3D Books

For the most part of this book, its trying to fill its 500 pages with images and function references that are essentially a copy/paste from the freely available DirectX SDK. The book's content is either SDK material or completely basic stuff. Even the introductory books that I have read are far more advanced than this one.

Because it covers all principal topics on game programming in a straight to the point way and with C++ code, makes it a practical book for learning fast and concise. it is possible to develop an application in less than a semester. I recommend it to students and people who prefer reading a book than the DX API documentation from the screen. Hope to see "Advanced 3D Game programming with DX10" someday (anyway it should be called "Intermediate" instead of "Advanced")

"Advanced 3D Game Programming with DirectX 9.0" by Peter Walsh covers a broad range of subjects critical to making games: graphics, artificial intelligence, networking, and mathematics. Priced at just under $60, the book contains eleven chapters that span approximately 520 pages.

The first chapter, "Windows" describes how to create a window and respond to some of the common Windows messaging events. The chapter defines several custom classes that loosely resemble code created by Visual Studio's workspace wizard but cleaner and in a Win32 flavor. These classes form the framework for a generic Windows game.

The next three chapters (Getting Started with DirectX, DirectInput, and DirectSound) show how to compile and link DirectX with your application and initialize two of the sub-systems found in DirectX, DirectSound and DirectInput. The sub-systems are briefly highlighted and wrapper classes are given to simplify their usage. The DirectInput and DirectSound chapters focus on initialization of each system rather than exploring the more sophisticated uses of each system like force feedback or dynamic audio mixing.

Chapters on 3D math, artificial intelligence, and networking follow. The math chapter provides basic math definitions like the dot and cross products as well as container classes for vectors and matrices. The AI chapter is brief. Readers seeking to gain a deeper understanding should read the chapter in conjunction with a decent college text that describes fundamental search routines like A* or Djkstra's algorithm. Lastly, the networking chapter relies on WinSock without mentioning DirectPlay. Classes are provided to encapsulate the network layer of a game. While all three chapters are essential to game programming, none adequately covered the complexity and nuances of each subject given the space provided.

The remaining chapters presented in the last fifth of the book discuss rendering and are easily the highpoint of the text. Walsh attempts to detail advanced topics like multi-texture and multi-pass rendering using the fixed function pipeline. Yet despite featuring DirectX 9.0, many of the new SDK features were missing from the text such as vertex and pixel shaders, displacement maps, or the two-sided stencil mode. Beginning with lighting and fog parameters, Walsh explores several sophisticated graphics techniques including the mathematics of animation, subdivision of surfaces, radiosity, and progressive meshes. Then, examples of multi-pass texture mapping (light maps, environment maps, and glow maps) are provided to illustrate various DirectX render states. Last, Walsh discusses scene management to assist in reducing the number of objects drawn per frame by using portals to test visibility and octrees.

For the price of the book, a companion CD containing the source code would have been beneficial. When I downloaded the sample code to try them out, three of the four examples crashed because DirectX device wasn't successfully initialized when rendering began on my GeForce4. Since the examples executed in full-screen mode, the computer needed to be rebooted. Additionally, the sample code contained a couple C/C++ techniques that are not commonly found in game development: exceptions and nameless unions. Support for exceptions can add to the size of a program and slow its execution speed while unions hinder portability and create potential memory alignment issues that are compiler dependant.

I found the book's title at odds with the subject matter. Generally, Walsh provided an overview of the basic theory, API calls, and usage. When more details would help clarify understanding of a point, the reader was often referred to the DirectX SDK help. As an experienced developer, I found very little of value in this book. While Walsh attempts to cover a broad spectrum of subjects, none of the topics are adequately explored leaving the seasoned reader with nothing but an unsatisfying overview and possibly a reference to the SDK help file.

I only rate this one star because I cannot rate it no stars.
I don't know why they bother updating this book everytime a new version of DirectX comes out. It sucks everytime.
What they should do is throw out everything they have and start over.

I bought this book to advance from what I've learned with Microsoft samples and tutorials. The book introduces basic concepts in the first few chapters then did not provide any concrete examples or explanations. It doesn't even offer any examples on how to create a simple geometry in DX!! The coding style is so different from what MS offered that I had a hard time adapting. On contrary to the misleading title "Advanced 3D Game Programming...", it strays off and attempt to cover DirectPlay, DirectSound, 3D Math, AI(even!), and DirectInput in short chapters instead of focusing on D3D in-depth.
To make the long story short, I'm back on Amazon looking for a decent book and revisiting Microsoft tutorials during the wait. Don't make the mistake of buying this book. I totally agree with everyone else's reviews! If only I checked the reviews on Amazon first :(

It is a 5 stars book, but is a little outdated now.

