Animation Books

This is a must have for Disney fans. Everything from ABC's LOST to the Alice Comedies and from Steamboat Willy to Meet the Robinsons is covered here. Some articles are more detailed than others but everything is covered. Makes an interesting read just on its own. Film historians and students will find a wealth of connective material here to jump start them on research and fill in the dots on hard to find questions. A beautiful display of pictures is included with this volume. If you can't actually visit the archives (and I certainly would like to) then this is the next best thing.

"Disney A to Z" is an awesome book that a true Disney fan cannot live without. It is a great book that will help you find out about old Disney movies, that you might have not seen. "Disney A to Z" encyclopedia is also an essential source for those that love to play the "Disney Seen it" board game. It gives a short description of ALL Disney movies including the short ones that came out after the World War II. I LOVE IT!!!

This is a great gift for any Disney fan. Many listing bring back great memories and coll trivia.

Great source for references to Disney films, characters and much more.

This book is a great resource for all Disney fans. All the characters, all the movies (unfortunately, the Mephisto movie made in collaboration with Salvador Dali is not in the book) and all the attractions, parks, properties and influentials employees are mentioned. Maybe just not as exhaustive as I would like it; it is, however, a great resource.

After reading Dan Ablan's "Inside Lightwave 8" - more or less THE standard in Lightwave - there were more questions raised than answered. Not that Ablans approach is a bad one, it's just that he picks up so many different aspects of the program along the thread of the book, that at times it can be confusing. This isn't the fact with "Essential Lightwave v9". Although the whole covering of every aspect from the absolute beginning seems a bit cumbersome, it's worth it at the end. This over 900 pages issue helps you get into nearly every detail of Lightwave and handle the program like some kind of 3D Photoshop.
Add the companion DVD with hours of live modeling and animating, plug-ins and illustration fotos and you surely got something to start your way into 3D via Lightwave.

I am only on Chapter 6 right now but it has really helped me learn 3D the Lightwave way. The other reviews have said it better and convinced me. This is just my 2 cents to agree!

Overall, I think this is a very helpful book however it would have been better with color illustrations and the ones included are to small.

The best general Lightwave v9 book around. Masterfully written, great tutorials and clear explanations.

I agree that the pictures should have been color, but I don't think the book publisher has been able to make that a profitable venture, especially with the limited appeal of a book like this. Unfortunate, but they don't have the budget of Visual Quickstart and the like.

I am glad they spent their budget on making the content kickass. Black and white pictures just make the diagrams that much clearer ;-)

This is book contains some of the clearest explanations of Lightwave tools I have ever read. What makes this work as more than a reference (which it certainly will be for a good while) is that the tools or features are explained along with some genuine use cases for when you'd want to use such a capability. The example usages are well written and easily to visualize thanks to generous illustrations. Yes, they are small, but are well labeled.

I much prefer the Essential series (also own Essential Lightwave 8) for its concise descriptions and get-to-the-point examples. The information density here is excellent. Little if any fluff. Unlike the previous version, this one is divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced sections which might help guide your reading. I found the section on projection mapping to be worth the purchase of the book alone. I've read the Lightwave PDFs, the Wordware Lightwave Texturing book as well as numerous help forums, and web sites and I've not once had UV mapping explained so well. The tutorial on how to build a UV map for a fighter jet goes through not only the unwrapping process but the types of maps you might want to try to make better textures. This type of pragmatic advice above and beyond the goals of the tutorial are some of the great hidden benefits to this book. Often tutorials will just go far enough to explain how to do something without much hinting as to why.

Take the discussion on sub-patching as another example in the Advanced Modeling section. I've worked with sub-patch modeling for years and was always curious as to how pros decided when to use it or not. As it turns out my way of thinking was pretty close to the contents, but it always helps to read someone else's impressions. Basically this book made me go back to read some of the tools that I thought I already knew just to make sure I'm not missing something.

