More OpenGL Game Programming [Paperback]

Dave Astle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2005

"More OpenGL Game Programming" covers the use of OpenGL extensions, vertex and fragment programs, special effects, model animation, and more. It includes coverage of shaders, an important new addition to OpenGL. Building upon the foundation laid in "Beginning OpenGL Game Programming", this book offers coverage of intermediate to advanced topics. "More OpenGL Game Programming" is geared towards readers who have an intermediate understanding of game and graphics programming. A majority of the content of the book is not platform-specific, in keeping with the multi-platform API of OpenGL. The methods covered will focus on those that are used in commercial games.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dave Astle received his bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Utah, where he specialized in graphics, artificial intelligence, networking, and compiler theory and design. He has been programming games professionally for several years, and is currently a senior engineer in the Gaming and Graphics group at QUALCOMM Inc. He is the cofounder and Executive Producer of GameDev.net, the leading online community for game developers. He is the co-author of OpenGL Game Programming, has contributed to several other game development books, and has spoken at industry conferences, including the Game Developers Conference. When not absorbing radiation from his monitor, Dave enjoys music, reading, skating, collecting rhinos (not real ones? yet), and playing with his five kids. He lives in San Diego, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 626 pages
• Publisher: Course Technology PTR; 2 edition (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592008305
• ISBN-13: 978-1592008308
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #997,511 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #44 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Graphics & Multimedia > OpenGL

More About the Author

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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Another partially completed project., February 17, 2007

By 

Dave R (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: More OpenGL Game Programming (Paperback)

I'm rating this 2 stars primarily because of the incomplete nature of the project. It's not just that the code samples won't compile, or are so disorganized as to be nearly worthless. Much more irritating are the constant references to code samples that simply don't exist. Time and again the author(s) refer to sample programs that can be 'downloaded from the books web site'. These programs do not exist. The authors lame explanations for the lack of a CD (cost, etc) lose all credibility when one comes to the realization that the likely reason a CD doesn't exist is because the vast majority of the sample programs referred to in the text don't exist, either. Any hope that new code samples my someday appear on the book site seems futile as well - the site hasn't been updated in a year and a half. One is left with the feeling that this is clearly a project that was shipped when only partially completed. I feel ripped off; taken advantage of.

On the plus side, portions of the book are well written and informative. It is, in spite of it's shortcomings, one of the better books I've found for explaining a variety of GL techniques commonly used in games. It's a shame it doesn't live up to it's promise; if the authors had been a little more diligent in completing the project before publishing it, it could have been a world-beater. Instead it's just another slightly below average disappointment.

I also have a real problem with the fact that the author is writing reviews (typically 4 star ratings) for books that his own organisation is involved in publishing. If that isn't a conflict of interest I don't know what is. I feel Amazon compromises their credibility by allowing clearly non-objective 'reviews' to be listed with the books. If the author wants to write a little blurb, thats fine, but don't let them rate products they have a financial interest in.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent overview of advanced graphics, March 6, 2006

By 

David Johnson (Redmond, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: More OpenGL Game Programming (Paperback)

"More OpenGL Game Programming" takes the basic foundation of "OpenGL Game Programming" and takes it to a professional level. I currently am taking advanced graphics courses in college, and this book has managed to match pound-for-pound the amount of graphics techniques covered in advanced courses. This book is definitely designed with the serious programmer aimed at professional-level work in mind, and it delivers generously.

The book is structured as a series of articles of varying lengths addressing a large number of advanced topics in graphics. It starts with giving better methods to store and pass data around than in the previous volume, which can be applied to all of the techniques thereafter. A few small articles about mildly interesting topics serve as appetizers to the main course: shaders. The author clearly recognizes the importance of shaders and spends a fitting amount of time discussing them. The examples start out simple and demonstrate practical uses of shaders, making sure the reader comes out of these large chapters with a working knowledge of what shaders are for and how to use them.

With shaders mastered, the rest of the book dives into a feast of useful graphics techniques and tricks. It effectively covers the various solutions available to common graphical goals and effectively conveys when they can and can't be used, their costs and benefits, and other important information that not only helps implement but also helps the reader decide when to use each technique for the best effect.

Don't underestimate this book; it is massive as well as meaty. If you are passionate about computer graphics you won't be able to skip a page. If you're a professional, this book is full of valuable reference material and details about implementing the latest innovations in graphics. This book doesn't have a place on my bookshelf; it has a place on my desk.

That said, the only thing that is badly lacking is the source code. The book does not come with a CD, but rather allows the reader to download source code from the author's website. The included examples are fairly well-constructed, but the code base is incomplete. Most depressingly, the source code for the shader wrapper - which the author uses in most of the code examples for shaders - is not available currently. While having the interface design is nice, it does require that the reader implement it in order to directly copy the code examples from the book, which might feel tedious when one is anxious to actually start messing around with shaders. However don't think that the source code is totally useless; there's a good deal of useful source on the web site to sift through.

The complaints out of the way I must reiterate that this is the best graphics book I have seen available and was worth not only every penny but more. I strongly recommend "More OpenGL Game Programming" to to student who's looking to take amateur graphics programming to the professional level or the professional looking for a good resource for the latest graphics techniques used in games today.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Actually what i want!, March 18, 2009

By 

Levent Ahmet Sevgili (istanbul, turkey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: More OpenGL Game Programming (Paperback)

There are too many books around about opengl programming or game programming, but there are few about opengl + game programming, but there is one about opengl + game programming + detailed contents, "More Opengl Game Programming". I also read the first version of this chain, "Beginning opengl game programming", it was fast and rich read for me, less but rich contents for me and this one is really cool. Too many specific techniques are covered, sky texturing, terrain rendering, rendering fur etc... They give the main idea under the hood with sufficient manner of telling and examples,I recommend the book.