Beginning Direct3D Game Programming, Second Edition (Premier Press Game Development) [Paperback]

Wolfgang Engel (Author)

Book Description

Series: Premier Press Game Development | Publication Date: June 12, 2003

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 second edition of this popular reference guide will take you farther than you ever imagined! Written by an industry expert, this book will put an end to your struggle to master the concepts. "Beginning Direct3D Game Programming, 2nd Edition" serves as a comprehensive guide for learning DirectX graphics programming. It allows you to start with the basics and ease your way into graphics and animation. As you work your way through the book, however, you'll get a chance to focus on some advanced shader effects to give your games that extra touch of realism.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Wolfgang Engel is CEO of SoftGroup GmbH and SoftGroup Plska, which offer IT and game development services. These companies produce 3D animations for marketing and advertising activities. Wolfgang holds lectures and workshops on Direct3D programming worldwide and writes tutorials on Direct3D which are presented at www.GameDev.net as well as his own Web site, www.directxgraphics.net. He is the author of "Beginning Direct3D Game Programming" (0761531912).

Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: Muska & Lipman/Premier-Trade; 1 edition (June 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193184139X
• ISBN-13: 978-1931841399
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,073,545 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #51 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Graphics & Multimedia > DirectX

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great place to start, October 24, 2003

By 

Jason Lawler - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginning Direct3D Game Programming, Second Edition (Premier Press Game Development) (Paperback)

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

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent buy!, August 1, 2003

By 

Elly Ohene-Adu (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginning Direct3D Game Programming, Second Edition (Premier Press Game Development) (Paperback)

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

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mixed feelings, April 13, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Beginning Direct3D Game Programming, Second Edition (Premier Press Game Development) (Paperback)

The title of this book is misleading. It's not so much a beginners book as it is a fast-paced primer so you can get on to the good stuff. Chapters five and six (the first that take you into actual code) are *extremely* accelerated and don't really explain exactly what's going on in a lot of the code, though it's easy to figure it out once you load up the samples and play around with them for a while. It's written well, is easy to read, and it gives a great overview of the basics, just don't let the title fool you.

My advice? Go through a bunch of online Direct3D tutorials first, then read this book.