One thing that I had issues with is that some of the tutorials depend on plug-ins. At least in one case, the plug-in used was not included on the DVD and the link to it in the appendices was not working. I managed to find it using search engines after a while, but I'm not sure why all the used plug-ins weren't included on the DVD. This problem was in reference to one of the video tutorials on the DVD (surfacing with weightmaps).

If you own the previous version there is repeated content, but not so much as to invalidate buying this version. Its a good 33% thicker and there's much more to learn including a new section on stylized characters, character rigging, node editor, the aforementioned projections section, discussions of the new 9.x cameras, etc. I haven't made it through the whole book yet but it looks like some of the old tutorials and examples have been expanded as well.

Finally, I like the fact that you can easily come back to a section describing some functionality and re-learn without having to read a whole chapter. Often I'm in the middle of a project and want to just remember how to use a tool. I can find that section and easily refresh my skills with this book.

Bottom line: If you're anywhere near starting in on learning Lightwave you owe it to yourself to read this book. Do the examples. Watch the videos. Intermediate users can probably still benefit especially those coming back to Lightwave from an older version. I rank myself as an Advanced-Beginner (2 years Lightwave hobbiest).

"Killing for Culture" is a fascinating look at the subject of death in film and other media. Of particular note is the history behind the "Snuff" film, an urban legend that has persisted for years of movies where someone on-camera is murdered, for real. Of course, not one single frame of a snuff film has ever been uncovered, but that hasn't stopped the legend from appearing, and re-appearing, over time.

In addition to the sections on snuff, other areas of the death genre are explored, from the "Mondo" films of the 1960s, to the present-day "Faces of Death" style gore feasts. It makes for a fascinating, if gruesome, study of the various death genres of film and video.

CREATION books has taken over the world of publishing books about cinema and this is the best one the have released. A very thourough, well researched and fascinating journey into the subterrainian world of the Mondo movie. David and David approach the subject with abject skill and make every word count even when describing films that would send the average person into a coma for years to come.

This book breaks the barriers and dispells the myths makig it an essential purchase for anyone interested in the darker regions of cinema.

Autopsies. Car crashes. Suicides. Executions. Horrible accidents. Human remains. Assassinations. Welcome to the horrifying and disturbing yet often weirdly fascinating world of death in film. Face it, most people are strangely attracted by images of violence and death - just like stopping and watching when an accident has happened.
KILLING FOR CULTURE concerns death in films. The book starts with the story of an obscure movie named SNUFF in 1976. Originally titled SLAUGHTER, this 1971 ultracheapo horror flick about a MANSON - style murder spree was considered unwatchable and remained unreleased for several years until movie producer Allan SHACKLETON got an idea: He shot a new ending, where an actress was seemingly "killed" on camera for real (though the basement special effects clearly proofed otherwise). Cleverly promoted with the slogan "shot in South America, where life is cheap" SNUFF turned out to be a huge success. This was how the concept of snuff movies (where people are killed for real) was introduced. Other feature films like EMMANUELLE IN AMERICA or LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET further elaborated on this concept. The authors review the above mentioned films and many more in great detail and with much knowledge.
Further chapters revolve around the socalled "mondo" (shockumentary) film and how this genre evolved, starting with MONDO CANE in 1962. Writers KEREKES and SLATER show in a very detailed way, how mondo directors faked and re-enacted death footage, which was allegedly "real". I found this making - of approach particularly interesting. Many of the horrifying mondo films (like THE KILLING OF AMERICA and the infamous FACES OF DEATH series) are dealt with in lengthy reviews. Considering the subject matter one might expect that the book is written in an exploitative way. This clearly is not the case.
Further chapters concern films where real atrocity footage was used - like the US porn movie FORCED ENTRY about a posttraumatic stress disorder suffering Vietnam veteran rapist, whose "activities" are interspersed with actual combat newsreel footage. The last chapter details how tabloid papers and feminists are propagating the urban legend of snuff films.
The sheer amount of facts concerning real reel death the authors have crammed in the relatively small book is amazing:
Hospital documentaries like the 6 hour long NEAR DEATH. Nauseating underground films. The famous ZAPRUDER amateur film of the assassination of president John F. KENNEDY. Autopsy films like THE ACT OF SEEING WITH ONE'S OWN EYES. Driver education films depicting the daily carnage on the streets. Incidents where people committed suicide live in front a camera - like Pennsylvania state treasurer Budd R. DWYER, who blew his brains out with a .357 revolver during a press conference after being convicted of bribery. The GIMME SHELTER concert film, where a camera by accident caught some Hell's Angels stabbing a man. (Please note that these are only a few examples of what to find in this excellent book.)
The book is illustrated with dozens of highly interesting pictures (video covers, stills, posters, ad material, newspaper clips).
And, yes, the infamous Japanese GUINEA PIG series is covered as well. On a lighter note, the authors also review a hoax autopsy film of a Roswell alien (!)
As you can image this book is disturbing, sometimes revolting and could be offensive to some. Clearly it is only for the most devoted fan of extreme and obscure cinema/film and the most hardened horror buff. But for these groups it is absolutely indispensable. I can't praise it high enough.

