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3D Math Primer For Graphics and Game Development (Wordware Game Math Library) 1st Edition

by Fletcher Dunn (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 102 ratings
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This book covers fundamental 3D math concepts that are especially useful for computer game developers and programmers.
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  1. ISBN-10
    1556229119
  2. ISBN-13
    978-1556229114
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publisher
    Jones & Bartlett Learning
  5. Publication date
    June 21, 2002
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    7.25 x 1.5 x 9 inches
  8. Print length
    429 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Fletcher Dunn is the principal programmer at Terminal Reality, where he has worked on Nocturne and 4x4 Evolution and is currently lead programmer for BloodRayne. He has developed games for Windows, Mac, Dreamcast, Playstation II, Xbox, and GameCube.

Ian Parberry is a professor of computer science at the University of North Texas and is internationally recognized as one of the top academics teaching computer game programming with DirectX. He is also the author of Learn Computer Game Programming with DirectX 7.0 and Introduction to Computer Game Programming with DirectX 8.0.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Jones & Bartlett Learning; 1st edition (June 21, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 429 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1556229119
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1556229114
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.65 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.25 x 1.5 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 102 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Ian Parberry

    Ian Parberry

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  2. Fletcher Dunn

    Fletcher Dunn

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    Fletcher Dunn has been making video games professionally since 1996. He worked at Terminal Reality in Dallas, where as principal programmer he was one of the architects of the Infernal engine and lead programmer on BloodRayne. He was a technical director for The Walt Disney Company at Wideload Games in Chicago and the lead programmer for Disney Guilty Party, IGN's E3 2010 Family Game of the Year.

    He has worked for Valve Software in Bellevue, Washington since 2011 and has contributed to Steam and all of Valve's recent games. He is the primary author of the GameNetworkingSockets networking library and the Steam Datagram Relay service

    Oh, but his biggest claim to fame by *far* is as the namesake of Corporal Dunn from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
102 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book clear, concise, and accessible to the average reader. They also say it's a great foundational book that provides good references at the end. Opinions are mixed on the learning curve, with some finding it the best intro to 3D math, while others say it seems difficult to fully understand.

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ClarityContentLearning curve
23 customers mention "Clarity"17 positive6 negative

Customers find the book clear and concise. They appreciate the explanations and presentation of knowledge. Readers also say it's accessible to the average reader, written at an advanced level, and shows how easy the concepts are. They mention it has easy-flowing text and background information on graphics. Overall, they say the book is highly readable and puts all the concepts in one well organized place.

"...Finally, it looks like I found a winner. The authors alone write with such confidence that just declares how well they understand the topic matter,..." Read more

"...what I like about this book is that it explains everything first in fairly simple mathematical terms, deriving equations and proofs as it goes,..." Read more

"...The book is great, because it's written at an advanced enough level that it covers valuable and complex material, but not written so densely or with..." Read more

"...It is not a all encompassing reference but does a good job explaining and building on the basics. Exactly what I needed." Read more

10 customers mention "Content"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the content great, foundational, and highly readable. They appreciate the good references at the end. Readers also mention the exposition is clear, elegant, and clean.

"...The book is great, because it's written at an advanced enough level that it covers valuable and complex material, but not written so densely or with..." Read more

"...It gives some good book references at the end if you are interested in books further.It was a great foundational book in my opinion." Read more

"...My overall impression is that this is a good book and you will learn from it; however, I do have suggestions...." Read more

"...year but from what I could digest from the sample pages I read it is very good...." Read more

9 customers mention "Learning curve"6 positive3 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the learning curve of the book. Some mention it's the best introduction to 3D math and provides a great foundation for 3D game programming. However, others say the book seems difficult to fully understand and needs more interactive lessons.

