AutoCAD 2023 3D Modeling
This book provides new and seasoned users with step-by-step procedures on creating and modifying 3D models, working with cameras and lights, assigning materials to objects, rendering, and printing. Unlike many AutoCAD competitors, it uses both metric and imperial units to illustrate the myriad tools for thispopular application. Use the companion CD to set up drawing exercises and projects and see all of the book's figures including color. AutoCAD 2023 3D Modeling includes 50 "mini-workshops," that complete small projects from concept through actual plotting. Solving all of the workshops will simulate the creation of full projects (architectural and mechanical) from beginning to end, without overlooking any of the basic commands and functions in AutoCAD 2023. FEATURES: Provides new and seasoned users with step-by-step procedures on creating and modifying 3D modelsin both metric and imperial unitsCompanion files can be used to set up in-text drawing exercises and projects and to see the book's figures in colorThe companion files are also available online by emailing the publisher with proof of purchase at info@merclearning.com.
Actualizing Human Rights
This book argues that ultimately human rights can be actualized, in two senses. By answering important challenges to them, the real-world relevance of human rights can be brought out; and people worldwide can be motivated as needed for realizing human rights.
Consumer Health Informatics
This book provides a comprehensive introduction to consumer health informatics, and focuses on designing, developing, and marketing tools for supporting the public in health information gathering, tracking, communication, and behavioral management. The book will have three sections: 1) Contexts, 2) Tasks and Tools, and 3) Issues.
Cybersecurity for Everyone
Cyberspace is a critical part of all of our lives. Unfortunately, many of those in the position to do something about cybersecurity do not have the skills to understand the issues fully. Cybersecurity for Everyone is intended to help by describing the issues so they are accessible to anyone from non-technical backgrounds.
Recent Advances in Security, Privacy, and Trust for Internet of Things (Iot) and Cyber-Physical Systems (Cps)
Recent Advances in Security, Privacy and Trust for Internet-of-Things (IoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) will discuss and present techniques and methodologies as well a wide range of examples and illustrations to effectively show the principles, algorithms, challenges, and applications of security, privacy, and trust for IoT and CPS.
Learn Microsoft Office 2021 - Second Edition
Take your Microsoft Office skills to the next level by mastering the exciting new features and enhancements in Microsoft Office 2021, including communicating, collaborating, and presenting using TeamsKey Features: Get a progressive walkthrough of the new desktop and web apps with real-world examplesEnrich your skillset by learning new productivity feature enhancements for Office web and desktopDiscover how to use Microsoft Teams to communicate, collaborate, and present during meetingsBook Description: This second edition book covers the new and exciting features of Microsoft Office 2021 for desktop and web apps, helping you broaden the skills from the previous edition. Using real-world experiences, this book will guide you through practical examples that set off your thought process to boost productivity.To build new skills in each application, the book ensures that you gain a thorough understanding of new functions, such as PivotTables, Dashboards, and data manipulation methods in Excel.You'll explore PowerPoint tools such as Presenter Coach, Presenter View, the record tool, and setting reading order to mention a few. You'll also manipulate slide elements using Auto Fix, draw features, insert video captions, explore playback options, and rehearse presentations using the body language Presenter Coach feature. The book demystifies the Transform feature and shows you how to dictate directly in Word. You'll even be able to work with Styles by refining the layout and multiple tables of contents. Finally, you'll focus on making the best use of Outlook enhancements and working remotely using Teams.By the end of this book, you'll have understood the features of each app inside out and enhanced your existing skills using new techniques to make your professional life more efficient.What You Will Learn: Uncover OneDrive features and Word enhancements such as dictation, co-authoring, embedding, styles, referencing, and media toolsManage Word document layouts, online forms, recording document automation, and track, compare, and combineCreate engaging PowerPoint presentations using Presenter Coach, Auto Fix, Record, and drawing toolsExplore Excel functions such as XLOOKUP, LET, XMATCH IFS, arrays and IFERROR, and VLOOKUPWork with database and COUNTIF functions, Advanced Filter, clean data, and PivotTables and DashboardsExplore Outlook enhancementsWho this book is for: If you work with Microsoft Office applications but are yet to discover the complete range of features, this second edition is tailored to broaden your skillset with new features and functionalities. It would be of value for those working in any industry and for students moving into the workplace or preparing for Microsoft Office certification. The book uses real-world practical workplace examples to help you get ready to apply your skills and make the most of the recent features of Microsoft Office.Although not a prerequisite, a solid understanding of the Microsoft Office applications will be beneficial.
Robotics
The origination of robotics gives engineering students and practicing engineers the information needed to design a robot, to integrate a robot in appropriate applications, or to analyze a robot. The updated third edition contains many new subjects and the content has been streamlined throughout the text. The new edition includes two completely new chapters on screw-based mechanics and parallel robots. The book is filled with many new illustrative examples and includes homework problems designed to enhance learning. Here's what's discussed in the book: Three laws of roboticsUnimate- the first robotBenefits of robotsHardware tutorialSoftware tutorialMaterials for building a robotTipsApplications of roboticsThis way, you're sure not to get lost in confusion once you get to the more complex lessons provided in the latter chapters. Examples are provided for a more knowledgeable approach on your learningYou will also learn the designs and forms of robotics, and what's more convenient than getting to know all sides!
Taking Blender to the Next Level
A comprehensive guide with key images printed in color to learning motion graphics, character modeling and rigging, creating dynamic hair and clothes, 3D scanning using photogrammetry, and moreKey Features: Learn how to use geometry nodes to create motion graphics and dynamic scenesUnderstand organic 3D modeling and how to create and animate your own 3D charactersUse physics simulations to create clothing and hair for characters that interact with forces like windBook Description: If you're ready to start exploring the more advanced workflows and processes in Blender to create intricate 3D models, then Taking Blender to the Next Level is for you.This book focuses on a few different VFX-related workflows such as geometry nodes, organic modeling, 3D camera tracking, photogrammetry, sculpting, compositing, and physics simulations. You'll learn how to use geometry nodes to create dynamic motion graphic scenes as well as perform 3D scanning of real-world objects using photogrammetry. You'll also find out how to model, rig, and animate your own 3D characters from scratch. Next, you'll progress to using simulations to break objects apart and then use cloth and hair simulations to add realism to your 3D creations. Finally, you'll go over the final render settings and export your 3D animation masterpiece as a video.By the end of this Blender book, you'll be able to model your own 3D characters, objects, and landscapes; rig, animate, and texture your characters; 3D track live-action footage; and composite your 3D characters into live-action scenes.What You Will Learn: Use geometry nodes to quickly create complex 3D scenes and motion graphics rendersCreate realistic textures using physically based rendering materials3D scan real-life objects using a normal camera and clean up the model using BlenderUnderstand how to model, rig, and animate your own 3D charactersUse rigid body simulations to create dynamic scenesUnderstand how to perform 3D tracking within BlenderBecome well-versed with compositing 3D renders into live-action footageWho this book is for: This Blender 3D book is for 3D modelers, texture artists, character and technical animators, matchmove artists, compositors, and anyone interested in learning advanced concepts in Blender. Motion graphics artists will also benefit from this book. A solid understanding of 3D concepts and the Blender UI is needed to grasp the concepts present in this book.
