3D Game Engine Architecture: Engineering Real-Time Applications with Wild Magic (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive 3D Technology) (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "My book 3D Game Engine Design (3DGED) was written to explain the high-level details that arose in the development of the real-time 3D game engine..." (more)
Key Phrases: world bounding volume, scene graph management system, header file organization, Wild Magic, Microsoft Windows, Color Plate (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Readers of Eberly's previous books, 3D Game Engine Design and Geometric Tools for Computer Graphics, asked for a volume with more code samples and fewer equations. This book will please and aid them greatly. That key points are sometimes underscored with a dry wit is characteristic of how a great teacher makes studying a difficult topic personally rewarding for the student." -Joseph Goldstone, Lilliputian Pictures "Credo Interactive has been using the WildMagic API for the past 3 years in various commercial projects. 3D Game Engine Architecture provides an excellent source of theoretical background and practical usage information for the API. Together the textbook and the WildMagic sourcecode form a comprehensive and well designed foundation for any 3D application." -Lars Wilke, Director of Development, Credo Interactive Inc. "For those that have searched for a commercial quality rendering library available at virtually no cost and with extensive clear documentation. Let them look no further. From low level structures, to high level application design, Eberly has laid out everything necessary for commercial quality game development. May the projects inspired by his writings be plentiful and prosperous." -Timothy Prepscius, DimensionDoor, Inc.

Review

"Readers of Eberly's previous books, 3D Game Engine Design and Geometric Tools for Computer Graphics, asked for a volume with more code samples and fewer equations. This book will please and aid them greatly.. That key points are sometimes underscored with a dry wit is characteristic of how a great teacher makes studying a difficult topic personally rewarding for the student." -Joseph Goldstone, Lilliputian Pictures

"Credo Interactive has been using the WildMagic API for the past 3 years in various commercial projects. 3D Game Engine Architecture provides an excellent source of theoretical background and practical usage information for the API. Together the textbook and the WildMagic sourcecode form a comprehensive and well designed foundation for any 3D application." -Lars Wilke, Director of Development, Credo Interactive Inc.

"For those that have searched for a commercial quality rendering library available at virtually no cost and with extensive clear documentation. Let them look no further. From low level structures, to high level application design, Eberly has laid out everything necessary for commercial quality game development. May the projects inspired by his writings be plentiful and prosperous." -Timothy Prepscius, DimensionDoor, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 752 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann (December 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 012229064X
• ISBN-13: 978-0122290640
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #493,015 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally!, April 17, 2005

By	Dave Astle (GameDev.net) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

One of the criticisms I had of Dave Eberly's previous 3D Game Engine Design is that it didn't really say much about how to design an engine. Rather, it focused mostly on the programming/implementation details, which was disappointing to some. This new book is what many people expected from the older book.

In this book, the author walks through the design and architecture of a 3D game engine, using his Wild Magic engine as an example, but also drawing on his experience developing NDL's NetImmerse. Throughout, he describes why each design decision was made, and in many cases alternative solutions are discussed as well. This isn't just a high level discussion, however, as ample source code, figures, equations, and sample applications are included to get you started with implementation.

The topics covered include the core engine systems, scene graphs, renderers, cameras, LOD, animation, terrain, special effects, physics and collision detection. Numerous sample applications and tools are also included. Dave's writing style is clear and minimally conversational, and he's kept the math to a minimum, making this a remarkably easy read.

This isn't a complete treatment of a game engine, since some important topics (e.g. scripting, audio) aren't included, but the material it does cover is worth it. Whether you're currently working on a game engine, planning to start one, or just want to have a better understanding of how they work, you'll be happy with this book.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Acceptable book with some significant failings, November 8, 2005

By	Michael C. Sikora "Game Developer" (Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an acceptable introductory book for the architecture of an AAA-quality game engine, under the consideration that it has so little competition.

The most significant criticism I have of the book is its repeated digression of topics into a documentation of the Wild Magic engine. If you intend to use the Wild Magic engine, I highly recommend the book, but for anyone not using it, this book saves far too few pages for discussions of general engine architecture.

For example, the entire second chapter is basically a documentation of the basic types defined for the Wild Magic engine. If you are architecting a large scale project, you do not want to start the discussion with talk of a smart pointer class. Or an array class. Unfortunately, this is exactly how the book begins.

Throughout the book, the reader is constantly forced to shift through documentation for each Wild Magic class. While the author does use the engine to illustrate points, often the point is so heavily mixed with the documentation that it is tedious to pick out the general discussion.

My secondary criticism of the book is that too many words are used in specific (but uncommon) ways - making it hard to follow at times. The sad part is that the author acknowledges this for some words (which helps the reader) but fails to for others. An example of the latter is when the author concedes that he uses the word `animation' to mean any event that happens over a period of time. You will not find that definition in any dictionary, but at least he specifies his intent, which is slightly forgivable. What is not forgivable is the other phrases/words that are not acknowledged as being uncommonly used, such as `world bounds' and `local bounds'. Too often I found myself carefully following discussions not because I found the material difficult, but because I needed to extract the context for which the author is using a word or phrase. In this sense it makes it hard for anyone to simply use the book for reference purposes.

This book deserves three stars because it is a good (although sometimes short) treatment of the many subjects that are part of a 3D game engine. It loses one star for trying to combine two related, but what should be separate discussions - general engine architecture and documenting Wild Magic. It loses another for being overly verbose and dry (see my secondary criticism). It has so few competitors that you might just have to accept its failings and shift through the material to dig out the general architecture nuggets that are dispersed throughout the book.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of a kind book, January 23, 2005

By	B. Freidlin - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Few books on the topic of 3D and game engines are as thorough as Eberly's latest. He walks you through a top shelf commercial quality engine (minus some bells and whistles) and gives strong details and motivations behind the entire codebase's design choices.

Not only is it well written, its generous of him to continue to make this quality code so cheaply available to readers. A job well done, I urge all fellow hobbyists and professionals to support his work.