A much-needed, carefully researched book that looks into the darkest of cinematic shadows. I especially like that they debunk the snuff film industry. Also commendable are the copious footnotes and the exhaustive index that lists movies by their alternate titles, directors, and years of production--very helpful when scouring the video stores for "Guinea Pig 2," "Man Behind the Sun," or even "Gimme Shelter." Certainly it gets into some stomach-churning descriptions, but I appreciate the dispassionate approach to a topic usually dealt with by pandering, slavering idiots. These Creation books, man I love 'em.

Killing for Culture is the first and most sought after of the Creation Cinema series. It covers all types of death in film looking at how it is portrayed and why. Nothing is left out from the real death seen in the Faces of Death video series to the elaborately staged "real" killings in fictional films to the wanton slaughtering of animals in the Mondo series. Yes, even "snuff" films are discussed in various sections first looking at their depiction in Hollywood films such as Hardcore (1979) and then speculating on their existence.

The chapters on snuff films is definitely the most interesting if for no other reason than this is probably one of the only available filmic studies of it. Kerekes and Slater share the opinion that while there probably ARE a small number of snuff films in existence, it's highly unlikely that there was ever any sort of underground market for that sort of thing. They define snuff not as a film of someone simply dying, but as a film made for the sadistic pleasure of the viewer. In that sense, TV news clips of plane crashes and such do not constitute snuff. Along the way, they examine some films rumored to have actual deaths onscreen. Films like Last House on Dead End Street (1977) and Snuff (1974) were made with the entire cast and crew using assumed names. Thus, they are sometimes seen as obscure films made by a bunch of psycho killers. Kerekes and Slater do a great job of finding out who actually made them and how they staged what many thought to be real murders.

There is a nice history of Mondo film and it looks at various cultural implications of Italian and, later, American film crews invading other countries, exploiting and terrorizing natives, and slaughtering animals senselessly. It will make you think twice before buying the new-to-DVD Mondo Caine series.

For anyone who has read a Creation Cinema book, this is not much different. There are many black and white stills of varying degrees of quality. The writing style is fairly sloppy. Kerekes and Slater are not cunning linguists in any respect. They are, however, good researchers and excellent film buffs. Their enthusiasm for these films are evident on every page. Their descriptions of the terrible plots, acting, and directing are quite funny, but it's always clear that as technically lacking as the films are, they still love them. As a fan of "bad" movies, I understand where they're coming from.

If you like films such as Thriller: A Cruel Picture, I Spit on Your Grave, Toolbox Murders, Nail Gun Massacre, etc., you'll find this book is an amazing resource. It's great that somebody is looking at these films in a somewhat academic way without forgetting that they are, above all, entertainment. This book has been out of print for a while now and as a result the price is fairly high (and getting higher). I recommend picking up a copy at any price before it's too late. Enjoy.

Since I have taken Final Cut Pro, I have found Premiere Pro to be more than a little intuitive. Every few months Premiere seems to update itself and I wanted to be able to keep up correctly and this book has done it. Unfortunately, I have not had the chance to look at the included DVD. If the included DVD is anything like the easy to read, great pictures and the researchability of this book's contents, we all will be Premiere Pro 1.5 experts very soon.
I have enjoyed reading the book and implementing the procedures. If you want to learn Premiere Pro 1.5 from scratch on a professional level, this is your book to use to get you up to speed.

