|
OpenGL SuperBible, Second Edition (2nd Edition)
 |
Author: Richard S. Wright Jr., Michael R. Sweet
List Price: $49.99
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 1571691642
Publisher: Waite Group Press (16 December, 1999)
Edition: Paperback
Sales Rank: 30,592
Average Customer Rating: 4.24 out of 5
|
Customer ReviewsRating: 5 out of 5
Great Book
If you are looking to learn OpenGL on Windows, then this is the book for you. Each chapter gives an excellent description of the concepts learned. The authors writing is clear and concise. The book uses GLUT for most of the programs. This is great as you can spend the time learning on program in 3d as oppossed to OS specific code. GLUT takes about 10 minutes to learn(Window,keyboard,and mouse functions), but you can do A LOT with it. You can make lots of small games and demos with it. Once the code works, remove GLUT and use your OS code. This is a book on programming 3d graphics. You most likely wont understand it if you've never gone past algebra in school. This is not the authors fault. You need to be able to understand some trig and linear algebra. If your math education is somewhat lacking, you should be able to understand it. He explains it a lot better than most math teachers do. Overall, I highly recommend this book. The examples are somewhat boring, but this is not a game programming book. It is a graphics book. You should have no problem taking what you learn and apply it to a game. If you are looking for an OpenGL Game Programming book, then buy the book with same title from the guys at Gamedev.net. It's very good.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Skimpy on useful examples
This book provides a decent introduction to many OpenGL techniques, but falls short in providing guidance on avoiding the many pitfalls that 3D graphics programmers can stumble into.Movement and positioning in 3D space, using multiple windows and camera/eyes viewing from various locations and angles, is downright complex. I found more useful information in 7 pages of "Linux Game Programming" (p96-102) than five readings of the 30-odd pages the SuperBible devotes to the subject (ch5). I was also very annoyed that the SuperBible publishers don't allow for online download of their sample code, very little of which is actually printed in the book. If you lose or scratch your CD (I did), then the book suddenly becomes an overlarge paperweight, filled with short snippets that won't compile and have fatal dependencies on variables and matrices set or modified "elsewhere". I wanted to like this book for personal reasons: the author teaches at a school very near me, used to work at my same company, and a friend of mine used to be one of his teaching assistants. Moreover, I'd already paid for it, and wanted to get some value out of the purchase :-/ Nonetheless, it failed to provide answers to the real-world problems I've encountered, which other books have shown to be easily anticipated and simply resolved.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Great Book For OpenGL Newbies
OpenGL SuperBible is a tutorial for writing OpenGL programs on Microsoft Windows. Unlike other OpenGL books, this book avoids much of the 3d theory, and CLEARLY explains the practical aspects of OpenGL programming. Also, most other OpenGL books don't focus on a specific platform. However, there are many platform specific issues in OpenGL programming. And it can be difficult to compile even a simple "Hello OpenGL" application using these "platform agnostic" books as a guide. This book avoids the confusion by gearing its explanations towards one programming environment (Win32). OpenGL SuperBible is the perfect book for someone starting OpenGL programming on Windows.
Similar Products
· OpenGL Game Programming w/CD
· Interactive Computer Graphics: A Top-Down Approach with OpenGL (3rd Edition)
· 3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development
· OpenGL Programming Guide: The Official Guide to Learning OpenGL, Version 1.4, Fourth Edition
|
