Mathematics for 3D Game Programming and Computer Graphics, Third Edition

Pdf Book Name: Mathematics for 3D Game Programming and Computer Graphics, Third Edition
Author: Eric Lengyel
Publisher: Cengage
ISBN-10, 13: 1435458869,9781435458864
Year: 2011
Pages: 624 pages
Language: English
File size: 9 MB
File format: PDF,EPUB

Download Mathematics for 3D Game Programming and Computer Graphics, Third Edition Pdf Book Description:

This book illustrates mathematical techniques that a software engineer would need to develop a professional-quality 3D graphics engine. Particular attention is paid to the derivation of key results in order to provide a complete exposition of the subject and to encourage a deep understanding of the mechanics behind the mathematical tools used by game programmers. Most of the material in this book is presented in a manner that is independent of the underlying 3D graphics system used to render images. We assume that the reader is familiar with the basic concepts needed to use a 3D graphics library and understands how models are constructed out of vertices and polygons. However, the book begins with a short review of the rendering pipeline as it is implemented in the OpenGL library. When it becomes necessary to discuss a topic in the context of a 3D graphics library, OpenGL is the one that we choose due to its availability across multiple platforms.

Each chapter ends with a summary of the important equations and formulas derived within the text. The summary is intended to serve as a reference tool so that the reader is not required to wade through long discussions of the subject matter in order to find a single result. There are also several exercises at the end of each chapter. The answers to exercises requiring a calculation are given in Appendix E. A typical scene that is to be rendered as 3D graphics is composed of many separate objects. The geometrical forms of these objects are each represented by a set of vertices and a particular type of graphics primitive that indicates how the vertices are connected to produce a shape. Figure 1.1 illustrates the ten types of graphics primitive defined by the OpenGL library. Graphics hardware is capable of rendering a set of individual points, a series of line segments, or a group of filled polygons. Most of the time, the surface of a 3D model is represented by a list of triangles, each of which references three points in a list of vertices. The usual modern 3D graphics board possesses a dedicated Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) that executes instructions independently of the Central Processing Unit (CPU). The CPU sends rendering commands to the GPU, which then performs the rendering operations while the CPU continues with other tasks. This is called asynchronous operation.