This is the best basic training book I have ever used. Schell and his editors have done an excellent job of providing the reader/user with precise hands on training. If you have Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 and install the included lesson examples, you are in for a immersive fascinating and at times funny learning experience.

I knew absolutely nothing about Premiere Pro, and within hours I was on my way to creating video. The lessons are very easy to follow in step-by-step format with illustrations. The book also contains sidebars that go into greater depth on the information presented. I totally recommend this book as a first course in editing with Premiere Pro 1.5.

I needed a way to cut together my commercial demo reel, but I didn't have the cash to drop at an editorial shop. So, I picked up Premiere Pro and this book. Within two weeks I'm well equipped to cut together my own reels for years to come.

The book is extremely well written and has a nice conversational tone throughout. The exercises were easy to understand, but are good building blocks for more complex projects.

I generally hate "teach yourself" books, but this one was a rare exception. I can't recommend it enough!

This is my second Hands on Training Book. The first one was very good but this is the best and is the one I was waiting for (This is my first experience with Premiere Pro). It is the ideal self teaching program for learning Premiere Pro 1.5 especially if you have not given the first steps in using the program. After reading the first four clear and easy chapters I could make my first video program. The readings are light and clear and when I start reading a new chapter, it's really difficult to stop reading, especially because you are fascinated with the exercises you are completing with excellent results.

Before ordering this book I ordered "Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 Studio Techniques" which is an excellent Reference Book, but not the most indicated book for a newbie self paced training program. If you have both books I think you will have the best of both worlds.

I paid for expedited shipping of this book and received it two days earlier than I expected. The book was in perfect condition. I definitely recommend this seller!

If you are looking for a book with a little bit of insight into the creation of the Corpse Bride film, this is good choice. Nice selection of production pictures and concept artwork with a good description of the processes involved.

The book covers puppet making, music creation and a small scale time line of concept to film.

TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE: AN INVITATION TO THE WEDDING is the lush movie book accompaniment to tie into the release of TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE, and includes a foreword by Burton, details on his film, storyboards, his drawings, and more. It arrived too late for more timely holiday mention but the movie is certain to be a hit for many months and any viewer or would-be viewer will continue to find TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE an excellent guide to the movie.

I bought this book several months ago in a local bookstore. The photos and images in the book attracted my attention almost immediately, although at that time I've only heard of the film but haven't watched it. Like other behind-the-scenes books, it shows how they produced the film in every detail, from beginning to end. I especially like the concept sketches and the black humor. The production process also provides a good reference to the making of stop-motion animation, which makes this book unique. If you like the the film or stop-motion animation, I believe this book won't disappoint you.

I am a student of the great art of stop-motion-animation. For those interested in this pioneering addition to the art form or just interested in what it takes to write plan and pull off a feature length animation this is a great book. Lots of colot photos, concept sketches and digital concept art as well as the writing itself tells a lot about what it took to pull it all together. Well worth it to own as a reference and the coffee table.

A clear and concise exercise to understanding basic animation. As anyone who has ever used Maya can tell you, it's a HUGE program and can be overwhelming in its complexity. So many instructional books throw as much functionality of the program at you as possible, and as a result you end up walking away with only a few tricks that are often unrelated to each other in the context of seeing a project through from beginning to end. This book avoids the clutter and distractions of many of the flashier aspects of Maya and instead focuses on the information required to familiarize the reader with the basics of animation. Each chapter builds upon the knowledge acquired in the previous chapter and is reinforced by well thought out and pertinent tutorial projects.

By the end of the book you will feel ready to take on your own animation projects with confidence.

This is a great book to learn to understand and use Maya. It's well organized and makes you understand not only how to do it, but also why to do it. Recommended.

