Beginning Direct 3D Game Programming [With CDROM]

by Wolfgang Engel

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 193184139X
• ISBN13: 9781931841399
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: Premier Press
• Length: 396 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A book to start with

I own the first edition which was very helpful, I started to learn game programming with this book, and I can say it is a starters book.Don't expect to program a game after that, it is the basic to the expert information on the DirectX API concentrating on Direct3D.

A Great place to start

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

Direct3D at its best

This is the best introduction to Direct3D that I've seen in a book. Engel starts from the gound up, starting from very basic examples to a full-blown character engine with vertex and pixel shader support.My advice: A must to any c++ programmer who wants to start programming games.

Excellent buy!

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

shader and Direct3D introduction

This is THE shader programming introduction from the expert ! Don't miss it. Just playing around with the numerous example programs is fun. In one of the examples you can fly around with two space ships ... both are turned with a quaternion. If you see the shader driven character engine, your yaw will drop like mine.Grab it, buy it, read it. This one maximizes your direct3d knowledge.