Introduction to 3D Game Programming with Direct X 9.0c: A Shader Approach

Author(s): Frank Luna
Publisher: Wordware Publishing, Inc.
Date : 2006


Note: Source code can be downloaded from http://www.wordware.com/files/dx9c/. But the size of all files is 204 Mb. I deleted all .ncb files (this file is created by Visual Studio automatically) and source code takes now only 34 Mb.

Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 9.0c: A Shader Approach presents an introduction to programming interactive computer graphics, with an emphasis on game development, using real-time shaders with DirectX 9.0. The book is divided into three parts that explain basic mathematical and 3D concepts, show how to describe 3D worlds and implement fundamental 3D rendering techniques, and demonstrate the application of Direct3D to create a variety of special effects.

With this book:

* Understand basic mathematical tools used in video game creation such as vectors, matrices, and transformations.

* Discover how to describe and draw interactive 3D scenes using Direct3D and the D3DX library.

* Learn how to implement lighting, texture mapping, alpha blending, and stenciling using shaders and the high-level shading language (HLSL).

* Explore a variety of techniques for creating special effects, including vertex blending and character animation, terrain rendering, multi-texturing, particle systems, fog, reflections, shadows, normal mapping, displacement mapping, and rendering to textures.

* Find out how to work with meshes, load and render .X files, program terrain/camera collision detection, create and render realistic skies, and implement 3D object picking.

* Review key ideas, gain programming experience, and explore new topics with the end-of-chapter exercises.

About the author:

Frank Luna is a programmer for Hero Interactive. He has been programming interactive 3D graphics for over eight years and has been using DirectX since its fifth iteration. He is the author of Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 9.0 from Wordware Publishing, Inc., and lives in Los Angeles.

Overview

This book presents an introduction to programming interactive computer graphics, with an emphasis on game development, using real-time shaders with DirectX 9.0c. It teaches the fundamentals of Direct3D and shader programming, after which the reader will be prepared to go on and learn more advanced techniques. The book is divided into three main parts. Part I explains the mathematical tools that will be used throughout this book. Part II shows how to implement elementary 3D techniques, such as defining 3D geometry, lighting, texturing, alpha blending, and stenciling, using shaders and the HLSL. Part III is largely about applying Direct3D to implement a variety of interesting techniques and special effects, such as working with meshes, character animation, terrain rendering, picking, particle systems, environment mapping, normal mapping, and rendering to textures.

For the beginner, this book is best read front to back. The chapters have been organized so that the difficulty increases progressively with each chapter. In this way, there are no sudden jumps in complexity that leave the reader lost. In general, for a particular chapter, we will use the techniques and concepts previously developed. Therefore, it is important that you have mastered the material of a chapter before continuing. Readers who are experienced Direct3D users can pick the chapters of interest.

Finally, you may be wondering what kinds of games you can develop after reading this book. The answer to that question is best obtained by skimming through the book and seeing the types of applications that are developed. From that you should be able to visualize the types of games that can be developed based on the techniques taught in this book and some of your own ingenuity.

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