If you don't like this book it's because you dont know what your doing.It comes chock full of models and taught me how to really use Bones Pro.

This book spends 3/4 of the time talking about anatomy instead about how to use Character Studio. It is so out of date that almost all the tutorials on the CD Rom do not work right and some things are missing. The last thing you need is more headaches when its your first time learning a new program. Also there is no teck support or updates except a www to the publisher. Don't waste your money!

This book came before MaxR2. why don't you buy other Max R2 or R2.5 books? it's waste of money!

This book teach you how to make a good character modeling and animation + basic tutor of Character Studio. So, if you looking for character modeling and animation in MAX, better buy other books like Inside series of 3DS MAX R2.5

this book is alright but the thing that i hated was that it says "go to snap settings" and it took me over 20 minutes to find it. It doesn't tell you where to find stuff. It took me over 2 hours to do some projects because i was exploring to find settings and boxes i had to check. dont buy it.

Being a new Max user, I found that this book confused me...the instructions it gave were quite vague and sometimes did not work. It leaves out areas of importance which you should know when you create the scenes in the book.

I purchased book on:14-Nov-2003, Listing ID:0922A885308.
I received book on 12-3-03.
The book was suppose to have the cd unopened.
The cd was missing.
Shipped by : damonsmyers@cox.net
Harold Scogin
1783 cord 53
Wadley, Al 36276

This is a 4 stars book, but is outdated now.

I was kinda disappointed with the book. First of all, it's labelled "design guide", but is really just a bunch of tutorials. The introduction says "this book is not a tutorial on learning every button and menu of Max....its a fast-paced, project oriented guide on doing cool stuff with an awesome package". First off, project oriented = tutorials, so you would assume cool stuff making the tutorials-- but some of them don't work! The beginning of each chapter shows you a nice picture of the "completed project", only they show you how to get there 1/2 way! Its like 'here's a picture, do it yourself'. The tutorials also fail to tell you why things happen. They give you steps, like a recipe. Clik that button, set this value, press enter, click here, type 2.1, draw this, click Enter, done, thank you, have a nice day. That's the quality of the tutorials. But then again, its "fast-paced" book, so its assumed you spend time to do whatever steps are missing and fool around with the numbers to understand what they do.

The book is very well structured, it teaches how to implement Maya and Virtools, taking you through the creation of a character or a tree in Maya and configuring it later in Virtools. Also explains a number of behaviors and cameras, theory and practice. Im still hoping to test a few of the examples, such as the Nighthawk section, but so far it seems fairly good.

This book is a good reference for anyone interested in creating interactive installations, typically for museums, presentations, projects, digital artwork, and even games.

If you are completely new to Virtools and you are looking for a manual, then this may not be the appropriate book. However, if your goal is to produce rich experiences with a strong cinematographic feel, it's an ideal read. Gauthier often links virtual worlds to cinema, a natural connection; if you want to push your virtual content futher, some tricks of the 7th art trade are totally appropriate.

I'd recommend this to anyone willing to push the quality of an installation, or looking forward to adding lots of depth in a virtual experience.

I am a 3D savvy person and I have been using 3D applications such as 3D Studio Max & Maya for several years but I have TROUBLE following the tutorials in this book - WHY? The reason is simple: there are errors, errors, and errors everywhere in this book. Since it's almost impossible to find a Virtools book, this would be the only choice for people who want to get a book about Virtools. However I found this book is very disappointing.

There is no logical explanation of how building blocks work (building blocks are what the pre-written scripts in Virtools are called) but merely poor direction of how to click and drag building blocks and press play. Most of the information about Virtools in this book you will be able to find in the Help menu from the software itself. There are very few (if there is any) new ideas and they are confusing and I get lost even by following the "step by step" instruction. I was doubting myself not following the tutorials correctly so I passed the book to one of my friends who is a 3D guru - and he has trouble to get things work following the tutorials in this book as well. Again: errors!!!

I'm very disappointed and frustrated.

This book contains demos solely for use with Virtools Dev 3.0. The book is specific to this software and doesn't contain much that would be of interest otherwise.

By the way, Virtools Dev used to cost $5,000. Unfortunately, they doubled the price to $10,000 this year, but from what I could find on Internet forums, there was no reason for the increase. The software wasn't vastly improved or anything.

And if you actually create a game using Virtools Dev, you have to pay them a percentage of you profit. There are other hidden charges too, such as add-ons, that you would need.