Shading, Lighting, and Rendering with Blender EEVEE
Get to grips with new real-time animation techniques and tricks to improve both your artistic and technical skills in shading, 3D rendering, lighting, and scene creation using Blender 3.0Key Features: Learn real-time rendering engine concepts by creating three projectsUnderstand how to update workflows to Blender 3.0Explore intermediate to advanced-level tutorials on creating art inside BlenderBook Description: Blender is the most important up-and-coming 3D software package in the world. EEVEE, a state-of-the-art real-time rendering engine is a fairly new addition to Blender and provides the capacity to create artwork at blazing speed, almost 12 times faster than Cycles.Lighting, Shading, and Rendering with Blender's EEVEE provides a high-level overview of what EEVEE is capable of, then teaches users about Geometry Nodes, Rendering Techniques, using shortcuts like Kitbashing and Alphas to speed up scene creation, volumetrics, reflections, adding lights, cameras and even special effects like fire and smoke, all in EEVEE. All of this is in the context of creating actual scenes that readers will work through from start to finish.By the time a Blender Artist completes the book, they will have created three separate works that have challenged them to iterate and design with the full power of Blender's EEVEE.What You Will Learn: Explore EEVEE Render Properties for optimal outcomesFocus on shading processes, including those that are both traditional and more cutting-edgeUnderstand composition and create effective concept art inside BlenderDiscover procedural workflows to shorten the artistic process instead of getting mired in detailsUnderstand intermediate Blender workflows for working in a professional environmentDevelop art in different styles and learn why each style has different workflows and conventionsCreate interactive, rapid changes in Blender's EEVEE engineWho this book is for: This book is for 3D animators, sculptors, modelers, and concept artists who want to use EEVEE to speed up their work in movies, TV, and game design. Readers are expected to have a basic to intermediate-level understanding of 3D programs and ray-tracing engines.
Distributed .NET with Microsoft Orleans
Adopt an effortless approach to avoid the hassles of complex concurrency and scaling patterns when building distributed applications in .NETKey Features: Explore the Orleans cross-platform framework for building robust, scalable, and distributed applicationsHandle concurrency, fault tolerance, and resource management without complex programming patternsWork with essential components such as grains and silos to write scalable programs with easeBook Description: Building distributed applications in this modern era can be a tedious task as customers expect high availability, high performance, and improved resilience. With the help of this book, you'll discover how you can harness the power of Microsoft Orleans to build impressive distributed applications.Distributed .NET with Microsoft Orleans will demonstrate how to leverage Orleans to build highly scalable distributed applications step by step in the least possible time and with minimum effort. You'll explore some of the key concepts of Microsoft Orleans, including the Orleans programming model, runtime, virtual actors, hosting, and deployment. As you advance, you'll become well-versed with important Orleans assets such as grains, silos, timers, and persistence. Throughout the book, you'll create a distributed application by adding key components to the application as you progress through each chapter and explore them in detail.By the end of this book, you'll have developed the confidence and skills required to build distributed applications using Microsoft Orleans and deploy them in Microsoft Azure.What You Will Learn: Get to grips with the different cloud architecture patterns that can be leveraged for building distributed applicationsManage state and build a custom storage providerExplore Orleans key design patterns and understand when to reuse themWork with different classes that are created by code generators in the Orleans frameworkWrite unit tests for Orleans grains and silos and create mocks for different parts of the systemOvercome traditional challenges of latency and scalability while building distributed applicationsWho this book is for: This book is for .NET developers and software architects looking for a simplified guide for creating distributed applications, without worrying about complex programming patterns. Intermediate web developers who want to build highly scalable distributed applications will also find this book useful. A basic understanding of .NET Classic or .NET Core with C# and Azure will be helpful.
UiPath Associate Certification Guide
A practical syllabus-based UiPath Associate certification guide to confidently passing your UiPath RPA Associate certification examination, covering real-world business cases, mock tests, and moreKey Features: Get certified successfully with this detailed syllabus-oriented examination guideWork with real-world business cases that will help you grasp RPA topics better using practical examplesPractice with quizzes and mock exam papers with answers to prepare for the exam confidentlyBook Description: UiPath is the most popular vendor in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) industry. If you're an RPA enthusiast or citizen developer who wants to succeed in the industry, achieving this certification can help you get accredited and ready for real-world challenges using UiPath.UiPath Associate Certification Guide offers complete, up-to-date coverage of the UiPath RPA Associate certification exam to help you pass on the first attempt and get certified. The book is written in a clear, succinct way with self-assessment questions, quizzes with answers at the end of each chapter, exam tips, and mock exams with detailed answers and explanations. You'll start by getting to grips with the basic concepts of UiPath RPA, and then progress to an in-depth discussion of all the concepts required for Associate certification. Finally, you'll develop UiPath skills by gaining the required knowledge and implement these skills using sample business cases.By the end of this UiPath book, you'll have covered everything you need to pass the exam, gained the knowledge you need to work on real-world case studies, and learned how to apply the various concepts to build enterprise-level use cases.What You Will Learn: Get to grips with the basic concepts of UiPath RPAEquip yourself with every resource required to pass the Associate exam on the first attemptGain the ability to apply what you've learned using real-world use casesWork on different use cases and test your knowledge by taking quizzesGet a feel for the real exam with practice questions and mock examsUnderstand the concepts used in building enterprise-level use casesWho this book is for: This RPA book is for those in technical and semi-technical roles such as citizen RPA developers, junior RPA developers, RPA developers, solution architects, business analysts, system administrators, college or university students and graduates, and UiPath and partner employees in pre-sales, services, support, and so on. If you are looking to get certified and meet the industry standard with the largest RPA vendor, then this book is for you.
