3D Graphics File Formats: A Programmer's Reference

Ok, this is an old book now, but I keep using it from time to time. I just wrote a obj file reader in Matlab so I can take a dxf file and display it as a patch. I also used the book years ago to write a truespace reader. I used this for displaying truespace files in Direct3D. People have complained about the Crossroads library and the examples. The truespace reader and writer examples worked fine for me, and I usually just read the description of the format and write my own code. So if you want to understand how to read or write different popular 3D formats(even today), then this is worth your money. [Tim]

Ok, so maybe it won't win the pulitzer prize anytime soon, but if you're looking for a reference for the varied and complicated 3D file formats out there, this is it. Rule has chosen an excellent collection of formats and his source code is clear, concise, and error-free. Perhaps my one qualm is that he uses the Crossroads class library extensively in this book, which I can't say I'm exactly familiar with; but it's a moot point anyway as his clear examples can be extended to any type of project