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

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.

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.

I have been trying to learn game development and programming for almost a year as a hobby and can kind of get by knowing different concepts and properties. I thought this book would really help me understand concepts at a deeper level and allow me to use critical thinking to solve problems using these "basics". Some parts of the book were really fast-reading, while others slowed me down to a halt with the math and programming. There were two parts in the book that it was getting hard and I had to skip to the next chapter where it wasn't quite as deep. the last chapters on matrices and quaternions were the two that stick out in my mind. It is great that it gets into more detail with those areas, but a little frustrating if you haven't studied very much linear algebra. I will be re-reading those sections again after a little time has passed. It covers matrices, vectors, and rotations in more details, while it skims over more advanced concepts such as binary space partition trees and inverse kinematics. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.