The Routledge Handbook of Accounting Information Systems
This is a prestige reference work offering a comprehensive overview of the state of current knowledge and emerging scholarship in the discipline of AIS. It has been updated to capture the changes in technology since the previous edition, including chapters on artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and data visualisation.
Information Technologies and Mathematical Modelling. Queueing Theory and Applications
This book constitutes revised selected papers of the 20th International Conference on Information Technologies and Mathematical Modelling, ITMM 2021, named after A.F. Terpugov, held in Tomsk, Russia, in December 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the conference was held in a virtual mode. The 28 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 89 submissions. The conference covers various aspects of information technologies, focusing on queueing theory, stochastic processes, Markov processes, renewal theory, network performance equation and network protocols.
Creo Parametric 9.0 Black Book (Colored)
The Creo Parametric 9.0 Black Book (Colored) is the New, updated 7th edition! of our series on Creo Parametric. With lots of additions and thorough review, we present a book to help professionals as well as learners in creating some of the most complex solid models. The book follows a step by step methodology. In this book, we have tried to give real-world examples with real challenges in designing. We have tried to reduce the gap between university use of Creo Parametric and industrial use of Creo Parametric. In this edition of book, we have included new enhancements of Creo Parametric 9.0 interface. We have included an introductory chapter on Live Simulation in this edition. The book covers almost all the information required by a learner to master Creo Parametric. The book starts with sketching and ends at advanced topics like Sheetmetal, Surface Design, 3D Printing, MBD, Sheet metal NC manufacturing, and Live Simulation. Some of the salient features of this book are: In-Depth explanation of conceptsEvery new topic of this book starts with the explanation of the basic concepts. In this way, the user becomes capable of relating the things with real world.Topics CoveredEvery chapter starts with a list of topics being covered in that chapter. In this way, the users can easy find the topic of their interest easily.Instruction through illustrationThe instructions to perform any action are provided by maximum number of illustrations so that the user can perform the actions discussed in the book easily and effectively. There are about 1530 small and large illustrations that make the learning process effective.Tutorial point of viewAt the end of concept's explanation, the tutorials make the understanding of users firm and long lasting. Almost each chapter of the book has tutorials that are real world projects. Most of the tools in this book are discussed in the form of tutorials.ProjectProjects and exercises are provided to students for practicing.For FacultyIf you are a faculty member, then you can ask for video tutorials on any of the topic, exercise, tutorial, or concept. As faculty, you can register on our website to get electronic desk copies of our latest books, self-assessment, and solution of practical. Faculty resources are available in the Faculty Member page of our website (www.cadcamcaeworks.com) once you login. Note that faculty registration approval is manual and it may take two days for approval before you can access the faculty website.
Creo Parametric 9.0 Black Book
The Creo Parametric 9.0 Black Book is the New, updated 7th edition! of our series on Creo Parametric. With lots of additions and thorough review, we present a book to help professionals as well as learners in creating some of the most complex solid models. The book follows a step by step methodology. In this book, we have tried to give real-world examples with real challenges in designing. We have tried to reduce the gap between university use of Creo Parametric and industrial use of Creo Parametric. In this edition of book, we have included new enhancements of Creo Parametric 9.0 interface. We have included an introductory chapter on Live Simulation in this edition. The book covers almost all the information required by a learner to master Creo Parametric. The book starts with sketching and ends at advanced topics like Sheetmetal, Surface Design, 3D Printing, MBD, Sheet metal NC manufacturing, and Live Simulation. Some of the salient features of this book are: In-Depth explanation of conceptsEvery new topic of this book starts with the explanation of the basic concepts. In this way, the user becomes capable of relating the things with real world.Topics CoveredEvery chapter starts with a list of topics being covered in that chapter. In this way, the users can easy find the topic of their interest easily.Instruction through illustrationThe instructions to perform any action are provided by maximum number of illustrations so that the user can perform the actions discussed in the book easily and effectively. There are about 1530 small and large illustrations that make the learning process effective.Tutorial point of viewAt the end of concept's explanation, the tutorials make the understanding of users firm and long lasting. Almost each chapter of the book has tutorials that are real world projects. Most of the tools in this book are discussed in the form of tutorials.ProjectProjects and exercises are provided to students for practicing.For FacultyIf you are a faculty member, then you can ask for video tutorials on any of the topic, exercise, tutorial, or concept. As faculty, you can register on our website to get electronic desk copies of our latest books, self-assessment, and solution of practical. Faculty resources are available in the Faculty Member page of our website (www.cadcamcaeworks.com) once you login. Note that faculty registration approval is manual and it may take two days for approval before you can access the faculty website.
Cognitive Intelligence with Neutrosophic Statistics in Bioinformatics
Cognitive Intelligence with Neutrosophic Statistics in Bioinformatics investigates and presents the many applications that have arisen in the last ten years using neutrosophic statistics in bioinformatics, medicine, agriculture and cognitive science. This book will be very useful to the scientific community, appealing to audiences interested in fuzzy, vague concepts from which uncertain data are collected, including academic researchers, practicing engineers and graduate students. Neutrosophic statistics is a generalization of classical statistics. In classical statistics, the data is known, formed by crisp numbers. In comparison, data in neutrosophic statistics has some indeterminacy. This data may be ambiguous, vague, imprecise, incomplete, and even unknown. Neutrosophic statistics refers to a set of data, such that the data or a part of it are indeterminate in some degree, and to methods used to analyze the data.
Storytelling for New Technologies and Platforms
This is a practical guide for writers, students, producers, career changers, and early tech adopters. It will prepare the content creators of tomorrow with the best practices of storytelling for virtual assistants, virtual reality, mobile games, board games, hybrid games, interactive toys, and theme park attractions.
Developing Graphics Frameworks with Java and OpenGL
Developing Graphics Frameworks with Java and OpenGL shows you how to create software for rendering complete three-dimensional (3D) scenes. The book explains the foundational theoretical concepts as well as the practical programming techniques that will enable you to create your own animated and interactive computer-generated worlds. You will learn how to combine the power of OpenGL, the most widely adopted cross-platform application programming interface (API) for graphics processing unit (GPU) programming, with the accessibility and versatility of the Java programming language. Topics in this book include generating geometric shapes, transforming objects with matrices, applying image-based textures to surfaces, and lighting a scene. Advanced sections explain how to implement procedurally generated textures, postprocessing effects, and shadow mapping. In addition to the sophisticated graphics framework discussed throughout the book, you will gain a foundational knowledge that will allow you to adapt and extend that framework, leading to even more spectacular graphical results. Author bios Lee Stemkoski is a professor of mathematics and computer science. He earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Dartmouth College in 2006 and has been teaching at the college level since. His specialties are computer graphics, video game development, and virtual and augmented reality programming. James Cona is an up-and-coming software engineer who studied computer science at Adelphi University. Some of his specific interests include music, video game programming, 3D graphics, artificial intelligence, and clear and efficient software development in general.
