Beginning Blender: Open Source 3D Modeling, Animation, and Game Design

EBook Description: A new world of creative possibilities is opened by Blender, the most popular and powerful open source 3D and animation tool. Blender is not just free software; it is also an important professional tool used in animated shorts, television commercials and shows, as well as in production for films like Spiderman 2. Lance Flavell�s Beginning Blender will give you the skills to start shaping new new worlds and virtual characters, and perhaps lead you down a new professional path. Beginning Blender covers the latest Blender 2.5 release in depth. The book starts with with the creation of simple figures using basic modeling and sculpting. It then teaches how to bridge from modeling to animation, and from scene setup to texture creation and rendering, lighting, rigging and ultimately, full animation. You will create and mix your own movie scenes, and you will even learn the basics of games logic and how to deal with games physics. Whether you are new to modeling, animation, and game design, or whether you are simply new to Blender, this book will show you everything you need to know to get your 3D projects underway.

Desktop GIS explores the world of Open Source GIS software and provides a guide to navigate the many options available. Discover what kind of GIS user you are and lay the foundation to evaluate the options and decide what software is best for you.Desktop GIS examines the challenges associated with assembling and using an OSGIS toolkit. You�ll find strategies for choosing a platform, selecting the right tools, integration, managing change, and getting support. The survey of OSGIS desktop applications provides you with a quick introduction to the many packages available. You�ll see examples of both GUI (Graphical User Interface) and command line interfaces to give you a feel for what is available.

This book will give you an understanding of the Open Source GIS landscape, along with a detailed look at the major desktop applications, including

GRASS, Quantum GIS, uDig, spatial databases, GMT, and other command line tools. Finally, the book exposes you to scripting in the OSGIS world, using Python, shell, and other languages to visualize, digitize, and analyze your data.

Open Source SOA

You can build a world-class SOA infrastructure entirely using popular, and mature, open-source applications. Unfortunately, the technical documentation for most open-source projects focuses on a specific product, the big SOA picture. You�re left to your own devices to figure out how to cobble together a full solution from the various bits. In other words, unless you already know how Mule and Tuscany work with jBPM, you�re stuck.

Open Source SOA shows readers how to build an entire SOA application using open-source technologies. It shows readers how to apply key ideas like Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) design and Business Process Management (BPM) and learn the tools and techniques to implement them effectively.


To pull everything together, the author describes real-life case studies from his own work to tie together all the principles and practices. These hard-to-find case studies are pure gold for the reader, as most developers keep these trade secrets to themselves.

Choosing an Open Source CMS: Beginner�s Guide

Find the best CMS and start working with it to create web sites, blogs, communities, e-commerce sites, and intranets

Understand different types of CMSs and select the one that best fits your needs
Install and customize a CMS with themes and plug-ins
Learn key concepts of Content Management Systems and how to systematically assess your requirements
Introduction to the major CMSs including Joomla!, Drupal, WordPress, Plone, Magento, Alfresco, and more
A hands-on, easy-to-read guide that gives you practical tips on hosting, project management, working with specialists and communities, and finding experts

Open Source Messaging Application Development

I discovered Gaim in the AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) user profile of a friend about five years ago. I didn?t know a lot about Linux then. I knew that it was a free implementation of UNIX with publicly available source code, but my previous experiences with UNIX comprised staring at a shell prompt, trying to type cryptic commands into a ?DOS-like? console. Likewise, I assumed that Linux was primitive compared to the high-tech, state-of-the-art Windows 98 I was using
that day when I read my friend?s profile.

Open Source Fuzzing Tools

Fuzzing is often described as a �black box� software testing technique. It works by automatically feeding a program multiple input iterations in an attempt to trigger an internal error indicative of a bug, and potentially crash it. Such program errors and crashes are indicative of the existence of a security vulnerability, which can later be researched and fixed.
Fuzz testing is now making a transition from a hacker-grown tool to a commercial-grade product. There are many different types of applications that can be fuzzed, many different ways they can be fuzzed, and a variety of different problems that can be uncovered. There are also problems that arise during fuzzing; when is enough enough? These issues and many others are fully explored.

. Learn How Fuzzing Finds Vulnerabilities
Eliminate buffer overflows, format strings and other potential flaws
. Find Coverage of Available Fuzzing Tools
Complete coverage of open source and commercial tools and their uses
. Build Your Own Fuzzer
Automate the process of vulnerability research by building your own tools
. Understand How Fuzzing Works within the Development Process
Learn how fuzzing serves as a quality assurance tool for your own and third-party software

The Essential Guide to Open Source Flash Development

Explore the world of open source Flash and discover which tools are available.
Learn how to identify which tool you need and how to best fit it into your workflow.
Step-by-step walk-throughs guide you through development with the most popular open source Flash tools.
Written by the project leads and open source Flash aficionados.

