Origens of 3D computer simulations.

Before there was a DirectX or OpenGL graphic library worth using, this book and its introduction volume were all that was available for programmers to use to build high precision 3D computer simulations. For those of us who want to do serious work in 3D simulations and want or want to take the benifits into embedded devices, this is our entry into the depths of the 3D libraries. The current DirectX and OpenGL libaries are the final result of years of study and application of the principals of 3D visual simulation following the groundwork in these volumes.

There are other books which intoduce us to the use of the current 3D libraries but still leave us cold on the best practices of this area of computing. Here is where you can find out the origins and deep internal operations of the current 3D libaries and also how to bring their capabilities to embedded system that don't run Windows or Linux. Hint, smart phone applications and your own robot designs.

This is the second book in the series. The first book covered the basic display mathematics and operational design of sprites and elementary 3D environments. This book advances the process into building shading, textures, mapping and animated figures. The book includes most of the code needed to replicate the projects included in the chapters. A bookjacket CD repeats the libaries and tools from the first book and also all the code and projects covered in this book.

I'm not going to cover the contents of the book in detal because so few copies are left in print. I am going to say that this book is simply one of the best introductions to the underlying processes of 3D presentation on computers that if you have any interest in thouroughly understanding the process you must read this book. It will surface from time to time and then you should grab it immediately. It isn't light reading but it goes down a lot easier than mathematics of quantum mechanics. So, just how serious are you?

If you don't get this book, expect to spend years longer learning how to build that next flight simulator, killer stock prediction program or GPS field application. I'm working with John Deere on a GPS driven robot guidance project to track and acquire farm machines in motion. Think of formation flying on the ground. This is the kind of application that calls for serious simulation work and you can forget DirectX and OpenGL libaries for that kind of work.

I highly recommend this book and its predicessor as a two volume set. In my opinion, the publishers should reprint both books again and add a third which would be entirely about graphics projects that use the first two volumes to support the third.

Other Reviews

• Origens of 3D computer simulations.
• Absolutely Brilliant!
• Not very advanced.