3D Graphics Rendering Cookbook. A comprehensive guide to exploring rendering algorithms in modern OpenGL and Vulkan

Sergey Kosarevsky, Viktor Latypov

OpenGL is a popular cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) used for rendering 2D and 3D graphics, while Vulkan is a low-overhead, cross-platform 3D graphics API that targets high-performance applications. 3D Graphics Rendering Cookbook helps you learn about modern graphics rendering algorithms and techniques using C++ programming along with OpenGL and Vulkan APIs.The book begins by setting up a development environment and takes you through the steps involved in building a 3D rendering engine with the help of basic, yet self-contained, recipes. Each recipe will enable you to incrementally add features to your codebase and show you how to integrate different 3D rendering techniques and algorithms into one large project. You'll also get to grips with core techniques such as physically based rendering, image-based rendering, and CPU/GPU geometry culling, to name a few. As you advance, you'll explore common techniques and solutions that will help you to work with large datasets for 2D and 3D rendering. Finally, you'll discover how to apply optimization techniques to build performant and feature-rich graphics applications.By the end of this 3D rendering book, you'll have gained an improved understanding of best practices used in modern graphics APIs and be able to create fast and versatile 3D rendering frameworks.

BeagleBone Essentials. Harness the power of the BeagleBone Black to manage external environments using C, Bash, and Python/PHP programming

Rodolfo Giometti

Expert Microsoft Teams Solutions. A guide to Teams architecture and integration for advanced end users and administrators

Aaron Guilmette, Yura Lee, Grant Oliasani, Angel Aviles

Microsoft Teams is an invaluable tool that can integrate various Microsoft products into a single convenient hub. But making the most of it often requires expert help and hours spent on calls and live chats. If you’d rather have all the information you need to make the most of Teams in one place, then this book is for you.Written by two Microsoft technical specialists who have spent years helping clients find the best way to utilize Teams, this book will help you understand Teams as a whole — from architecture and collaboration through to apps and voice. You’ll study the platform from the perspective of the end user as well as the administrator, gaining insights and learning from real-life examples.You’ll tackle adopting, implementing, and administering Teams efficiently, which will help you realize its full potential. From setup and deployment to modernizing your organization’s chat and voice infrastructure, you’ll get plenty of useful and actionable tips as you progress.By the end of your journey through this book, you’ll be able to design and implement the most important and exciting aspects of Microsoft Teams help your organization work more efficiently.

Unity for Architectural Visualization. For architects the walk-around 3D computer visualization is a fantastic marketing tool. This tutorial shows you how to use Unity to achieve modeling skills through step-by-step examples. You'll find the acquired expertise invaluable

Stefan Boeykens

Architects have always relied on drawings, renderings, and sometimes even movies to present their design concepts to clients, contractors, and other stakeholders. The accessibility of current game engines provides new and exciting possibilities to turn any design into an interactive model that anyone can experience at their own pace.Unity for Architectural Visualization explains how you can create compelling, real-time models from your 3D architectural project. Filled with practical tips and in-depth information, this book explains every step in the process, starting from the very basics up to custom scripts that will get you up to the next level.This book begins with a general overview of the Unity workflow for architectural models. You will start with a simple project that lets you walk around in your design using basic Unity tools and methods. You will then learn how to easily get convincing lightning effects on your scene. You will then set up a basic navigation system in your project, and not only this; you will also cover some tips and tricks to take navigation to the next level. You will quickly learn how to fine-tune the shaders and how to set up materials that are a bit more advanced. Even when you finish Unity for Architectural Visualization, this book will make scripting easier with reusable examples of scripts that can be applied in most projects. After reading this book, you will be comfortable enough to tackle new projects and develop your own.