Therefore, I wasted my money on this book, but maybe this review will save yours.

It's nearly impossible to find Virtools books out there. So I was pleased to find this title. However, it has not been particularly useful.

There are plenty of demo files on the disc but very little discussion of what is going on. What I was hoping for was detail on how building blocks were selected, why they are connected the way they are, how they interact, etc. Instead the demo files are completed with little comment in the book. The instructions that are there are more of the "Drag this there. Then drag this there. Now press play." I find little insight in this method which is why I'd hoped for something more.

Many of the files on the CD are missing or not named the same as in the book. Some files that are to be downloaded from the Web were unavailable.

Also, there is quite a bit of content dedicated to creating your assets with Maya. That may be of interest to some, but I'm just in need of learning Virtools. Hence that material is of no assistance.

It is a dissapointment, but remains the only book available.

This book is a decent introduction to Direct3D graphics, but it's by no means a definitive guide, nor is it a guide to Direct3D9 graphics. A discussion of the real meat and potatoes of Direct3D9, the facet that makes the API so exciting for developers, pixel and vertex shaders, is completely omitted. So it's essentially a Direct3D7 level text.

The discussion of 3D mathematics was abysmal, a lot of the actual math isn't really shown, but how to use the D3DX helper functions are. Worst of all, Thorn didn't show us how to multiply matrices -- LUDICROUS! If anyone wants to be a professional graphics programmer, implementing and developing new algorithms, they're going to need to get to grips with the, sometimes grueling, mathematics.

The discussion of 3D concepts is okay, but it's all extremely basic. I was able to get a very simple, fixed-function game engine running using this book as a reference for some of the API functions, but if you want to make more cutting edge graphics programs, you need pixel shaders to do that.

If you can get this book used and dirt cheap, then it'll be a decent intro to Direct3D, but I suggest you pick up either Wolfgang Engel's Beginning Direct3D Game Programming and/or Frank Luna's book -- both of which introduce pixel/vertex shaders.

After you read the forementioned, "Programming Vertex And Pixel Shaders" by Wolfgang Engel will be most useful, as well as the ShaderX series (also edited by Engel).

I got this title because it had the most references and positive
reviews. But this is a seriously flawed book. Important topics
like depth, culling, block bit transfers, and any discussion of
shadows and reflections are completely missing.
The book style is quirky, it starts like a users guide, with
installation instructions for directX, then launches into a
feature by feature discussion with virtually no overview material
about what 3d drawing means, and what we are trying to accomplish.

Further, the author starts with an example of how to write a
message loop that POLLS for messages instead of releases control
to get them "because we need all the time we can get for the
game". This is an amateur hour stunt that is the reason some
apps bog down the system in Windows. Its totally unecessary,
you can use timers to make sure you get program time from the
system WHEN APPROPRIATE, not continuously WASTING CPU time.
DON'T use this technique !

I'm sorry to say that I have not found a professional, readable
high level book on Direct3d yet. This is in contrast to the
excellent books available for OpenGL. Sad.

Well despite an appealing title, it remains an overview. The
author is only giving a small extract of the programming code
which would be hard for someone to pick up without being more
familiar with DirectX structure. Not very useful unless you
know some DirectX but then, does not give a lot more info ....
especially for $49 ! Don't waste your money.

This book starts out with 3D math reviews and goes on to Direct3D fundamentals.

Pro:
- It has pretty good chapters on the X file, camera system, and skeletal animation
- I love the DirectX Q&A on the back of appendix which gives a thorough some of the questions you mgiht have ran into but can't find the answers

Con:
- the chapter on materials and lightning could have been expanded more such as giving more samples
- the samples you can downloaded although there are no error in the code but you have to put a little of work to add those files into a new project and compile

Overall, it's a great start for those who wish to learn DirectX 9. I strongly suggest you to download the DirectX9 SDK and read it along with this book. You should have a solid basic foundation of direct3d at the end of this book.

This book is not even close to being the definitive guide to Direct3D. At best it's an introduction, and covers even less material than other introductions (eg Frank Luna's book or Wolfgang Engel's book).

The first 20 pages are given over to installing DirectX SDK. Complete waste of time for anyone who can read the SDK install doc. The chapter on video playback is pure filler - that is not part of Direct3D and shouldn't be in the book. You would learn just as much D3D by following the free SDK tutorials or some of the excellent (free) Internet tutorials.

To make matters worse, he defines his own linked list class, instead of using the STL std::list. That's always a bad sign in my book.

All in all very poor. Stick with the SDK docs and Internet tutorials.

