Tricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus-Advanced 3D Graphics and Rasterization (Other Sams) - Softcover

LaMothe, Andre

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0672318350 ISBN 13: 9780672318351

Publisher: Sams, 2003

Synopsis

Today is the greatest time in history to be in the game business. We now have the technology to create games that look real! Sony's Playstation II, XBOX, and Game Cube are cool! But, all this technology isn't easy or trivial to understand - it takes really hard work and lots of Red Bull. The difficulty level of game programming has definitely been cranked up these days in relation to the skill set needed to make games. Andre LaMothe's follow-up book to Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus is the one to read for the latest in 3D game programming. When readers are finished with Tricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus-Advanced 3D Graphics and Rasterization, they will be able to create a full 3D texture-mapped, lit video game for the PC with a software rasterizer they can write themselves. Moreover, they will understand the underlying principles of 3D graphics and be able to better understand and utilize 3D hardware today and in the future.

About this title

Review

Tricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus helps its readers make great progress in creating 3D worlds and the action that goes on in them. To be an ordinary programmer is one thing: you need only learn how to interact with the computer on its own terms, creating buttons and combo boxes that have no significance away from the screen. To be a game programmer--particularly one that writes games with environments that appear three-dimensional to their players--is something else entirely. Such work requires that the flat screen simulates the real world, complete with light, shading, texture, gravity and momentum.

That this large, dense book manages to explain how to design and implement a 3-D game while neither glossing over too many details nor swamping the reader with trivia is a credit to author André LaMothe. He opens by showing (and explaining) the C++ source code of a simple but full-fledged 3-D spaceflight shooter game--a real boost to the reader's confidence. From there, he explains the complicated geometric concepts and mathematics that underlie realistic games (always with an eye toward software algorithms) and shows how to use the many APIs and libraries (including Microsoft DirectX 9.0) that make the world-builder's job easier. Make no mistake: designing and building convincing games with 3-D visuals and behaviours that convincingly approximate real-world physics is hard work. In this book, LaMothe helps you get it done and enjoy the process. --David Wall

Topics covered: how to design and build 3-D worlds and the goings-on within them. Aside from mathematics and geometry, this book focuses on wireframe models, shading, rendering and animation. Microsoft DirectX 9.0 gets special attention. --Robert Lawton, Amazon.com

Synopsis

The most advanced coverage of 3D game programming that teaches real 3D engine building to the intermediate to advanced game programmer. *Win32 Programming and DirectX Foundation 7.0 as well as Advanced Mathematics Including Quaternions. *2D and 3D Graphics and Algorithms and 3D Projections and Camera Manipulation. *Wireframe and Solid Rendering and Lighting and Texture Mapping. *Advanced Visibility Algorithms as well as 3D Animation Techniques. Today is the greatest time in history to be in the game business. We now have the technology to create games that look real! Sony's Playstation II, XBOX, and Game Cube are cool! But, all this technology isn't easy or trivial to understand it takes really hard work and lots of Red Bull. The difficulty level of game programming has definitely been cranked up these days in relation to the skill set needed to make games. Andre LaMothe's follow-up book to Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus is the one to read for the latest in 3D game programming. When readers are finished with this book, they will be able to create a full 3D, texture-mapped, lit video game for the PC with a software rasterizer they can write themselves.Moreover, they will understand the underlying principles of 3D graphics and be able to better understand and utilize 3D hardware today and in the future.

Andre LaMothe is the world's best-selling game programming author. His titles include the original work that started it: Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus. He has been programming for over 24 years and holds degrees in mathematics, computer science, and electrical engineering. LaMothe is not only a successful author, but a successful businessman as well. His gaming network, Xtreme Games LLC, spans 269 companies and claims the title of worlds largest virtual game company.

Edition details

• Publisher: Sams
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0672318350
• ISBN 13: 9780672318351
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 1728