Real-Time Rendering Tricks and Techniques in DirectX (Premier Press Game Development (Software))

The last several years have seen some exciting advances in the field of real-time graphics. Starting slowly for beginning programmers, this book begins by reviewing recent 3D graphics developments and with an introduction to vectors, matrices, colors, and lighting. Then, it's on to rendering graphics! Learn various vertex and pixel shader techniques, discover how to use video as a texture, and get the scoop on several techniques for picking objects in a scene. Whatever your level of programming expertise, let this book serve as your guide to mastering the possibilities of real-time programming. The last several years have seen some exciting advances in the field of real-time graphics. If you're reading this book, then you've decided that you're ready to learn more about the developments in graphics programming. Starting slowly for beginning programmers, Real-Time Rendering Tricks and Techniques in DirectX begins by reviewing recent 3D graphics developments and with an introduction to vectors, matrices, colors, and lighting. Then it's on to rendering graphics! Learn various vertex and pixel shader techniques, discover how to use video as a texture, and get the scoop on several techniques for picking objects in a scene. Whatever your level of programming expertise, let this book serve as your guide to mastering the possibilities of real-time graphics programming. I picked this book up about a year ago as it seemed to start from the beginning and cover much ground. Little did I know at the time that this would be the best book I'd find on the topic a year later. The coverage on shadow volumes and shadow maps is impressive. The discussion of things such as the depth buffer and stencil buffers is good. Plus having access to the various vertex and pixel shaders code made it easy to learn from just reviewing the code. Outside of the SDK, this is the only D3D book that I continue to reference, even as I move to DirectX 9. This volume will provide explanations of how to implement commonly asked for features using the DirectX 8 API. This book will be of interest to practitioners of all levels because of its blend of theory and implementation