3D graphics engine book?
Author
I'm looking for a good book on 3D graphics engines, more specificly one on Direct3D. I looked through the Book resources and searched the forums a bit and these books seemed to come up quite a bit:
3D Game Engine Design by David H. Eberly
3D Game Engine Architecture by David H. Eberly
3D game engine programming by Stefan Zerbst
The thing is I don't know very much about Direct3D (or DirectX in general for that matter). Is there a better book that I should start with, or read at the same time, or would one of those cover everything I need to know?
The books by David Eberly are excellent but they are of quite adavance nature. And i think they dont disucss Direct3D much if you are looking for that. Although the WildMagic engine contains renderers for opengl and direct3d both now. In general, you have to be good with methematics stuff to digest it.
Stefan Zerbst's book is also very good and sounds like what you are looking for. But agian i doubt it can be advanced stuff if you are new to direct3d.
If you are really new, then start with basic tutorials and books like "Introduction to 3D game programming with directx 9". Then go to advance stuff.
Just my thought...
Stefan Zerbst's book is also very good and sounds like what you are looking for. But agian i doubt it can be advanced stuff if you are new to direct3d.
If you are really new, then start with basic tutorials and books like "Introduction to 3D game programming with directx 9". Then go to advance stuff.
Just my thought...
Agreed. Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 9.0 by Frank D. Luna is a fantastic book if you are just getting started with directX.
It covers drawing primitives, making terrain, walking on terrain, text, stenciling, texturing, basic lighting and basic HLSL.
With that, and a bit of creativity, you can make a very very simple FPS or something similar. Its a great place to start.
It covers drawing primitives, making terrain, walking on terrain, text, stenciling, texturing, basic lighting and basic HLSL.
With that, and a bit of creativity, you can make a very very simple FPS or something similar. Its a great place to start.
The book from Zerbst is really cool if you want to learn how to use directx and to learn basic 3d graphics, but there are a lot of good books which can teach you that. The one thing, I think is unique, that makes this book so valueable is that in one of the later chapters he makes a CAD
Author
Thanks! Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 9 sounds like just what I need to get started, then I can pick up one of the other books once I know what I'm doing:)
Not sure how long you want to wait but Frank has a new version of his book which will be out soon.
Book #1 - Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 9.0
book #2 - Introduction to 3D Game Programming with Direct X 9.0c : A Shader Approach. From what I understand this is a similar book with similar topics but he takes a shader approach to everything which is useful for the future.
Frank maintains a pretty good website for the book(s) http://www.moon-labs.com/
Book #1 - Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 9.0
book #2 - Introduction to 3D Game Programming with Direct X 9.0c : A Shader Approach. From what I understand this is a similar book with similar topics but he takes a shader approach to everything which is useful for the future.
Frank maintains a pretty good website for the book(s) http://www.moon-labs.com/
Author
Thanks, I want to study the book over the summer though, while school is out:) I think I'll pick up a copy of his first one, and if I like it get the 2nd edition when it comes out to learn the new shaders.
Stefan Zerbst's book is pretty good. It has a few shortcomings, most notably the fact that his source code either doesn't compile or doesn't run for the most part. For me that didn't take much away as I always learn better by creating my own code based on a book anyway.
I agree with the other posters, though. Start with the intro book since the ones you mentioned are all right around the intermediate to advanced level. You'd probably find yourself looking up way too much DirectX stuff if you jumped right in.
I agree with the other posters, though. Start with the intro book since the ones you mentioned are all right around the intermediate to advanced level. You'd probably find yourself looking up way too much DirectX stuff if you jumped right in.
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