With a detailed explanation of vertex and pixel shader programming, coverage of the new Microsoft HLSL (High Level Shader Language), and greater concentration of the fixed function pipeline, the second edition of this popular reference guide will take you farther than you ever imagined! Written by an industry expert, this book will put an end to your struggle to master the concepts. "Beginning Direct3D Game Programming, 2nd Edition" serves as a comprehensive guide for learning DirectX graphics programming. It allows you to start with the basics and ease your way into graphics and animation. As you work your way through the book, however, you'll get a chance to focus on some advanced shader effects to give your games that extra touch of realism.
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"When I finished my first degree in law back in 1993, I was very proud and a little bit exhausted from the long learning period." Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
"When I finished my first degree in law back in 1993, I was very proud and a little bit exhausted from the long learning period." Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Neil
Format:Paperback
I'm a final year computer science student who is doing a final project using DirectX 9.0 to devlop a simple game engine.
This book was the best introduction to DirectX 9.0 I could find. It covers in dertail how the rendering is done and then shows you how to get DirectX to do it for you. I really like the fact that the author shows you how to do all of the vector and matrix maths behind the scenes before telling you that you don't have to worry as it's mostly done for you.
Another amazing feature is he shows you how to set up the DirectX library files to use in Visual Studio 6.0 and .net
I'm looking for a further book on the animation side as that wasn't covered as fully as I would have liked although there is a huge section on quake .md3 files. I'm using .x files and these weren't covered in as much depth.
I'm refuring to the second edition and I haven't seen the first edition. Apparently there were many errors in the 1st edition.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm not really a fan of any of the books in this series, and I think this one will just confuse beginners as it confused me.
There are only a few, basic sample programs, far inferior to the sorts of tutorials you see on the web. The source is all printed out in the book, though, which pads it out quite a bit.
Andre really isn't very good at explaining certain concepts, and several times his way of describing things planted incorrect beliefs in my mind - you really need to be programming and reading the book at the same time for it to fully make sense. Some people might argue that this is the case with all programming books. But I'd say that many books I've read make perfect sense without having to be near a keyboard, and cover much more breadth and depth than this book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.9 out of 5 stars
12 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great place to start
24 Oct 2003
By Jason Lawler
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I've been waiting a long time for a book like this. I'm a Unix software developer by profession, but only a hobbyist when it comes to PC game programming. Back in the good old days, before Windows and DirectX/DirectWhatever, it was possible for us casual programmers to keep up with the technology and have fun experimenting with graphics and game programming. I simply lost interest when the complexity of the operating system and video hardware started getting in the way.
I've been searching for a good book on Direct3D graphics programming for years and finally found one that delivers what it promises. Wolfgang Engel, the author, obviously understands how frustrating the learning process can be. The content of this book is masterfully structured to give the reader a solid understanding of everything you need to know. It's friendly, informal, humorous, and focused. It's a big book, but it reads fast, and keeps you interested.
The author assumes you know C and maybe a little C++. That's about the only prerequisite you'll need to understand the material
I've been searching for a good book on Direct3D graphics programming for years and finally found one that delivers what it promises. Wolfgang Engel, the author, obviously understands how frustrating the learning process can be. The content of this book is masterfully structured to give the reader a solid understanding of everything you need to know. It's friendly, informal, humorous, and focused. It's a big book, but it reads fast, and keeps you interested.
The author assumes you know C and maybe a little C++. That's about the only prerequisite you'll need to understand the material
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent buy!
2 Aug 2003
By Elly Ohene-Adu
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This is a great book with which to learn directx 9; it introduces the new shader abilities of directx. the only downside is that this book is only useful if you have a good background in C programming or better yet c++, not to mention the fact that this 2nd edition doesn't have the original chapters from the 1st edition about physics and collision detection by Amir Geva. if you know C, this is the book for you if you want to get started with direct3D without delving too deep into windows programming and general directx programming
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed feelings
13 April 2004
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
The title of this book is misleading. It's not so much a beginners book as it is a fast-paced primer so you can get on to the good stuff. Chapters five and six (the first that take you into actual code) are *extremely* accelerated and don't really explain exactly what's going on in a lot of the code, though it's easy to figure it out once you load up the samples and play around with them for a while. It's written well, is easy to read, and it gives a great overview of the basics, just don't let the title fool you.
My advice? Go through a bunch of online Direct3D tutorials first, then read this book.
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3.9 out of 5 stars
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