Peter Shirley (2)

If you've ever wanted to get your feet wet in the wide world of computer graphics, Peter Shirley has written a wonderful bridge into that world.

Fundamentals of Computer Graphics, is, as the title would let you know, a book on the fundamentals of computer graphics. Really, no surprise there. But what you might like to know is that these fundamentals are geared more towards one who has an understanding of abstract computer programming and mathematics up to and including linear algebra. This is not a work to venture into lightly if you're looking for a quick way to make 3D computer-generated images. If that's you, you're better off getting a book on a 3D rendering/modeling tool, or reassessing your desires to draw things with computers.

Shirley, et al., gives a very nice overview of computer graphics, including the behavior of the different primitive types of graphics, and how they react, mathematically to things like translations and rotations. Each chapter is essentially an appetizer for more information on the subject addressed. Some of the subjects don't even deal _directly_ with computer graphics, but rather, deal with the physics behind real-world things, like colors, or the way the human eye sees things.

Shirley does not promote one computer graphics language over another, and most, if not all of the code examples in the book are pseudocode, so there is a little bit of bootstrapping left on the shoulders of the readers before they can start making their computers generate pretty pictures. But, this book definitely is a great place to start, and a great place to visit from time to time when having that computer make those pretty pictures.

Recommended for computer science students enthusiastic about graphics, but also willing to get their hands a bit dirty before seeing the fruit of their labor start to bloom. Not recommended for people who are perfectly content being reliant on tools to make their computer make pretty pictures. The mathematics/programming involved may go over those readers' heads.… (altro)