Graphic Gems Package: Graphics Gems [Hardcover]

Andrew S. Glassner (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0122861663 | ISBN-13: 978-0122861666 | Publication Date: July 13, 1993 | Edition: 1

"The GRAPHICS GEMS Series" was started in 1990 by Andrew Glassner. The vision and purpose of the Series was - and still is - to provide tips, techniques, and algorithms for graphics programmers. All of the gems are written by programmers who work in the field and are motivated by a common desire to share interesting ideas and tools with their colleagues. Each volume provides a new set of innovative solutions to a variety of programming problems.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Andrew Glassner's contributions to computer graphics span 20 years. His work at Microsoft Research, Xerox PARC, the IBM Watson Research Labs, Bell Communications Research, and the Delft University of Technology has produced numerous technical articles on rendering theory and practice, animation, modeling, and new media. He currently creates new computer graphics tools at Microsoft Research. Among his recent work is Chicken Crossing, a 3D animated short film that has been shown internationally at film festivals and on television, and Dead Air, an interactive game for play over the Internet. Dr. Glassner is the author of the two volume bible, Principles of Digital Image Synthesis and 3D Computer Graphics: A Handbook for Artists and Designers. He has also edited An Introduction to Ray Tracing, and created the Graphics Gems series for programmers.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 864 pages
• Publisher: Academic Press Inc.; 1 edition (July 13, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0122861663
• ISBN-13: 978-0122861666
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,152,190 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A classic, but now a bit dated, December 25, 2003

By 

Fletcher Dunn (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Graphic Gems Package: Graphics Gems (Hardcover)

I own all of the "Graphics Gems" Series. This one is probably the best. It really truly is a classic. I'll get to the reason for only 4 out of 5 stars in a moment.

As the description says, it's a collection of articles that cover solutions related to geometric problems and graphics techniques. It is wonderful for browsing and becoming exposed to little tricks and tips, or just seing the types of problems that people have solved that you never even knew existed. The way I learned to appreciate this book was browsing through it in a bookstore. I didn't have the money at the time to buy it (in college). Later, at work, I needed to solve a geometric problem, and I remembered that this book has an article on the problem I was solving. I went out and bought it, and have since refered to it on many occasions, including writing my own geometry-related book, "3D Math Primer for Graphics and Games Development."

My four-star rating is based on a buyer in today's market. As I mentioned, I own the entire series and have worn the pages to bits. At the time it was first published, I would have given it 5 stars without a doubt. However, some of the material is related to problems that are not important problems for many programmers anymore, such as software rasterization. At the time, some of the material was very new and this book was one of the few places to find it. However, since then, most of it has been well covered in more up-to-date graphics or "geometry toolbox" books that offer better diagrams and clearer explanations. Also, the sample code is old-school style C code and a bit messy in my opinion. It's probably not a good book for learning, either.

In summary, this book, like any "Gem" book, is great for browsing and becoming exposed to concepts. However, for today's buyer, I think there are better alternatives that should be purchased before this book. Real-Time Rendering is a good survey of graphics techniques. Eberly has written some good books for geometry toolbox. For learning, I'd recommend my book of course! But this still is a great classic and many experienced programmers have it on their shelf.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic (though I'm biased), May 30, 2000

By 

Eric Haines (Ithaca, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Graphic Gems Package: Graphics Gems (Hardcover)

I'm the archivist for the free Graphics Gems code base on the web. I do it for free, because this code is so valuable. Others think so, too: there is an average of 100 hits a day on the site. Go look at the online list of what's in this volume to see if it's for you.

This first volume of Gems started it all, and has a lot of great basic articles, like geometry and trig identity cheat sheets. There is much to like here, much of which cannot be found elsewhere, or at least not easily. If a book saves you an hour in your job, it's just paid for itself. If you do computer graphics, this book is likely to save you hours, if not days.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must buy! Has everything you could ever want!, April 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Graphic Gems Package: Graphics Gems (Hardcover)

Has many examples of every graphic related algorithm you can think of. 100+ code snipits in the back. Along with how it works in the front! has everything from Curves to Melting algorithms.