Park does a skilful job of minimising the amount of maths that a newcomer to Maya needs. Or, perhaps, it is Maya that does that. Anyhow, traditional texts on graphics (think Foley and van Dam) are replete with maths. Usually matrix algebra. But also for the physics of ray tracing etc. What this book demonstrates is showing how to use Maya for many 3D graphics tasks, often without having to explicitly deal with the underlying maths. Like manipulating NURBs or single or multiple light sources. Or dealing with shading issues.

As is common nowadays in graphics texts, there are several colour plates, with cartoon characters made with Maya. Impressive functionality.

I had long wanted to begin the process of learning Maya, but was intimidated every time I opened the damned program. John Park's book allowed me to grow past that fear and build a strong foundation in understanding the program. His instructions are easy to follow and his exercises (included on an accompanying CD) provide real world experiences for learning Maya's basics. Additionally, it is a well-rounded instruction manual that teaches about many aspects of the program (instead of a few particulars). Please buy this book, so Mr. Park is encouraged to release additional manuals!

Park's book is exceptional because it has a simple, easy to follow tutorial format that has you modeling, shading, animating and rendering all in the first chapter. Each chapter builds on the last expanding the skills together as an integrated group. Maya is an awsome program that is fun work with, but its shear size can make it overwhelming for a beginner. Because of this most books either specialize in only one aspect of it, or serve as a general pictorial menu of what you can do but don't adequately tell you how. Park's book stays at just the right level so you feel excited rather than overwhelmed, and by the end you have developed a working knowledge of all the major menu sets, and you have completed a rather sophisticated animation. You can then move on to any other Maya book with confidence, or just continue working with the knowledge you've gained. You don't even have to buy Maya. It comes with a copy of Maya Personal Learning Edition on the tutorial CD.

Wanderfull! I finally really doing it!
(what about character animation cbt?)

DEAR Jason Leong from SINGAPORE PLEASE SEND AN E-MAIL
FOR ME : MAXBOX200@YAHOO.COM
I'M WATING TO HEARING FROM YOU.

I have about 20 to 25 books on max and only 2 other books have valuted my skill level as high as this CD has done.
The CD plays great and flows at an excellent pace. Even the way they teach, gives you some great layout and operational techniques to make using MAX so much more efficient.
Plus what makes this training great is THE TUTOR. He is creatig the model at the same time as he is telling you what to do. Hence you always see his steps even if he skips mentioning it.
I have never been so pleased using one product as I have been using this CD.
As someone wrote earlier the CD is worth 3 times more than what we paid for it.

This CD has greatly improved my modelling skills and knowledge in max. It is like having a teacher there showing you and explaining every step, with the advantage of rewinding as many times as you need to. I would recommend this to the beginner of max modelling. It has certanily helped me out a long way. And Tim Kugler provides great support as well.

What are you waiting for, go buy a copy!
Shan J

I have talk to Tim before the author for this Cd.He's a nice chap.I got hold his disc and when through.I was shocked all this while I bought a lot of books on MAX.But none help through for a successfull modeling.But I went through his stuff its power and easy to understand.he make it so easy to absord....I recommend for Max lovers to go for his CD.

I love Matsumoto's work. Maetel is one of my all-time favorite characters, as is her friend (and in the movie "Maetel Legend", her sister) Emeraldas. Harlock is...interesting, but kinda cool. Tetsuro, well...he's okay.

The plots are incredible! They really make you think (and I'm not just talking about the blurbs at the end of each segment!). There are very few manga that can do that.

I reccomend this series to any and every anime/manga fan!

In the distant fututre, ayoung boy named Tetsuro steals a boarding pass to a train called the Three-Nine. After emabarking, he meets a woman named Maetel, who bares a striking resembelance to his deceased mother. A grand journey begins that will take Tetsuro to the edge of the universe and back. He will meet many friends and enemies in his journey of wonder.

Despite the artwork which will turn off fans of superhero-style comic books, Galaxy Express has a style unto its own that needs to be appreciated by a more mature reader. The story is excellent, the social commentary is superb, my only problem is the SLOW release schedule. This book easily ranks equally alongside the other great (translated) mangas of our times, including Nausicaa, Lone Wolf and Cub, Dominion, and Adolf... Buy this book!

