xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) (06/27/90)
In article <3013.26869878@cc.nu.oz.au> c8843267@cc.nu.oz.au writes: >Hi, > I want to make a set of fast 3D rendering routines in assembler on the >amiga and I want a book on the subject of 3D Graphics. Can anyone recommend a >particular book which teaches all the theory generally and is still able to be >applied easily to the amiga ? Hope so. > > Adam. I'm not sure the book you want exists as one book, but here are several that will help you learn what you need to know to get you started. The best source of state of the art information on rendering, years more up to date than books with their long publication cycles are: ACM Transactions on Graphics, ACM SIGGRAPH's Computer Graphics (especially the conference proceedings and special subjects issues), and IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications. Each of these should be available at any good university library. Books to get you started: Alan Watt, Fundamentals of Three Dimensional Computer Graphics, ISBN 0-201-15442-0, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Steven Upstill, The Renderman Companion -- A Programmer's Guide to Realistic Computer Graphics, ISBN 0-201-50868-0, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Andrew S Glassner (Ed.), An Introduction to Ray Tracing, ISBN 0-12-286160-4, Academic Press (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers) Richard H. Bartels, John C. Beatty, and Brian A. Barsky, An Introduction to Splines for Use in Computer Graphics and Geometric Modeling, ISBN 0-934613-27-3, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers David F. Rogers, Procedural Elements for Computer Graphics, ISBN 0-07-053534-5, McGraw Hill Book Company Coming soon is the second edition to James D. Foley and Anders van Dam, Fundamentals of Interactive Computer Graphics; I don't have the new ISBN, and there are one or two junior authors added on to the second edition, but it is worth waiting for. My local computer book dealer expects this within two weeks in California; you may wait a month or two extra in Oz. Also very useful for understanding the geometry involved in rendering algorithms are: Hanan Samet, Applications of Spatial Data Structures, Computer Graphics, Image Processing, and GIS, ISBN 0-201-50300-X, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company and Franco P. Preparata and Michael Ian Shamos, Computational Geometry, an Introduction, ISBN 3-540-96131-3, Springer Verlag Sorry that there doesn't exist the one book cookbook for rendering just yet, but the subject seems too complex for a single author to grasp. Good luck with your project; were it mine, I'd write it in something a little more portable than 680x0 assembler, and share it with USENet, but you are the one doing the work. Kent, the man from xanth. <xanthian@Zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <xanthian@well.sf.ca.us> -- Thanks for your answer. It explained it all. -- Dolf Grunbauer
phorgan@cup.portal.com (Patrick John Horgan) (06/27/90)
I've got most of the theoretical books on graphics, and most of them
aren't much help with coding if you don't already know how. For
coding graphics routines one of the best books I know of is:
"Procedural Elements For Computer Graphics", David F. Rogers
McGraw-Hill ISBN 0-07-053534-5
It covers most of the standard algorithms for raster graphics with
emphasis (a bit), on scan-line algorithms. There are sections on
Raster Scan Graphics, Clipping, Hidden Lines and Hidden Surfaces, and
Rendering. It mostly assumes that objects will be represented by
polygons. If you want to learn about Bezier patches it's not the
book for you. If you want to learn about surface mapping, lighting
and shading models and ray-tracing, this will get you started. After
this book, you'll be ready for the theoretical ones:)
Of course I'd always reccommend Foley and Van Dam, except...
I'd be hesitant to get someone to spend the money with the new
edition on the horizon. It's the somewhat dated "bible" of
computer graphics...the new release though, moves it into the '90s.
People involved in the book posted a table of contents in the
graphics area of usenet a while back and said that the book was
essentailly written, but the figures et.al. would take awhile. Anyone
have any current information on this?
