24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent for anyone wanting to learn Direct X, HLSL and other game concepts, January 1, 2007
Overall this is an exceptionally well written book. The text is easy to read, and concise, though that's not to say you understand everything the first time you read it.
The code framework is also pretty good, the naming conventions are decent and the code is clearly written. The framework is consistent throughout the book, and uses inheritance and minor polymorphism which manages to hide a lot of the Direct3D / Win32 initialization, so once you are past these chapters you needn't concern yourself with this code again, and you can intend focus on the code that Frank is trying to explain.
The design is also very modular, a good example of this is found in Chapter 21: Exercise 4 where it asks you to integrate an Environment Mapped sphere for the sky, and Normal mapped water, into a scene which shows a Castle and trees / grass. This was pretty easy, as it just required shifting a few art / source files and tying some loose ends.
The book contains many exercises, a lot of which I found very helpful in understanding the material presented in the text and code samples, they give a good sense of accomplishment and I recommend them if you want to fully understand the concepts taught, and most are generally doable with a bit of research into the DirectX SDK, and rereading the text.
The text also does an excellent job of explaining key DirectX functions, and is usually a lot more approachable than the SDK. It also explains the use of the DirectX texture tool, and Terragen ( a free terrain generator, which is very easy to use)
For anyone looking to learn DirectX 9, HLSL, and the fundamental concepts behind games, then this book will serve as a solid foundation for those willing to take the time to read and understand it.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book is nicely laid out!, August 23, 2006
I have been publishing 2-d and flash games for a bit, and now need to hit DirectX for 3d again (stopped at v8) and need to catch up. There were several things I needed for the new game project starting and it was easy to find all of them right off the bat. I checked first in the index. e.g. I need landscape/terrain generation, .x file loading, and concepts described in pure mathematics (not pseudo code) before showing the actual code. Don't be afraid of matrix math/calculus and get this book. It is a total re-write from the ground up of a previous book. I like this guy.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good book for learning how to use DirectX9, December 23, 2006
This is a great book. Mr. Luna provides an incredible amount of information all with good detail and clear wording. He doesn't waste time by teaching you irrelevant or outdated topics that aren't used anymore like other books. The more difficult topics are explained well and example code is abundant. This book is recommended for any aspiring game programmer.
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