"...The majority of the material is conceptual. This is not a coding book from which you can pull easy answers...." Read more

"...The only gripe I would have is that there is a steep learning curve a few chapters in, once you finish writing the vector class the content in the..." Read more

"...it's written at an advanced enough level that it covers valuable and complex material, but not written so densely or with such intensive..." Read more

"...One up-side to this book is that it does contain C++ examples of the theories explained...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Estefano Palacios Topic
5.0 out of 5 stars Great, great, great
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2010
Verified Purchase
I beg you: do not try to read *any* 3D Game Programming book without checking out this baby first! Really, unless you are a math major already graduating from college, or a very wise industry professional, this book will be useful. For example, I am a second year college student and I already passed ODE, Linear Algebra and Calculus courses, my university is one of the most wildly recognized in Latin America for being very strict on mathematics, physics, and chemistry, so I can say that I feel pretty content with my skills. Still, this book worked wonders for me. Yes, yes, yes, this IS very basic, no doubt, but It's not only about the brute knowledge on mathematics and geometry that's important for graphics programming, but also how to apply those concepts, and why these are important. We all know vectors, we all know linear algebra, but we really don't know how to do AABB vs. plane intersection tests with them do we?

I can't even begin to imagine how useful this text would be to high school students. I mean, to be exposed to this material before going to college can only be awesome. They have some basic knowledge of Linear Algebra before even dreaming to taking such a course? Nothing beats that! Well, maybe grabbing a real, fully fledged Lineal Algebra textbook like Grossman's, but nothing beats the fun of knowing you are reading a video game/3D graphics book!!!

Furthermore, I read Frank D. Luna's brilliant Introduction to 3D Game Programming in DirectX 9.0c: A Shader Approach, and had no problem what so ever. I even skipped the "Mathematical Prerequisites" part. THAT's how good this books is!!!

There's Dover Book for Ordinary Differential Equations, Grossman for Linear Algebra, Larson for Calculus, Sears-Zemansky for Physics, and there is Fletcher Dunn & Ian Parberry's for an introduction to 3D Math...

My only disappointment with this book is that it lacks the answers for one third of the exercises. Oh, and there are a few typo's here and there, buy honestly, what book really doesn't? (Most of the errata is published anyways in the book's site: [...]). I also want to leave this clear one more time: the book is basic in kwoledge, where it excells is in the very clear presentation of that knowledge.
5 people found this helpful
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Steve
5.0 out of 5 stars Best intro to 3D math, hands down
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2010
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The past week I've picked up about three different math books aimed for game programmers, which gloss over important math topics that a game programmer would most likely encounter programming games and graphics. The problem with the majority of these books is that they were too vague and/or just failed at explaining concepts clearly. It seems to be a common problem of trying to cover too much, and the authors quickly lose sight of the path and veer off-road.

3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development was my last hope. By reviewing the table of contents, it appeared to be aimed again towards those that were confident in the rudimentary concepts needed to understand and undertake 3D math. Yet, with nothing to lose, I downloaded the Kindle sample and was relieved that this was not the case. While there is only a short Appendix that reviews trig and related prerequisite concepts, the tone and approach the authors use to guide the reader is so incredibly friendly to those who may lack confidence in math. After completing the sample chapter, which covered the basics of the, 2D and 3D Cartesian system, I couldn't believe how easy it was to read and how well I was retaining the information, actually understanding every word that glowed off my iPad. Finally, it looks like I found a winner. The authors alone write with such confidence that just declares how well they understand the topic matter, and that they know, better than anyone, how to teach this material to virtually anyone of any skill level.

It's probably best if you are confident in at least trigonometry and basic algebra before reading. If you need to go over these concepts quickly, go to [...] and view the trigonometry videos. After you have your trig refreshed, dive into this book and you'll be sure to be ready to tackle any game or graphics related programming problem with confidence.
One person found this helpful
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S. Valente
5.0 out of 5 stars Great (Re)Introduction to Basic Concepts
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2007
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I hadn't seen much math or geometry since high school, but this book does a great job at easing you into the underlying concepts of some pretty heavy stuff. I tried to wade through the CG "bibles" ("Real Time Rendering", "Principles of Computer Graphics in C") and quickly realized that if you're not either a CG major in college or an experienced CG pro, those books are like being in heavy seas without a life vest. (It really makes you appreciate what's involved in making those Pixar movies!)

