New Blog

http://abhayagnihotri.wordpress.com/about/

Going Nuts with CSS Transitions

First we are going to make our images look like mini polaroids with captions. This means the logic is kept separate from the code that applies the polaroid effect. The polaroid class has no positioning, which allows it to be used generically anywhere that the effect is required. The pull classes set a float and add appropriate margins—they can be used for things like blockquotes as well.

 .polaroid {

  width: 150px;
  padding: 10px 10px 20px 10px;
  border: 1px solid #BFBFBF;
  background-color: white;
  -webkit-box-shadow: 2px 2px 3px rgba(135, 139, 144, 0.4);
  -moz-box-shadow: 2px 2px 3px rgba(135, 139, 144, 0.4);
  box-shadow: 2px 2px 3px rgba(135, 139, 144, 0.4);
}

The actual polaroid effect itself is simply applied using padding, a border and a background colour. We also apply a nice subtle box shadow, using a property that is supported by modern WebKit browsers and Firefox 3.5+. We include the box-shadow property last to ensure that future browsers that support the eventual CSS3 specified version natively will use that implementation over the legacy browser specific version.

The box-shadow property takes four values: three lengths and a colour. The first is the horizontal offset of the shadow—positive values place the shadow on the right, while negative values place it to the left. The second is the vertical offset, positive meaning below. If both of these are set to 0, the shadow is positioned equally on all four sides. The last length value sets the blur radius—the larger the number, the blurrier the shadow (therefore the darker you need to make the colour to have an effect). 

Rotation

For browsers that understand it (currently our old favourites WebKit and FF3.5+) we can add some visual flair by rotating the image, using the transform CSS 3 property.

-webkit-transform: rotate(9deg);
-moz-transform: rotate(9deg);
transform: rotate(9deg);

Rotations can be specified in degrees, radians (rads) or grads). WebKit also supports turns unfortunately Firefox doesn’t just yet.

For example we want any polaroid images on the left hand side to be rotated in the opposite direction, using a negative degree value:

.pull-left.polaroid {
-webkit-transform: rotate(-9deg);
-moz-transform: rotate(-9deg);
transform: rotate(-9deg);
}

Multiple class selectors don’t work in IE6 but as luck would have it, the transform property doesn’t work in any current IE version either. The above code is a good example of progressive enrichment: browsers that don’t support box-shadow or transform will still see the image and basic polaroid effect.

 For Live example

http://media.24ways.org/2009/14/1/index.html

Fix Browser Compatibility Issues with Internet Explorer 8 in Windows 7 – AppCompat Series

Many Web designers use browser detection techniques to ensure that their sites display properly when viewed with specific browsers. Some browser detection techniques encounter problems when viewed with later versions of the browser they’re made for. Internet Explorer has the User Agent String which is the identifier that provides data about its version and other attributes to Web servers. Many Websites and applications rely on the User Agent String to detect the Browser settings.internet-explorer-8Now the issue is that, web pages that explicitly check the User Agent String and do not support the Internet Explorer 8 User Agent String may not run properly. Applications that host Trident will default to Internet Explorer 7 using the Web Optional Component, but will not have access to Internet Explorer 8 features.


A simple Mitigation to this issue would be to ensure that your web applications properly handle the new ‘MSIE 8.0′ version in the User Agent String.


Without compatibility mode:


Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/4.0; SLCC2; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30729; Media Center PC 6.0)


With compatibility mode:


Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/4.0; SLCC2; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30729; Media Center PC 6.0)

Also, use Internet Explorer 7 Compatibility View for those applications based on Internet Explorer


This can be done either by clicking on the Compatiblity view button or by using meta tags.

My latest Work

http://api.e-point.co.in/

This site is completely design by me. 

