Tricks of the 3d Game Programming Gurus: Advanced 3d Graphics and Rasterization (Other Sams) 1st Edition

by Andre Lamothe (Author)

75 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0672318351

ISBN-10: 0672318350

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Today is the greatest time in history to be in the game business. We now have the technology to create games that look real! Sony's Playstation II, XBOX, and Game Cube are cool! But, all this technology isn't easy or trivial to understand - it takes really hard work and lots of Red Bull. The difficulty level of game programming has definitely been cranked up these days in relation to the skill set needed to make games. Andre LaMothe's follow-up book to Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus is the one to read for the latest in 3D game programming. When readers are finished with Tricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus-Advanced 3D Graphics and Rasterization, they will be able to create a full 3D texture-mapped, lit video game for the PC with a software rasterizer they can write themselves. Moreover, they will understand the underlying principles of 3D graphics and be able to better understand and utilize 3D hardware today and in the

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

To be an ordinary programmer is one thing: You need only learn how to interact with the computer on its own terms, creating buttons and combo boxes that have no significance away from the screen. To be a game programmer--particularly one that writes games with environments that appear three-dimensional to their players--is something else entirely. Such work requires that the flat screen simulate the real world, complete with light, shading, texture, gravity, and momentum. It's all quite complicated. Tricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus helps its readers make great progress in creating 3D worlds and the action that goes on in them.

That this large, dense book manages to explain how to design and implement a 3D game while neither glossing over too many details nor swamping the reader with trivia is a credit to author André LaMothe. He opens by showing (and explaining) the C++ source code of a simple but full-fledged 3D spaceflight shooter game--a real boost to the reader's confidence. From there, he explains the complicated geometric concepts and mathematics that underlie realistic games (always with an eye toward software algorithms) and shows how to use the many APIs and libraries (including Microsoft DirectX 9.0) that make the world-builder's job easier. Make no mistake: Designing and building convincing games with 3D visuals and behaviors that convincingly approximate real-world physics is hard work. In this book, LaMothe helps you get it done and enjoy the process. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to design and build 3D worlds and the goings-on within them. Aside from mathematics and geometry, this book focuses on wireframe models, shading, rendering, and animation. Microsoft DirectX 9.0 gets special attention.

From the Back Cover

Today is the greatest time in history to be in the game business. We now have the technology to create games that look real! Sony's Playstation II, XBOX, and Game Cube are cool! But, all this technology isn't easy or trivial to understand - it takes really hard work and lots of Red Bull. The difficulty level of game programming has definitely been cranked up these days in relation to the skill set needed to make games. Andre LaMothe's follow-up book to Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus is the one to read for the latest in 3D game programming. When readers are finished with Tricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus-Advanced 3D Graphics and Rasterization, they will be able to create a full 3D texture-mapped, lit video game for the PC with a software rasterizer they can write themselves. Moreover, they will understand the underlying principles of 3D graphics and be able to better understand and utilize 3D hardware today and in the future.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sams; 1st edition (June 1, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 1200 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0672318350
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0672318351
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.61 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.25 x 2.5 x 8.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,587,557 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #185 in 3D Graphic Design
- #1,123 in Computer Graphics
- #1,440 in Graphics & Multimedia Programming

Customer Reviews:
75 ratings

About the author

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Andre Lamothe

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André LaMothe was born in Silicon Valley, CA. He is a Computer Scientist, Futurist, Game Developer, and International Best Selling author. Mr. LaMothe holds degrees in Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, and Computer Science.

Mr. Lamothe has been programming and developing systems for over 30 years. Including embedded systems, text books, and PC games, he has produced over 750 products over the last three decades.

He is currently the CEO/Chief Scientist of Nurve Networks and iC0nstrux.com. Before founding Nurve, Mr. LaMothe was a Silicon Valley consultant and worked on projects ranging from Artificial Intelligence at NASA, to rendering algorithms at Software Publishing Corp (SPC), to Virtual Reality at Visions of Reality to name a few. He is the former founder/CEO of Xtreme Games and PlanetFreeStuff.com.

Customer reviews

5 star		62%
4 star		11%
3 star		15%
2 star		5%
1 star		7%

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jdmcox

I love the good stuff in it.

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2020

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I wanted to learn the basics of 3D graphics (not how to use DirectX 3D). This book provides everything I ever wanted to know. And it still seems to be the only book that does this. It seems to be one-of-a-kind!
I won't bother to repeat all the other reviews that say how well everything is explained.
I will admit that the first 3 parts, when they speak of Windows and DirectX, are too out-dated.
But the rest looks perfectly relevant if you want to know the basics of how it all works.

4 people found this helpful

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Shane Stevens

So You Want To Be A Game Programmer?