Android Studio Arctic Fox Essentials - Kotlin Edition. Develop Android apps with Android Studio Arctic Fox in Kotlin

Neil Smyth

Android Studio is an Integrated Development Environment based on the JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA. It offers developers a unique platform to design and develop Android apps using various developer tools. Fully updated for Android Studio Arctic Fox, the goal of this book is to teach the skills necessary to develop Android-based applications using the Kotlin programming language.This book begins with an outline of the steps necessary to set up an Android development and testing environment, followed by an introduction to programming in Kotlin which includes data types, control flow, functions, lambdas, and object-oriented programming. An overview of Android Studio covers areas such as tool windows, the code editor, and the layout editor tool. An introduction to the architecture of Android is followed by an in-depth look at the design of Android applications and user interfaces using the Android Studio environment.Early chapters detail Android architecture components such as view models, lifecycle management, Room database access, the Database Inspector, app navigation, live data, and data binding. More advanced topics such as intents are also covered, as are touch screen handling, gesture recognition, and the recording and playback of audio. This edition of the book also covers printing, transitions, cloud-based file storage, and foldable device support.The concepts of material design are also discussed in detail, including the use of floating action buttons, Snackbars, tabbed interfaces, card views, navigation drawers, and collapsing toolbars. Other key features of Android Studio Arctic Fox and Android taught in this book include the Layout Editor, the ConstraintLayout and ConstraintSet classes, MotionLayout Editor, view binding, constraint chains, barriers, and direct reply to notifications. Chapters also explore more advanced features of Android Studio such as app links, dynamic delivery, Gradle build configuration, and submitting apps to the Google Play developer console.

The Statistics and Calculus with Python Workshop. A comprehensive introduction to mathematics in Python for artificial intelligence applications

Peter Farrell, Alvaro Fuentes, Ajinkya Sudhir Kolhe, Quan Nguyen, ...

Are you looking to start developing artificial intelligence applications? Do you need a refresher on key mathematical concepts? Full of engaging practical exercises, The Statistics and Calculus with Python Workshop will show you how to apply your understanding of advanced mathematics in the context of Python.The book begins by giving you a high-level overview of the libraries you'll use while performing statistics with Python. As you progress, you'll perform various mathematical tasks using the Python programming language, such as solving algebraic functions with Python starting with basic functions, and then working through transformations and solving equations. Later chapters in the book will cover statistics and calculus concepts and how to use them to solve problems and gain useful insights. Finally, you'll study differential equations with an emphasis on numerical methods and learn about algorithms that directly calculate values of functions.By the end of this book, you’ll have learned how to apply essential statistics and calculus concepts to develop robust Python applications that solve business challenges.

Moodle 3 Administration. An administrator’s guide to configuring, securing, customizing, and extending Moodle - Third Edition

Alex Büchner

Moodle is the de facto standard for open source learning platforms. However, setting up and managing a learning environment can be a complex task since it covers a wide range of technical, organizational, and pedagogical topics. This ranges from basic user and course management, to configuring plugins and design elements, all the way to system settings, performance optimization, events frameworks, and so on.This book concentrates on basic tasks such as how to set up and configure Moodle and how to perform day-to-day administration activities, and progresses on to more advanced topics that show you how to customize and extend Moodle, manage courses, cohorts, and users, and how to work with roles and capabilities. You’ll learn to configure Moodle plugins and ensure your VLE conforms to pedagogical and technical requirements in your organization. You’ll then learn how to integrate the VLE via web services and network it with other sites, including Mahara, and extend your system via plugins and LTI. By the end of this book, you will be able to set up an efficient, fully fledged, and secure Moodle system.

Microservices with Spring Boot and Spring Cloud. Build resilient and scalable microservices using Spring Cloud, Istio, and Kubernetes - Second Edition

Magnus Larsson

Want to build and deploy microservices, but don’t know where to start? Welcome to Microservices with Spring Boot and Spring Cloud.This edition features the most recent versions of Spring, Java, Kubernetes, and Istio, demonstrating faster and simpler handling of Spring Boot, local Kubernetes clusters, and Istio installation. The expanded scope includes native compilation of Spring-based microservices, support for Mac and Windows with WSL2, and an introduction to Helm 3 for packaging and deployment. A revamped security chapter now follows the OAuth 2.1 specification and makes use of the newly launched Spring Authorization Server from the Spring team.You’ll start with a set of simple cooperating microservices, then add persistence and resilience, make your microservices reactive, and document their APIs using OpenAPI.Next, you’ll learn how fundamental design patterns are applied to add important functionality, such as service discovery with Netflix Eureka and edge servers with Spring Cloud Gateway. You’ll deploy your microservices using Kubernetes and adopt Istio, then explore centralized log management using the Elasticsearch, Fluentd, and Kibana (EFK) stack, and then monitor microservices using Prometheus and Grafana.By the end of this book, you'll be building scalable and robust microservices using Spring Boot and Spring Cloud.