3D Game Engine Design: A Practical Approach to Real-Time Computer Graphics (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive 3D Technology) (Hardcover)

This text is a virtual encyclopaedia of expertise, based on the author's own work and research in the gaming industry. It provides the mathematical notation, algorithms, and C++ code (on the accompanying CD-ROM) needed to build fast and maintainable game engines. Early sections start with the basics, with the math used to work with common 3-D objects (like spheres and boxes). Highlights include a high-powered review of quaternion algebra, the preferred way to transform 3-D data in many cases.

The chapters on graphics pipelines explain the math behind representing and rendering a 3-D world in 2-D with intervening effects like lighting, texture mapping and the like. A variety of current algorithms are provided for representing 3-D scenes, efficient picking (which allows a programmer to determine which object in a 3-D world has been selected) and collision detection (where objects collide virtually). In the game software of today, curves--rather than individual triangles or polygons--are often used to represent 3-D objects. Algorithms that are used to turn curves into rendered surfaces are also provided.

Later sections look at current thinking about animation techniques for characters (including key frames, inverse kinematics and skinning--in which digital skin is fitted over digital bone to create more realistic-looking movement). How to represent terrain inside virtual worlds is also explained. The book closes with excellent material on cutting-edge special effects like lens flare and projected shadows, which can add an extra level of realism to a video game. An appendix examines guidelines for designing object-oriented game software in C++.

Filled with mathematical insight and expert code that puts each principle or algorithm to work, 3-D Game Engine Design provides an expert view of what goes into building a state-of-the-art game engine. --Richard Dragan --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description
A major revision of the international bestseller on game programming!

Graphics hardware has evolved enormously in the last decade. Hardware can now be directly controlled
through techniques such as shader programming, which requires an entirely new thought process of a
programmer. 3D Game Engine Design, Second Edition shows step-by-step how to make a shader-based graphics engine and how to tame the new technology. Much new material has been added, including more than twice the coverage of the essential techniques of scene graph management, as well as new methods for managing memory usage in the new generation of game consoles and portable game players. There are expanded discussions of collision detection, collision avoidance, and physics - all challenging subjects for developers.

* Revision of the classic work on game engines - the core of any game.
* Includes Wild Magic, a commercial quality game engine in source code that illustrates how to build a
real-time rendering system from the lowest-level details all the way to a working game.
* Fully revised and updated in 4 colors, including major new content on shader programming, physics,
and memory management for the next generation game consoles and portables.

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