Books...
Author
Hey all, I am considering buying some or all of the following books. Does anyone have any recommendations? (are they good books, are there any alternatives I should consider instead?)
Real-Time Rendering, 2nd ed.
by Tomas Akenine-Moller, Eric Haines
3D Game Engine Architecture : Engineering Real-Time Applications with Wild Magic (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive 3d Technology)
by David H. Eberly
Programming Vertex and Pixel Shaders (Programming Series)
by Wolfgang Engel
Thanks all!
- Fuzz
Hey Fuzz,
Good selection, I have all of the above and I wasn't disapointed by any of them. Real Time rendering was my favorite because it was more pertinant for me at the time of me reading it then the others. But I truly enjoyed them all.
I'm not sure what you are looking for in books though, as all of these books cover quite different topics. I don't think you can be disapointed in Real-time Rendering though.
Shadx
Good selection, I have all of the above and I wasn't disapointed by any of them. Real Time rendering was my favorite because it was more pertinant for me at the time of me reading it then the others. But I truly enjoyed them all.
I'm not sure what you are looking for in books though, as all of these books cover quite different topics. I don't think you can be disapointed in Real-time Rendering though.
Shadx
So, Real Time Rendering is an absolutely amazing book. Whenever I do any kind of graphics hacking it's at my side.
I was also impressed with the GPU Gems series. It covers fairly specific topics (neat algorithms you can implement in shaders), but covers a lot of graphical effects (ambient occlusion, SSS approximations, clipmapping, deferred shading, and some interesting GPGPU stuff). Worth taking a look at, at least, to see if any of the topics are of interest.
I don't have the Eberly books, but I've heard good things about them.
I was also impressed with the GPU Gems series. It covers fairly specific topics (neat algorithms you can implement in shaders), but covers a lot of graphical effects (ambient occlusion, SSS approximations, clipmapping, deferred shading, and some interesting GPGPU stuff). Worth taking a look at, at least, to see if any of the topics are of interest.
I don't have the Eberly books, but I've heard good things about them.
Author
Thanks everyone. I'm basically looking for general 3D graphics programming books that collectively cover a wide variety of topics (hence the books I picked out). Real-Time Rendering seemed like a good in-depth general overview of a lot of 3D techniques. Programming Vertex and Pixel Shaders seemed like a good choice for shaders (something I have yet to tackle), and 3D Game Engine Architecure seemed like a good choice for looking at the "big picture".
So it sounds like I'll get as many of those books as I can afford, depending on how cheaply I find them.
I'll also take a look at the Gems books. Would you recommend them in addition to... or as a replacement of one of the above books?
Thanks!
So it sounds like I'll get as many of those books as I can afford, depending on how cheaply I find them.
I'll also take a look at the Gems books. Would you recommend them in addition to... or as a replacement of one of the above books?
Thanks!
In my opinion you picked some of the best books out of the bunch.
Real-Time Rendering is THE book for anybody working in graphics... everybody working in graphics/animation has a copy of it here at work.
Game Engine Architecture is probably THE best book you are going to find specifically related to building a game engine (and doing it the right way). It has a ton of great information especially in the most important part of the engine, the scenegraph.
Programming Vertex and Pixel Shaders is a really great book for learning shaders, and once you finish that book and feel comfortable with it the GPU Gems series and Shader X series books are really great as they give you some great techniques to implement shaders for :) The Game Programming Gems books are also really great to have for specific implementations and techniques to read/improve on. The other books by David Eberly, Game Engine Design and the Geometric Tools book are also great books to have when working with graphics.
Real-Time Rendering is THE book for anybody working in graphics... everybody working in graphics/animation has a copy of it here at work.
Game Engine Architecture is probably THE best book you are going to find specifically related to building a game engine (and doing it the right way). It has a ton of great information especially in the most important part of the engine, the scenegraph.
Programming Vertex and Pixel Shaders is a really great book for learning shaders, and once you finish that book and feel comfortable with it the GPU Gems series and Shader X series books are really great as they give you some great techniques to implement shaders for :) The Game Programming Gems books are also really great to have for specific implementations and techniques to read/improve on. The other books by David Eberly, Game Engine Design and the Geometric Tools book are also great books to have when working with graphics.
Game Engine Architecture gets my ++! It is very specific to the engine (hell, its in the title, so you should expect that), but it provides a great example as to how a good engine should be created and designed.
The gems series are another good bunch of books. I find the GPU gems of better quality, but covering less different topics (no general programming, network or audio). I haven't read these from cover to cover, but when I'm face with a specific challenge I open them up and see what's already been done. Saves myself alot of trouble doing research since all the articles are normally followed by good References.
The first book from David Eberly, Game Engine Design, is a book I'm more on the fence for recommanding. I think the title is misleading, as it doesn't go in design at all (from an architectural point of view). Rather, it covers Game engine from the Math point of view, and I can't stress how heavy it is on the Math. Beside the misleading title, I still enjoyed it and used it quite a bit. Filling in the gap with other books though.
Shadx
The first book from David Eberly, Game Engine Design, is a book I'm more on the fence for recommanding. I think the title is misleading, as it doesn't go in design at all (from an architectural point of view). Rather, it covers Game engine from the Math point of view, and I can't stress how heavy it is on the Math. Beside the misleading title, I still enjoyed it and used it quite a bit. Filling in the gap with other books though.
Shadx
Author
Quote:Original post by Shadx
The first book from David Eberly, Game Engine Design, is a book I'm more on the fence for recommanding. I think the title is misleading, as it doesn't go in design at all (from an architectural point of view). Rather, it covers Game engine from the Math point of view, and I can't stress how heavy it is on the Math. Beside the misleading title, I still enjoyed it and used it quite a bit. Filling in the gap with other books though.
Shadx
Do you mean Game Engine Design or Game Engine Architecture (they're different books, both by Eberly)? From what I've seen, Game Engine Design is not what I want, like you said, but Game Engine Architecture seems to fit the bill.
Game engine design -> Not really about game engine design in the architectural point of view. Heavy on Math.
Game Engine Architecture -> Great book, that's how I thought Game Engine Design should have been written considering it's title.
Yes, they are both written by Eberly. I also have his Physic book, but I haven't read it all yet. Sadly, I didn't pick up the Geometric Tool for Computer Graphics and heard many good things about it.
Shadx
Game Engine Architecture -> Great book, that's how I thought Game Engine Design should have been written considering it's title.
Yes, they are both written by Eberly. I also have his Physic book, but I haven't read it all yet. Sadly, I didn't pick up the Geometric Tool for Computer Graphics and heard many good things about it.
Shadx
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