Realizing 3D Animation in Blender. Master the fundamentals of 3D animation in Blender, from keyframing to character movement

Sam Brubaker

Completely free and open source, Blender, with its supportive community and powerful feature set, is an indispensable tool for creating 3D animations. However, learning the software can be a challenge given the complexity of its interface and the intricacies of animation theory.If you want to venture into 3D animation but don’t know where to start, Realizing 3D Animation in Blender is for you. Adopting a practical approach, this guide simplifies the theory of 3D animation and the many animation workflows specific to Blender. Through detailed exercises and a sharp focus on the animation process, this book equips you with everything you need to set out on your path to becoming a 3D animator. It’s much more than just an introduction; this book covers complex concepts such as F-Curve modifiers, rigid-body physics simulation, and animating with multiple cameras, presented in an easy-to-follow manner to avoid common pitfalls encountered by novice animators.By the end of this Blender 3D animation book, you’ll have gained the knowledge, experience, and inspiration to start creating impressive 3D animations on your own.

PowerShell for Penetration Testing. Explore the capabilities of PowerShell for pentesters across multiple platforms

Dr. Andrew Blyth, Campbell Murray

PowerShell for Penetration Testing is a comprehensive guide designed to equip you with the essential skills you need for conducting effective penetration tests using PowerShell.You'll start by laying a solid foundation by familiarizing yourself with the core concepts of penetration testing and PowerShell scripting. In this part, you'll get up to speed with the fundamental scripting principles and their applications across various platforms. You’ll then explore network enumeration, port scanning, exploitation of web services, databases, and more using PowerShell tools. Hands-on exercises throughout the book will solidify your understanding of concepts and techniques. Extending the scope to cloud computing environments, particularly MS Azure and AWS, this book will guide you through conducting penetration tests in cloud settings, covering governance, reconnaissance, and networking intricacies. In the final part, post-exploitation techniques, including command-and-control structures and privilege escalation using PowerShell, will be explored. This section encompasses post-exploitation activities on both Microsoft Windows and Linux systems.By the end of this book, you’ll have covered concise explanations, real-world examples, and exercises that will help you seamlessly perform penetration testing techniques using PowerShell.

Data Engineering with Databricks Cookbook. Build effective data and AI solutions using Apache Spark, Databricks, and Delta Lake

Pulkit Chadha

Written by a Senior Solutions Architect at Databricks, Data Engineering with Databricks Cookbook will show you how to effectively use Apache Spark, Delta Lake, and Databricks for data engineering, starting with comprehensive introduction to data ingestion and loading with Apache Spark.What makes this book unique is its recipe-based approach, which will help you put your knowledge to use straight away and tackle common problems. You’ll be introduced to various data manipulation and data transformation solutions that can be applied to data, find out how to manage and optimize Delta tables, and get to grips with ingesting and processing streaming data. The book will also show you how to improve the performance problems of Apache Spark apps and Delta Lake. Advanced recipes later in the book will teach you how to use Databricks to implement DataOps and DevOps practices, as well as how to orchestrate and schedule data pipelines using Databricks Workflows. You’ll also go through the full process of setup and configuration of the Unity Catalog for data governance.By the end of this book, you’ll be well-versed in building reliable and scalable data pipelines using modern data engineering technologies.

Machine Learning and Generative AI for Marketing. Take your data-driven marketing strategies to the next level using Python

Yoon Hyup Hwang, Nicholas C. Burtch

In the dynamic world of marketing, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) is no longer just an advantage—it's a necessity. Moreover, the rise of generative AI (GenAI) helps with the creation of highly personalized, engaging content that resonates with the target audience.This book provides a comprehensive toolkit for harnessing the power of GenAI to craft marketing strategies that not only predict customer behaviors but also captivate and convert, leading to improved cost per acquisition, boosted conversion rates, and increased net sales.Starting with the basics of Python for data analysis and progressing to sophisticated ML and GenAI models, this book is your comprehensive guide to understanding and applying AI to enhance marketing strategies. Through engaging content & hands-on examples, you'll learn how to harness the capabilities of AI to unlock deep insights into customer behaviors, craft personalized marketing messages, and drive significant business growth. Additionally, you'll explore the ethical implications of AI, ensuring that your marketing strategies are not only effective but also responsible and compliant with current standardsBy the conclusion of this book, you'll be equipped to design, launch, and manage marketing campaigns that are not only successful but also cutting-edge.