Here's a summery of the 18 volumes, NO spoilers^_~

"You think Tetsuro Hoshino has seen the last of the Gallaxy Express? Starting where the 2 part movie left off, Maetel sets Tetsuro back on the path to Manhood (NOTE, he is VERY young) & the trail of goals, making new friends & discovering the ones he'd thought gone, learning the harsh lessons of reality in the endless sea of stars. Mysteries come to light, only to be darkened by a new challenge or question or an old memory, & the entire gallaxy asks only of Tetsuro to survive & NEVER to forget.

Leiji Matsumoto, the creator, is second in popularity only to Hayao Miyazaki (Kiki, Totoro, Laputa, Lupin), & has one many awards for his interconnecting series.

This is one the whole family should watch because it's sincere, complex, inovative, provocative, dramatic, & contemplative above everything else. It's a helluva good story/plot that makes you think about the facts of life & its challenges. It has nothing corny or cliche, a literary masterpiece(despite the craappy artwork). It teaches about achieving goals, following hopes & dreams & beliefs, finding ones purpose in life, & keeping promises.

Personally, I wouldn't trade MY collection if you offered me 3 times what the whole set is worth^o^

His writings are like.......Pringles. "Once you pop, you can't stop."

I have liked GE 999 ever since I started readng it in Animerica magazine. So, I got this book, but discovered that this is actually the *sequel* to the *first* adventure of Maetel and Tetsuro. I got this information from the biographies of the characters and the clues in the story. As a result of not havign read the first series, I am a tad bit lost. Can someone tell me WHY they chose to publish the sequel in English before they translated the first series? It doesn't make any sense!

Anyway, the characters are fun and I enjoy their adventures. But the blurb at the end of every chapter is too deep and confusing for me to understand.

I like this, and I will look up the first series--right after I find out who started this translating mess in the first place.

Excellent book with a very easy exposition of photogrammetry an the newest applications it offers. Very good to understand what's behind camera tracking software in the postproduction market.

The book covers the general theory behind of matchmoving and photogrametry pretty clearly. There's step by step tutorials that guide you thru the matchmove process such as manual and auto tracking. I was a beginer and learned quiet a lot. I only wished he covered more on the interface of matchmover. Still a great book though.

If you want to know about "black" art of matchmoving this would be the author and this would the book.

Recently, I started doing matchmove work again, after a two year break. Before starting the new job, I wanted to brush up by reading this book. This is an excellent reference and I wish I had it when I started matchmoving four years ago. For the novice I can not recommend this book enough. For a manual, this book is easy to read and breaks down all aspects of matchmoving in just 250 pages. I did not go over the tutorials on the CD, I am just reviewing the written portion of the book.

Since this is only the Matchmoving book out there, there not much to say. The book has some really nice tutorials, is clearly written, and once you finish the book you should be able to go out and shoot your own footage for CG animation/fx.

I definitely recommend this book for anyone working with OpenGL's new Shading Language. I would, however, say that probably the most difficult part of working with GLSL is getting it working in the first place. Especially on Linux, this is somewhat confusing - some cards support GL 2.0, some don't, but still support the GLSL if using the ARB function calls. I would also make sure to point out to new users that GLEW is close to essential when working with the GLSL - you can download it from sourceforge. It might be worth mentioning in future versions of the book, along with ARB functions which are the same as the GLSL standard functions shown in the book.

Twenty years ago, I used to program graphics on an Evans and Sutherland PS340. It was then one of the top of the line graphics computers (costing $100k). It could labouriously do shading, but only Phong and Gouraud. Nowadays, many PCs have this ability, and much faster. But a problem still persists, where often the shading methods are restricted to what is implemented on the graphics chips.

In contrast, you have the approach in this definitive book on OpenGL Shading Language. This lets you implement in your code, shading routines of your own devising. To be sure, given the same shading method, one done in this language, and one in the hardware, then the latter will have better performance. But it turns out that today's computers are fast enough, and have enough RAM, that the difference in response might not be appreciable.