Patrick Horgan phorgan@cup.portal.coma976@mindlink.UUCP (Ron Tarrant) (06/27/90)
> c8843267@cc.nu.oz.au writes: > > Msg-ID: <3013.26869878@cc.nu.oz.au> > Posted: 25 Jun 90 13:04:23 GMT > > Org. : University of Newcastle > > Hi, > I want to make a set of fast 3D rendering routines in assembler on > the > amiga and I want a book on the subject of 3D Graphics. Can anyone recommend a > particular book which teaches all the theory generally and is still able to > be > applied easily to the amiga ? Hope so. > > Adam. If you want to start with a book that covers 3D theory in layman's language, I'd suggest "3D Computer Graphics, a User's Guide for Artists and Designers" by Andrew S. Glassner. I avoided this book for two years because I thought it would be too simple and talk about how to use software. But I was wrong. It's an excelent introduction to just about every aspect of 3D on computers. It doesn't have any code examples, thought and isn't really a programmer's introduction. But it does get you used to the ideas behind 3D. From there, you can go to one (or more) of several books when you're ready to roll up your sleeves and get serious. There is "Fundamentals of Interactive Computer Graphics" by Foley and Van Dam. It's well known so you can usually just ask for it by the authors' names and people will know what you're talking about. The implementation examples are either in pascal or a pascal-like pseudo code, I don't remember which. Or, you can check out "Computer Graphics" by Edward Angel. It was just published in January so unless the newest edition of Foley and Van Dam is out, this one is the latest book on the subject that I know of. It's gets pretty heavy into the math right away but is clearly written so that even someone like me who never got past grade ten can follow the discussion. The examples in this book are in C but are slanted toward building an implementation of GKS on a clone. From what I can see, though, GKS was designed to give clones sort of an Amiga-like graphics library, so it might be fairly easy to simply substitute graphics.library calls for the GKS stuff. For some solid examples in C of routines such as hidden line removal, clipping, Bezier curves, B-Splines, shading, rotations, etc. you could try "Graphics Programming in C", by Roger T. Stevens. Again, this book is aimed at clones but just skip the first 158 pages where the author expounds on how to re-invent a wheel the Amiga has been rolling on for five years. Any of these books used alongside "RKM Libraries and Devices" will give you a pretty good head start on writing your own 3D stuff. "Graphics Programming in C" $33.95 Granville Book Co. "Computer Graphics" $53.10 " " " "3D Computer Graphics" $34.50 " " " "Fundamentals of Interactive Computer Graphics" $56.60 **** **** this price is several years old so it's probably more by now These books are more than likely available at Siliconnections too. -Ron
a976@mindlink.UUCP (Ron Tarrant) (06/27/90)
> c8843267@cc.nu.oz.au writes: > > Msg-ID: <3013.26869878@cc.nu.oz.au> > Posted: 25 Jun 90 13:04:23 GMT > > Org. : University of Newcastle > > Hi, > I want to make a set of fast 3D rendering routines in assembler on > the > amiga and I want a book on the subject of 3D Graphics. Can anyone recommend a > particular book which teaches all the theory generally and is still able to > be > applied easily to the amiga ? Hope so. > > Adam. I just noticed that this message came from the net so ignore the references to bookstores local to Vancouver, BC. Sorry. :-) And the prices I quoted are in Canadian dollars so they will be lower in the US. -Ron Tarrant a976@Mindlink.UUCP
xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) (06/28/90)
In article <31187@cup.portal.com> phorgan@cup.portal.com (Patrick John Horgan) writes: > Of course I'd always reccommend Foley and Van Dam, except... >I'd be hesitant to get someone to spend the money with the new >edition on the horizon. It's the somewhat dated "bible" of >computer graphics...the new release though, moves it into the '90s. >People involved in the book posted a table of contents in the >graphics area of usenet a while back and said that the book was >essentailly written, but the figures et.al. would take awhile. Anyone >have any current information on this? According to Computer Literacy in Sunnyvale, CA, the book is published, but the physical copies have not yet arrived. I hope they're right; I have a hold order with them waiting for the book to arrive. Kent, the man from xanth. <xanthian@Zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <xanthian@well.sf.ca.us>