Real-Time Collision Detection (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive 3-D Technology) [Hardcover]

Christer Ericson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 22, 2004

Written by an expert in the game industry, Christer Ericson's new book is a comprehensive guide to the components of efficient real-time collision detection systems. The book provides the tools and know-how needed to implement industrial-strength collision detection for the highly detailed dynamic environments of applications such as 3D games, virtual reality applications, and physical simulators.

Of the many topics covered, a key focus is on spatial and object partitioning through a wide variety of grids, trees, and sorting methods. The author also presents a large collection of intersection and distance tests for both simple and complex geometric shapes. Sections on vector and matrix algebra provide the background for advanced topics such as Voronoi regions, Minkowski sums, and linear and quadratic programming.

Of utmost importance to programmers but rarely discussed in this much detail in other books are the chapters covering numerical and geometric robustness, both essential topics for collision detection systems. Also unique are the chapters discussing how graphics hardware can assist in collision detection computations and on advanced optimization for modern computer architectures. All in all, this comprehensive book will become the industry standard for years to come.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Accurate and efficient collision detection in complex environments is one of the foundations of today's cutting-edge computer games. Yet collision detection is notoriously difficult to implement robustly and takes up an increasingly large fraction of compute cycles in current game engines as increasingly detailed environments are becoming the norm. Real-time Collision Detection is a comprehensive reference on this topic, covering it with both breadth and depth. Not only are the fundamental algorithms explained clearly and in detail, but Ericson's book covers crucial implementation issues, including geometric and numeric robustness and cache-efficient implementations of the algorithms. Together, these make this book a 'must have' practical reference for anyone interested in developing interactive applications with complex environments." -Matt Pharr, NVIDIA

"Christer Ericson's Real-time Collision Detection is an excellent resource that covers the fundamentals as well as a broad array of techniques applicable to game development." -Jay Stelly, Valve

"Christer Ericson provides a practical and very accessible treatment of real-time collision detection. This includes a comprehensive set of C++ implementations of a very large number of routines necessary to build such applications in a context which is much broader than just game programming. The programs are well-thought out and the accompanying discussion reveals a deep understanding of the graphics, algorithms, and ease of implementation issues. It will find a welcome home on any graphics programmer's bookshelf although it will most likely not stay there long as others will be constantly borrowing it...." -Hanan Samet, University of Maryland


"Real-Time Collision Detection is an excellent resource that every serious engine programmer should have on his bookshelf. Christer Ericson covers an impressive range of techniques and presents them using concise mathematics, insightful figures, and practical code." -Eric Lengyel, Senior Programmer, Naughty Dog


"If you think you already know everything about collision detection, you're in for a surprise! This book not only does an excellent job at presenting all the collision detection methods known to date, it also goes way beyond the standard material thanks to a plethora of juicy, down-to-earth, hard-learned implementation tips and tricks. This produces a perfect blend between theory and practice, illustrated by the right amount of source code in appropriate places. Basically the book just oozes with experience. Christer doesn't forget all the alternative topics that, despite not directly related to collision detection, can ruin your implementation if you don't include them in your design. The chapters on robustness and optimization are priceless in this respect. Its carefully crafted compact kd-tree implementation beautifully concludes a unique book full of luminous gems." -Pierre Terdiman, principal software engineer, NovodeX AG, and writer of the popular collision detection library Opcode


"When I received a copy of Real-Time Collision Detection for review, I was in the midst of redesigning an architectural visualization and lighting design program. The Bounding Volume Hierarchies chapter allowed me to quickly and easily design and implement an efficient ray tracing acceleration scheme. It also provided me with a wealth of information on various design strategies, which gave me the confidence that I had chosen a near-optimal approach. What one of my clients recently said about the finished software reflects my opinion of this fantastic book: 'Holy cow! Excellent work!'" -Ian Ashdown, byHeart Consultants Limited

Book Description

The complete engineering guide to Collision Detection from a top engineer at Sony

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 632 pages
• Publisher: CRC Press (December 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558607323
• ISBN-13: 978-1558607323
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 1.3 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #269,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Just for Game Programmers! March 19, 2005

By Randall Helzerman VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Let me state in the most emphatic terms--this book contains the very best discussion on spatial indexing and querying ever written. If you have an algorithm which is spending too much time querying in quad trees, then you need to buy this book and read it until you become one with it.

It should be pointed out that this book will be useful not just for game programmers but also for other programmers who do a lot of computational geometry. EDA programmers, VLSI, CAD programmers, etc, rejoice.

I disagree with a previous reviewer who is complaining about lack of source code, etc. The author provides good C++ implementations of his algorithms and provides very clear descriptions of them. The author is holding up his end of the bargan--if you arn't a computational Jedi knight of space and time after reading this book, the fault isn't in the efforts of the author, its in the efforts of the reader.

Don't worry about how expensive the book is. I've used it on the job and it has already paid for itself many times over.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Vectorized Approach July 6, 2005

By Erin Catto

Format:Hardcover

This book has great depth and breadth. It covers narrow phase, broad phase, and optimization. It has more coverage of broad phase and optimization than I have seen in any other book. Also, the bibliography is quite extensive, with many entries containing links to pdf files.

What I really appreciate about this book is the vectorized approach. Many algorithms are derived and implemented in a vectorized form. This not only improves readability, but also makes them efficient for modern SIMD architectures.

I have found this book to be invaluable in my day to day work. I highly recommend this book.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The only book you'll need on the topic.. March 7, 2005

By Stephen Waits

Format:Hardcover

Christer has done an amazing job of completely covering a large topic. Anyone writing collision detection systems for games (or other real-time apps) needn't look any further than this book.

It's also full of things even non CD System writers will find handy, such as optimal intersection tests (Chapter 5)

And, in the end (Chapter 13), he includes a number of great optimization techniques.

Overall, this is great as both educational and reference. It's got a permanent spot on my bookshelf.

Highly recommended!