Algorithm Design: A Methodological Approach - 150 Problems and Detailed Solutions
A best-seller in its French edition, this book details 150 problems, spanning on seven families of algorithms. For each problem, a precise and progressive statement is given. More important, a complete solution is detailed, with respect to the design principles that have been presented; often, some classical errors are pointed at.
AutoCAD Electrical 2023 Black Book (Colored)
The AutoCAD Electrical 2023 Black Book, the New, updated 8th edition! of AutoCAD Electrical Black book, has been updated as per the enhancements in the AutoCAD Electrical 2023. Following the same strategy as for the previous edition, the book follows a step-by-step methodology. It covers almost all the information required by a learner to master the AutoCAD Electrical. The book starts with basics of Electrical Designing, goes through all the Electrical controls related tools and discusses practical examples of electrical schematic and panel designing. Chapter on Reports makes you able to create and edit electrical component reports. We have also discussed the interoperability between Autodesk Inventor and AutoCAD Electrical which is need of industry these days. Two annexures have been added to explain basic concepts of control panel designing. Some of the salient features of this book are: In-Depth explanation of conceptsEvery new topic of this book starts with the explanation of the basic concepts. In this way, the user becomes capable of relating the things with real world.Topics CoveredEvery chapter starts with a list of topics being covered in that chapter. In this way, the user can easily find the topic of his/her interest easily.Instruction through illustrationThe instructions to perform any action are provided by maximum number of illustrations so that the user can perform the actions discussed in the book easily and effectively. There are about 900 small and large illustrations that make the learning process effective.Tutorial point of viewAt the end of concept's explanation, the tutorial makes the understanding of users' firm and long lasting. Almost each chapter of the book has tutorials that are real world projects. Moreover, most of the tools in this book are discussed in the form of tutorials.For FacultyIf you are a faculty member, then you can ask for video tutorials on any of the topic, exercise, tutorial, or concept. As faculty, you can register on our website to get electronic desk copies of our latest books, self-assessment, and solution of practical. Faculty resources are available in the Faculty Member page of our website once you login. Note that faculty registration approval is manual and it may take two days for approval before you can access the faculty website.
Algorithm Design: A Methodological Approach - 150 Problems and Detailed Solutions
A best-seller in its French edition, this book details 150 problems, spanning on seven families of algorithms. For each problem, a precise and progressive statement is given. More important, a complete solution is detailed, with respect to the design principles that have been presented; often, some classical errors are pointed at.
Autodesk Inventor 2023 Black Book (Colored)
The Autodesk Inventor 2023 Black Book (Colored) is the New, updated 4th edition! of our series on Autodesk Inventor. With lots of features and thorough review, we present a book to help professionals as well as beginners in creating some of the most complex solid models. The book follows a step-by-step methodology. In this book, we have tried to give real-world examples with real challenges in designing. We have tried to reduce the gap between university use of Autodesk Inventor and industrial use of Autodesk Inventor. In this edition of book, we have included topics on iPart, Style Editing, Customization, Deriving parts, Inspection, and Advanced Assembly. The book covers almost all the information required by a learner to master the Autodesk Inventor. The book starts with sketching and ends at advanced topics like Mold Design, Sheetmetal, Weldment, and MBD. Some of the salient features of this book are: In-Depth explanation of conceptsEvery new topic of this book starts with the explanation of the basic concepts. In this way, the user becomes capable of relating the things with real world.Topics CoveredEvery chapter starts with a list of topics being covered in that chapter. In this way, the user can easily find the topic of his/her interest easily.Instruction through illustrationThe instructions to perform any action are provided by maximum number of illustrations so that the user can perform the actions discussed in the book easily and effectively. There are about 2050 small and large illustrations that make the learning process effective.Tutorial point of viewAt the end of concept's explanation, the tutorial makes the understanding of user firm and long lasting. Almost each chapter of the book has tutorials that are real world projects. Moreover, most of the tools in this book are discussed in the form of tutorials.ProjectProjects and exercises are provided to students for practicing.For FacultyIf you are a faculty member, then you can ask for video tutorials on any of the topic, exercise, tutorial, or concept. As faculty, you can register on our website to get electronic desk copies of our latest books, self-assessment, and solution of practical. Faculty resources are available in the Faculty Member page of our website once you login. Note that faculty registration approval is manual and it may take two days for approval before you can access the faculty website.
Microsoft Office Step by Step (Office 2021 and Microsoft 365)
The quick way to learn popular Microsoft 365 apps! This is learning made easy. Get more done quickly with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Jump in wherever you need answers--brisk lessons and detailed screenshots show you exactly what to do, step by step. Discover new time-savers and usability improvements for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook Format and organize high-impact documents and use Word's enhanced coauthoring tools Build powerful, reliable Excel worksheets and analyze complex data sets Prepare highly effective presentations with PowerPoint's newest visual tools Improve your productivity with Outlook email, scheduling, and contacts Make the most of the latest Accessibility Checker and other new features Look up just the tasks and lessons you need Download your Step by Step practice files at: MicrosoftPressStore.com/MSOfficeSBS365/downloads
Adobe Illustrator Classroom in a Book (2023 Release)
Build valuable graphic art skills and create digital artwork using Adobe Illustrator Adobe Illustrator Classroom in a Book (2023 release) uses real-world, project-based learning to cover the basics and beyond, providing countless tips and techniques to help you become more productive with the program. For beginners and experienced users alike, you can follow the book from start to finish or choose only those lessons that interest you. Learn to: Create artwork, from precise drawings to stylistic paintings Make logos, illustrations, posters, podcast covers, flyers, and more Explore selections, shapes, and color Progress to freeform gradients and layers Work with dynamic symbols, artistic brushes, and creative effects Efficiently export assets for the web, print, and more Classroom in a Book(R), the best-selling series of hands-on software training workbooks, offers what no other book or training program does--an official training series from Adobe, developed with the support of Adobe product experts. Purchasing this book includes valuable online extras. Follow the instructions in the book's "Getting Started" section to unlock access to: Downloadable lesson files you need to work through the projects in the book Web Edition containing the complete text of the book, interactive quizzes, and videos that walk you through the lessons step by step What you need to use this book: Adobe Illustrator (2023 release) software, for either Windows or macOS. (Software not included.) Note: Classroom in a Book does not replace the documentation, support, updates, or any other benefits of being a registered owner of Adobe Illustrator software. This book covers Illustrator on desktop only. It does not address Illustrator on the iPad.