The book describes an extensive set of built-in convenience functions that come with the language. And the language's API is explained in detail. The author rightly recommends that you come at it with some experience in the standard OpenGL.

Since the language is still quite new, you are more or less on your own, when looking at development tools. This dearth is expected to be remedied in a few years. But right now, you'll have to rely on your wits. Along with a chapter that gives general principles of how you should develop your own shader. What may be even more use, however, is the second half of the book. Devoted to case studies of many shaders. Understanding these may be more beneficial than any IDE.

Oh, as you might expect from a graphics book, there is a lovely set of colour plates in the middle of the book, showing what custom shaders can do. Treat it as inspiration if you wish.

The recent trend in graphics hardware has been to replace fixed functionality with programmability in areas that have grown exceedingly complex (e.g., vertex processing and fragment processing). The OpenGL Shading Language has been designed to allow application programmers to express the processing that occurs at those programmable points of the OpenGL pipeline. Independently compilable units that are written in this language are called shaders. A program is a set of shaders that are compiled and linked together. The OpenGL Shading Language is based on ANSI C and many of the features have been retained except when they conflict with performance or ease of implementation. This shading language is without a doubt the most important addition to OpenGL since its inception, and this book provides an excellent guide to programming with it. The author was one of the primary contributors to the development of the language, and he provides a well-written and insightful explanation of the language and its use.
The book begins with a review of OpenGL basics, followed by an introduction to shaders and how they fit into the pipeline. It then covers the language itself, including data types, operators, interaction with the OpenGL state machine and fixed function pipeline, built-in functions, and more. It also introduces and explains the OpenGL APIs needed to use shaders.
The last half of the book focuses on shader development, including general process and workflow, and coverage of many specific techniques, such as procedural textures and GPU-based animation. It even includes a section on implementing the fixed function pipeline using shaders. The book ends with a handy comparison of OpenGL Shading Language with other shading languages, such as Cg, HLSL, and Renderman and a couple of appendices providing a language grammar and API reference.
I particularly liked chapters 6 through 8, which take you from a simple shading example -"brick"- through the specific steps of shader development that you would need to master regardless of the API you are using. Also the chapters on procedural textures and noise and the accompanying code examples helped clear up some matters that were murky when I read "Texturing & Modeling: A Procedural Approach" by Ebert et al. In summary, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in implementing software shading, both from the standpoint of OpenGL and from the standpoint of the design process itself. I notice that Amazon does not show the table of contents for the second edition, so I do that here:
Chapter 1. REVIEW OF OPENGL BASICS
OpenGL History; OpenGL Evolution; Execution Mode; The Frame Buffer; State; Processing Pipeline; Drawing Geometry; Drawing Images; Coordinate Transforms; Texturing;

Chapter 2. BASICS
Introduction to the OpenGL Shading Language; Why Write Shaders?; OpenGL Programmable Processors; Language Overview; System Overview; Key Benefits;

Chapter 3. LANGUAGE DEFINITION
Example Shader Pair; Data Types; Initializers and Constructors; Type Conversions; Qualifiers and Interface to a Shader; Flow Control; Operations; Preprocessor; Preprocessor Expressions; Error Handling;

Chapter 4. THE OPENGL PROGRAMMABLE PIPELINE
The Vertex Processor; The Fragment Processor; Built-in Uniform Variables; Built-in Constants; Interaction with OpenGL Fixed Functionality;

Chapter 5. BUILT-IN FUNCTIONS
Angle and Trigonometry Functions; Exponential Functions; Common Functions; Geometric Functions; Matrix Functions; Vector Relational Functions; Texture Access Functions; Fragment Processing Functions; Noise Functions;

Chapter 6. SIMPLE SHADING EXAMPLE
Brick Shader Overview; Vertex Shader; Fragment Shader; Observations;

Chapter 7 OPENGL SHADING LANGUAGE API
Obtaining Version Information; Creating Shader Objects; Compiling Shader Objects; Linking and Using Shaders; Cleaning Up; Query Functions; Specifying Vertex Attributes; Specifying Uniform Variables; Samplers; Multiple Render Targets; Development Aids; Implementation-Dependent API Values; Application Code for Brick Shaders;

