Customer Reviews

Applied Concepts in Microcomputer Graphics

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POP QUIZ: What does the following matrix formula do? Answer at the end of my review.

RSM =
| a * sx b * sy c * sz |
| d * sx e * sy f * sz |
| g * sx h * sy i * sz |

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I see a lot of used copies of this book available (mine included) but not moving very quickly. I think this is because people are put off by the relative age of the work ('84 is ANCIENT for a computer text) and the fact that it seems to be about Apple II and IBM 8088 graphics. HOWEVER...

What a lot of people don't realize is that this book is a GREAT resource (IMHO) for people who want to get into graphics programming. It has tons of the theory and the math BEHIND graphics calls such as 3D movement and rotation, bezier curves, hidden surface removal, viewer perspective, quaternions, etc., etc. If you really want to get down to the deepest level of understanding the coding behind many games and graphics programs, give this old book a chance.

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(Oh yes, the answer. The above matrix shows you how to combine a rotation transform with a scaling transform in 3D space, cutting the number of total computations you need to perform. Didn't know that? Get this book!)