Product Description

Thoroughly revised, this third edition focuses on modern techniques used to generate synthetic three-dimensional images in a fraction of a second. With the advent of programmable shaders, a wide variety of new algorithms have arisen and evolved over the past few years. This edition discusses current, practical rendering methods used in games and other applications. It also presents a solid theoretical framework and relevant mathematics for the field of interactive computer graphics, all in an approachable style.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77802 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 1045 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
One would think that the title of Tomas Moller's and Eric Haines's book, Real-time Rendering, would be a contradiction in terms. How can such a computationally intensive process as rendering computer graphics ever hope to be done on the fly, in the blink of an eye, without delay--in short, in real time?

The term rendering, as it applies to computer graphics, refers to the mathematically intensive process of creating a picture or sequence of frames based on geometry. The duration of this process is dependent on the complexity of the scene (a forest with many trees and thousands of leaves will take much longer to render than a scene consisting of a white box over a gray background) and the speed of the hardware doing the calculations.

When Pixar's Toy Story was first released, the computer animation community was all abuzz with how it was done, and someone at Pixar mentioned that over 100 SGI workstations were used for rendering the frames over the course of almost two years. Someone else extrapolated this data and figured out that the same movie could have been rendered on one contemporary PC over the course of about 80 years.

The authors deftly answer the question, not only asserting that it can be done, but since this book is a programmer's guide, they list snippets of programming algorithms that help outline how it can be done.

Because the software and hardware is constantly and rapidly evolving due to the insatiable need for more realistic and complex graphics, the book avoids getting too specific. To quote the authors, "The field is rapidly evolving, and so it is a moving target." This lack of specificity doesn't detract from the usefulness of the book, though. Instead, it works at a higher, more abstract level, describing approaches to rendering techniques using generic algorithms. It is up to the programmer to apply these methods to the specific program or system on which it is to be implemented.

Real-Time Rendering describes some very complex methods, and this book is not for the average computer graphics creator. However, if you are working in an industry that depends on real-time rendered animation--like the gaming, medical, or military fields--or you are building the next-generation real-time render engine, this book will offer insight and concepts you can use to build some impressive software. --Mike Caputo

Review
"Real-Time Rendering has been a required reference for professional graphics practitioners for nearly a decade. This latest edition is as relevant as ever, covering topics from essential mathematical foundations to advanced techniques used by today's cutting edge games." - Gabe Newell, President, Valve"

From the Author
The book we wish we had owned when we started out
The field of computer graphics has become complex enough that a single book covering it all must, of necessity, be shallow in some way. Introductory texts give a solid foundation, but ignore more complex topics. API-specific volumes describe the exact syntax needed to make a graphics library perform some operation, but at the expense of having to limit themselves to what the API could do and the author could fit into the book. Our approach is to explain the algorithms and techniques currently used in the field of real-time rendering. We take up where the introductory texts leave off, and focus solely on 3D interactive rendering. By avoiding specific API constraints we are able to more fully cover the field's breadth of topics and avoid the minutiae of implementation details. While aimed at the intermediate level programmer, the book is also useful as a reference. We have recorded the workings of many algorithms in one place, contrasting and comparing methods of solving various problems.

Customer Reviews

An in-depth account of the latest real-time rendering topics
I bought this book after borrowing it from a friend because I found myself using it more than he did. I wanted a copy to call my own simply because this book is the best I have seen in its field.

The book does not include code as other books do, in my opinion its a better book due to this fact. Often example code is there to pad out the book and is poorly documented. The authors of this book however, explain the facts clearly and in a very involved way, giving the algorithm on a plate (in most cases), leaving you, the coder to implement it as you see fit.

Its heavy on the maths, but lets face it, any book that claims to teach you anything near as much as this book does "without the maths" is just lying.

Its an interesting read but more geared towards serving as a reference. There is a massive bibliography full of all the material the authors used in writing the book, so if you want more information on a specific topic, you can use the number that the authors commonly mention in the text to look up the appropriate reference, so it essentially allows you to broaden your knowledge outside the scope of the book.

Overall, an exceptional book which should come in very handy for any graphics programming in the foreseeable future.

A concise and useful book.
This is a book that covers all aspects of 3D rendering in computer graphics. As the title implies it specialises in Real-Time rendering such as is used in engines for computer games. It provides readily comprehensible explanations for many of the algorithms used in rendering but does not go into the fine details of coding. It is an excellent jump off point to technical references at all stops along the graphics pipeline. The chapter on speed-up techniques is particularly interesting as are the algorithms for real-time special effects e.g. shadows. The web site associated with the book is particularly interesting.

Theory, but not the practice
This is a great book, covering all the concepts you'll need to write your own graphics engine or games. The only problem is that it is a very theory orientated book, which may cause a few problems for beginners. There is a lot of maths notation which is not explained fully and no code to support it. Saying that, it is a good introduction and may give beginners a good overview and a load (pages and pages) of references to find what you really need to know. If you want to spend £40 on that it is your decision though. So, this is a bit of a mixed bag. I'd still recommend it, but there are books that get further under the hood than this.