3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development, 2nd Edition
This engaging book presents the essential mathematics needed to describe, simulate, and render a 3D world. Reflecting both academic and in-the-trenches practical experience, the authors teach you how to describe objects and their positions, orientations, and trajectories in 3D using mathematics. The text provides an introduction to mathematics for game designers, including the fundamentals of coordinate spaces, vectors, and matrices. It also covers orientation in three dimensions, calculus and d
List Price: $ 69.95
Price:
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Outstanding, sometimes too “cute”,
This is an outstanding review and contextualization of the math that underlies 3D game development. It is not specifically about programming, programming games, or game development, it is about math. However, it is math from the perspective of someone who works with games in 3D space and the authors make it very clear how that math is useful for practical computer application. There are plenty of explanation, images used for clarification, and some light code which is used to clarify, not to obfuscate. If you understand the material covered in this book, you will have the mathematical foundation behind most situations you will encounter in 3D game or graphics space.
Please note, the authors try to “start from the beginning” with the math concepts used, and use a narrative approach. They try to bring you up to speed fast but there’s no way around it, you need to bring and exercise some math chops to benefit from the book as it progresses. Still, this book would not be where you first learned calculus, but you will learn why it matters to 3D programming. If you took advanced math in high school and wanted to rotate off that platform into 3D programming, this would be an outstanding place to pivot from.
If I think it is outstanding, why 4 stars? Although it would otherwise be a classic, unfortunately the authors have fallen prey to the “Books for Dummies” fad of trying to be cute. As a result there is unnecessary and distracting humor in the book which frequently interupted my flow of thought. A lot of the content needs you to to stay focussed on a line of explanation, so it was really counter-productive. It’s like someone took grafitti to Asimov. This is unfortunate because otherwise the book is thoroughly enjoyable and absorbing. But, you never know, other people might find it “refreshing” so make your own choice. The authors do have Asimov’s gift of explanation, and despite the annoyances it is a very good book.
Was this review helpful to you?
|