Mastering C++ Game Animation Programming. Enhance your skills with advanced game animation techniques in C++, OpenGL, and Vulkan

Michael Dunsky

With two decades of programming experience across multiple languages and platforms, expert game developer and console porting programmer Michael Dunsky guides you through the intricacies of character animation programming. This book tackles the common challenges developers face in creating sophisticated, efficient, and visually appealing character animations.You’ll learn how to leverage the Open Asset Import Library for easy 3D model loading and optimize your 3D engine by offloading computations from the CPU to the GPU. The book covers visual selection, extended camera handling, and separating your application into edit and simulation modes. You’ll also master configuration storage to progressively build your virtual world piece by piece.As you develop your engine-like application, you’ll implement collision detection, inverse kinematics, and expert techniques to bring your characters to life with realistic visuals and fluid movement. For more advanced animation and character behavior controls, you’ll design truly immersive and responsive NPCs, load real game maps, and use navigation algorithms, enabling the instances to roam freely in complex environments.By the end of this book, you’ll be skilled at designing interactive virtual worlds inhabited by lifelike NPCs that exhibit natural, context-aware behaviors.

Data Engineering Best Practices. Architect robust and cost-effective data solutions in the cloud era

Richard J. Schiller, David Larochelle

Revolutionize your approach to data processing in the fast-paced business landscape with this essential guide to data engineering. Discover the power of scalable, efficient, and secure data solutions through expert guidance on data engineering principles and techniques. Written by two industry experts with over 60 years of combined experience, it offers deep insights into best practices, architecture, agile processes, and cloud-based pipelines. You’ll start by defining the challenges data engineers face and understand how this agile and future-proof comprehensive data solution architecture addresses them. As you explore the extensive toolkit, mastering the capabilities of various instruments, you’ll gain the knowledge needed for independent research. Covering everything you need, right from data engineering fundamentals, the guide uses real-world examples to illustrate potential solutions. It elevates your skills to architect scalable data systems, implement agile development processes, and design cloud-based data pipelines. The book further equips you with the knowledge to harness serverless computing and microservices to build resilient data applications.By the end, you'll be armed with the expertise to design and deliver high-performance data engineering solutions that are not only robust, efficient, and secure but also future-ready.

The Ultimate Kali Linux Book. Perform advanced penetration testing using Nmap, Metasploit, Aircrack-ng, and Empire

Glen D. Singh

Kali Linux is the most popular and advanced penetration testing Linux distribution within the cybersecurity industry. Using Kali Linux, a cybersecurity professional will be able to discover and exploit various vulnerabilities and perform advanced penetration testing on both enterprise wired and wireless networks.This audiobook is a comprehensive guide for those who are new to Kali Linux and penetration testing that will have you up to speed in no time. Using real-world scenarios, you’ll understand how to set up a lab and explore core penetration testing concepts. Throughout this book, you’ll focus on information gathering and even discover different vulnerability assessment tools bundled in Kali Linux. You’ll learn to discover target systems on a network, identify security flaws on devices, exploit security weaknesses and gain access to networks, set up Command and Control (C2) operations, and perform web application penetration testing. In this updated second edition, you’ll be able to compromise Active Directory and exploit enterprise networks. Finally, this audiobook covers best practices for performing complex web penetration testing techniques in a highly secured environment.By the end of this Kali Linux audiobook, you’ll have gained the skills to perform advanced penetration testing on enterprise networks using Kali Linux.

Introduction to Software Architecture. Get familiar with the basics of software architecture and design concepts

Adrian Ostrowski, Piotr Gaczkowski

Software architecture refers to the high-level design of complex applications. It is evolving just like the languages we use, but there are architectural concepts and patterns that you can learn to write high-performance apps in a high-level language without sacrificing readability and maintainability.If you want to become a software architect, this audiobook will get you up to speed with architectural concepts, including established patterns and rising trends. It will also demonstrate effective approaches to its design and documentation. Next, you'll discover the design concepts involved in application architecture and the patterns in software development. We’ll introduce you to a few concepts and fallacies related to architectural design and show you when to use the said patterns.