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2003

Verified Purchase

Andre Lamothe easily stands out as one of the most well written programming authors in the business, and for those of us that actually want to learn how to blit sprites to a screen or manipulate 3d space, Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus and Tricks of the Windows 3D Game Programming Gurus are required reading. And not only required, but fun and inspiring. These books are more a Compendium of game design methodologies than tricks, so expect to learn ALOT of useful information that you can apply. My only nag was the absence of workspaces from the cd in this version, but that's easily overlooked when you see the size of this book, and the sheer quantity of knowledge it contains. Lamothe is a master, and gives his readers everything he has-the result is excellence.

6 people found this helpful

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Alonso Varas

Amazing book for learning the fundamentals of 3D graphics programming

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2013

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If you are interested on learning the true fundamentals of 3D graphics programming, look no further than this. Being a programmer myself, I usually measure my co-workers knowledge about graphics programming by asking them if they've read Abrash's "Zen of Graphics Programming" and this (much more modern) book. Most of them have no clue about neither work and only read "24-hour guide to [insert the latest graphics programming API]"-style books, which is fine if you want fast results, but won't cut it for actually UNDERSTANDING the fundamentals. Highly recommended for serious programmers looking for both mathematical and practical training on this complex topic.

6 people found this helpful

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Andy Nguyen

The book doesn't have included CD

Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2020

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The book looks fine but there is no original CD attached in the book (which I really need). It didn't mention in its description and I thought the CD would come with the book.

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Rocco Balsamo

Excellent information, but not concise and not C++

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2004

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This is an excellent book on writing a complete 3D engine in software from the smallest drawable element, the pixel. It is by far the best book available to teach low level graphics programming, and to learn the concepts behind how libraries such as OpenGL and DirectX actually work. It has it all, from the mathematics to coding techniques to optimization.
Unfortunately, the book is not without its faults. Some of the coding is just sloppy. For instance, Lamothe likes to use lots of global variables. Perhaps there is a slight performance increase with these optimizations, but I'm not sure if it's worth the time and effort of debugging code with lots of globals. This is especially true for people just learning the concepts. In my opinion, he should have left the optimization to the end of the book, after all the concepts had been taught.
Another problem is the use of C. Lamothe argues that it's easier to teach in C and that C is faster than C++. Honestly, this is 2004, and with Pentium's running in the 3GHz range, I think the speed difference is virtually non-existant. Perhaps there is a greater base of programmers that know C, but with nearly all college Computer Science programs teaching C++ and object oriented programming, the coding style seems a bit dated. Using C++ features could have greatly improved the clarity of the code.
The last problem is Lamothe's long-winded writing style. I understand that he's trying to make his book "fun" by including little anticdotes and jokes, but this 1700 page book could have been done in 1000 pages easily. He writes like people talk, and, for a technical book, that's not the best approach. Here's one example, a caption to a screenshot:
"You might notice a bit of similarity to the ancient game Tail Gunner. Mike, if you're reading this, did you ever get that Tail Gunner in your living room working?"
I wrote one paragraph about why this book is great, and three about why it sucks. That's not really fair; it is a wonderful book for REALLY LEARNING what's going on under the covers in OpenGL or DirectX. I only hope that the second edition comes back a bit neater, more consice, and with support for C++. It's a fantastic value and I highly recommend it.

7 people found this helpful

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William McColl

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2015

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great book

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Anon

Everything you need to know to get started with Win32/Graphics/Games/AI/Performance

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 16, 2017

Verified Purchase

I bought this book in 2017 because I wanted to learn games programming from as close to the 'metal' as possible. This book is really accessible and starts at a level suitable for beginner games programmers. You need to be comfortable with C++ and your IDE. Visual Studio 6.0 is used in the book and some features are explained but I doubt this is the IDE you'll be using in 2017.

I read a few pages but after the author referred to the library he wrote in a previous book I bought Tricks of the windows game programming gurus so that I could understand this. This isn't required but I wanted to learn as much as possible about games and graphics. This is also an incredibly detailed book. I've already learn more than I ever knew about Win32 programming and now onto writing text. Still a long way to go before I finish this book but I'm learning something new every page. Well worth buying even though is 'out of date'

Sitting Bull

boring

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 21, 2015

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Still 10 yeas ago

eSchneider

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2014

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excellent

Han

its okay

Reviewed in Canada on November 7, 2018

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there is no CD inside! I'm very sad, but book is fine...

Rasputin

Lamothe is a 2nd rate programmer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 2, 2004

Verified Purchase

if you want to get confused by a trillion optimizations in the parts where understanding is the most important, by all means get this book.
Lamothe is still stuck in the mid-70's C days. He claims C++ is "hard to teach in" because it is confusing. I think it is more confusing to him than to any modern programmer. Old C is by far more confusing in my opinion.
This book is 1700 pages long - a big chunk of it is almost pure code dump, that could easily fit on a CD (and does). The old-fashioned programming style, combined with his optimizations down to the assembler level makes the code hard to understand. I believe it is time for Lamothe to enter the 21st century with his programming style, and get out of the 70's.

2 people found this helpful

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Tricks of the 3d Game Programming Gurus: Advanced 3d Graphics and Rasterization (Other Sams) 1st Edition

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Andre Lamothe

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