Build Customized Apps with Amazon Honeycode
A non-developer's guide to harnessing the power of Amazon Honeycode apps to manage projects, customers, operations, approvals, resources, and teamsKey Features: A practical guide to Amazon Web Services (AWS) no-code app development for meeting specific needs of customersCreate apps quickly without paying for costly developers using Honeycode's in-built templates and functionsLearn how to use stable AWS services to supplement Honeycode's present limitsBook Description: Amazon Honeycode enables you to build fully managed, customizable, and scalable mobile and web applications for personal or professional use with little to no code. With this practical guide to Amazon Honeycode, you'll be able to bring your app ideas to life, improving your and your team's/organization's productivity.You'll begin by creating your very first app from the get-go and use it as a means to explore the Honeycode development environment and concepts. Next, you'll learn how to set up and organize the data to build and bind an app on Honeycode as well as deconstruct different templates to understand the common structures and patterns that can be used. Finally, you'll build a few apps from scratch and discover how to apply the concepts you've learned.By the end of this app development book, you'll have gained the knowledge you need to be able to build and deploy your own mobile and web applications. You'll also be able to invite and share your app with people you want to collaborate with.What You Will Learn: Build mobile and web applications with simple drag-drops and customizationsDeploy and share apps and collaborate in real-time with your teamUnderstand how to create automated processes in appsCreate a customized view for each app user or a group of usersImport existing data from a CSV and build an app on top of itCreate connectors to external data sourcesBuild applications using Honeycode either from scratch or by modifying an existing templateExplore Honeycode templates and understand what use cases are available out-of-the-box with these templatesWho this book is for: Like the platform, this book is meant for everyone - professional and novice developers alike - who want to build and deploy apps for their personal or professional use as an individual or as a team. However, for professional developers, it is important to note that the book will not focus on advanced use cases with features like using public APIs and 3P integrations. No programming knowledge or experience is needed to start creating basic apps. However, working knowledge of Microsoft Excel or similar spreadsheet tools and a general understanding of logical statements will be helpful to get the most out of this book.
Integrated CAD by Optimization
Integrated Computer-Aided-Design by Optimization in AEC - An Overview.- Urbanization, Urban Management and Computer-Aided Planning and Design.- Elements of Numerical Techniques and Operations Research .- Elements of Cost Engineering and Data Base Management.- Elements of Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Drafting-Drawing .- Planning and Design Analysis in Urban Development and Management and a Theory of Optimal Urban Built-Form .- Design Optimization .- Integrated Computer-Aided Structural Design by Optimisation.- Integrated Computer-Aided Building-Housing Design by Optimisation.- Integrated Computer-Aided Layout Planning and Design by Optimisation.- Integrated Computer-Aided Dwelling-Layout System Design by Optimization.
Image Analysis and Processing - Iciap 2022
The proceedings set LNCS 13231, 13232, and 13233 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Image Analysis and Processing, ICIAP 2022, which was held during May 23-27, 2022, in Lecce, Italy, The 168 papers included in the proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from 307 submissions. They deal with video analysis and understanding; pattern recognition and machine learning; deep learning; multi-view geometry and 3D computer vision; image analysis, detection and recognition; multimedia; biomedical and assistive technology; digital forensics and biometrics; image processing for cultural heritage; robot vision; etc.
Image Analysis and Processing - Iciap 2022
The proceedings set LNCS 13231, 13232, and 13233 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Image Analysis and Processing, ICIAP 2022, which was held during May 23-27, 2022, in Lecce, Italy, The 168 papers included in the proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from 307 submissions. They deal with video analysis and understanding; pattern recognition and machine learning; deep learning; multi-view geometry and 3D computer vision; image analysis, detection and recognition; multimedia; biomedical and assistive technology; digital forensics and biometrics; image processing for cultural heritage; robot vision; etc.
Citizen Privacy Framework
This book presents the concept of a fuzzy-based recommender system for user account privacy settings that can be used for citizen participation on online political platforms. The elaborated components are exemplarily based on the needs of a political platform implemented during the presidential election in Ecuador. The book readdresses the issue of privacy paradox demonstrating that, indeed, users' actual decisions of being private in most cases diverge with their initial privacy intentions. The two concepts presented in the book - the citizen privacy profile framework and the prototype fuzzy-based privacy settings recommender system - can be adapted by different organizations such as government institutions, NGOs, or private online service providers to meet their specific needs. The book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the areas of usage modeling, privacy, system design, and for service providers in eDemocracy.
Exploring Representation in Evolutionary Level Design
Automatic content generation is the production of content for games, web pages, or other purposes by procedural means. Search-based automatic content generation employs search-based algorithms to accomplish automatic content generation. This book presents a number of different techniques for search-based automatic content generation where the search algorithm is an evolutionary algorithm. The chapters treat puzzle design, the creation of small maps or mazes, the use of L-systems and a generalization of L-system to create terrain maps, the use of cellular automata to create maps, and, finally, the decomposition of the design problem for large, complex maps culminating in the creation of a map for a fantasy game module with designersupplied content and tactical features. The evolutionary algorithms used for the different types of content are generic and similar, with the exception of the novel sparse initialization technique are presented in Chapter 2. The points where the content generation systems vary are in the design of their fitness functions and in the way the space of objects being searched is represented. A large variety of different fitness functions are designed and explained, and similarly radically different representations are applied to the design of digital objects all of which are, essentially, maps for use in games.