Rounded Corner Boxes the CSS3 Way

If you’ve been doing CSS for a while you’ll know that there are approximately 3,762 ways to create a rounded corner box. The simplest techniques rely on the addition of extra mark-up directly to your page, while the more complicated ones add the mark-up though DOM manipulation. While these techniques are all very interesting, they do seem somewhat of a kludge. The goal of CSS is to separate structure from presentation, yet here we are adding superfluous mark-up to our code in order to create a visual effect. The reason we are doing this is simple. CSS2.1 only allows a single background image per element.

Thankfully this looks set to change with the addition of multiple background images into the CSS3 specification. With CSS3 you’ll be able to add not one, not four, but eight background images to a single element. This means you’ll be able to create all kinds of interesting effects without the need of those additional elements.

While the CSS working group still seem to be arguing over the exact syntax, Dave Hyatt went ahead and implemented the currently suggested mechanism into Safari. The technique is fiendishly simple, and I think we’ll all be a lot better off once the W3C stop arguing over the details and allow browser vendors to get on and provide the tools we need to build better websites.

To create a CSS3 rounded corner box, simply start with your box element and apply your 4 corner images, separated by commas.

.box {

background-image: url(top-left.gif), url(top-right.gif), url(bottom-left.gif), url(bottom-right.gif);
}

We don’t want these background images to repeat, which is the normal behaviour, so lets set all their background-repeat properties to no-repeat.

.box {
background-image: url(top-left.gif), url(top-right.gif), url(bottom-left.gif), url(bottom-right.gif);
background-repeat: no-repeat, no-repeat, no-repeat, no-repeat;
}

Lastly, we need to define the positioning of each corner image.

.box {
background-image: url(top-left.gif), url(top-right.gif), url(bottom-left.gif), url(bottom-right.gif);
background-repeat: no-repeat, no-repeat, no-repeat, no-repeat;
background-position: top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right;
}

And there we have it, a simple rounded corner box with no additional mark-up.

As well as using multiple background images, CSS3 also has the ability to create rounded corners without the need of any images at all. You can do this by setting the border-radius property to your desired value as seen in the next example.

.box {
border-radius: 1.6em;
}

This technique currently works in Firefox/Camino and creates a nice, if somewhat jagged rounded corner. If you want to create a box that works in both Mozilla and WebKit based browsers, why not combine both techniques and see what happens.

Really a basic question but people don't know the reasoning?

What Is CSS?

Have you ever thought about what a web page is? I mean, what it really is? Some people think of a web page as a visual medium—an aesthetically pleasing experience which may or may not contain information that’s of interest to the viewer. Other people think of a web page as a document that may be presented to readers in an aesthetically pleasing way. From a technical point of view, the document interpretation is more appropriate.

When we examine the elements of its construction, a web document can consist of up to three layers—content, presentation, and behavior—as illustrated in Figure 1.

The content layer is always present. It comprises the information the author wishes to convey to his or her audience, and is embedded within HTML or XHTML markup that defines its structure and semantics. Most of the content on the Web today is text, but content can also be provided through images, animations, sound, video, and whatever else an author wants to publish.

The presentation layer defines how the content will appear to a human being who accesses the document in one way or another. The conventional way to view a web page is with a regular web browser, of course, but that’s only one of many possible access methods. For example, content can also be converted to synthetic speech for users who have impaired vision or reading difficulties.

Figure 1. The three layers of a web document

The behavior layer involves real-time user interaction with the document. This task is normally handled by JavaScript. The interaction can be anything from a trivial validation that ensures a required field is filled in before an order form can be submitted, to sophisticated web applications that work much like ordinary desktop programs.

It’s possible to embed all three layers within the same document, but keeping them separate gives us one valuable advantage: we can modify or replace any of the layers without having to change the others.

Certain versions of HTML and XHTML also contain presentational element types—that is, elements that specify the appearance of the content, rather than structure or semantics. For example, and can be used to control the presentation of text, and

---

will insert a visible rule element. However, as these types of elements embed presentation-layer information within the content layer, they negate any advantage we may have gained by keeping the layers separate.

Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, is the recommended way to control the presentation layer in a web document. The main advantage of CSS over presentational HTML markup is that the styling can be kept entirely separate from the content. For example, it’s possible to store all the presentational styles for a 10,000-page web site in a single CSS file. CSS also provides far better control over presentation than do presentational element types in HTML.

By externalizing the presentation layer, CSS offers a number of significant benefits:

• All styling is kept in a limited number of style sheets. The positive impact this has on site maintenance can’t be overestimated—editing one style sheet is obviously more efficient than editing 10,000 HTML files!
• The overall saving in bandwidth is measurable. Since the style sheet is cached after the first request and can be reused for every page on the site, it doesn’t have to be downloaded with each web page. Removing all presentational markup from your web pages in favor of using CSS also reduces their size and bandwidth usage—by more than 50% in many documented cases. This benefits the site owner, through lower bandwidth and storage costs, as well as the site’s visitors, for whom the web pages load faster.
• The separation of content from presentation makes it easier for site owners to reuse the content for other purposes, such as RSS feeds or text-to-speech conversion.
• Separate styling rules can be used for different output media. We no longer need to create a special version of each page for printing—we can simply create a single style sheet that controls how every page on the site will be printed.

Although CSS is designed to be independent of the markup language of the documents to which it is applied, in reality, it’s used mainly with HTML and XML (including XHTML).

via--

http://reference.sitepoint.com/css/css.....

Transitional vs. Strict Markup

When promoting web standards, standardistas often talk about XHTML as being more strict than HTML. In a sense it is, since it requires that all elements are properly closed and that attribute values are quoted. But there are two flavours of XHTML 1.0 (three if you count the Frameset DOCTYPE, which is outside the scope of this article), defined by the Transitional and Strict DOCTYPEs. And HTML 4.01 also comes in those flavours.

The names reveal what they are about: Transitional DOCTYPEs are meant for those making the transition from older markup to modern ways. Strict DOCTYPEs are actually the default – the way HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 were constructed to be used.

A Transitional DOCTYPE may be used when you have a lot of legacy markup that cannot easily be converted to comply with a Strict DOCTYPE. But Strict is what you should be aiming for. It encourages, and in some cases enforces, the separation of structure and presentation, moving the presentational aspects from markup to CSS. From the HTML 4 Document Type Definition:This is HTML 4.01 Strict DTD, which excludes the presentation attributes and elements that W3C expects to phase out as support for style sheets matures. Authors should use the Strict DTD when possible, but may use the Transitional DTD when support for presentation attribute and elements is required.

An additional benefit of using a Strict DOCTYPE is that doing so will ensure that browsers use their strictest, most standards compliant rendering modes.

Tommy Olsson provides a good summary of the benefits of using Strict over Transitional in Ten questions for Tommy Olsson at Web Standards Group:In my opinion, using a Strict DTD, either HTML 4.01 Strict or XHTML 1.0 Strict, is far more important for the quality of the future web than whether or not there is an X in front of the name. The Strict DTD promotes a separation of structure and presentation, which makes a site so much easier to maintain.

For those looking to start using web standards and valid, semantic markup, it is important to understand the difference between Transitional and Strict DOCTYPEs. For complete listings of the differences between Transitional and Strict DOCTYPEs, see XHTML: Differences between Strict & Transitional, Comparison of Strict and Transitional XHTML, and XHTML1.0 Element Attributes by DTD.

Some of the differences are more likely than others to cause problems for developers moving from a Transitional DOCTYPE to a Strict one, and I’d like to mention a few of those.

