Good introductory books on 3D programming?

pilou

thomthom

This one?

From that link I followed a link to this book: http://www.amazon.com/Computational-Geometry-Applications-Mark-Berg/dp/3540779736/ref=pd_sim_b_2
Used the Look Inside feature - looks interesting.

remus

This looks good: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Practical-Algorithms-3D-Computer-Graphics/dp/1568811543/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258559017&sr=8-4 although it might be overkill.

thomthom

Came across this link today. http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/11/computer_graphics_from_a_long_long_time_ago_in_a_g.php
Interseting to see how it was one over 30 years ago.

pilou

...

remus

Makes you appreciate just how far computing has come in such a short time.

Pixero

I'd recommend "Complete Maya Programming 2".
Not just for Maya, every chapter shows programming examples both in C++ and in Mel script. Lots of good explanations.
Click "Look inside" to see table of content:
http://www.amazon.com/reader/0120884828?encoding=UTF8&ref=sib%5Fdp%5Fbod%5Ftoc&page=8#reader_0120884828

thomthom

@pixero said:

I'd recommend "Complete Maya Programming 2".
Not just for Maya, every chapter shows programming examples both in C++ and in Mel script. Lots of good explanations.
Click "Look inside" to see table of content:
http://www.amazon.com/reader/0120884828?encoding=UTF8&ref=sib%5Fdp%5Fbod%5Ftoc&page=8#reader_0120884828

What kind of skills does it assume in beforehand of reading it?

Pixero

Well, I dont have any programming training and I had much use of it to understand matrices back when I wrote MentalRay shaders.
Obviously some of it has a connection to Maya but there are lots of explanations for generic 3d stuff.
Try pressing the "surprise me" button for some random looks inside.

pilou

I have forgotten this one
A best old French book illustraded (1984) but for this one alas not yet translated!
and free to download! (PDF)
Jean-Pierre Petit : a very original guy! A CG pionneer! (in English
It was for "Basic language" and for Computer Graphic!
A true gem! All the 3D bases and formula inside

PS All his other scientific books are translated, and free to donwload in many languages!
Maybe some one can interest you
Scroll the page!

thomthom

I think I have to get a few of these books. Computational geometry: algorithms and applications let me calculate a 2D convex hull. (I had no idea what it was before.)

http://books.google.no/books?id=tkyG8W2163YC&dq=Computational+Geometry:+Algorithms+and+Applications&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=no&ei=bLYFS9r_DcP3-AbKiozWDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false