Chapter 8. SHADER DEVELOPMENT
General Principles; Performance Considerations; Shader Debugging; Shader Development Tools; Scene Graphs;

Chapter 9. EMULATING OPENGL FIXED FUNCTIONALITY
Transformation; Light Sources; Material Properties and Lighting; Two-Sided Lighting; No Lighting; Fog; Texture Coordinate Generation; User Clipping; Texture Application;

Chapter 10. STORED TEXTURE SHADERS
Access to Texture Maps from a Shader; Simple Texturing Example; Multitexturing Example; Cube Mapping Example; Another Environment Mapping Example; Glyph Bombing;

Chapter 11. PROCEDURAL TEXTURE SHADERS
Regular Patterns; Toy Ball; Lattice; Bump Mapping;

Chapter 12. LIGHTING
Hemisphere Lighting; Image-Based Lighting; Lighting with Spherical Harmonics; The *erLight Shader;

Chapter 13. SHADOWS
Ambient Occlusion; Shadow Maps; Deferred Shading for Volume Shadows;

Chapter 14. SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS
Refraction; Diffraction; BRDF Models; Polynomial Texture Mapping with BRDF Data;

Chapter 15. NOISE
Noise Defined; Noise Textures; Trade-offs; A Simple Noise Shader; Turbulence; Granite; Wood;

Chapter 16. ANIMATION
On/Off; Threshold; Translation; Morphing; Other Blending Effects; Vertex Noise; Particle Systems; Wobble;

Chapter 17. ANTIALIASING PROCEDURAL TEXTURES
Sources of Aliasing; Avoiding Aliasing; Increasing Resolution; Antialiased Stripe Example; Frequency Clamping;

Chapter 18. NON-PHOTOREALISTIC SHADERS
Hatching Example; Technical Illustration Example; Mandelbrot Example;

Chapter 19. SHADERS FOR IMAGING
Geometric Image Transforms; Mathematical Mappings; Lookup Table Operations; Color Space Conversions; Image Interpolation and Extrapolation; Blend Modes;

Chapter 20. REALWORLDZ
Features; RealWorldz Internals; Implementation; Atmospheric Effects; Ocean; Clouds;

Chapter 21. LANGUAGE COMPARISON
Chronology of Shading Languages; RenderMan; OpenGL Shader (ISL); HLSL; Cg;
Appendix A. Language Grammar
Appendix B. API Function Reference

I'm not a fan of the 'group of papers' style of book. But this book pulls it off nicely. The text is consistenly good throughout. And the illustrations and formulas are high quality and presented nicely.

I would have liked full color throughout, but I accept that it would have been cost prohibitive on a book of this heft. Speaking of heft, yeah, this is a doorstop of a book. I think some of the text could have been edited down and the formatting tightened up to reduce bulk.

The OpenGL Shading Language is without doubt the most important addition to OpenGL since its inception, and this book provides an excellent guide to programming with it. As one of the primary contributors to the development of the language, Rost provides a clear and well-written explanation of the language and how to use it.

The book begins with a review of OpenGL basics, followed by an introduction to shaders and how they fit into the pipeline. It then covers the language itself, including data types, operators, interaction with the OpenGL state machine and fixed function pipeline, built-in functions, and more. It also introduces and explains the OpenGL APIs needed to use shaders.

The last half of the book focuses on shader development, including general process and workflow, and coverage of many specific techniques, such as procedural textures and GPU-based animation. It even includes a section on implementing the fixed function pipeline using shaders.

The book ends with a handy comparison of GLSL with other shading languages, such as Cg and HLSL, and a couple of appendices providing a language grammar and API reference.

If you're doing shader development with OpenGL, you'll definitely want this book on your desk. My only complaint about it is that it was written before GLSL was officially promoted to the core. When that happened, a number of important things were changed that aren't reflected in the book. However, determining the differences isn't difficult, so don't let that deter you from picking this up.