Affordance Theory in Game Design
Games, whether educational or recreational, are meant to be fun. How do we ensure that the game delivers its intent? The answer to this question is playtesting. However, a haphazard playtest process cannot discover play experience from various dimensions. Players' perceptions, affordances, age, gender, culture, and many more human factors influence play experience. A playtest requires an intensive experimental process and scientific protocols to ensure that the outcomes seen are reliable for the designer. Playtesting and players' affordances are the focus of this book. This book is not just about the playtest procedures but also demonstrates how they lead to the conclusions obtained when considering data sets. The playtest process or playtest stories differ according to the hypothesis under investigation. We cover examples of playtesting to identify the impact of human factors, such as age and gender, to examine a player's preferences for game objects' design and colors. The book details topics to reflect on possible emotional outcomes of the player at the early stages of game design as well as the methodology for presenting questions to players in such a way as to elicit authentic feedback. This book is intended mainly for game designers, researchers, and developers. However, it provides a general understanding of affordances and human factors that can be informative for readers working in any domain.
Ellipse Fitting for Computer Vision
Because circular objects are projected to ellipses in images, ellipse fitting is a first step for 3-D analysis of circular objects in computer vision applications. For this reason, the study of ellipse fitting began as soon as computers came into use for image analysis in the 1970s, but it is only recently that optimal computation techniques based on the statistical properties of noise were established. These include renormalization (1993), which was then improved as FNS (2000) and HEIV (2000). Later, further improvements, called hyperaccurate correction (2006), HyperLS (2009), and hyper-renormalization (2012), were presented. Today, these are regarded as the most accurate fitting methods among all known techniques. This book describes these algorithms as well implementation details and applications to 3-D scene analysis. We also present general mathematical theories of statistical optimization underlying all ellipse fitting algorithms, including rigorous covariance and bias analyses and the theoretical accuracy limit. The results can be directly applied to other computer vision tasks including computing fundamental matrices and homographies between images. This book can serve not simply as a reference of ellipse fitting algorithms for researchers, but also as learning material for beginners who want to start computer vision research. The sample program codes are downloadable from the website: https: //sites.google.com/a/morganclaypool.com/ellipse-fitting-for-computer-vision-implementation-and-applications.
Boosting-Based Face Detection and Adaptation
Face detection, because of its vast array of applications, is one of the most active research areas in computer vision. In this book, we review various approaches to face detection developed in the past decade, with more emphasis on boosting-based learning algorithms. We then present a series of algorithms that are empowered by the statistical view of boosting and the concept of multiple instance learning. We start by describing a boosting learning framework that is capable to handle billions of training examples. It differs from traditional bootstrapping schemes in that no intermediate thresholds need to be set during training, yet the total number of negative examples used for feature selection remains constant and focused (on the poor performing ones). A multiple instance pruning scheme is then adopted to set the intermediate thresholds after boosting learning. This algorithm generates detectors that are both fast and accurate. We then present two multiple instance learning schemesfor face detection, multiple instance learning boosting (MILBoost) and winner-take-all multiple category boosting (WTA-McBoost). MILBoost addresses the uncertainty in accurately pinpointing the location of the object being detected, while WTA-McBoost addresses the uncertainty in determining the most appropriate subcategory label for multiview object detection. Both schemes can resolve the ambiguity of the labeling process and reduce outliers during training, which leads to improved detector performances. In many applications, a detector trained with generic data sets may not perform optimally in a new environment. We propose detection adaption, which is a promising solution for this problem. We present an adaptation scheme based on the Taylor expansion of the boosting learning objective function, and we propose to store the second order statistics of the generic training data for future adaptation. We show that with a small amount of labeled data in the new environment, the detector'sperformance can be greatly improved. We also present two interesting applications where boosting learning was applied successfully. The first application is face verification for filtering and ranking image/video search results on celebrities. We present boosted multi-task learning (MTL), yet another boosting learning algorithm that extends MILBoost with a graphical model. Since the available number of training images for each celebrity may be limited, learning individual classifiers for each person may cause overfitting. MTL jointly learns classifiers for multiple people by sharing a few boosting classifiers in order to avoid overfitting. The second application addresses the need of speaker detection in conference rooms. The goal is to find who is speaking, given a microphone array and a panoramic video of the room. We show that by combining audio and visual features in a boosting framework, we can determine the speaker's position very accurately. Finally, we offer our thoughts on future directions for face detection. Table of Contents: A Brief Survey of the Face Detection Literature / Cascade-based Real-Time Face Detection / Multiple Instance Learning for Face Detection / Detector Adaptation / Other Applications / Conclusions and Future Work
Camera Networks
As networks of video cameras are installed in many applications like security and surveillance, environmental monitoring, disaster response, and assisted living facilities, among others, image understanding in camera networks is becoming an important area of research and technology development. There are many challenges that need to be addressed in the process. Some of them are listed below: - Traditional computer vision challenges in tracking and recognition, robustness to pose, illumination, occlusion, clutter, recognition of objects, and activities; - Aggregating local information for wide area scene understanding, like obtaining stable, long-term tracks of objects; - Positioning of the cameras and dynamic control of pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras for optimal sensing; - Distributed processing and scene analysis algorithms; - Resource constraints imposed by different applications like security and surveillance, environmental monitoring, disaster response, assisted living facilities, etc. In this book, we focus on the basic research problems in camera networks, review the current state-of-the-art and present a detailed description of some of the recently developed methodologies. The major underlying theme in all the work presented is to take a network-centric view whereby the overall decisions are made at the network level. This is sometimes achieved by accumulating all the data at a central server, while at other times by exchanging decisions made by individual cameras based on their locally sensed data. Chapter One starts with an overview of the problems in camera networks and the major research directions. Some of the currently available experimental testbeds are also discussed here. One of the fundamental tasks in the analysis of dynamic scenes is to track objects. Since camera networks cover a large area, the systems need to be able to track over such wide areas where there could be both overlapping and non-overlapping fields of view of the cameras, as addressedin Chapter Two: Distributed processing is another challenge in camera networks and recent methods have shown how to do tracking, pose estimation and calibration in a distributed environment. Consensus algorithms that enable these tasks are described in Chapter Three. Chapter Four summarizes a few approaches on object and activity recognition in both distributed and centralized camera network environments. All these methods have focused primarily on the analysis side given that images are being obtained by the cameras. Efficient utilization of such networks often calls for active sensing, whereby the acquisition and analysis phases are closely linked. We discuss this issue in detail in Chapter Five and show how collaborative and opportunistic sensing in a camera network can be achieved. Finally, Chapter Six concludes the book by highlighting the major directions for future research. Table of Contents: An Introduction to Camera Networks / Wide-Area Tracking / Distributed Processing in Camera Networks / Object and Activity Recognition / Active Sensing / Future Research Directions
