Customer Reviews

Game Physics Engine Development (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive 3D Technology)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book serves as a good introduction to many topics one would fine useful for implementing a physics engine. The writing is very clear, and even a high school student with a good background in mathematics shouldn't have much difficulty comprehending most chapters. Professional developers should probably just stay clear of this book, and go straight to Dave Eberly's "Game Physics." Don't expect to find a robust physics engine in this book either. All demos are pretty rudimentary, poorly organized and even buggy. Nevertheless, true beginners should still find the code easy to read and understand.

I found it a good read, and you can in most cases get a feel for what the writer is trying to achieve....he puts across the basic principle and then goes into a few ways of how you would compensate for such things, such as wobbling on the ground, multiple collisions etc. i.e. Introducing a few bodges etc to get a realistic look...rather than follow the maths to the letter.

Its not what I'd call a basic book which usually cover a lot of spheres and single point collisions, but then its not as advanced as eberlys....its a good intermediate book...definetly worth a read if your new to physics.

Happy coding =)

The author has obviously spent quite a large amount of time around physics and programming, and it really shows throughout the book that he has taken the time to make sure that he not only fully explains himself, but also make sure he has explained an appropriate amount of depth for the engineer who simply wants to make usage of the concepts.

He does, however, make mention that he is primarily concerned with one particular kind of physics engine development (impulse based), and doesn't necessarily always makes full mention of alternative methods. He still does a decent job at explaining the core concepts along with increasing level of difficulty as the book progresses.

For somebody who wants the most basic form of physics, this book is not suitable for that purpose: it is an intermediate level book. The first chapters start out at a very basic level (note: it is obvious to me that the other review by the guy from China saying this book is only beginner level material didn't bother reading beyond the first two chapters), but the rest of the book is clearly not beginner level material.

However, this book is also not a substitute for a really advanced physics engine the likes of which Havoc and Ageia run off into. As well, the code implementations done by the author also reflect only an intermediate level of software engineering, but I admit that may just be an offshoot of simply trying to provide educational examples relative to the discussion.

Overall though, a very good read. Make sure it fits your requirements first though.

I've been trying to develop my own game physics engine for some time and I have tried with several books but this is the first one that helped me to start developing real engine. Other books are either too theoretical or implement each concept independently while engine requires concepts to be implemented in a generic way.

Seriously you know Box2D this will help you make that and more. whats really nice is he doesnt walk you through GUI so you can just make your own to it. Not recommended for those weak in programming however definetly for those with a strong Game GUI and Game concept background. Also make sure you know how to do collision detection on your own in 2d before you approach this book.

This book is written well, and is easy to read. There is math where there needs to be, but it's not overwhelming. The author purposely doesn't dive too deep into certain topics, but points you to references for further reading, and by the end of the book, you've gone through the basics of putting together your own simple, easy to understand 3d physics engine. Granted, it only does basic rigid body simulation, but that's what most will want out of it anyways. Again, there are brief discussions of further development and references of material to follow up with in those cases.

This book is OK, has a decent introductory coverage and wording. I would have liked to see more in-depth analysis of different optimizations and topics like fracture (now that DMM is so popular) or even ragdolls.

Probably not as essential as Christer Ericson's Real-Time Collision Detection (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive 3-D Technology), I do believe the book is a good complement for this one.

I'd like to see another edition covering more advanced techniques (mixed with Computer Animation) like Kinematics, Dynamics and so on. I also suggest an edition mixing GPGPU (CUDA, OpenCL) with physics.

is a very best practical reference to development a physic game engine. Another books, too many mathematics, other, very simple, this it is a book halfway among mathematics and practical code.

This book is very thorough and has clear explanations with examples of source code. Very helpful in learning the systematics of a game physics engine.

The book only for beginner, after read the book, you can't process stacking and joint, support stacking and joint is crucial for a modern physics engine, if you need these, i recommend sPhysics Based AnimationtCit's must have for physics engine programmer.