Elements that are not allowed in Strict DOCTYPEs

• center
• font
• iframe
• strike
• u

Attributes not allowed in Strict DOCTYPEs

• align (allowed on elements related to tables: col, colgroup, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, and tr)
• language
• background
• bgcolor
• border (allowed on table)
• height (allowed on img and object)
• hspace
• name (allowed in HTML 4.01 Strict, not allowed on form and img in XHTML 1.0 Strict)
• noshade
• nowrap
• target
• text, link, vlink, and alink
• vspace
• width (allowed on img, object, table, col, and colgroup)

HTML5 is a language for structuring and presenting content for the World Wide Web, a core technology of the Internet. It is the latest revision of the HTML standard (originally created in 1990) and currently remains under development. Its core aims have been to improve the language with support for the latest multimedia while keeping it easily readable by humans and consistently understood by computers and devices (web browsers, parsers etc.).

Following its immediate predecessors HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.1, HTML5 is a response to the observation that the HTML and XHTML in common use on the World Wide Web is a mixture of features introduced by various specifications, along with those introduced by software products such as web browsers, those established by common practice, and the many syntax errors in existing web documents. It is also an attempt to define a single markup language that can be written in either HTML or XHTML syntax. It includes detailed processing models to encourage more interoperable implementations; it extends, improves and rationalises the markup available for documents, and introduces markup and APIs for complex web applications. In particular, HTML5 adds many new syntactical features. These include the and elements, as well as the integration of SVG content. These features are designed to make it easy to include and handle multimedia and graphical content on the web without having to resort to proprietary plugins and APIs. Other new elements, such as are designed to enrich the semantic content of documents. New attributes have been introduced for the same purpose, while some elements and attributes have been removed. Some elements, such as , and have been changed, redefined or standardised. The APIs and DOM are no longer afterthoughts, but are fundamental parts of the HTML5 specification. HTML5 also defines in some detail the required processing for invalid documents, so that syntax errors will be treated uniformly by all conforming browsers and other user agents

currently exprementing on Adobe photoshop..........yeah it is in photoshop

the video is in flv format so pixel quality is low

Top 15 things to get jobs in CG industry

1. It is _very_ common to get turned down in the computer graphics/animation industry. Sending out 10 demo reels is nothing. I'm told 50 is common and up to 100 demos isn't outrageous. This industry requires that you not only be confident, but that you can accept criticism where it applies. Someone responded to my post simply telling me to "Stop whining and try harder". Harsh, but excellent advice. The moral is persistence and determination pay off. If you are thinking of giving up, then this industry isn't for you and you're not right for this industry. If criticism and rejection make you want to try harder, then you _might_ just have what it takes (you just have to be very good at what you do on top of that). Other advice on this subject included sending reels to only those places that have openings or are asking for samples of your work. Doing this will save money. Reels are generally not returned.

2. There are more people applying for jobs in this business than there are jobs. The ones getting the jobs usually already work in the business. A rare few get in, but they are the exception, not the rule. It's a strange situation.

3. Aiming at top companies first is not the answer. Aim high, but don't slight yourself if you don't get them. There are no shortages of companies out there ready to give an animator a chance if they can exhibit desire, knowledge, and the ambition to do their best.

4. It has been said that the top companies may not be the sort of places you want to actually work for. It is not all fun and games and sometimes you have no say or input on the final product of whatever it is you are working on. You could very easily get stuck in a corner doing the same unglorious thing over and over for days on end (and not even be recognized or appreciated for it). A lot of smaller companies have been spoken highly of for the opportunities they give their workers in being actively involved in shaping the "final product". You may not be working on the next "Jurassic Park", but you could end up much more satisfied overall.

5. Be very careful how you come across. Reactions to my post, "To Industry members: Am I good or do I s#$@s?", ranged from people calling me "ignorant" and "childish", to someone observing a link between a statement on my home page that said something like "I have several personal projects in progress that I have yet to finish" and something in my newsgroup post that said "I have come close to finishing college, but haven't because I don't agree with 'required degree courses' (foreign language requirement)". They noted that it appeared as if I have a problem finishing things and, if that was the case, how could I be counted on to finish work for them? I assure you that my motivation for 'temporarily' dropping out of school was not due to the fact I can't finish things, but due to financial problems and an observation that I might be able to get to where I want to go faster if I simply spent my time and money pursuing my dream in a more direct fashion.