The Essential Guide to Open Source Flash Development is a practical development guide to creating Flash applications with open source Flash tools and workflows. You will walk away with an understanding of what tools will best suit your current situation, making your development easier and more productive, and with the knowledge of how to install and set up some of the best tools available, including the following:

Papervision3D: to create 3D in Flash
Red5: to stream video over the internet
SWX: to build data-driven mashups and mobile apps
Fuse: to make ActionScript animation a cinch
Go: to build your own animation tools in ActionScript 3.0
haXe: to create Flash files and more
AMFPHP: to communicate between Flash and php

Open source Flash has been a revolution for Flash and has made a major impact on how people build Flash content. The open source tools available expand on Flash's existing tool set, enabling you to perform such tasks as easily create full 3D in Flash or hook up to an open source video-streaming server. Many of these useful tools are powerful yet lack documentation. this book explains in step-by-step detail how to use the most popular open source Flash tools.

If you want to expand your Flash tool set and explore the open source Flash community, then this book is for you. If you already use some open source Flash tools, then you will find this book a useful documentation resource as well as an eye-opener to the other tools that are available.

Practical Arduino: Cool Projects for Open Source Hardware

Create your own Arduino-based designs, gain in-depth knowledge of the architecture of Arduino, and learn the user-friendly Arduino language all in the context of practical projects that you can build yourself at home. Get hands-on experience using a variety of projects and recipes for everything from home automation to test equipment.

Arduino has taken off as an incredibly popular building block among ubicomp (ubiquitous computing) enthusiasts, robotics hobbyists, and DIY home automation developers. Authors Jonathan Oxer and Hugh Blemings provide detailed instructions for building a wide range of both practical and fun Arduino-related projects, covering areas such as hobbies, automotive, communications, home automation, and instrumentation.


Take Arduino beyond �blink� to a wide variety of projects from simple to challenging
Hands-on recipes for everything from home automation to interfacing with your car engine management system
Explanations of techniques and references to handy resources for ubiquitous computing projects
Supplementary material includes a circuit schematic reference, introductions to a range of electronic engineering principles and general hints & tips. These combine with the projects themselves to make Practical Arduino: Cool Projects for Open Source Hardware an invaluable reference for Arduino users of all levels. You�ll learn a wide variety of techniques that can be applied to your own projects.

Funambol Mobile Open Source

Funambol is a free and open source mobile synchronization server that provides push email, address book and calendar (PIM) data synchronization, and device management for wireless devices. Are you looking to sync your email and other data with mobile devices for easy access? This book will show you how to do that via the Internet cloud.

With the help of this complete, practical guide you will learn how to access your email, calendar, contacts, important notes a lot more easily and quickly using Funambol. You will be able to sync a large number of online applications with your mobile devices. You will also be able to develop, deploy, and manage any mobile project.


This book will show you how to provide a full-featured PIM synchronization and push email service with Funambol.
You will start by installing Funambol on a personal computer, and then move on to acquire detailed information on the Funambol architecture and the network requirements for deploying it. You will cover several components of Funambol such as Data Synchronization Server, Device Management, Client Plugins, and more.
As you reach the end of the book, you will delve deeper to explore the wide range of possibilities of the Funambol platform beyond the immediate needs of personal data synchronization and mobile email. The book is also a great starting point for anyone who aims to extend Funambol. This book was targeted at version 7.1 of Funambol, but is also applicable to version 8.

Practical Clojure (Expert�s Voice in Open Source)

This book is the first definitive reference for the Clojure language, providing both an introduction to functional programming in general and a more specific introduction to Clojure�s features. This book demonstrates the use of the language through examples, including features such as STM and immutability, which may be new to programmers coming from other languages.

Overview of functional programming and description of what sets Clojure apart from other languages
Detailed explanation of Clojure�s special features
Examples of real-world tasks that are well-suited to Clojure�s capabilities, starting with simple tasks and moving on to more complex applications

Penetration Testers Open Source Toolkit

Penetration testing a network requires a delicate balance of art and science. A penetration tester must be creative enough to think outside of the box to determine the best attack vector into his own network, and also be expert in using the literally hundreds of tools required to execute the plan. This book provides both the art and the science.
The authors of the book are expert penetration testers who have developed many of the leading pen testing tools; such as the Metasploit framework. The authors allow the reader "inside their heads" to unravel the mysteries of thins like identifying targets, enumerating hosts, application fingerprinting, cracking passwords, and attacking exposed vulnerabilities. Along the way, the authors provide an invaluable reference to the hundreds of tools included on the bootable-Linux CD for penetration testing.

• Free IAS eBooks
• Free GRE eBooks
• Free MBA eBooks
• Free GATE eBooks