Customer Reviews

Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice in C (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Once upon a time any student interested in computer graphics was referred straight to this book, and indeed what you've got here is an amazing smorgasbord of nearly every technique that was state of the art several years ago. Unfortunately the times have moved on and Foley et al. have not quite been able to keep up with them; entire chapters are still devoted to PHIGS, while modern methods of rotation such as quaternions are covered in only the most cursory way.

Another problem is the book's extremely terse, high-level approach to many important concepts; often a mathematical approach or an algorithm will be mentioned as a solution to a given problem (quadtrees, let's say), but once you try to take that knowledge from the chalkboard to the compiler, you begin to realize that there are some important pieces missing. Of course, no one expects a text like this to be a cookbook of code snippets, but as a primary textbook for an applications programmer this falls short. The tiny print and unhelpful illustrations don't improve matters much for pedagogy.

So, even though this is the Classic Textbook, I've found myself better served by a combination of other, more recent books -- Alan Watt's text on graphics in combination with Eric Lengyel's on 3D Mathematics, specifically. They won't cover *everything* there is to know, but they'll do a better job of getting you started than Foley, and the stuff they don't address can be found in other books or SIGGRAPH papers.

Let me reiterate what a few others have said:

"This book is for thinking and researching."

"This is not a book that you can read while sipping a glass of wine..."

"the bible of computer graphics"

This is not a book that you will end up copying source code out of(a good thing). This book was my first step into the hardcore graphics world, and it was great. I don't think that more source code would enhance this book at all, mabye even the opposite. Source code is not what this book is about. If you are planning on implementing some of these algorithms, you must know how to code well, period. This is not a "here's how to code in C" manual, it's a "these are the principles of Computer Graphics." It's everything it claims to be.

I particurally like the excercises at the end of every chapter. Although I don't do them all, it gives me a guide to practice what I learned. The math in this book is not as hard as some make it out to be. It is Matrix/Vector algrebra and some calc. A glossary would have been a nice touch, as some of the vocabulary can be overwhelming at times, especially the acronyms.

"Recommended for the hardcore programming freaks." Hope the authors (I'm going to give credit to more than Foley) plan to write again.

Most people don't think of technical computer books as potential "classics", but this is one. I would not recommend this to beginners, but if you already know computer graphics, you should have this book. If you can, take a class where the instructor is using this book to teach. You will not regret it. Since it is, in essence, a teaching book, you will NOT find compelte solutions to graphics problems. The authors leave it up to the reader to implement everything in C, and to complete the algorithms. As a basic example, you will not find a complete integer line drawing algorithm in this book. The reader is only given a formula on how to draw lines from point A to a point B East-North-East of point A. You have to figure out how to do the rest. That is why this book is NOT for the beginner, unless you have an experienced teacher guiding you through it.

I don't know why people seem to think they can just pick up a graphics book on theory and grasp concepts without having to wade through mathematical formulas. Computer graphics IS like nuclear physics, it is not a walk through the park. This book, entitled "The Computer Graphics Bible" is your park guide. It has a comprehensive overview of most concepts, and tons of references to more info on those subjects. There isn't much code, but that's a good thing, because the only wy you can learn this stuff is by implementation, and that's how it should be done, not by copying code from a book. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

This book will acquaint you with nearly every graphic technique and algorithm. It's THE book to have if you expect to be involved in more than a narrow range of graphics programming. If your ambition is limited to writing a Quake-like engine, you'll find yourself mouthing silliness like "it covers too many topics, many of which are trivial and unimportant such as the coverage of 2D graphics." This book does not hold your hand; the algorithms are explained thoroughly but you are expected to write your own code. If you're looking for off-the-shelf solutions or a way to cheat on your homework, this isn't your book.
I've owned this book for nearly ten years and have turned to it time and again when taking on new tasks related to graphics - color space conversions, lighting algorithms in 3D, dithering, 2D primitive rendering for print graphics, and many more... it's the best value I've ever gotten in a computer-related book.

An excellent book for the basics of computer graphics and for the advances up until 1990 [when the second edition was released]. Much of the information is out of date (like a lot of the 2D "Simple Raster Graphics Package" stuff, and text talking about circa 1980 plotters, scanners, and keyboards. None of the exciting developments from 1990 to 1998 are included. This book was an easy 5 stars when the second edition came out in 1990, but now I'd suggest the Watt books to get a good general overview of computer graphics.

For someone new to the field of computer graphics, I was looking for a book that would provide me with a solid from-the-ground up discussion. This book meets and exceeds my expectations. The book is well structured and more than thorough enough for a newbie like myself. I like that the author explains not only how to do everything, but describes the various advantages and disadvantages of every technique, usually offering several different techniques to achieve the same result. I plan to read this book cover to cover and then again, there is so much good info.

I have found this book to be _the_ most useful book in my line of work yet. I have been involved in computer graphics and software development for about 10 years, and this stands out as the ideal reference book.

Dont bother with this book if you just want source code. This book is all about explanation of the fundamentals of computer graphics. It is excellent in helping with design descisions and implementation strategies. Dont overlook this book if you are in anyway involved with the creation of a computer graphics application. The theory and algorithms described are old, but these are still used today - interestingly other reviewers seem to think this is bad, its not. It saves you spending months researching a method only to find it was already mentioned in this book, and the benefits and disadvantages are often written well with solid references.

In my opinion, in Computer Graphics, this is the Bible. The theories and algorithms assist in solving any problem you will find in the computer graphics world. It wont give you the code, but it will give you a solution.

I have nearly completed my first computer graphics class (of several) at Stanford University, and this was the primary text. While this is definitely not a text for the "cut-and-paste"-programmers, for anyone with a real interest in computer graphics (and the psychophysiology, math, and theory behind it), this is definitely *the* book to read. The writing style is actually very accessible, provided you are willing to work to understand it. While I knew I was interested in graphics prior to reading this book, I'm absolutely enfatuated now. For anyone considering advanced graphics, this book will definitely help you decide whether or not you really wish to pursue the field.

This book is a great book for general knowledge but all of the chapters that deal with talking about hardware is badly outdated. I got this book mostly for algorithms. I got much more then what I expected but most of everything I needed was there. Its a very good book for learning about line drawing, and polygon rasteration algorithms. Don't expect anything up to date like shaders though.