6. I stated that a degree was simply a piece of paper and isn't an indicator of talent. It appears as if the field is divided by what I will call the "old school" and the "new school". The old school believes a degree is required and favorable to have because it says something about the individual. But the new school observes that unless that individual graduated from a TOP multimedia school (of which there are very few), talent is more important than a degree. Computer graphics and animation are extremely expensive to learn at schools and it is altogether possible to get this sort of education by investing less money and purchasing the equipment you need to teach yourself. There are many self-taught and successful people in the industry.

7. One important thing about 3D animation software and being a successful animator is understanding the basic principles behind what you're doing. It is highly recommended that you look into taking some classic art classes and getting back to basics (drawing, sculpting, etc.) before jumping into the 3D boat without a paddle. Acting classes are also extremely helpful, as they give you a better understanding of character.

8. Your resume isn't worth much unless you have real-world experience. A resume must also be extremely concise. Adding "extras" to make up for real world experience is a waste of time. If it isn't relevant, don't put it.

9. There was some confusion at first (before I made note of this on my home page) as to whether or not I created the models for these images. Most of them are, in fact, stock models picked up from http://www.3dcafe.com. Having said that, I am completely aware now that in order to separate myself from the crowd, the best thing I could do is model and render my own objects, not someone else's. And since I _am_ capable of this, I don't have much of an excuse other than I created those images to convey a good sense of composition and lighting, not my animation and modeling skills. Some argue, however, that using stock models is fine. It's what you do with them that counts.

10. Out of the box manipulation isn't "special". Innovating is. If it can be done from a pull-down menu feature, you're not innovating. Professionals can spot that a mile away. Be careful using plug-ins that rob you of your creative control. Master the plug-ins, don't let them master you. If the plug-in did all the work, then you really haven't shown any skill, have you? Be creative.

11. Create everything you are capable of creating yourself. Shy away from stock resources if possible. Remember, if you can take credit for everything, you are more likely to get the attention you deserve. I am told that if a professional spots an Avalon model or a KPT Bryce material, you're sunk before you've even gotten into the water.

12. Demo reels. Stay away from spaceships, robots, shiny chrome objects, and flying logos. The major houses are sick to death of seeing reels with any of the above. It's the kiss of death. Do something truly original and you'll get noticed. An understanding of movement and storytelling helps

13. Keep up with the industry and research. Have an understanding of what's out there and have an eye for things like what's good, what's new, and what's being overdone.

Collect reference material. Have a collection of animations on tape. These can be anything from 2D Warner Brothers cartoons to the latest Computer Animation Film Festival tapes. One of the things you need to master in computer animation is bringing inanimate objects to life. Breathing character and personality into lifeless models. Studying animation of all types will help you.
Also collect books on animation and such. The point is, learn as much as you can about the industry. Doing so may give you the edge you need. After all, you are in competition with thousands of others. Never stop learning.

14. Internships are a great way to get much needed experienced. If you can get an internship with a local company that deals with 3d graphics and animation, do it! It is also a great may to meet contacts.

15. You may be good, but there are always people better than you. Seek them out and learn from them. Along the way, help people who know less than you. Again, this is a great way to meet contacts, make friendships, etc and truly speaking CGArena.com is really a very good place for this.

this is the november month's entry for animation mentor competition

hey this is my showreel for aug-sept 2009 it is going to updated very soon

My ball animation

I can't figure out these rendering errors

jail escape

some problems with rendering is there but it will be managed

Weight Demo

Hope you'll like that too and plz do leave your comments

Run and Turn

Guys the part which i like the most is her tail

My first Walk cycle demo

This is my first walk cycle demo hope you''ll like it