Thread: 3D Programming Books

  1. #1
    The Defective GRAPE Lurker's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Posts
    949

    3D Programming Books

    I'm looking for a good 3D programming book - one that starts out with the really easy stuff, then moves on to really advanced stuff, explaining everything along the way. Thanks for any ideas !
    Do not make direct eye contact with me.

  2. #2
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    34
    well I've heard a lot of people recommend Tricks of the 3D game programming gurus it uses directx. If your looking for the basics it might be a little advanced for you, I havn't looked at it so I can't say for sure.
    -gunder

    if (problem)
    postcount++;

  3. #3
    If you want to use OpenGL, you can find links to the Red & Blue books on the stickey at the top of the game programming board.

  4. #4
    Visionary Philosopher Sayeh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    212
    I would recommend "Amazing 3D Programming" by Andre Lemothe. The main reason being, it's easy to digest, has only a couple of errors that you can identify easily as you work through it, but it is really good at covering many of the essential basics--

    vectors
    matrices
    texture mapping
    hidden surface removal (HSR)
    camera points of view
    element relationships in 3D.
    BSP (binary space partitioning)

    You gotta start somewhere, this is a good place to start.
    It is not the spoon that bends, it is you who bends around the spoon.

  5. #5
    The Defective GRAPE Lurker's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Posts
    949
    Hey gunder and Sayeh, did you even notice the similarities between the authors of the two books ? Anyway, thanks for the suggestions !
    Do not make direct eye contact with me.

  6. #6
    Visionary Philosopher Sayeh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    212
    Here's the thing-- if you start working with vectors in your drawing engine, you'll never go back. Every high end game engine out there (doom, unreal, etc.) uses vector math.

    It takes a difficult geometry problem and makes it simple to work with because you start dealing with an easy and fun way to identify space in 3-dimensions, while gaining certain algorithms for calculating relationship information (for example, I don't care how close I am to the wall, I just want to know what side of it I'm on).

    furthermore, you get away from consumptive code required to do with sin, cos, and tan. Your accuracy over distance goes way up... it's just so much easier and more powerful.
    It is not the spoon that bends, it is you who bends around the spoon.

Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. 3d graphics without API
    By h3ro in forum Game Programming
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 05-31-2008, 11:51 AM
  2. A 3D Program for my 3D models...?
    By Rune Hunter in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 26
    Last Post: 08-19-2004, 10:04 AM
  3. 3D starfield
    By VirtualAce in forum Game Programming
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 06-26-2003, 12:40 PM
  4. 3D SDK for C++ programmers
    By chand in forum Game Programming
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 05-20-2003, 07:38 AM
  5. 3d engines
    By Unregistered in forum Game Programming
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 12-17-2001, 11:19 AM