Customer Reviews

Programming Vertex & Pixel Shaders (Charles River Media Graphics)

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

 

 

The book starts with short introduction and pipeline overview giving an overall picture of how vertex and pixel shaders interact, and how data flows between them and the hardware. Next, it introduces DirectX High-Level Shading Language (HLSL) and Microsoft's Effect Files Framework. Then author starts teaching you how to implement basic lightning models (Lambert, Phong, Blinn-Phong) and advanced ones (Cook-Torrance, Oren-Nayar, Ward, Ashikhmin-Shirley). The book also covers more advanced topics (Environment Cube Mapping, Reflection and Refraction, Projective Texture Mapping, Shadow Mapping, Shadow Volumes, Geometry Images) and cutting-edge techniques like Displacement Mapping, High Dynamic Range Lighting or Parallax Mapping. The author shows common problems arising during implementation of presented techniques and explains how to deal with them. Each chapter comes with a few example programs which are as simple as possible. You will also learn from this book how to optimize your shaders for different shader models.

This book is a must for those who want to learn vertex and pixel shader programming. Also advanced developers will find this book useful.

So, if you want to create cutting-edge shader effects do not hesitate to buy this book and learn how to do it.

This is a book that gets straight to the point. It covers a wide variety of rendering topics relevant to vertex and pixel shader programming, all with clear example code. The topics are covered in enough detail for the reader to create their own great 3D effects. The introductory sections are well structured and serve as a valuable reference for HLSL and shader assembly. On top of all of this, the coverage of new shader models vs_3_0 and ps_3_0 is the best I've seen. Five stars!

I have recently completed an online course (www.gameversity.com) organised by Wolfgang Engel, which included identical material to this book.
The material covered is perfectly balanced - I started the course with no working knowledge of shader programming. The initial concepts are clearly explained and unlaboured, despite the inevitable rush of information! Once you learn the ropes, it gives good explanations and implementations of more advanced topics and cutting-edge techniques.
I can now write and develop my own Shader Model 1.x/2.x/3.0/HLSL shaders, applications to implement them, and develop new techniques confidently. What more can you ask for?!

Not everyone is ready to implement shaders, I think, and maybe some people do need to see the examples run. I don't. I have Tom Miller's Managed DirectX 9 book which features shading in chapter 11 and for a few chapers thereafter onward, but there isn't enough meat there to really learn shaders in and of themselves, and in order to really get what you want out of DirectX which changes every other month, you must use shaders (because shading language won't change except to expand, while the fixed functions of directX are changing constantly). Anyway, so I went for this book last night and am already making use of it. 1) I know what pixel/vertex shaders are going to do with respect to my program 2) I have already done fixed function programming for OpenGL and DirectX so 3), I'm ready just to focus on the questions you need to be focused on to use this book: "what IS specular highlighting? what IS bumpmapping?" and this book is perfect for that. You must understand the math bdhind it and you can't be lazy in implementing things like you can with fixed function DirectX.
I agree that the programs will not compile, but in essence, all you need to do is look at the main CPP file and see what inputs he's setting up, which are always the same: the projection matrix, eye vector, light vectors, some colors, a texture etc, and then assign those values in the calling program to the effecthandle of the shader (I'm using VB.net and C#), and his stuff works like a Swiss watch.
Excellent book.

I use this book as a day-to-day HLSL reference, it's so much quicker and more efficient than finding information online...
I loved the part about optimization, and the foreword to cubemaps with Normalization cubemaps. It was very hard finding information on this on the web, and with this book I had a full C++ sample with comments and a book article. What can I ask more :)
It covers all that's needed to know about basic per-pixel lightning models, and goes to subjects as advanced as HDRI and tone-mapping.
While it's not a completely up-to-date reference on shaders (does not cover 3.0 model, some new techniques were developed and popularized since the book came out), it's still a very comprehensible introduction in the HLSL world, and give strong a basis for future study.

This book is a very good guide for programmers who want to learn shader programming.

It helps me learning a lot of things about shaders. The explanations are very clear and the difficulty is very gradual. First, it introduces DirectX High-Level Shading Language and the most basic lighting models. Next, it goes through a lot of more advanced algorithms. (Advanced Rendering, anisotropic Reflection, Shadow Mapping, Environmental Mapping and so on ...). And, at last, it finishes with some of the latest rendering techniques such as High Dynamic Range Lighting and vertex texturing.

It also includes the first coverage of vs_3_0 and ps_3_0. It explains how to use the latest graphic hardware. Moreover, this chapter helps to understand the relationships between High Level Language and assembly language.

In fact, this is an excellent resource that presents how next generation games will be made.

CD examples are dependent on the common code for the samples in the DirectX SDK. The examples do not compile with the current Direct X SDK. Check the publishers website for an update with no such luck.

(Edit)
I can't edit my rating. I didn't realize I could install an old version of the SDK side by side with the new version. The book itself is very good.

I had great expectations for this book and got very disappointed, I don't agree at all with the other reviews I read before buying it.

There are some parts that are carefully explained, specially those ones people hoping to buy this book would find easy, this is, the introduction, even a installation process. Then, when dealing with the real thing; i.e. important shader concepts or HLSL syntax, things turn out not so well.
Again, some things are neatly explained and others are just there, with no way for the reader (without previous shader knowledge) to imagine where did it come from, or why, or how it is used. There are code examples frequently but not enough to cover what is briefly explained, if explained at all, so the line about "no existing knowledge of shader programming is required" is wrong.


The book comes with examples about a wide range of techniques in a cd that help get your hands dirty fast, although lack in theoric support, as previously stated. It makes it a good reference for shaders programmers to quickly check any technique you need info on.

I got doubly disappointed when I read another books that I'd rather have spent my money on, that cover the same as this book and much more, throughfully explained, and with examples too.

I would describe "Programming Vertex & Pixel Shaders" as an overpriced shader reference book that may serve well as complement to another in-detail shader book, specially due to its examples and shading techniques explained with code. But I specially *don't* recommended for anyone who is not already into the shading bussiness, as will probably have to buy another book to cover this one's holes.

This book was the best on the topic in 2004 when it came out, with support for Visual C++ 2003 and DirectX 9.0c (from early 2004). But now, five years hence, none of the code builds with VS 2005 or 2008 and the shaders are obsolete (HLSL vs 1 and 2). Which means, the shaders will not compile without compatibility options enabled. I would cut the author some slack and just tell potential buyers to avoid this book because it's too far out of date to be useful today. A second edition is needed.

The biggest problem is Engel's use of the DXUT library AND directly referencing DirectX SDK source code files!! This is a huge no-no. I don't mean just using DXUT source code files, but including them in projects with relative pathnames, and not including the files with the book. This renders most of the sources unusable. (Which I find shocking given that Engel is a professional game engine programmer).

I've seen the other reviewer's post about installing an older DirectX SDK to use this book. That works, but how relevant is that today? If the code won't build with DirectX 9.0c dated from 2006 or later, it's not really useful long term and a waste of one's time. DirectX code dated from 2004, as long as it's based on 9.0c, should build with the SDK dated from 2008--as long as you don't rely on Microsoft extensions. Using DXUT to load meshes, etc, results in code that does not compile.

All Engel has to do to keep this book relevant is release updated sources but I suspect the book is too old now to warrant an update without a new edition.