Real-Time Shader Programming (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one..." (more)
Key Phrases: replicate swizzle, texture coordinate registers, oop instruction, Multiple Render Target, Sbader Reference, Sourcel Multiplies (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If you are new to shaders, there is no better way to learn the topic than to have an expert guide you from beginning to end. Ron Fosner is that guide and his well-crafted book will help you to become a competent shader programmer."

-Dave Eberly, President, Magic Software, Inc., and author of 3D Game Engine Design.


"Real-Time Shader Programming by Ron Fosner has everything you need: well-written background sections, insightful comments, and lots of useful and well-explained code from which to build your own shaders."

-Franz Lanzinger, President, Actual Entertainment, Inc.


"Fosner'sReal-Time Shader Programming provides a timely and complete resource that will introduce newcomers to the excitement of writing their own custom shaders, but will also grow with them and remain an essential reference companion for even the seasoned shader developer."

-Martin Reddy, Graphics Software Engineer at "a Large Animation Studio in Northern California" and author of Level of Detail for Computer Graphics -- Review

Review

"If you are new to shaders, there is no better way to learn the topic than to have an expert guide you from beginning to end. Ron Fosner is that guide and his well-crafted book will help you to become a competent shader programmer."

-Dave Eberly, President, Magic Software, Inc., and author of 3D Game Engine Design.


"Real-Time Shader Programming by Ron Fosner has everything you need: well-written background sections, insightful comments, and lots of useful and well-explained code from which to build your own shaders."

-Franz Lanzinger, President, Actual Entertainment, Inc.


"Fosner'sReal-Time Shader Programming provides a timely and complete resource that will introduce newcomers to the excitement of writing their own custom shaders, but will also grow with them and remain an essential reference companion for even the seasoned shader developer."

-Martin Reddy, Graphics Software Engineer at "a Large Animation Studio in Northern California" and author of Level of Detail for Computer Graphics

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 424 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann (January 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558608532
• ISBN-13: 978-1558608535
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,854,709 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Terrible book, July 31, 2003

A Kid's Review

This is a weird book. The first section covers introductory stuff everyone should know (with lots of typos like botching math sum notation for the definition of the dot product and stating "if the dot product is zero, the vectors are parallel"). The next section covers standard shading equations for raytracers. After that it's very basic "hello world" shader and dx programming followed by filler for various shader tools out there. Then we get to a few basic examples of vertex shaders and 3 intermediate examples of pixel shaders (toon shading, bump mapping, and fresnel) written all written in assembly!! Then the rest of the book is all filler material for the assembly instructions for the old style vertex/pixel shaders. Oh, in case anyone is wondering, this is pretty much a DX 8.1 only book with examples from 1.0 to 1.4 level shaders.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good shader intro book, August 3, 2003

By	zanshin (San Jose) - See all my reviews

I picked up some of the other book on shaders for DX and it turned out to be a cookie cutter book. There was little explanation on what the shaders were DOING - just source code. I found that frustrating. This book gois into much more explanation of what a shader does and how you program them, so its good for someone leaning how to program shaders. The other book and the new Cg book are more if youre looking for cut and paste. This book did not cover hlsl since hlsl wasnt finished when the book was, but, oddly enough, it does talk about using DX9 and about the DX9 low level language.If you already know shaders or just want source code then look at the other books. This could have had more examples. It did have a big section on the mathematics of light which I found interesting.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice introduction to a complex subject, May 13, 2004

By	Tasha Jessup (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In "Real-Time Shader Programming", Ron Fosner describes the essential elements necessary for developing shaders in a very approachable full color book that spans just over 400 pages. The book includes a CD with a beta version ATI's RenderMonkey and coded examples of many of the shaders discussed in the text.

Shaders are a relatively new option in the rendering pipeline. By taking explicit control over how vertices and pixels are processed by the graphics hardware, a virtually unlimited number of special effects are available to the programmer. Generally, custom lighting, coloring, or texture mapping are used to create a unique look for an application.

Beginning with elementary vector math, the book moves quickly into lighting theory. The lighting chapter highlights the mathematical approximation of physically based lighting using the traditional ambient, specular, diffuse, and emissive colors in a scene. Representations for reflection and refraction are derived from Snell's Law, and Fresnel equations. Finally, non-photo realistic rendering (from cel shading, tonal art maps, and hatching) is covered through pictures and a wealth of external references. The chapter makes for an enjoyable read by providing an understandable background to lighting techniques to non-seasoned graphics programmers.

Fosner describes how to set up the DirectX pipeline to use shaders. While he touches on some of the nuances you're likely to encounter, the DirectX section seemed a bit sparse compared to the earlier chapters. The DirectX setup calls specific to shaders were well documented, however the chapter didn't dwell on creating the pipeline.

In the subsequent chapter, Fosner discusses several current shader creation and visualization tools. The chapter is relatively short in length perhaps due in part to the volatility and newness of cutting edge shader tools. While high level shader tools, like Nvidia's Cg or Microsoft's High Level Shader Language were briefly mentioned, the book instead focused on the shader language primitives. As such, it provided a sound fundamental shader approach that is universal to all higher-level shader implementations.

Having the groundwork firmly in place, Fosner provides a wealth of shader examples. Starting with the minimal vertex shader, additional functionality is layered to build more complex shaders. Sample shaders are developed using the lighting equations presented earlier. While it may take a little time to digest some of the more sophisticated examples, like the cartoon shader, the text provides adequate descriptive detail coupled with helpful color pictures to make it easier.

The final chapter provides a vertex and pixel command reference. Each command describes the supported shader version, usage, and a short example. The book covers shader implementations for both DirectX 8.x and DirectX 9. Differences between the two versions are noted throughout the sample code and reference section. When appropriate, additional notes on specific DirectX versions are also provided. Fosner does a good job of providing references throughout the book for further information on a subject.

While having familiarity with the rendering pipeline, I found this book very approachable and easy to understand despite not being a low-level graphics programmer. The writing and companion tools provided challenged me to explore the world of shaders and attempt to write some of my own. The tools were a great aid, since it alleviated me from having to write my own engine, and instead focus on the actual shader code. Writing in pseudo-assembly may not seem like fun, but it was - especially when you could experiment with one of the pre-coded routines Fosner supplied and view the results of a vertex or pixel shader routine through RenderMonkey instantly.

Shaders will play an increasingly important role in game development as they allow immense visual flexibility with which to create a unique appearance. Fosner's book presents the introductory groundwork necessary for developing custom shaders. For programmers who are new to shaders or want to experiment with different rendering effects, this book is a great place to start.