I can't very well review an item I never got. You sent me a message saying this item was no longer available and I would not be charged for IT. Nor do I want it anymore. I got something else from a different source. Please check your records to be sure I wasn't charged for this item.

This book is an excellent overview for the end user. This book explains the general concepts of Internet and World Wide Web and yet the area they cover was very broad but not in depth. If you are confused with all general concepts but do not have interest to go very deep into the topics, this is definitely the book for you. Good visual presentation always great for understanding the subject. I have been using this book when explaining the Internet to non-I.T people, they love it.

This book was great because I am new to the 'internet world'. The visual format of the book allowed easy interpretation of all of the information. I highly recommend all of these books - I have purchased 5 more of these books from IDG and marangraphics and am now becoming more comfortable with computers and the internet. I highly recommend their books on microsoft applications, such as access, excel, and html. The great thing is that their is no flipping back between pages - all of the info is right there before your eyes!

With the fast pace of the internet, this book, published in 1997, is woefully outdated. I accidentally purchased it thinking I was getting the October 1999 version of the series.

This is an extremely helpful book for anyone that is just starting working on the computer and internet as well as an experienced person.

I have found the book helpful in teaching the internet to others. Many times we forget to inform the new learner of the information that is so basic to us.

This book takes them through a complete process. They build thought upon thought. For people who are visual learners, the pictures on the pages are very refreshing to see that one is actually getting the right results from following the written instructions.

I have been working with the internet for years and still refer people back to the Visual Series as the best value for their money.

I was pretty excited to get this book, I had been looking and needing something on this topic. The problem though is, ugh, the production quality is just awful on this book. The book looks like it was a black and while xerox copy of a book using 1970's copying technology. The all-important pictures which are the very heart of this book (the book is like 90% pictures, 10% text) are just barely legible. Not only are they not in color but in many cases they are extremely washed out. And for $40 (the msrp) a book this small and of this poor a quality is just a debacle. Shame on you guys, next time you publish a book, this one will haunt you.

I really enjoyed this book, other than the black and white pages. I found the tutorials quite thorough and helpful. The book helped me figure out the modeling and texturing process quite well. Perhaps if the author had chosen another publisher he would have gotten full color pages printed. Sometimes the publisher makes the final decision not the author. But if you are buying this book just be prepared for black and white pages vs. color.

I usually read reviews and not write them but in this case I feel I had to, this is not the cheapest book around and it doesnt go through that many projects (small form factor, lots of pics for each step), granted nothing wrong with that it omits nothing and actually shows you uv mapping and texturing can be fun and easy (if you do simple non organic models-and thats what the title says). There are several problems though- I dont know about most people but I dont have time to read while looking at the CD that has all the images on the computer, I just have the book with me. The paper is light not glossy, there are no colors, and worst of all I cant tell whats shown in half the screenshots- when youre visual like me you go by the pics along with the text, not just the text. Im sure the author saw a copy of the book before it was mass printed and realized all it would take would be to darken maya's background for the objects and cursors to show up better, not asking for color here although that would be nice when showing a brown wood texture...

I just received this book about 30min ago. Of course I was excited and immediately opened and gave it a once over. The first thing I noticed was the book is in black and white. Everything! This makes it hard to recreate the skins the author is producing unless you're planning on making them all monochromatic. I didn't check the companion CD that came with the book so I can't comment on that. The modeling portion is using Maya so if you want to learn how to create models, map and unwrap in Maya than this might be the book for you. If you want to learn how to create the skins for any weapon that there are better books out there and I suggest you look else where if that's what you're looking for.

This is not a book to use if you are trying to learn Director and Lingo. It is more about game design in general with some Director 3D thrown in for good measure. The game he develops is by no means state of the art and doesn't even show the capabilities of the Shockwave engine. I wouldn't recommend buying this book unless you have read everything else on GAME DEVELOPMENT and just want one more lame opinion on it. Do not buy it if you are trying to learn Director for your 3D projects. There are much better books for it.

This is a book of two halves - game programming and game design. At the heart of it is the new Director 3D programming engine, which is a major new addition to the capabilities of the software. Allen Partridge's book is aimed principally at those who are familiar with Director and comfortable with lingo, but may be new to 3D as a whole. The first half of the book goes through the capabilities of the 3d engine in detail, including shaders, lights, textures, physics and vector maths, as well as some insights into using 3D modelling software to its best advantage. The second half looks at the process of creating an actual game, and one of its most valuable features is that the accompanying CD includes the game at many stages of the design process.
If you're looking purely for 'how to program in 3d', you may find that half the book is not what you're looking for: much of it is given over to game storyboarding, character design, marketing etc. But if you're looking for an all-round approach to game design, then this is a great introduction and inspiration.

