Overview
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.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewThis may be the most thorough, useful, sophisticated advanced guide to real-time 3D game programming ever. Just what you’d expect from André LaMothe.
We’re talking about implementing 3D software rasterizers in code, not just writing to 3D hardware. Says LaMothe, “A real game programmer can write a 3D engine from scratch with blood pouring out of his eyes, on fire, and with needles in his eardrums.” Master this stuff, and it’s almost trivial to nail new 3D APIs. Meantime, you can write games that run on older hardware, including “value software” games. (Makes it easier to break in.)
You’ll start by learning 3D game programming on a virtual computer, sparing you low-level Win32/DirectX details until you’re ready (there’s plenty of DirectX later on). Then, it’s on to the math: trig, vectors, matrices, quaternions. Don’t worry if you missed this stuff in college. LaMothe will teach you, in his own inimitable style.
You’ll build a complete math engine, master 3D coordinate systems, data structures, and wireframe worlds. LaMothe then turns to rendering, from basic lighting and solids through texture mapping, clipping, depth buffering, and visibility. He’s just getting started. There are 150-plus pages of advanced texturing techniques, from perspective-correct texturing and 1/z buffering to trilinear texture filtering. There’s extensive coverage of spatial partitioning and visual surface determination, which help you cull away parts of a scene, focusing processing on visible polygons. Last but not least: physics and optimization.
Be warned: You’ll need a solid grounding in C. A little C++ wouldn’t hurt, either. But if you’ve got that, this book will help you create serious magic. Bill Camarda
Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.