Information Theory Tools for Computer Graphics
Information theory (IT) tools, widely used in scientific fields such as engineering, physics, genetics, neuroscience, and many others, are also emerging as useful transversal tools in computer graphics. In this book, we present the basic concepts of IT and how they have been applied to the graphics areas of radiosity, adaptive ray-tracing, shape descriptors, viewpoint selection and saliency, scientific visualization, and geometry simplification. Some of the approaches presented, such as the viewpoint techniques, are now the state of the art in visualization. Almost all of the techniques presented in this book have been previously published in peer-reviewed conference proceedings or international journals. Here, we have stressed their common aspects and presented them in an unified way, so the reader can clearly see which problems IT tools can help solve, which specific tools to use, and how to apply them. A basic level of knowledge in computer graphics is required but basic concepts inIT are presented. The intended audiences are both students and practitioners of the fields above and related areas in computer graphics. In addition, IT practitioners will learn about these applications. Table of Contents: Information Theory Basics / Scene Complexity and Refinement Criteria for Radiosity / Shape Descriptors / Refinement Criteria for Ray-Tracing / Viewpoint Selection and Mesh Saliency / View Selection in Scientific Visualization / Viewpoint-based Geometry Simplification
Cloth Simulation for Computer Graphics
Physics-based animation is commonplace in animated feature films and even special effects for live-action movies. Think about a recent movie and there will be some sort of special effects such as explosions or virtual worlds. Cloth simulation is no different and is ubiquitous because most virtual characters (hopefully!) wear some sort of clothing. The focus of this book is physics-based cloth simulation. We start by providing background information and discuss a range of applications. This book provides explanations of multiple cloth simulation techniques. More specifically, we start with the most simple explicitly integrated mass-spring model and gradually work our way up to more complex and commonly used implicitly integrated continuum techniques in state-of-the-art implementations. We give an intuitive explanation of the techniques and give additional information on how to efficiently implement them on a computer. This book discusses explicit and implicit integration schemes for cloth simulation modeled with mass-spring systems. In addition to this simple model, we explain the more advanced continuum-inspired cloth model introduced in the seminal work of Baraff and Witkin [1998]. This method is commonly used in industry. We also explain recent work by Liu et al. [2013] that provides a technique to obtain fast simulations. In addition to these simulation approaches, we discuss how cloth simulations can be art directed for stylized animations based on the work of Wojan et al. [2016]. Controllability is an essential component of a feature animation film production pipeline. We conclude by pointing the reader to more advanced techniques.
Deformable Surface 3D Reconstruction from Monocular Images
Being able to recover the shape of 3D deformable surfaces from a single video stream would make it possible to field reconstruction systems that run on widely available hardware without requiring specialized devices. However, because many different 3D shapes can have virtually the same projection, such monocular shape recovery is inherently ambiguous. In this survey, we will review the two main classes of techniques that have proved most effective so far: The template-based methods that rely on establishing correspondences with a reference image in which the shape is already known, and non-rigid structure-from-motion techniques that exploit points tracked across the sequences to reconstruct a completely unknown shape. In both cases, we will formalize the approach, discuss its inherent ambiguities, and present the practical solutions that have been proposed to resolve them. To conclude, we will suggest directions for future research. Table of Contents: Introduction / Early Approaches toNon-Rigid Reconstruction / Formalizing Template-Based Reconstruction / Performing Template-Based Reconstruction / Formalizing Non-Rigid Structure from Motion / Performing Non-Rigid Structure from Motion / Future Directions
An Introduction to Verification of Visualization Techniques
As we increase our reliance on computer-generated information, often using it as part of our decision-making process, we must devise tools to assess the correctness of that information. Consider, for example, software embedded on vehicles, used for simulating aircraft performance, or used in medical imaging. In those cases, software correctness is of paramount importance as there's little room for error. Software verification is one of the tools available to attain such goals. Verification is a well known and widely studied subfield of computer science and computational science and the goal is to help us increase confidence in the software implementation by verifying that the software does what it is supposed to do. The goal of this book is to introduce the reader to software verification in the context of visualization. In the same way we became more dependent on commercial software, we have also increased our reliance on visualization software. The reason is simple: visualization isthe lens through which users can understand complex data, and as such it must be verified. The explosion in our ability to amass data requires tools not only to store and analyze data, but also to visualize it. This book is comprised of six chapters. After an introduction to the goals of the book, we present a brief description of both worlds of visualization (Chapter 2) and verification (Chapter 3). We then proceed to illustrate the main steps of the verification pipeline for visualization algorithms. We focus on two classic volume visualization techniques, namely, Isosurface Extraction (Chapter 4) and Direct Volume Rendering (Chapter 5). We explain how to verify implementations of those techniques and report the latest results in the field of verification of visualization techniques. The last chapter concludes the book and highlights new research topics for the future.
Finite Element Method Simulation of 3D Deformable Solids
This book serves as a practical guide to simulation of 3D deformable solids using the Finite Element Method (FEM). It reviews a number of topics related to the theory and implementation of FEM approaches: measures of deformation, constitutive laws of nonlinear materials, tetrahedral discretizations, and model reduction techniques for real-time simulation. Simulations of deformable solids are important in many applications in computer graphics, including film special effects, computer games, and virtual surgery. The Finite Element Method has become a popular tool in many such applications. Variants of FEM catering to both offline and real-time simulation have had a mature presence in computer graphics literature. This book is designed for readers familiar with numerical simulation in computer graphics, who would like to obtain a cohesive picture of the various FEM simulation methods available, their strengths and weaknesses, and their applicability in various simulation scenarios. The book is also a practical implementation guide for the visual effects developer, offering a lean yet adequate synopsis of the underlying mathematical theory. Chapter 1 introduces the quantitative descriptions used to capture the deformation of elastic solids, the concept of strain energy, and discusses how force and stress result as a response to deformation. Chapter 2 reviews a number of constitutive models, i.e., analytical laws linking deformation to the resulting force that has successfully been used in various graphics-oriented simulation tasks. Chapter 3 summarizes how deformation and force can be computed discretely on a tetrahedral mesh, and how an implicit integrator can be structured around this discretization. Finally, chapter 4 presents the state of the art in model reduction techniques for real-time FEM solid simulation and discusses which techniques are suitable for which applications. Topics discussed in this chapter include linear modal analysis, modal warping, subspace simulation, and domain decomposition.
