Essential Mathematics for Games and Interactive Applications: A Programmer's Guide FROM OUR EDITORS
The Barnes & Noble Review
You wonﾽt get far with 3D graphics and game development without some serious math. This book makes the math far less daunting. You wonﾽt just master the concepts; youﾽll see how the mathﾽs actually applied, and how it affects the way your game renders and plays.
Youﾽll start with the linear algebra, affine algebra, and numerical representations underlying much 3D programming: vectors, points, matrices, and so forth. Next, the authors walk through the rendering pipeline: applying matrices and transformations to create virtual cameras, representing 3D objects visually, adding dynamic lighting, and drawing 3D geometry to the display.
Thereﾽs coverage of animation (parametric curves, splines, quaternions); and a detailed introduction to simulation (collisions and realistic motion). Need things a bit more tangible? Check out the CD-ROMﾽs hands-on demos and sample code. Bill Camarda
Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2003 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.
ANNOTATION
Audience: Game programmers or aspiring game programmers that have not developed the necessary mathematical skills for modern game development.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Based on the authors' popular tutorials at the Game Developers Conference,
Essential Mathematics for Games and Interactive Applications presents the
core mathematics necessary for sophisticated 3D graphics and interactive
physical simulations. The book begins with linear algebra and matrix
manipulation and expands on this foundation to cover such topics as texture
filtering, interpolation, animation, and basic game physics. Essential
Mathematics focuses on the issues of 3D game development important to
programmers and includes optimization guidance throughout.
KEY FEATURES:
Covers concepts in sufficient detail for a programmer to understand the
foundations of 3D without feeling overwhelmed by proofs and theory
Companion CD-ROM with code examples built around a shared code base,
including a math library covering all the topics presented in the book, a
core vector/matrix math engine, and libraries to support basic 3D rendering
and interaction
Provides guidance for students trying to understand how games are actually
developed, including optimization techniques
About the Authors:
James M. Van Verth is a founding member of Red Storm Entertainment, a
division of Ubisoft, where he has been a lead engineer for six years. For
the past five years he also has been a regular speaker at the Game
Developers Conference, teaching the all-day tutorial "Essential Math for
Programmers," on which this book is based. He began his game industry career
at Virtus Corporation, working as a sound and graphics engineer for the
title Tom Clancy: SSN. His first position at Red Storm was as project lead
and designer of Tom Clancy's Politika, the first commercial Java game. This
was followed by the land warfare game Force 21 where he acted as lead
engineer, focusing on 3D graphics, vehicle physics, and pathfinding. His
latest role at Red Storm is rendering technology lead for a well-known squad
combat franchise. His background includes a B.A. in mathematics and computer
science from Dartmouth College, an M.S. in computer science from the State
University of New York at Buffalo, and a M.S. in computer science from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This is his first book.
Lars M. Bishop is the Chief Technology Officer for Numerical Design Limited
(NDL). Since 1996, he has specialized in real-time 3D game rendering
technologies at NDL. He was a founding member of the team that created NDL's
popular NetImmerse and Gamebryo 3D game engines, which are used in over 50
games, such as Bethesda Softworks' Morrowind and Mythic Entertainment's Dark
Age of Camelot. Lars is currently working on the development of
next-generation NDL products, specifically 3D engines and tools for handheld
devices. He holds a B.S. in mathematics and computer science from Brown
University and a M.S. in computer science from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
Peter Lipson
Even though I've worked with these systems for years, I found new ways of looking at several topics that make them easier to remember and use. For someone new to 3D programming, it is extremely useful-it gives them a solid background in pretty much every area they need to understand. — Toys for Bob, Inc.
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