Slashdot Mirror
Books on High-end Graphics Programming?
Kitsune continues: "Specifically, I need to be able to do 3D animation, and make it look good.. real good. I'm not precisely sure which flavor of graphical styles I'll be aiming for (I'd like to know more about the subject beforehand), but I've been toying with the idea of something that renders a lot like the animation found in the higher quality anime (no, not like Pokemon =P). So, basically what I'm asking is this: are there are decent books out there that offer the oppurtunity to get some good working knowledge of high-end computer graphics programming? The book(s) doesn't necessarily have to be marketed to complete newbies (I'd imagine most would assume a good grip on programming to begin with, anyway.. and no, I'm not interested in using Java or any other language I'm not already familiar with unless there is an overriding reason why it would be a good idea).
There really don't seem to be any books from "a name you can trust" out there (that were printed sometime within the last year or so.. books from 1995 aren't likely to be very helpful to me), so I was wondering if anyone out there with more experience with graphics programming had anything they would like to recommend. =)"
Of course there is the Foley & Vandam "Art of Computer Graphics". This is good for the fundementals. I have done some animation using GL (OpenGL) and have used the book: OpenGL Programming Guide by Woo, Nieder and Davis. This is a good beginning. I didn't like their book a lot, it was o.k., but it seems to be better than others I saw on the book shelf. They don't explain things very clearly. However, with repeated readings I was able to gleam useful information. I did finish the project using this book.
Well there's http://cg.cs.tu-berlin.de/~ki/engines.html
a comprehensive list of many 3D graphics engines.
If you want the best stuff you have to break a few patents and read a few research papers. The latest motion vectoring techniques and modelling techniques are usually only in IEEE journals or something really dry in your college library. They're also usually patented, so you can either spend lots of money on the latest patented algorithms or spend lots of money coding obsolete, unpatented algorithms.
Here are some general resources that might help you get started:
The OpenGL standard is an open API for doing graphics, 3D and animation in particular. On Linux there is a free implementation called Mesa (software only and 3D accelerated). The OpenGL Programming Guide, published by Addison-Wesley for SGI is a good starting point. Its also not a bad introduction to the ideas behind 3D programming, and of course libraries that conform to OpenGL are widely available to start playing with.
Also, don't overlook Foley, Van Dam, Feiner, Hughes, Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice. It is considered the "definitive" guide on computer graphics. It is much more than just 3D graphics and animation. It really covers just about everything on the subject. It's not really a practical guide though, it is more of a introduction to principles. It's a little dated (1990, 2nd ed 1992), especially by your criterion.
Finally, the Graphics Gems books and Siggraph publications showcase a lot of specialized, cutting edge techniques. The Siggraph videos are pretty mind blowing.
Animation and 3D are big topics; once you've looked over some general resources, you'll have to pin down your project more.
Good luck.
You say the books from befor about 1995 would be
of little use. This is NOT true. The field has
not changed that much. It you are in the PC world
it may _seem_ to be changing fast but what is
happening is that hardware prices are falling
allowing high end graphics techniques to finally
become accessable to the masses. Today's best PC
graphics systems still don't compare to some systems built by SGI in 1995.
Same with speach recognition. All of the best
papers where writen in the 1970's
Try getting a book like yahooligans killer websites for ideas.Try http://www.digitaldivas.com it is a group of women that have incredible websites and most of them make their money by developing sites and the graphics for them. Quite a few of them have full explanations of how they did what they did and tutorials for you to learn how.
Foley VanDamn is THE textbook for most graphics things you might have to do. On the negative side it is almost impossible to read :(
Although it contains almost everything you need to know I don't recommend it unless you the kind of person who can read computer textbooks.
A must have book to get you started in the OpenGL Red book. The actual name is the "OpenGL Programming Guide : The Official Guide to Learning OpenGL, Version 1.2, Third Edition" by the OpenGL Architecture Review Board. This covers all of the computer graphics basics and how to do them in OpenGL
For a beginner I recommend "3D Computer Graphics, Third Edition" by Alan Watt
A much more advanced text which covers more recent tech is "Advanced Animation and Rendering Techniques, Theory and Practice" by Alan and Mark Watt
There are many, many more good books, but these should get you quite far.
Be insightful. If you can't be insightful, be informative.
If you can't be informative, use my name