Okay if you want to learn 3d the fast way in director then this isn't the book for you. The book does in some ways go into detail but then again he also side tracks so this book is not for the new comers. Your suppose to know a few things in director already and also in the lingo area. The whole thing in this book is the lingo part. Its code heavy so you as the reader is suppose to have some sort of back ground in director in order to understand it. Over all its an okay book but not the best.

On the outside, this book looks excellent for those wanting to create 3d games in director. On the inside, the book is shallow and un-engaging. Most concepts are covered poorly and are made hard to understand. One of my biggest gripes about this book is how the author tells you "Now lets learn how to make _____", and instead of explaining things, just dumps 4 pages of lingo code on you. I feel that a good book should break down the code and explain what it is doing. Copying a hundred lines of code form a book does not teach you anything. The book is also very dry and a bore to read. I fell asleep several times while reading, no joke.

If you want a book that touches on some of the same principles, take a look at "shockwave 3d" by Jason Wolf. This book was excellent, explained concepts with sufficient detail, and will give you that "That is exactly what i wanted to do, lets do it!" feeling.

I purchased this book hoping it would help me show a novice how to start modeling for games. While the author covers the overview and technical terms, the essential modeling instruction is severely lacking. The book talks about creating detail but fails to deliver quality examples.

I bought this title because I own a few of the author's other works including the 3ds max bible. This was a dissapointment because it fails to provide the information on technical skills while it raises false hopes of earning money from games, if folks use this resource. (Read back of book cover)

The up side to this book is in the overview. It does introduce the information and resources needed for the game industry, and it covers the basic concepts of animation and modeling, but does not mention many important pit falls common to many an aspiring beginner.

Sure, you won't be able to land a job at Electronic Arts just by reading this book, but it's a great way to explore the topic. The author does a great job introducing animation lingo and techniques to novices. If you don't know your NURBS from your keyframes, this book is a great place to get educated. It may even whet your appetite for a more detailed book, such as the author's 3ds max Bible.

On p. 2 in the book "3D Game Animation for Dummies" it says, "the examples are taught using the free version of Maya." In the next paragraph, it says, "The Maya, Personal Learning Edition that is used for the examples in this book can be downloaded for free from the Alias Web site, www.alias.com, This version of Maya is not a limited trial version, nor is it a feature-disabled version. It includes all the features of the actual shipping version of Maya, except that the images are rendered with a watermark and the saved files are limited to this version."

After I bought the book and encountered a problem, Wiley Tech Support replied:
"The issue is not with your operating system or with the text. The issue is that you are using the non-commercial version of Maya, the Personal Learning Edition (PLE). Per the PLE FAQ at the Alias Products site (http://www.alias.com/eng/products-services/maya/maya_ple/faq.shtml#D):>>File Format and Data Input/Output: You cannot write standard Maya software files (.ma, .mb); only the Maya Personal Learning Edition file format (.mp) can be saved; however, you can import standard Maya software files.<< Thus, to fully utilize May along with the book, you would need to own the Maya Complete Edition of the software. We recommend you visit the URL given above and read the FAQ to familiarize yourself with the limitations of the version of the software you have so that you can make the necessary accommodations when reading our book."

A word of warning to potential buyers.

the only good reviews this guy gets are from "professional reviewers"

reviews that give glowing ratings & heaps of praise on every book they supposedly read are not to be trusted. In all likelyhood that are given a script & a check.

As to this specific book it is incomplete and lacks flow. In the end you will have more questions than answers.

The 3D Graphics Tutorial Collection is a superbly developed and presented compilation of "how to" instructional articles on the use and utilization of 3D Graphics. The novice website designer will learn how to master just about every graphics program available today and to properly employ a vast array of tools and plug-ins associated with graphics programs. This innovative, impressive, and "user friendly" collection of more than forty different tutorials were drawn from the "Graphics Resource Club", a subscription-based service providing subscribers with new step-by-step tutorials and online books each month. A companion CD-ROM includes all of the tutorials and their images and support files, along with a demo of Amapi 4.1. Ideal for the beginner, 3D Graphics Tutorial Collection also has a great deal of value as a refresher and reference for even the more experienced designers.

the only good reviews this guy gets are from "professional reviewers"

reviews that give glowing ratings & heaps of praise on every book they supposedly read are not to be trusted. In all likelyhood that are given a script & a check.

As to this specific book it is incomplete and lacks flow. In the end you will have more questions than answers.