Interactive Computer Graphics: A
Top-Down Approach Using OpenGL
(5th Edition) by Edward Angel
Very Good Book
Computer animation and graphics--once rare, complicated, and
comparatively expensive--are now prevalent in everyday life from the
computer screen to the movie screen. Interactive Computer Graphics is
the only introduction to computer graphics text for undergraduates that fully
integrates OpenGL(R) and emphasizes application-based programming.
Using C and C++, the top-down, programming-oriented approach allows
for coverage of engaging 3D material early in the course so students
immediately begin to create their own 3D graphics. Low-level algorithms
(for topics such as line drawing and filling polygons) are presented after
students learn to create graphics. This book is suitable for undergraduate
students in computer science and engineering, for students in other
disciplines who have good programming skills, and for professionals.

Personal Review: Interactive Computer Graphics: A Top-Down
Approach Using OpenGL (5th Edition) by Edward Angel
Stop! If you have this book in hand, the first thing you should do is turn to
the colour plates in the centre of the book. Slowly (there is no need to
hurry) look at each. Don't worry if some of the labels use technical terms
that you are unaware of. The book teaches you those.
Admire the beauty of the plates. It gives an overview of much of current
computer graphics. Far more inspiring than a page of written synopsis. The
idea is to be motivated enough to learn the text. It is a good test of whether
you might like the book. Hopefully you are drawn to this field because it
interests you. It might sound frivolous to give such emphasis to the plates.
In many other fields, this would be true. But here, inherently, the plates
represent the goals.
As to the text, it comes well illustrated with numerous diagrams of three
dimensional geometry. That's what this is mostly about. And the ray tracing
optics that is overlaid on the geometry.
The maths assumes a good familiarity with matrix algebra. And the
understanding of how matrices are used in maths and physics to model
rotation and translation and scaling. The idea of matrix multiplication
representing concatenating of transformations is one of the key elements
to grasp. It does get more involved. In 3d, there are surfaces, and often
you need to know the tangent plane or the normal to a point on the
surface. Partial derivatives are needed for this.
You also get a thorough going over of OpenGL. Chosen because it gives
you a powerful graphics language, that lets you learn the concepts quicker.
Far quicker than if you had to hand code a lot of the basic operations.
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