DirectX? 3D Graphics Programming Bible [With CD]

This book is great if you have no knowledge of graphics programmig, it guides you through the topics leaving nothing unexplained or unclear. Of course it is a bit old, so after this book you will probably need another one to get up to date. It is only about directDraw and Direct3D retained mode. I think that advanced readers won't find this book very useful, but again, for beginners it's very good.

This book is an excellent introduction to 3D (and a 2D) programming for new comers (who know C++, of course!). If you have some experience in 3D programming, even in other 3D language, you will not learn many new things here. Although many of the fundamental issues of graphics programming are covered, it?s far from covering ?everything- despite what the name implies.The first few chapters are an introduction to 2D and 3D programming in theory. Some important issues are covered, and you?re not bothered by too much mathematics, except some basic matrices manipulations. The next 1/3 of the book is devoted to 2D programming with DirectDraw. These parts are an important introduction and good basis for 3D programming. Only the second half of the book is devoted for 3D programming, using DirectX?s retrained mode. You might think that the retained mode is obsolete - but it?s much more simple and easier to grasp and program than the immediate mode ? and it?s similar to the basic implementations of OpenGL (the book covers this topic as well). So it?s great for beginners, and will be a good basis for your next steps in 3D programming. Among the issues covered here are textures, lighting, shadows, 3D animation techniques and more...The book is well written, and most of the explanations and the code are easy to understand, even for the very beginner. It is NOT filled with tones of code which the CD already contains. It does quote some documentation of functions/structs, which are already in the help - but only the really important ones. One problem is that the examples all the way are pretty basic ? The most impressive one is to rotate/zoom a teapot? You can definitely gather all the info you learned and make a big sample application ? but the book should already have included one.

Although MS has halted work on D3DRM, and is instead working on Farenheit for the upcoming DX releases, ... It touches everything from history of video graphics, a review of WinAPI programming, 2d and 3d operations via DirectX. However, if you already have an extensive background on DirectX , Inside DirectX by MS Press would serve a better reference for the newest release of DirectX.

This book is great for the professional who wants to fill in a few areas that weren't completely explained in other books. I wouldn't buy this book expecting to learn all there is to know about DirectX however.