Computational Methods for Integrating Vision and Language
Modeling data from visual and linguistic modalities together creates opportunities for better understanding of both, and supports many useful applications. Examples of dual visual-linguistic data includes images with keywords, video with narrative, and figures in documents. We consider two key task-driven themes: translating from one modality to another (e.g., inferring annotations for images) and understanding the data using all modalities, where one modality can help disambiguate information in another. The multiple modalities can either be essentially semantically redundant (e.g., keywords provided by a person looking at the image), or largely complementary (e.g., meta data such as the camera used). Redundancy and complementarity are two endpoints of a scale, and we observe that good performance on translation requires some redundancy, and that joint inference is most useful where some information is complementary. Computational methods discussed are broadly organized into ones forsimple keywords, ones going beyond keywords toward natural language, and ones considering sequential aspects of natural language. Methods for keywords are further organized based on localization of semantics, going from words about the scene taken as whole, to words that apply to specific parts of the scene, to relationships between parts. Methods going beyond keywords are organized by the linguistic roles that are learned, exploited, or generated. These include proper nouns, adjectives, spatial and comparative prepositions, and verbs. More recent developments in dealing with sequential structure include automated captioning of scenes and video, alignment of video and text, and automated answering of questions about scenes depicted in images.
Virtual Crowds
This volume presents novel computational models for representing digital humans and their interactions with other virtual characters and meaningful environments. In this context, we describe efficient algorithms to animate, control, and author human-like agents having their own set of unique capabilities, personalities, and desires. We begin with the lowest level of footstep determination to steer agents in collision-free paths. Steering choices are controlled by navigation in complex environments, including multi-domain planning with dynamically changing situations. Virtual agents are given perceptual capabilities analogous to those of real people, including sound perception, multi-sense attention, and understanding of environment semantics which affect their behavior choices. The roles and impacts of individual attributes, such as memory and personality are explored. The animation challenges of integrating a number of simultaneous behavior and movement demands on an agent are addressed through an open source software system. Finally, the creation of stories and narratives with groups of agents subject to planning and environmental constraints culminates the presentation.
Vision-Based Interaction
In its early years, the field of computer vision was largely motivated by researchers seeking computational models of biological vision and solutions to practical problems in manufacturing, defense, and medicine. For the past two decades or so, there has been an increasing interest in computer vision as an input modality in the context of human-computer interaction. Such vision-based interaction can endow interactive systems with visual capabilities similar to those important to human-human interaction, in order to perceive non-verbal cues and incorporate this information in applications such as interactive gaming, visualization, art installations, intelligent agent interaction, and various kinds of command and control tasks. Enabling this kind of rich, visual and multimodal interaction requires interactive-time solutions to problems such as detecting and recognizing faces and facial expressions, determining a person's direction of gaze and focus of attention, tracking movement of thebody, and recognizing various kinds of gestures. In building technologies for vision-based interaction, there are choices to be made as to the range of possible sensors employed (e.g., single camera, stereo rig, depth camera), the precision and granularity of the desired outputs, the mobility of the solution, usability issues, etc. Practical considerations dictate that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution to the variety of interaction scenarios; however, there are principles and methodological approaches common to a wide range of problems in the domain. While new sensors such as the Microsoft Kinect are having a major influence on the research and practice of vision-based interaction in various settings, they are just a starting point for continued progress in the area. In this book, we discuss the landscape of history, opportunities, and challenges in this area of vision-based interaction; we review the state-of-the-art and seminal works in detecting and recognizing the human body and its components; we explore both static and dynamic approaches to "looking at people" vision problems; and we place the computer vision work in the context of other modalities and multimodal applications. Readers should gain a thorough understanding of current and future possibilities of computer vision technologies in the context of human-computer interaction.
Online Multiplayer Games
This lecture introduces fundamental principles of online multiplayer games, primarily massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), suitable for students and faculty interested both in designing games and in doing research on them. The general focus is human-centered computing, which includes many human-computer interaction issues and emphasizes social computing, but also, looks at how the design of socio-economic interactions extends our traditional notions of computer programming to cover human beings as well as machines. In addition, it demonstrates a range of social science research methodologies, both quantitative and qualitative, that could be used by students for term papers, or by their professors for publications. In addition to drawing upon a rich literature about these games, this lecture is based on thousands of hours of first-hand research experience inside many classic examples, including World of Warcraft, The Matrix Online, Anarchy Online, Tabula Rasa, Entropia Universe, Dark Age of Camelot, Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, Tale in the Desert, EVE Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Pirates of the Burning Sea, and the non-game virtual world Second Life. Among the topics covered are historical-cultural origins of leading games, technical constraints that shape the experience, rolecoding and social control, player personality and motivation, relationships with avatars and characters, virtual professions and economies, social relations inside games, and the implications for the external society. Table of Contents: Introduction / Historical-Cultural Origins / Technical Constraints / Rolecoding and Social Control / Personality and Motivation / Avatars and Characters / Virtual Professions and Economies / Social Relations Inside Games / Implications for External Society
Heterogeneous Spatial Data
New data acquisition techniques are emerging and are providing fast and efficient means for multidimensional spatial data collection. Airborne LIDAR surveys, SAR satellites, stereo-photogrammetry and mobile mapping systems are increasingly used for the digital reconstruction of the environment. All these systems provide extremely high volumes of raw data, often enriched with other sensor data (e.g., beam intensity). Improving methods to process and visually analyze this massive amount of geospatial and user-generated data is crucial to increase the efficiency of organizations and to better manage societal challenges. Within this context, this book proposes an up-to-date view of computational methods and tools for spatio-temporal data fusion, multivariate surface generation, and feature extraction, along with their main applications for surface approximation and rainfall analysis. The book is intended to attract interest from different fields, such as computer vision, computer graphics, geomatics, and remote sensing, working on the common goal of processing 3D data. To this end, it presents and compares methods that process and analyze the massive amount of geospatial data in order to support better management of societal challenges through more timely and better decision making, independent of a specific data modeling paradigm (e.g., 2D vector data, regular grids or 3D point clouds). We also show how current research is developing from the traditional layered approach, adopted by most GIS softwares, to intelligent methods for integrating existing data sets that might contain important information on a geographical area and environmental phenomenon. These services combine traditional map-oriented visualization with fully 3D visual decision support methods and exploit semantics-oriented information (e.g., a-priori knowledge, annotations, segmentations) when processing, merging, and integrating big pre-existing data sets.
