Real-Time Rendering Tricks and
Techniques in DirectX (Premier Press
Game Development (Software)) by
Kelly Dempski
Best Direct3d Book I've Seen Thus Far
There are many books that describe the theory behind rendering
techniques without walking the reader through actual source code. There
are also samples available on the internet that supply source code without
explaining how and why the code works. There are very few resources
available that walk the reader all the way from the theory to the
implementation details. Real Time Rendering Tricks and Techniques in
DirectX bridges that gap by presenting over 25 rendering techniques using
the latest version of DirectX. The book begins with basic concepts like
matrices, vertices, and textures before moving to advanced topics such as
vertex and pixel shaders. Most of the rendering techniques are based on
vertex and pixel shaders. Included are three different techniques for

generating shadows, reflection and refraction, Bezier surfaces, matrix
palette skinning, bump mapping, image processing, and much more.
There are also several techniques which are not based on shaders. There
are chapters that cover using the stencil buffer, video textures with
DirectShow, picking, timing, 2D drawing, and drawing text efficiently. Each
chapter presents the theory behind the technique before walking the
reader through the shader and application code that makes each
technique possible. Each chapter ends with a short discussion of
performance considerations, limitations, and ideas for improvements. After
studying a given technique, the reader will understand what the technique
is, why it works, and how it works. The CD includes several tools, as well
as all of the application code, shader code, and media needed to
implement the techniques. It also includes sample applications and
technology papers from nVidia and ATI. As readers understand each
technique, they can go to these third party resources to see how other
people have approached similar problems. The book and CD give the
reader a well rounded view of these exciting rendering tricks and
techniques.
Personal Review: Real-Time Rendering Tricks and Techniques
in DirectX (Premier Press Game Development (Software)) by
Kelly Dempski
Hi! I guess I'll start by saying what do you have to know and have in order
to benefit from the material covered in this book. First of all, you must have
some experience in win32 programming under windows, because the
author does show you the code required for your app to work, but doesn't
explain it. Second, you have to have a VC++ 6.0 compiler and Dx8.0
RunTime/SDK to compile and write any sample programs. Third, you have
to know some Object Oriented Programming, such as classes and
pointers. And the last thing you have to have is the enthusiasm to fuel your
work. Now on to the review. The author provides very good and clear
examples, as well as very much actual code needed to accompish them.
The book teaches D3D from top to bottom, everything from simple
polygons to complex model loading and pixel/vertex shaders! I must go
ahead and agree with the 1st review that this book has everything the
"Special Effects" book lacked. By this I mean it doesn't just give you
function prototypes and leaves you stuck by fuguring out what to put in
them, it actually provides very good and concise code. So if you really
want to start learning power of D3D at its best, for your
apps/games/anything you better go ahead and grab this book! This will
skyrocket you skills to the next level. I highly recommend this book for
beginning gamedevelopers!(like me). With the huge incomes in
entertainment industry in the future you will place yourself in a very good
position.
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