Anyway, what I like about this book is that it explains everything first in fairly simple mathematical terms, deriving equations and proofs as it goes, and then illustrates to you visually exactly what is happening.

The majority of the material is conceptual. This is not a coding book from which you can pull easy answers. The code samples are in C++ and are confined to a few special chapters, and are really included as a programmatic interpretation of those concepts.

If you're already a CG pro, don't bother. You probably know all the info herein from the top of your head, as well as having one of those other "bibles" on your desk! But for a RAD programmer who needs a quick handle on some of the underlying concepts, this is the book!

Thanks Fletcher & Ian!
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Molto Soddisfatto
Reviewed in Italy on July 4, 2016
Verified Purchase
Il libro, sebbene usato, è in perfette condizioni. È arrivato un po' in ritardo ma probabilmente per fisiologici tempi di sdoganamento, comunque FastMedia ha sempre risposto tempestivamente ed esaustivamente ad ogni mia mail di richiesta info. Il libro è interessante e copre molto bene quegli argomenti matematici, geometrici ed informatici utili a muoversi all'interno di uno spazio 3d. Confermo, molto soddisfatto.
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nkl
5.0 out of 5 stars 3D Mathematik verständlich erklärt
Reviewed in Germany on October 17, 2008
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Ich arbeite mit dem Buch schon seit Monaten und muß sagen das ist das beste Buch über 3D Mathematik für Spiele, dem ich begegnet bin.

Ich bin selber in Mathe ziemlich schwach, aber das Buch schafft es die Vektoren, Matrizien und sogar Quaternions so verständlich zu erklären, dass man dann die Ideen selber implementieren kann.

Die Code-Beispiele sind in C++, aber es ist ein Leichtes sie nach z.B. JavaScript zu portieren.

Die beiden Autoren kommen von verschiedenen Umfeldern; der eine ist ein Profi-Spiele-Programmierer, der andere ein Uni-Professor. Das ist eine gute Kombination, sodass die komplizierte 3D-Theorie und die Praxis der Implementierung des Codes wirklich außerordentlich gut und verständlich erklärt werden.

So konnte ich z.B. einfach das Beispiel aus dem Buch abtippen wie man eulersche Winkel in die Quaternions konvertiert. Oder wie man zwischen zwei Quaternions interpoliert - sehr praktische Sachen für die 3D-Spiele.
4 people found this helpful
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Rasputin
5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptionally good book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2004
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The authors of this book is a game programmer and a professor of Computer Science. This team is excellent!
The game programmer has alot of focus on making the material understandable, and the professor has focus on the mathematically correct semantics. Unlike other books, that teaches game programming (of which many have an author with his strength on either field), this book has the right blend of understandable text parred with the right mathematical semantics.
Furthermore the text is supported by code, so if you are shaky on some of the math, you can see the implementation in C++ code.
As a total math newbie, this book helped me alot, and today I understand totally and in detail what is going on in my 3D programming.
An ABSOLUTE MUST, if you want to learn 3D on top level.
15 people found this helpful
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H N Alexander
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Maths Refresher Book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 3, 2012
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This item arrived quickly, in perfect condition and more than meets my needs for a refresher on 3D Vector Maths. As a Silver Surfer I am very pleased with my purchase and it complements my OpenGL activity just fine.
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B. Ardenne
5.0 out of 5 stars The best way to start with this topic!
Reviewed in Germany on June 27, 2005
Verified Purchase
This book starts with the very beginning , the numbers and their meaning in maths. But the authors don't stay with that rather simple topic. Later on they begin to cover more complex topics like vectors and matrices along with the math and geometry behind it and the meaning in game programing. If you like to begin with simulation or game programming you will need the tools for it and this book will definitely give it to you!
All in all - the book holds what it promises.
3 people found this helpful
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